Cricklodge Coffee Cream (Floss)
We bought Floss and Izzy (see below) together, with every intention of keeping them both for some time. However, we had the chance to re-home them with a super family looking for a pair of ponies to love and to show. Izzy and Floss seemed to fit the bill. They have a 5 star home together and we are still in touch with them. They are doing really well.
CorleyOak Legacy of Sovereign (Samson)
Samson got his "posh" name from his sire and his pet name due to the fact that he was up, running and suckling within minutes of his birth - big and strong from the outset. He was sold almost before he was born as the owner of his full brother (Apatchy - see above) wanted him. He was weaned in October and has now joined his brother or partner in crime. They took to each other straight away (wonder if they knew they were brothers....?) and are getting up to mischief together!
Floyd BSB (Floyd)
Floyd has a wonderful "for life" home in Stoke on Trent. We visited him in January 2010 and were delighted to see how well his new owner is looking after him. He looked amazingly well and happy, which was great to see. He has the type of home we wanted for him where he will be spoiled rotten in his later years.
Halstock Pacific Blue (Rabbit)
Rabbit was on loan with her filly foal, Rose, but the loaners have now bought her as they had become so attached to her. She has a wonderful, permanent home and is with her daughter, so no separation for them!
Gathanparc Apirka (Ice)
Ice is totally gorgeous and did really well in the show ring, taking a Reserve Championship first time out. She was small, so we decided not to use her for breeding. She is now in a long-term home in Widnes where she is loved to bits. We have regular updates on her progress. For example, below is a recent picture of Ice in the January snow - looking very cute in her rug.
Helawi Golden Escapade (Izzy)
We bought Izzy and Floss (see above) together, with every intention of keeping them both for some time. However, we had the chance to re-home them with a super family looking for a pair of ponies to love and to show and Izzy and Floss seemed to fit the bill. They have a 5 star home together and we are still in touch with them.
Kirkstall Queen of the May (May)
La Sorciere (Gin)
(means "the witch" - known as Gin)
Gin, pictured below, on one of the rare occasions when her ears were forward!
Friday 18th January 2008 : Sadly, when I went to feed the horses this morning, I realised straight away that all was not well with Gin. Moments later, she collapsed. We struggled to help her to her feet and brought her in to a stable, but it was obvious she was in serious trouble. The vet felt that she had suffered liver failure which was affecting her brain and coordination. This was an awful shock as the previous afternoon she had been cantering around the field, bucking and kicking with her two field mates. There was nothing we could do other than comfort her and ensure that her end was peaceful and quick. She had been fine when fed the evening before, so her suffering was very brief and at least she had our whole family with her at the end.
Our "pink pony" was, to us at least, a legend. At least we have the satisfaction of knowing we gave her a good 10 years of life that she wouldn't have had if we hadn't rescued her all those years ago.
PLEASE READ HER STORY at the bottom of this page ......... Thanks.
R.I.P. Gin Thanks for the memories x x x
Longfield Queen (Shadow)
Midget Gem (Midget)
Midget Gem's Knight Skye (Skye)
Midget Gem's Legacy (Gem)
Pinglewood Isla (Isla)
Bay skewbald/bay tobiano filly
Sire: Pinglewood Dominic
Dam: Laurel's Paintbox
Isla is a gorgeous bay tobiano filly foal with lots of bone and substance. She has a look-at-me attitude and is very friendly and curious to the point of plain nosey! This is Isla playing in our garden with her best friends Ted and Bob. She is trying to decide if she's brave enough to cross the bridge over the pond onto our patio.......
Isla has been sold to the same home as Hope, where she is getting lots of love and attention. She is turning out to be a super pony and we hope to see her in the show ring next year!
Quakers Comfrey (Comfrey)
Comfrey is a lovely bay roan mare who gave us a strawberry roan filly (CorleyOak Touch Wood) in 2007. She is an absolutely fantastic mother. As well as being a first class Mum, she delighted us by winning the Miniature Shetland Championship at Fillongley Agricultural Show in 2008 - the first time shown, to our knowledge.
