Horse friends

I have never seen a horse as white as this one. Isn't he gorgeous? And his little friend was just the cutest. After I took this photo all they wanted was for me to tickle them behind their ears and rub their heads.

I learnt to ride when I was 7 and loved riding. After riding every Saturday until I was 14, my mum had a friend who owned two horse's which I helped exercise, where we hacked out for hours - it was incredible. I took up jumping for a bit and some dressage but really it was just about getting out and about on these beautiful creatures and I couldn't be doing with the nerves before competitions. Unfortunately when I was 17, when I was taking my friends horse out for a ride, he stumbled as I took him out of the field. He then got worse and worse and it turned out he had had a heart attack and had to be put down. The guilt was unbearable. Even though I know it wasn't my fault and it could of happened at any moment, it still happened on my watch and this horse was like my friends baby.

Since then I've gotten back on the saddle once, when Matt brought me a riding lesson for my birthday. It would seem I've forgotten a hell of a lot of stuff or that someone has changed the rules of riding, as it felt like I'd never gotten on a horse before!