Huge congratulations to my friend Sheila who has just passed her Monty Roberts' Preliminary Certificate in Horsemanship and was last seen bouncing around the yard where she is groom to four horses, with a smile as a wide as Wiltshire.
Having started her courses back in 2000 this has been a long time coming especially as she has to postpone a further year because of the sad loss of her Dad at exam time last year. Sheila and I have been working together on her days off from her real job for about 5 years so she already has masses of experience. She's excellent at clipping, foal handling and loading. I am hoping that soon we can be working together under a more formal arrangement and that she too will be working towards becoming an RA. In the meantime, Julie, who had already worked for another horseman before me ( a slightly feistier one) is off to start her IH courses in January. In time we'd like to be the mental health branch of the local veterinary service.