She ran with Allensmore Starmist in 2009 for a foal, hopefully, in 2010 and was sold in August 2009 to the Shillingstone Stud in Dorset. On her first showing outing, 5 days later, she won her class at Cadnam Show. Her new owner was delighted and we wish her every success with this super pony.
SevenUp (Sprite)
Twyford Rosebud (Rosebud)
Wight's Tiger Lily (Tiger)
Gin was a 14.2 strawbery roan mare, rescued many years ago from a market. It took us months to restore her to good health and much longer to gain her trust, but she was worth it. Here's her story "in her own words"................
GIN’S STORY 
from the horse's mouth......
I was standing in a cattle pen at the horse market when I first saw Ann. She was standing on the bars of the pen looking at me. I laid my ears flat back against my head and raised a hind leg in threat. You really have to know what I’d been through to understand why I did that.
I had been a show-jumper, although no-one at the market knew that – a pretty good one as well, if I may say so. I’d been doing quite well for myself until, over a few months I began to feel really under the weather, cross and bad tempered and had an awful stomach-ache which kept plaguing me. It really hurt and, although I could still do my show-jumping job, I began to kick out at my stomach and buck to try to rid myself of the weight of the rider on my back, which was making my pain worse. My owners thought I was just being awkward and I was subjected to a series of beatings. With every beating I became angrier and angrier and so full of resentment that my behaviour became worse. Why couldn’t they understand that I was doing my best, but the pain was so bad that I had to lash out? Eventually they gave up on me and abandoned me in a bare paddock with hardly any grass. They left me there alone until I became so thin and weak I could barely walk. Pieces of flesh were missing from my rump from where they had beat me. I was skin and bone. Then they took me to the horse market, which is how I came to be standing in a cattle pen, feeling very sorry for myself and very bitter about life.
Anyway, back to Ann. My threat gesture didn’t put her off and she climbed into the pen to take a closer look at me. I hated the whole world by this time, so I aimed a kick at her. She side-stepped it (quite neatly I thought) patted me on the neck and offered her hand, in which was a mint. I snatched the mint, pinned my ears back even further and swished my tail.
“Whatever has happened to you?”, she asked. (Why do people always talk to horses when they know we can’t answer back?!). I heard some people say to Ann, “Don’t even think about it, she’s a knacker” (that’s a very uncomplimentary word for a worn out, useless old horse) and “Leave well alone, she’s obviously vicious”. (Well that was true anyway!) Ann wandered off and I didn’t see her at the market again. To be honest, even though I thought I hated everyone, I felt a bit sorry that I’d been so nasty to her. She hadn’t done me any harm and the mint had tasted good. After an hour or two a rough-looking man came up, untied me and led me towards a lorry. I had been sold to him apparently. I overheard him say that he had bought me for his wife to ride. “We’ll see about that”, I resolved. “I’ll soon buck her off if she thinks she’s going to sit on MY back!”.
When they got me back to their stables, they put on a saddle and bridle and the wife tried to ride me. I sensed straight away that she was the nervous type, so, even though I was weak with hunger, I bucked so high I scared the living daylights out of her! They promptly turned me out into a field and left me to my own devices. I hated people so much that I trotted away as fast as possible and joined some other ponies at the far end of the field. At least they were friendly enough and seemed to accept me. To my relief, there was a little bit of grass on this over-grazed field, so I set about eating what I could find. Next day, I spotted the man walking towards me with a headcollar in his hand. “Not likely”, I thought to myself and galloped off as fast as my legs could carry me. If they couldn’t catch me, they couldn’t hurt me, could they? Every time he got near me, I galloped off again, until he threw the headcollar down on the ground, said something extremely rude and stomped off.
