A Dry Run

And it was a 'dry run' - well, mostly! Only a total trip of around 16 miles ('quite far enough,' says Doogs) with an overnight camp in the grounds of the beautiful Bamff House.

All went very well for Doogs, Yeoman and the more novice Dougal, with lots of nice little challenges: some fairly steep ups and downs, ditches and soft bits to cross, as well as fighting our way along some overgrown tracks (requires some confidence from the ponies, as they can't really see where they're going.) We also had to barge past some huge rhododendrons on the estate, (due to ineffective navigation on my part.) Plenty of gates, too.

They coped excellently with everything, including coming back via the town for a little 'Alyth rush hour' traffic exposure. They were marginally less enthusiatic about passing a wild boar enclosure though...but went past it obediently enough in the end. They also settled well together overnight in the corral - so a good, confidence-giving outing all round. Fabulous panoramic views from the top of Alyth Hill yesterday...I meant to take some photos on the way back today but naturally by the time we got back there it was thick fog!

Fitness wise they all coped well and were barely warm at journey's end which was pleasing (although the weather was on the cool side).

It was also an opportunity to test out the TRAKKiT GPS system in Doogs' headcollar...the satellites lost us in the dense woodland of the Bamff policies, but otherwise Big Brother was certainly watching!