Nearly there!

I'm writing this onboard the ferry from Rotterdam towards Hull, after having driven from Krefeld, Germany for nearly three hours. I'm exhausted, but we're alive and getting closer to Nottingham, so it's all worth it! There's nothing quite like driving to Rotterdam, with the amount of lanes constantly changing from 2 lanes up to 6 lanes!!! Talk about having to concentrate at all times... 

Last minute grass before leaving Germany for Nottingham!

Staying in Germany has been amazing, once again. It's so wonderful to have family situated there, it makes moving between Finland and England so much easier ;) It's been great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones too! As much as I love both England and Finland, Germany has definitely started to become my new third home.

When I wasn't riding, I was watching and learning 

Henri and Marshall ♥︎

During Sunday to Tuesday, I had a lot of fun with Vallu. Since he had travelled so well from Finland, and literally exploded on Saturday when I was lunging him, I'd decided to ride him on Sunday. He was so lovely, even though he was stiff and a bit slow, he was so happy to be working and really tried his hardest. The indoor arena's surface is a bit softer/deeper than what he's used to, so he worked up a sweat in no time, but this also meant that I had a very happy and relaxed horse when we went for a cool down walk around the fields. On Monday, after having watched so much fantastic high level and correct riding, I decided to do a short and intense training session, with the aim of getting Vallu straight and properly forward going. I only did fifteen minutes of proper work, but boy was Vallu a super star!

Vallu didn't want to stay out, everyday he just went and rolled and then walked to the gate, wanting to go back in

When I first started properly training and riding Vallu, it was during the summer of 2012 in Germany, and I used to dread having to take Vallu to walk around there. He would spook and piaffe/passage/trot the entire time because he was so scared of the place. This is also the place where he managed to start my fear of hacking out with him, because he once spooked, did a 180º turn and galloped off with me having lost both my stirrups and being the closest to falling off him ever. I definitely managed to get rid of this fear during these couple of days riding there. On Tuesday, as a thanks for being amazing the previous day, Vallu got to trot and canter around the open fields. It definitely became the highlight of my week, and the best memory/moment with Vallu so far. If only someone had been there to witness it, and taken photos, you would have seen the biggest smile on my face! 

Look at how enormous these fields are!

And we trotted and cantered along the edges of them!!! SUPER PROUD MOMENT

We should both be home tomorrow, and I'm so looking forward to not be constantly travelling and moving about. A week of driving around Europe really does make you appreciate your own bed and room. And talking of rooms, I've got an empty room in our new house waiting for me to unpack and get settled in. So much to do, and so little time before university starts again!

I also went and visited Henri and Senta's house, and met their lovely Shetland pony family (Roswitha and Bacardi)

And Roswitha's baby Eddie, the cutest thing on earth ♥︎