Later that same day, I saw two people climbing over the gate of my field. I raised my head, showed the whites of my eyes (always puts people off does that!), laid my ears back and prepared to run. Then I caught a whiff of mint and a familiar scent. I realised it was Ann from the market. I almost felt pleased to see her until I reminded myself how much I hated humans. Ann had a young girl with her. I guessed the girl was Ann’s foal. They walked up to me slowly and offered a mint in an outstretched hand. I snatched the mint and was about to run off, when curiosity got the better of me. These two had something about them that I liked, in spite of my hatred of all humans, so I stood still to see what they did. Good job they didn’t try to get on my back, or I’d have shown them a thing or two! They just stroked my neck, opened my mouth and looked at my teeth, took a general look at me and went off. “Strange people” I thought. I wonder what they wanted….
The following Saturday, I heard my new owner, a rough and ready sort of chap who was a dealer, shout, “Well if you can catch it, you can have it for £200. I can’t get near the thing!”
“I’m about to be sold again”, I thought in a panic. “and for only £200. I must be in a state. Whatever next?!” and then I spotted Ann and her foal, walking towards me, opening a packet of mints as they advanced. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t like them. I hated the world, remember? I just thought that they were slightly less evil than all the other humans I had met so far. Besides, their field next door had fresh grass two foot high, so I thought, “Why not – it’s worth a gamble” and I lowered my head into the headcollar and followed them both to the field next door to be introduced to Ann’s other ponies, Domino and Star. Domino and Star whickered a welcome to me. They seemed a sociable pair, although Star, who was the field boss, made it plain that I was last in the pecking order. I didn’t care. I was so hungry, all I wanted to do was eat as much of the beautifully lush grass as I could and try to forget my worries for a while……
Every day, Ann & Ali would appear, mints in hand. There was no way I was about to be caught when I had all this grass to eat. Domino and Star galloped up to them, but I kept my distance and laid my ears back just in case they even considered trying to get near me. To my amazement, Ali lay down on the ground. Well, humans don’t usually do this. I was curious. What was she up to? I inched over to her cautiously, ears still flat back. From a yard or so away, I could smell mints. Ali was lying on her back, holding out a mint to me. I couldn’t resist. I leaned over as far as I could, snatched the mint and jumped back out of the way. Day after day Ali did this (strange people humans) until I realised that if I took the mint nothing bad was going to happen. Ali was obviously far too lazy to get up off the ground and try to do anything to me. In time I began to look forward to Ali & Ann’s visits. I took to joining Domino and Star when they galloped to greet them. It was all right for them, they had been well treated all their lives. I was still suspicious, but I started to look forward to the daily visits.
Then came the fateful day when Ali decided she was going to ride me. I was feeling a lot better by then. I’d had several months good grazing and plenty of rest. In fact, I was feeling rather too well –“a bit full of myself” as people say about ponies who have had too much spring grass. Ann and Ali had obviously decided to give me plenty of time to get well. The thought of someone hurting me again was too much though. As Ali walked towards me with the saddle and bridle I started to tremble with fear. By the time she had put the tack on, I was sweating from head to toe. I swished my tail and tried to kick her. Ali was as good at dodging kicks as her mother. Ann & Ali realised that something was wrong, but of course they didn’t know what I’d been through. They patted and reassured me, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of having a rider on my back again, so every time Ali tried to get on I reared up in the air as high as I could, my ears flat back, looking as fierce and terrifying as I could. I was sure that I would be punished for this behaviour and waited for the beating I knew would come. All I got was more mints and more soft words of reassurance and, suddenly, before I could launch myself into the air again, Ali was on my back. “Right then Madam!” I swore to myself – “not for long will you be on my back. Prepare to fly through the air!” and I took off up the field, bucking vertically with all my might. I couldn’t believe it when Ali took no notice whatsoever. She just said “Don’t be such a silly pony!”. She didn’t budge an inch out of the saddle and then expected me to walk off down the lane!! I couldn’t believe it. “How did she stay in the saddle when I pulled off my best bronco antics?” Believe me, when it comes to bucking, I’m an all-time expert! I was so amazed that, after about 10 minutes of bucking, I got fed up and decided it would be quite interesting to get out of the field and take a look around, even if I did have to carry Ali on my back. At least she was light. We horses can see behind ourselves and I kept an eye out for the stick I was sure Ali would be carrying. There wasn’t one. This was odd behaviour from my new owner. I didn’t trust her. Sooner or later, the stick would appear.
