Carterton A&P - Tilly

This was my first outing on Tilly, though her owner has taken her out and about beforehand. As we arrived on Friday it meant there was lots of time for Tilly to settle in. That turned out quite well, as she didn't drink well the first night (had some, but not as much as I would have liked) - and by Sunday she was like the rest of the team - drinking whenever the bucket was offered to her. Always a weight off your mind once you know they'll drink well.

Oh Saturday I took her for a hack around the grounds and had a look at the ferris wheel and the showjumping. She never got fizzy or bouncy, and never spooked at anything. Then when the sun came out I sat with her for a few hours while she had a pick of good Wairarapa grass.

Today we were entered in the Pleasure Hacks. We did 3 classes and came home with 2 ribbons. So I was stoked with that. Our first class was the 'Best Combination'. As this was my first chance to ride Tilly amongst other horses in a cramped space I was glad to see she was good about it. She didn't put a foot wrong in the first class - but we didn't even get called in, so I was a bit gutted about that.

Our luck changed for our second class though. The Paced & Mannered. We were called in, and then did a short workout (figure-eight, at trot and canter) and took out the win for that class. Very pleased with that!

Tilly stood like a pro while she got her ribbon put on, but then tried to rub on the steward as she was taking out name - oops!

Our last class was the Rider class. I wasn't sure how this was going to go, seeing as we didn't get called in for Combination. But again we got called in, and then after the workout took another red ribbon. Yay Tilly. We even had to contend with squealing pigs during our workout, which was something a bit different.

Tilly lost focus a bit while looking at the squealing pigs being loaded on to the truck, but that was the only time she really stopped working the entire day. She is really willing, and very obedient (good halt to trot and trot to halt transitions too). Mum managed to come over to watch a couple of classes and said that Tilly looked very consistent, which is absolutely true. She's a really easy horse to ride.

After that we waited around for the Championship callback, but did not get called in for a wide ribbon. Can't complain though- what a fantastic outing for our first one together & Tilly's first for the season. Next for us is hopefully a jumping outing, and then Tilly will officially go on the market.