Half way through January and it doesn’t seem five minutes since we were saying it will be Christmas soon. Are the days beginning to lengthen or is it just wishful thinking?
The weather has not improved very much; we are still wading through a sea of mud in the adoption paddocks. We decided to persuade the ponies to stay in the fields for as long as we can and have put a round bale of hay out near to a gate to keep them there. We provide additional feed for them which we lay in a strip on the grass and they all stand in a line and eat there allotted portion.
Kerry Smith has been coming up to the centre on a regular basis and is giving the ponies extra work to do. Golden Flame can still be a bit of a madam to be caught but at least we are now down to one circuit of the paddocks before she stands and faces up as if to say, “that’s got that out of my system”. Charlie and Rolo usually stand in the middle with whoever is doing the catching and look on, probably thinking, WOMEN. They are no problem to catch and will work well. Charlie prefers to be with other ponies on a walk but he is learning to think for himself.
George loves to go on a walk and he will probably be going on The Ten Tors Jubilee Challenge again this year. Both he and Golden Flame have been twice before. Starlight is becoming more reliable and will now present herself to be caught. When she does, she walks beautifully and enjoys herself. We think that she will go to the stallion this spring; hopefully this will give her a real purpose in life and us a lovely foal next year.
Blue and Frosty are not adoption ponies but are still part of our family and they have gone off for a few weeks training with Margaret and Barney Vickery up at Cullompton. They are going to be schooled to pull the saddle-chariot. You may remember reading about it in a previous newsletter when Officer Dru took the reins and became our first charioteer. Boudicca Butterfield has refused to drive the chariot wearing a toga, disappointing that. I’m sure the name was Boadicea when I was at school. Mind you I gave up when Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, Tanganyika became Tanzania and Bejam became Iceland!!