DJ was a hero - he was in the further field when I arrived. The trouble with horses and rain - gateways - they end up "wellie" deep in mud. When I got near the divide I called his name, he looked up and walked towards me ... and through the mud ... so I didn't need to paddle through myself. Wasn't he a great boy?
We walked in - and had about 1/2 hour grooming time. He was muddy, muddy, muddy!! So 1/2 hour later he was now only muddy, muddy!!
Toni brought Badger in and we met up with Ros and Cherry to set off down the road.
There seemed a lot of traffic today - but we still were able to chat quite a bit. About a mile down the road Toni took Badger onto the verge for a short canter and soon after that they returned for home. Badger has problems with fitness since he was poisoned a few years ago and as he isn't ridden too often Toni didn't want to over-do him.
DJ wasn't 100% happy to be asked to walk on, rather than head back - but once he realised that was the plan he settled back down again. We walked on and round via the Church and up the bridleway ... but only at a steady trot as DJ would have had to be carried home if we had pushed him. By this time the sun was shining - and it was certainly a great day to be out.
As we approached Ros's he dd start to slow down, but he hadn't started sweating too much, so overall I was pleased with how he was doing ....
Until ...
One of the jet planes came over us. Now we get used to the low-flying practice of both RAF and USA-AF planes ... but ... !!!! I have never seen a plane that low. If I hadn't been focussed on DJ I would have been able to tell you the pilot's name by reading his name badge!
So one low-flying plane verses one bucking DJ ... it was hard to tell who was higher in the air at that point of time!!
Poor boy - his buck was that of a worried pony letting me know he was ready to run if we had to ... and as I thought the plane was going to land on us I did wonder how we were going to run away then!
Still he calmed quickly and we were on our way again, having decided not to join the air-force but to head back home for something to eat instead!
He didn't take too long to cool down again which was great - so after a feed it was back to his field, no doubt to tell Conrad about his ability to fight off the press gangs!!