The weeks went by. I continued to behave badly at every opportunity. I’d got used to behaving like this and I couldn’t seem to break the habit somehow. Besides, my stomach still hurt and I felt cross and bad-tempered, even though I had no reason to be. I even got us banned from Pony Club for being “unsuitable” after I allowed my foul temper to get the better of me. All I received from Ali in return was kindness and understanding. That made me feel really guilty and I was sorry. I felt I’d let Ali down. I tried to tell her but of course she didn’t understand me. Gradually I learned to trust my new owners. I came to realise that they were never going to hurt me. Even when I couldn’t help myself because of the ache in my belly, they seemed to understand and never punished me – although I admit they did sometimes tell me off in no uncertain terms when I went a bit too far.
Our field was on the top of a moor. Although it was summer, when it rained, it was bitterly cold. One day it was raining hard and a fierce wind was whipping the rain into horizontal stair-rods. My coat was soaked and the rain was getting through to my skin, making me shiver. Star and Domino were shivering too. We were all utterly miserable. Through the rain, I was horrified to see what appeared to be canvas tents on legs, marching slowly towards us. I snorted a warning to Star and Domino, but instead of being afraid, they called a welcome to the advancing tents and walked towards them. “Idiots!”, I thought. “These two really are stupid!”. All of a sudden, one of the tents flew through the air and landed on Star’s back. Ali appeared from underneath it and started to do up all sorts of buckles and straps until the tent-thing fitted all round Star. Ann did the same to Domino, who stood like a rock the whole time, looking smug – like only Domino can. Then Ann walked towards me with another of these tent-things. She held it out for me to sniff. It smelled of Domino and Star. “Easy girl”, said Ann reassuringly. “It’s only a rug. It will keep out the wind and rain”. By this time, the wind was blowing so hard, Ann nearly got blown over. She threw the rug over my back and did up a strap across my chest. Instantly, I felt warmer. Now, you have to bear in mind that until this point, I had never allowed even Ann to touch my back legs. If she tried, I would squeal and lift my hind leg to threaten her. I had been beaten before and my back legs had been tied with leather straps. No way was I going to let anyone do that again!. The "New Zealand” water-proof rug that Ann was trying to put on me in a force 10 gale had straps which had to be crossed between my back legs. I heard Ann say to Ali, “I’m going to have to do the straps up. This pony is just going to have to trust me. I hope she realises that I’m only trying to help her”. Well, I’m not stupid. We ponies are pretty smart in actual fact and of course I did realise, as I felt the warmth of the rug, that Ann was trying to help, so – against all my best instincts – I stood completely still. Even when she passed her hands between my back legs to connect the straps, I didn’t try to kick her. How could I, when she had never done me any harm? I can’t say I didn’t feel anxious because I did, but I trusted her. I could tell she was pleased when the rug was securely on. She stood in front of me, drenched to the bone, water dripping off her chin, with a delighted smile from one ear to the other. “Good girl!” she praised, slipping me a mint. “Well done!”. I think it was at that point that a sort of bond formed between us.
One day, a car pulled up. “Who’s this?” I panicked. “Someone come to hurt me, or worse, someone come to buy me?” “Fat chance, I’ll kick them into next week”, I resolved bitterly. “Don’t worry stupid”, said Ann (talking to horses again and obviously picking up on my unease) “It’s only the vet”. “ONLY the vet!!” Now, in my experience, vets were people ponies didn’t want to see. They had a habit of doing unpleasant things to you. “I’m pretty sure she’s got Polycystic Ovary Syndrome” confided Ann to her daughter. (WHAT?!!) “That’s what’s making her so uncomfortable and bad-tempered. The vet has just come to take a blood test.” Now, I didn’t like the sound of this at all. I didn’t want to have polywhateveritwas and I certainly didn’t want a blood test.
