A LOT has happened over the past few weeks. Echo and Evie went to a new home, thankfully the same one, and they are doing really well. They were a nightmare to load in the trailer a so I ended up getting a chap that I have used before for difficult loaders, Paul. It took an hour to get Echo in, gently and slowly and then 10 minutes for Evie to follow and they travelled really well.

A woman called Elaine came to see Echo with her daughter Abbie, saw Evie too and fell in love with both of them and went away to decide which they would take. They weren’t really wanting a youngster but I got a call asking if they could take them both. Evie has been a bit of a handful, as in the early days she was hopping over the fences and taking herself into the yard – the fences are 4 foot high – I did tell Elaine that she could jump though and that is what she was bred for, she now believes me! Evie has now settled and is behaving, though she will always have a certain zest to her.

Echo, on the other hand, has been laid back since the day he was born. He settled quickly and has just been backed and has taken it in his stride, as though he has had someone sat on back all his life. It’s great that Elaine and Abbie have kept in touch and keep sending me photos with progress reports, I am lucky they have gone to such a fabulous home. I have missed them immensely and it was really hard saying goodbye to them, I cried like a baby.

Tiggy has done well considering she lost her two babies in one go. She was unsettled for a day or two and then got used to a stress free life again. She lost a lot of weight through winter and looked quite poor but has finally put weight and is starting to get a shine back on her coat. I want to bring her back into work. She will benefit from the attention and the toning up. She is such a lovely mare and Echo has definitely got her sweet nature.

I am also looking at bringing Chance into work. He too is a sweetie but is scared of everyone. He has been very badly treated at some point and trusts nobody. I can mess with him but it has taken a year to get him to trust me. Being ridden is a different story – when you go to get on him, he goes straight up in the air, vertical! I am going to do a lot of groundwork with him and then use a lifelike dummy to get him used to having something/someone on his back. He is not a nasty boy, just scared through mistreatment. Some people really shouldn’t be allowed to have animals.

Then there is good old Jim boy. We have been on some nice hacks lately though we had a very scary moment with a bus a few weeks ago. I was on a road off the bridle track and a bus was approaching from behind. I signalled for the driver to slow down as there was a car coming on the other side of the road. Rather than slow down, the bus accelerated and actually brushed my jacket, forcing Jim into a ditch. Luckily we were OK but it could have been a different story. I was also wearing a fluorescent coat. I complained to the bus company but they just don’t take these things seriously. When will some drivers get used to the idea that horses and riders have to go on the roads .