Burrowhayes Farm

It was Sunday morning and the sun was glistening in the sky. I got up and remembered I had a 2 hour hack, so I jumped up out of bed and quickly got dressed and picked up my gear. When I was finally ready, I saw mum waiting at the door tapping at her watch, I knew I had to hurry so I skipped breakfast and quickly went out the door. We had just made it in time for us to just have a look at all the ponies/horses in there stalls before I went on the hack. There were loads of horses, all different colours and breeds, but there was one that stood out from all the rest, she was a bay with white socks and had  a slightly  darker mane and tail, her name was Tommy and she was beautiful. As we headed towards the yard office we saw a tall skinny lady coming towards us, she had a very pale face and long fine blonde hair. She asked if we were here for the 2 hour hack, and if we knew which horse I was riding, I answered back saying that I was here for the 2 hour hack and that I have no idea who I was riding. The lady disappeared into one of the rooms, while I waited patiently outside in the cold breeze. Finally the lady came out of the room and got Tommy out of her stable; she looked at me and said this is the pony that you will be riding today. So I climbed onto the mounting block and jumped onto her (Tommy). I was waiting for my instructor to get on her horse and then we would be ready to go.

As we set off I saw my mum waving goodbye, I gave her a wave back and mimed see you later.

 We started walking up this steep hill that headed towards Porlock, as I looked ahead I could see some nice canter tracks in the woods. We had started to trot now and we were just about to enter the woods when suddenly a car came zooming past making the horses spook. Tommy went galloping up the hill as she was not used to cars at that speed. My instructor came cantering after me on her horse, while Tommy was slowly slowing down, chewing on her bit at the same time. Eventually Tommy slowed down and came to a stop, I steered her back down the hill towards the woods entrance. We got back on the right track after that little incident we had. As we went along the path I looked down and saw the campsite that we were staying at, it was a lovely view, especially looking down at it. I asked the lady what her name was and she answered back and said my name is Ella, and then she asked me what my name was I said back Gemma and then we carried along the track. As we were passing through the woods I could hear the water rushing down the stream. We went across the small bridge that led to the beautiful moorland which had loads of different animals. Ella and I was having a race up the hill, Tommy was going really fast, it was a great feeling to have the fresh air blowing in my face. Tommy and I were in the lead and as we were approaching the top of the hill I could see 3 red dears happily grazing. As we got closer I could see that there were more and more dears appearing in the distance. We had started to canter across the moorland, which was covered in heather all over. I could tell that Tommy was starting to get tired, so I brought her back to trot to have a rest. Ella looked behind to see where I was as I was far behind her, I could see that she stopped her horse and was waiting for me to catch up. We were just about half way across the moor, and as I looked ahead I could see some Exmoor ponies all in little groups. As we got closer I could see there were quite a few foals about with their mothers. The foals were so cute, but some of them ran away as they were scared. As I looked up into the sky I saw a black cloud directly above us, at that moment I knew we were going to get wet (good job I brought my coat!). A few minutes later it started to pour down, so we quickly cantered up the hill and found some shelter under some trees. After the shower passed we came out from under the trees and carried on walking across the moor.

Ella and I took a short cut onto a very narrow road and then we went back onto the moors that lead back to the campsite. As we were slowly walking through the heather, Tommy pulled her head down to get some of the fresh green grass. I quickly pulled up my reins as we were just about to go into trot. We were entering the woodland which had very narrow tracks and was very high up from the ground. When we were walking along I had to steer Tommy the right way else we could fall down 40 feet down a big drop. I kept looking at the floor to check that we were not too close to the edge, at one point I had to jump over a tree trunk as it was the only way to get past. We had finally got through the dangerous part of the woods and started going down a steep hill that lead to a road. Tommy had started trotting when we was going down the hill, I grabbed onto the saddle as she would not stop and then broke into gallop. I had lost both of my stirrups so I had to hold on for dear life, I could hear Ella behind me shouting “hold on Gemma im coming”. Tommy finally stopped because Ella had grabbed hold of my reins and calmed her down. Ella reckoned that she spooked at a rabbit or bird in the hedge, so I gave her a pat on the neck and spoke to her. Now we had to quickly hurry as time was running out, we had to go into trot. Tommy and I had to canter to catch up because Ella’s horse was going to fast for Tommy’s little legs. We had to go on the road as the track stopped at a dead end so we had to turn off onto the road which was about 5 minutes away from the campsite. When we turned the last corner I could see my mum waiting for me by the gate, she didn’t spot me until she heard the horse’s hooves on the floor. I jumped off and thanked Ella for the lovely and interesting ride. After I got off I put Tommy away in her stable and gave her a little treat, I quickly un tacked her and shut the stable door. A little girl came over and took the tack away for me. As I left the yard I looked back and saw Tommy looking at me, she gave me a neigh and tossed her head side to side, I gave her a wave back and said thank you.

 When we got back mum asked me how I got on, I answered back “well, it was very exciting and we saw quite a lot of wildlife and other interesting things”. We sat down and had some dinner in our little tent; I thought to my self what adventure I am going to do tomorrow...

By Gemma Curtis x