“I could try to kill the vet”, I pondered for a nano-second, “but I don’t suppose Ann would be too pleased and I’ve already got Ali into trouble at the Pony Club”. Owners always seemed to like vets for some reason. As it turned out, there was no need to try to kill him. Something about this man told me he wouldn’t hurt me. Against all my bitter experience, I trusted him on sight. I’ve no idea why. I know it’s strange, but that’s how it was. I was right too. He didn’t hurt me. He made a huge fuss of me, took some blood which I hardly felt, gave me some more fuss and drove off in his car. Ann offered me a handful of mints, told me how good I had been and went off home. I stood in a daze, watching as her car disappeared down the lane. I was fond of her by now, you understand, but she did some odd things sometimes.
The following week, I heard Ann and Ali arguing. “I want to take Gin to the show on Sunday!” said Ali. (Gin – that’s me, right?) “You can’t”, Ann protested, “she’ll kick anyone and everyone at the showground and we’ll be in more hot water”. (I didn’t understand that bit – what hot water? Water was cold as far as I knew.) “No she won’t”, protested Ali, “she’ll be good!” Good? I doubted that somehow. Anyway, Ali must have got her way because the following Sunday I was loaded into a trailer with Domino (Fats Domino I call her because she eats too much) and packed off to the local show. I was groomed and smartened up. I pretended to be annoyed, but actually I felt a bit excited. It was good to get out of the field and meet some other horses – even if I did feel like kicking one or two of them. I guessed it was quite an important show because the best tack was put on. I heard Ali say “I’m going to enter her in the jumping”.
“But you don’t even know if she can jump!!”, Ann protested. “If you’re going to do that, you’d better enter her in one of the lower classes to be on the safe side”. So there I was, all dressed up in the collecting ring, scattering onlookers in all directions as I aimed kicks to the left and right. Funny though, as soon as I got into the ring, it all came flooding back to me. This is what I do. This is what I’m good at. In fact, this is what I positively enjoy, stomach-ache or not. I raised my head to check out the course, pushed my ears forward in concentration, pulled the reins from Ali’s grasp (I didn’t need her to tell me what to do!) and set off around the course. The jumps were tiny, so I gave each one an extra 2 foot just to show off! When I landed over the last one, I bucked with joy. Ali and Ann looked at each other. “She’s done this before!” they cried in unison. “Enter her in the bigger class, Ali. There’s no doubt she can jump” suggested Ann. I didn’t let on, but I was pretty pleased with myself. Bigger, eh? No problem!
I went into the bigger class, jumped a clear round and qualified for the jump off. I was third against the clock. “Huh, losing my touch a bit”, I thought to myself. “I’m a bit ring-rusty. I should have cut inside No.9 and jumped No.10 on the turn”. I felt good, but as I left the ring, all the bad memories came back as well as well as the good ones. How, when I was ill and behaved badly in the collecting ring, I would be beaten and how, if I made a mistake and knocked a pole down, I would be greeted by harsh words and fists. Stupidly, just for a moment, I felt sure it was going to happen again and I got really worked up. I pranced about like a wild thing, snorting like a fire-breathing dragon and lashing out in all directions with my hind legs. Ali jumped off and passed me to Ann who gave me one of her bored looks and led me away from everyone. She just kept talking to me, telling me I was a stupid horse and had nothing to worry about. Slowly it dawned on me that here was someone who understood – someone who wasn’t going to torture me. I calmed down after that and accepted the mints that were offered as a reward. I realised that I had actually had a really enjoyable day. For the first time in ages, I felt happy and fulfilled. We horses like to know that we’ve done our job well and I knew that I had. I had been doing something I was good at, with someone I trusted on my back, and someone else I trusted looking after me. I grazed very contentedly back in my field that evening. Domino couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about, but then she’d been loved all her life, so what did she know?
