Sunny evening riding lessons, a picnic tea and impromptu ballet lesson.

I had booked a riding lesson for Wednesday evening. I can't really afford lessons weekly, but try to budget in some kind of training each month.

A friend of mine has started riding our gelding, and I thought us both having a lesson would be beneficial.

As is always the way, my poor husband had had to swap on call duties so ended up being on call that evening. But a picnic tea and a warm, sunny evening meant the children were quite happy sat outside the school while we rode. I had only occasionally to answer to "Mummy!" Or to  bellow across the school at them to quiet down or get out of the long grass as the horses (well, the gelding) thought they were monsters. They had a wonderful evening staying up late and running around. At one point my daughter was giving her brother and two other liveries a ballet lesson.

The lesson itself went well too. The mare and I are continuing to make progress with our flatwork, and my friend and the gelding seemed to achieve a lot too. Poor thing was made to do sitting trot though, and when asked how she was feeling the next day, said she woke up wondering if she was in labour, or whether it was the sitting trot! (Decided it was the sitting trot, mostly due to her not actually being pregnant)

The kids are a little more tired and ratty than usual from their late night, but mostly coped very well. It's always nice when things work out better than expected!