I can’t believe it but a couple of months has passed and Modris has rung to say that Poppin is ready to come home! He is now ride and drive and has even gone out as part of a pair. He had a few problems with spooking at drains and the like – with his special bull fighting horse spook apparently! but after going out in a pair with a sensible friend he is now much better. Modris reports that he is excellent in traffic, works well in the breeching ( important in hilly Wales ) and not bothered by noises so now he just needs lots and lots of miles on the clock and that’s our job.
We will be going to collect him in a few days and will see him being ridden and go out on a drive before bringing him home.
I can’t wait to get him home and get started but at the same time it is scary as it is so many years since I had a young horse to bring on ( our current driving horses are 23 and 29 years old ). We have managed to get a simple exercise cart to get Pop started so we’re all ready to spend the summer jogging the lanes and forest tracks with our new driving horse. We may even ride him out with his mum and dad.