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Girls weekend, No. 1

 This weekend has been all about Abi and her choice of short trip in lieu of the big Lapland trip that Izzy and I will be going on in a few week's time. Rather than waste time travelling to the frozen wastes, Abi opted to stay closer t home and in a torrential downpour on Friday we headed off to Tollard Royal, a tiny little village beyond Salisbury for 3 days of riding and messing about with horses. The forecast could not have been worse. On Thursday night I looked at a combination of heavy rain and 50mph winds - perfect for a late autumn hack in the countryside... 

The original itinerary was to ride Friday afternoon, all day Sat and then Sunday morning. Friday was a wash out when we got there so instead we got to know the horses and drank tea / ate cake - relaxing if not quite the planned events. we then snuggled down in a lovely warm log cabin to watch rubbish TV and chit chat about nothing much.  On Saturday the weather was even worse so instead of riding we set off in the car to a local hunt meet which Abi absolutely loved. Despite the gale force wind and horizontal rain we stood and watched the hounds come in with riders ready to brave the weather. Abi made the most of the hot sausages and chocolate cake being passed round while picking out the horses she'd like most. We headed back and the rain finally began to subside so we took our chances  and headed out - into blue sky! We then had a lovely if muddy ride before home to more tea and biscuits, and then bedtime for the horses. Abi then snuggled down with Eve, the apprentice groom for SCD and a film, while we headed to the local pub. 

This morning it was windy but dry so once again Abi was up as soon as she saw the lights come on to help with haynets and stables before breakfast and finally a long ride - a 3 hour hack in some of the most wonderfully historic countryside, through the hunting estates of King John in the glorious technicolour of Autumn's glow. Abi has had an absolute ball - she has fallen in love with the horses, the people and the place and has already negotiated 3 weeks next year where she is planning to go back on her own. Very independent when it suits her!

Izzy meanwhile was all set for a sleepover with her friend Aran which didn't go quite to plan. The one thing I said she needs to sleep well is a dark room and the door shut. Not difficult. Instead Glenn got a call at 9pm to say she wanted to come home. Turns out she was trying to go to sleep amongst fairy lights, night lights and goodness knows what else. Must have felt like Blackpool Illuminations to her! I spoke to her about it today and she said she just couldn't possibly sleep like that - nor could I!

So on the plus side, I managed to book somewhere which truly lived up to Abi's expectations and more. Less good is that she wants to be there all the time and poor Izzy is probably not quite ready to go on her own yet and so we have to work out what to do when she goes off for these 3 weeks. At least the first one is not for another 5 months - plenty of time to plan for a little girl who doesn't want to be left on her own without her big sister. Much as they may squabble sometimes, listening to them in the bath tonight squealing with laughter as they played together, they are still the best of friends.

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