Country Life, No Idea!

October 2017 It's a bittersweet day. Troy one of our foster rescue ponies has been adopted. He came to us with a head collar on permanently because he wasn't keen on being caught. He was head shy, skittish and wouldn't allow us to get near him. I was drawn to him because of his stand offish manner. I made it my mission to get him to trust me so that putting on a head collar would not be any issue and he would enjoy our company. Nearly one year on and the head collar is off. He has learnt to trust people and is always the first one to come and say hello. He has taught me so much. He has taught me to be patient, to slow things down and live in the moment. I think his leaving will always be the most painful as he was the one with the biggest trust issue and he has been the first to go.

August 2017 My dream has turned into our family's dream. Well the reality is that it's still really my dream but my lovely husband and kids support me and are happy to join in around 80% of the time, so I can't complain. Let me introduce you to my dream team: PHIL  (Husband) aka The Operative Skills - He's good at chopping and cutting things down. He can fix and repair anything electric. Phil  is great at turning stuff we have lying around into something useful. He's my sounding board and continues to support me even if he thinks I'm nuts. Interests - Loves rugby, using power tools and  F1 (sometimes I think more than me). He loves doing anything apart from listening to me talk about horses in the field. Horse experience - None but he has managed in the past to coax escapee ponies back into the field, don't ask me how he did it. NATHAN  (Eldest son) aka Powerhouse Skills - Great at lifting and pulling anything heav...

July 2017 Phil (husband): "This post isn't particularly up beat, is it?" Me: "No it isn't but I wanted to write an honest account, warts and all." I've been solely responsible for the ponies for over three months now. Initially high on adrenaline I felt fearless and confident. I had worked out a routine that fitted around my home life and all seemed to be ticking along nicely.  There were a few teething problems, for example, a bit of nudging, barging, and encroaching on my personal space but I put these issues down to my inexperience and the ponies and I getting to know one another. These minor niggles, however, started to occur more frequently and I began to get anxious each time I went to the field.  I knew I'd be faced with the ponies either jostling for my attention or their breakfast, or getting ready to try and escape as I entered the paddock. I tried various strategies, for example, waving my hands to move them on, using a ...

April 2017 We're seven months into fostering. Kim has done a sterling job in settling the ponies and helping me  section off the field.  She has shown me how to bring the ponies in, groom and check them. Over the last few months I've started to take on more of the day to day jobs. Kim's increasingly busy life has meant she has less spare time so the moment I've tried to avoid has arrived. I have to step up and take responsibility of the ponies.  This is what I had been working towards, part of me was excited but I was also petrified. I knew I could go to Kim if I got myself into a pickle but I was determined to show her, my family and friends and most importantly to prove to myself that I could do it and I wouldn't buckle under the pressure.

March 2017 The muddy swamp that is the field has finally dried up, so work begins on repairing the sacrificed paddock and learning from what went wrong over winter. You might be thinking I'm nuts, wanting to prepare for next winter even before summer has arrived but I really don't want a repeat of last winter. Just to recap. I spent most of it trawling through the mud with my wheelbarrow poo picking, while others had accepted they couldn't poo pick any longer, I kept going. I think this is when I realised my obsession with horse poo. I have devoted a whole post to it and affectionately named it BROWN GOLD. I'm sure you're (not) going to be excited to read it. I admit I wasn't in the best physical shape with 2 under twos and I'd never done this kind of work before so every part of my body was either in constant pain or screaming in agony. I spent many hours wishing someone would concrete the whole damn field so I wouldn't have to drag my...

February 2017 I'm feeling reflective today. I'm five months into living the dream. I've got through the first winter,  boy was that an eye opener and the ponies are still with me. What's got me this far? The key ingredients include sheer grit, an "I can do it!"and "failure is not an option!" mindset with a good sprinkling of naivety (sometimes not having a clue makes you fearless). Most importantly this dream would never of happened without the support of good friends. So this post is about those individuals that have supported me right from the start. They don't know it but I refer to them as The Oracles. Together they bring over 30 years of knowledge and experience on horse behaviour, care, handling and riding.  Let me introduce you to Stephen, Carolyn and Kim. Stephen Yeardley Started riding : 31yrs old Owned horses : Piebald (Milburn) & Jutland (Gallacher) Competed : XC, TREC and Endurance Trained : Both ho...

December 2016 Phil and I thought rather naively that having large animals would be easier.  Our thoughts were: they're bigger, stronger so they're unlikely to get ill. How silly were we. Only a month in and Joker escaped from the field. He must of eaten something he shouldn't have in the neighbours garden and fell sick suddenly. The charity's vet came and said he was very ill and the best thing for him was to put him to sleep. We were devastated. I hadn't for one moment thought it was this serious. I couldn't understand how he could get so ill so quickly. Phil and Kim stayed with him until the end. I was stuck with the kids at the house. To be honest I don't know how I would have coped in this situation, I was in bits from the moment I got the news. Phil said Kim was amazing, she talked to Joker, stayed calm and stroked him until it was over. I have never seen Phil's face look like it did that evening. I hope I never do.  The loss of Joker w...

November 2016 With Kent facing a horse crisis I thought it would be easy finding a charity keen for us to foster horses. We had the land, the time and love to give, a win win situation for all. A visit from a large animal charity looked promising but they declined our offer to foster saying the field was not up to scratch and they wanted the ponies to be stabled. We were puzzled, we had out buildings which were accessible from the field 24/7. Yes the field was not fully functioning but we stressed it was a work in progress and could see its potential. I felt disheartened by the rejection but Kim continued to search. Then two weeks later she came across a charity called Pukka Ponies , founded by Sarah Daniell.  We particularly liked this charity because it was small (a herd of 20), local and Sarah and her team showed resilience even after a recent arson attack . It seemed fitting to offer our support however small to a charity that was facing such troub...

October 2016 There have only been a handful of occasions when I've met someone for the first time and just known that we will be good friends. There's something about them, what they stand for, what they say and do that I respect. This was one of those encounters. In October 2016 our luck changed, through mutual friends (thank you Helga and Tim) we found Kim and Dean.  I've always thought of them as the Good Life couple (Tom and Barbara), if you're old enough then you'll know who I mean. They're based in a field down the road and have horses, chickens, sheep, geese, bees and tones of experience.  Their love of all creatures and seeing how content they are just being with their animals is something I could relate to. What I especially admired was Kim's willingness to help anyone, whether it was someone struggling to look after their animals or just facing difficult times. So after showing them around the...

June 2011 Seven years ago Phil and I met, we got married and decided to move to the country, well sort off. We moved to the outskirts of a beautiful little village surrounded by farmland and a high street littered with antique shops. Initially our plan was to find a property with an acre plot for a donkey (not sure why I was fixated on this animal). Anyway, what in fact we ended up with was a seven acre field and lots of big ideas. My vision was to have an animal sanctuary, Phil thought it would be great to race quad bikes or do some clay pigeon shooting. I was not impressed by his vision. Nothing much happened for at least three years as we were busy extending our family. A dog called Rocky Rockstar arrived first, much to the cat, Boris' disgust. Then came Nathan and Dylan.    As if life wasn't exhausting enough we (correction I) decided to dip our toes into fostering rescue horses. After the initial excitement, we realised ...