February 2016

Another month to spend dodging rain and high winds, but fortunately there usually seems to be some part of the day that is okay for riding in. Mind you, it is not the horse’s that mind the weather – just us feeble humans.

Well done to Carol and Lexi, who achieved over 60% in Novice at Plumpton. This was Lexi’s first affiliated test since she went on maternity leave about 5-6 years ago, so we can forgive the additional movements not asked for in the test! The courbette was quite nice though. Both Lexi and Diva will be getting into more competitions over the next few months, preparing for the summer season. We are very lucky to have so many winter venues close by, and very grateful to the people who put the effort in to run the events (sometimes for minimal or no profit by the time the costs are paid).
Also this month, a big congratulations to Serena who was best in her class in learning the skeleton for Anatomy. It isn’t easy to remember all those Latin names for the bones and Serena put in a lot of hard work to achieve this.

On a not so complimentary front, I was recently reading ads for sale for cheap horses. It is amazing the number of people wanting a ‘forever home’ for their horse when they have obviously not provided one themselves. This seems particularly common for older horses where there will be a limited market anyway. Of course people’s circumstances change, but it does seem unreasonable to expect someone else to provide a home for the rest of the horse’s life in this day and age. If you want to be sure of the horse’s future, then let it go on a long term lease and then you can always check it is being looked after and find it another good home when that one is finished.
Also upsetting is the number of horses with serious long-term health problems that are being given away or sold cheap. Even as companion horses these will often need expensive treatment to remain pain free, and what are the odds that this will happen for years and years? Just my personal opinion, but either pay for it to be looked after in a retirement home, or make the big decision yourself to end its pain.

Enough grumbles for now. The wind is howling outside the window; the horse’s have all been worked; the dogs are snuggled in; and the cat has finally moved off the pile of clothes so they can be put away. What more could one want?

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