what i forgot to say

was that we also nearly fell over, but i didn't realise at the time.

as we set off, we went along the track past the house and to the ford.. it's a bog standard farm track typ of thing, hard, pebbly in places, some soft bits, and it goes past a copse on the left and the house/orchard on the right.

molly kept trying to go one side or the other (her feet a shade soft after the winter, of course) and i kept trying to push her back but as usual she wasn't really listening to my leg, what's new there.

in the orchard they are digging a "ha ha" ( a form of ditch, usually called this when a design feature) and just past the orchard there's a relatively wide bit of what looks like grass ... but is in fact quite soft and she doesn't do mud.

she went onto it and it was a lot deeper than anyone had realised - i'd thought it was just soft mud.

one second i was thinking oh well it's wide enough grass don't argue, then next second i didn't know what was happening as molly under me seemed to be trying to get quickly towards the fence as if somehting had bit her bum or whatever. it was very bizzarre sitting on top, and all i could do was maintain a contact, steer her away from the fence (we ended up next to it, the ground rises slightly to the fence) and sit up.

that was fine, got her back to the track and carried on.

then when we got back everyone said how well i'd done there particularly, and when i looked at her legs she'd clearly been hock deep! I still didn't register, but they were still talking about it in the evening

I went back to have a look - AARGH - we were clearly very close to actually falling over one way or another, it was seriously deep and no warning that it was going to be. you could see the huge hole where the first leg had gone down deep, and then you could see where she'd been struggling to pull herself out of it. if i remember i'll take a photo...

so i was even more pleased with myself, and i think this may account for why she was listening to me more after that - maybe i do know best sometimes? despite the twingey feet? dunno, but i think we've both learnt something there, definitely.