With Jill coming over to join us on our walk in the glorious spring sunshine, I opted to do something that we had first planned about a year ago, just before the first lockdown. We would visit the local pub halfway round our usual route.
The lovely weather brought out plenty of walkers, some of whom were bemused by the sight of a Shetland pony going for a stroll. They all commented on how they initially thought she was a very big dog until they got close enough to see her properly.
When we got to the village of South Luffenham, and more importantly, arrived at The Boot Inn, the three of us made our way to the seating area near the car park. I ordered the drinks and explained I had a pony with me, which caused much amusement. I explained we would keep well out of the way of everyone, however, our decision to sit on the sleepers at the boundary of the seating area came unstuck when we realised we were blocking the entrance to the car park. We then moved to the first of the picnic benches with Diva standing quietly next to me.
Our drinks arrived and the lovely landlady came out and exclaimed that they were already a dog friendly pub and now could say they were pony friendly too! Diva enjoyed the attention of the staff and was impeccably behaved as we enjoyed our cold drinks. I was rather pleased that she didn’t leave a present behind, although the landlady said it could go on their compost heap if she did.
Diva was such a good girl that we might include a sandwich for us next time and see if there could be an apple or carrot on the menu for her. This might become a regular occurrence.
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…