After two or three very successful seasons, I was what the humans call "retired". Ali grew too big to ride me and Ann said that I’d won so many trophies and done such a good job, I deserved an easier life now. I went on “permanent loan” at a friend of Ann’s, acting as a companion for her horse “Tibby” (Tubby, I called her, as she was always stuffing her face!). I heard Ann say that she’d never sell me on, as she couldn’t be sure anyone would understand me well enough to be able to cope with me and she was afraid I might kick someone and get into trouble. Tubby’s owner (Oops – I mean Tibby) knew all about my past. Ann told her. She was kind and understanding and knew to let me come around in my own time. She gave me mints as well. I expect Ann tipped her off about that! I knew I was safe there. I had seven acres of good grass, a field mate and a caring human to look after me. Ann & Ali visited me often. I heard someone say that I’d landed on my hooves… I don’t get it. What else would I land on?
All was well for a couple of years or more. I don't always notice the time now that I'm retired.... One day a large lorry pulled up outside my loaner's house, some men got out, went into the house and came out again carrying all sorts of things. They went backwards and forwards like this for some time until the lorry was completely full. Then a horse lorry arrived as well and to my horror a man came into the field, put a headcollar on Tubby and led her away and into the lorry, leaving me all by myself. The lorries drove off together and everything fell silent - except me! I let out a squeal of horror and ran up and down the fence, calling after my friend. (Ok, Ok, so she was a pain in the neck a lot of the time, but as soon as she was gone, I missed her terribly and wanted her back!). Now - don't get me wrong.... of course I could have jumped the fence or hedge and raced after the lorry. Remember, I was a brilliant show-jumper, but I was afraid of going near those men and wasn't sure where I'd end up if I jumped out onto the road, so I decided to stay put. To say I was frantic is putting it mildly! We horses don't like to be on our own. We're herd animals.... get it?! The whole thing did my blood pressure no good at all, I can tell you!
I spent a very lonely couple of days, worried sick. True - the neighbours came to see that I had fresh water and that I was "OK". Well, I was very much "NOT OK", but they weren't "horsey", so they didn't understand. They shoud have realised from the path I had worn all along the fence that I wasn't in the least impressed about being alone, but they didn't notice.
All of a sudden another horse lorry pulled into the drive. Out stepped a fairly young human colt. He came over to me, headcollar in hand. I was about to give him what for, but he held out a mint in a way that so much reminded me of Ann and Ali, so I hesitated and in that split second the headcollar was on and he was leading me towards the lorry. Something about him looked familar and he seemed pleasant enough, but he was a MAN, right? Worse - he was a man I hadn't met before, so there was no way I was going into that lorry! I walked up the ramp all right, just to lull him into a false sense of security, but when he tried to move me sideways at the top of the ramp I lifted my near-hind leg in threat and laid my ears back flat against my head. I added in some swishing of my tail and rolling of the whites of my eyes (always does the trick, does that!), just in case he failed to get the message!
Well, he must have got the message loud and clear, because the next thing he did was pull out one of the mobile phone things from his pocket. I heard him say.."You'll have to come and help me... there's no way I can get her into this box!" "Huh!", I thought to myself, "You're not wrong there young man!"
A few minutes later a blue car pulled into the drive. To my huge relief, out of the car stepped Ali and Ann, both grinning from one ear to the other. "What's the problem?" enquired Ann of the young man. "I tell you Mum - she's going to kick hell out of me!! There's no way I can turn her sideways to get her in!" "Mum!" So that's why he was so familiar! He was Ann's colt! I felt a bit guilty about threatening him when I knew that, but we horses take a long time to forget ill treatment and you never know..... Ann walked up the ramp to me, offered me a mint, scratched my neck gently and said, "Come on stupid horse.. in you go...!" She put her hand on my flank and of course I turned myself sideways and stood quietly while Ann made sure I was safely installed in the horse box. That's when her colt said a word I'm sure he isn't supposed to say, but all three of them were laughing, so he can't have minded my antics too much!
