With only a smattering of work this week (and a lot of rain) I have been making plans for the future and, I have bought a horse. All being well I will be walking him home to mine next Wednesday and in the meantime I have everything crossed. I can't tell you who he is for fear of it falling through but there are a few clues above and you have met him before!
In time, I hope he will become my main riding horse and as he is half Quarter Horse, he should be fabulous to ride Western. The other half is New Forest pony so he should be sure footed too. Petra will then be taking a back seat and will still be my training horse for everything from groundwork, long reining to loading and perhaps do a bit of horse agility too.
I'm very excited about Horse Agility (http://www.horseagilitygb.com/) and really hope it takes off for Vanessa and Philip who came up with it. It will be ideal for young horses starting their education, horses that are being got fit or rehabilitated or those like Jack who are unlikely to ever get ridden.
Guy the farrier was out on Monday and we talked each other's heads off for two hours. He's a man who uses his brain rather than his brawn to look after horses' feet. We forget, or don't know, that farrier's have a four and half year apprenticeship in the old fashioned sense, on minimum pay scales and they have to pretty dedicated to get through. To do this and to still find feet and horses exciting is exceptional. When we run out of things to say about feet and horses, then Guy knows a thing or two about War History and places like Ethiopia. He's doing a talk at the Wessex Classical Riding Group on Tuesday 16th February at 8 p.m. at The White Horse in Downton. It should be well worth listening to.
