EQUINE EVENT

Out of the yard
  my  daughter  & me
  on a hot summer day
             of Eighty-three
Hastoe to Cadsden,
there and back
        eight hours in the saddle..
for our first all-day 
hack

Onto the canter path
     down to Paines End
through Fox Lane 
our route did wend
into a copse   missing branches low
keeping the pace 
      to an even flow

Up to Dunsmore
     by the Black Horse
via Little Hampden 
     we followed the course
down to
     Chequers &
       into Pondswood
up the hill 
    as fast as we could

At to the Plough pub
tethered the horses 
      to the garden trees
ordered a ploughmans
        with pickle&cheese
feet up awhile 
     for a long rest
enjoying a pint 
      of the landlord's best 
then
into the saddle
no more time to laze
     off at a canter 
        in the afternoon haze

Back in Hastoe 
as the clock struck four
    to stack the tack 
              on the stable door