I have always wanted to attend a blessing of the animals or pet blessing as they are often called, so when a village local to the yard announced one, I was keen to take Diva and Flora. One problem was that it would involve a 40-minute walk along lanes and I would not be able to lead both the Shetland pony and the dog.
Luckily Charlotte planned to lead her mini Shetland, Tilly, down and her children volunteered to lead Flora for me. So our little posse set out for the service: a standard Shetland, a miniature Shetland and Flora the dog.
Luckily the weather wasn’t too hot and the threatened rain did not materialise. The ponies were delighted to find the service was being held on the field near the village hall and set to having a good munch on the grass.
The organisers were thrilled to see the ponies, as otherwise the pets present were all dogs of various shapes and sizes. A couple were as tall as Tilly!
Bishop Jonathan Meyrick led the service, which included hymns and some readings. I am not a religious person, but I liked the thought of blessing the animals whom we love so much and who are such a part of our lives.
Through most of the ceremony, Flora was playing with the children in the park behind us, and at one stage Tilly got down and had a roll! But we beckoned for Flora’s return when the individual blessings were starting.
Flora is the friendliest little dog and enjoyed the fuss the bishop made of her when he approached. He also asked if being splashed with water would upset her, which was a nice thing to check. She wasn’t worried by it and soon the bishop turned his attention to Diva. Thankfully, Diva stood like a rock and didn’t try to eat the sprigs of rosemary that were used to flick the water on her. I have to confess to welling up a little as he recited the blessings for my animals.
Afterwards the humans enjoyed tea and cakes, the ponies more grass and Flora convinced the children to share some cheesy Wotsits!
We walked back to the yard together and I think ponies, people and pooch were a little tired by the time we got home.
If you get the chance to attend a pet blessing, I would recommend it as the sentiment for thanking our pets is a lovely one.
I find this one of the toughest topics in the horse world, as everyone does something different. There are thousands of products on the market – all claiming they can cure everything – and nutritionists are often affiliated with a feed company, making any advice potentially biased.
I can say I’ve been able to tick something off my bucket list now: I managed to mount and ride a camel – a brilliant experience. I had great fun grooming my one, named Baxter, and I think the people running it were happy they had people that were used to dealing with big animals and weren’t afraid to get stuck in.
I thought in this first blog post I ought to tell you a little bit about my horses and me, and give you an insight into what you might see from us going forwards. Firstly, my name is Emma. I’m 29 years old and I’ve been riding for as long as I can even remember.
I am currently lightly backing my three-year-old American Quarter Horse before turning him away for the winter. In my previous post, I explained the setbacks this year, and frustratingly I had to start the process much later in the year than I’d anticipated. But things were going well, too well…