Wiz and I stayed down in Somerset an extra night to avoid travelling back up the M5 in the bank holiday traffic, but I’m not sure that this was the best decision in hindsight. We travelled back in pouring rain for most of the journey the following day and then, 10 miles from home, I witnessed an accident when a van didn’t turn the corner on the M40 and went off the side of the carriageway to plough into the vegetation. Amazingly the van stayed upright and both the driver and passenger walked away, definitely a lucky escape and not the outcome I was expecting.

Unfortunately Wiz had brought some passengers back from Somerset – ticks, yuck! I removed the four off his body successfully but had to resort to monitoring the multitude of lumps on his bottom and legs as I couldn’t find any more of the little blighters, just evidence of their stay.

I had a lovely 'one day' working week in the office before the start of the Round Rutland Ride, a four day ride around the county boundary with overnight stops where horses are corralled and the hardier riders camp whilst the softies stay in bed and breakfast. This was the fifth year of the boundary ride and the organisation team have really got the hang of the logistical nightmare posed by such an event, with 50 horses and riders to organise, supervise, support and, most importantly, feed!

I led a group of five with all the horses other than Wiz coming from the same yard so I was thrilled to discover that not only did all the horses get on with each other but also all the riders seemed in control, well most of the time anyway! We had a great time riding with every opportunity to canter being pounced upon. Wiz was relieved not to be kept at the back all the time and loved the opportunities to race the fastest horse in the group, he never got the upper hand but not for lack of trying!

Navigation was mostly accurate but my group loved to keep a tally of my errors across the days. The most noticeable "error" conveniently avoided a large section of roadwork and took us along a wonderful bridlepath instead with long canter stretches and glorious views across the Eyebrook Reservoir, well worth the short overgrown section and steep twisty downhill road that the organisers had intended for us to avoid!