Listening to their chatter, I learned that my loaner had moved to another part of the country and was putting Tubby at "livery" which meant I wasn't needed as a companion. She must have telephoned Ann who had sent her son to fetch me. Apparently her son's pony needed a companion for the winter and I was it! A short drive brought me to a new field and a new "friend", Tilly. "From Tubby, to Tilly", I thought to myself! Tilly was a bossy madam and made it plain who the field boss was.... her!! I didn't mind as I'm not very bossy myself. I keep myself to myself as long as no-one troubles me. I was fitted out with a nice new rug for the winter and turned out with Tilly. Ann's colt, Jay, came to feed me (and Tilly of course) every day. Fair enough, but there was still no way I was letting him get anywhere near me!! If the strap of my rug came undone and he tried to get near to do it up, I would swish my tail, raise my hind leg and threaten him. This usually resulted in Ann turning up in her work clothes, a resigned look on her smiley face, and she would come over to me, give me a mint, call me "stupid horse", do up the rug and disappear again, laughing. I didn't really hate Jay you understand, but seeing him off like that meant that I would get a visit from Ann - or sometimes Ali and that would mean mints. I'm no fool, you know!
I spent a very relaxed and pleasant winter with Jay, but the following spring Ann & Ali turned up with their trailer. Now, I had no hesitation in going with THEM. I knew I would be in safe hands so I loaded myself up even before they asked me. A short journey in the trailer took me to a new field they had rented for the summer and my new companions, Floyd (a rather handsome looking dark bay thoroughbred if I may say so), Taz (a typical chestnut mare and very jealous of anyone looking at her man, Floyd!) and Sprite (a very young and, quite honestly, fairly stupid grey gelding!). The field hadn't been grazed for several years and was high in lush grass, so it was well worth putting up with stupid Sprite and jealous Taz. When I got the chance, I chatted Floyd up, but I didn't get the chance very often as Taz was always watching me! I had a great summer there, chilling out and feeding my face.
One summer evening, Ali decided to take me the short distance to Ann's house to see if the farrier could trim my feet. Now, I haven't mentioned this before, but I never forgot having my hind legs tied up, so although I let the farrier trim my front feet, I wouldn't let ANYONE, even Ann and Ali, lift up my hind legs. Ali decided to ride me there as it was only about half a mile. Good thing she did, because as usual I wouldn't let the farrier touch my hind feet, but the trotting on the road wore them down a bit. What fun we had! I might have been clocking on by then, but I still knew how to buck - and Ali still knew how to stick on like glue!! I pranced down the road, swishing my tail and pretending to be annoyed, but of course I was enjoying myself really......
At the end of the summer, Ann and Ali brought all three of us - me, Floyd and Taz (stupid Sprite having been sold on) to their "home field". The field is at the back of Ann's house and has a huge field shelter, so we have plenty of protection from the winter weather - as well as the rugs we have on! Being at home means being fed twice a day instead of once. Can't be bad, eh?! I look forward to seeing Ann first thing every morning. She looks funny with a woolly hat pulled down over her ears, but I don't care what she looks like. I know I'm safe, loved and cared for and that's what matters......... I'm still landing on my hooves.......
P.S. On the morning Gin collapsed in the muddy field, her rug became tangled round her back legs as she struggled to her feet and I struggled to help her. For the first, last and only time she allowed me to pick up her deadly near-hind leg to extract her from the straps.
When she lay dead, having been put to sleep, my son said, "she would never let me touch her hind legs when she was alive, so I'm not going to do it now she's dead. I'm going to let her win that one!"
BLESS YOU GIN XX
Copywright : A Caine 20.07.09
