Did I Say That Ruby Had A Foal ?

Biscuit was born about 14 months ago, what a little live wire she is. Right from the start she had a mind of her own and Ruby just let her get on with things. She is now nearly as tall as her mother but not as wide. We put outside in the field at the end of last year and she was adopted by two shires Colin and Bobby. They are her bodyguards , none of the other horses in the field dare go near her for fear of being beaten up ! Pilgrim is still his docile self and he too has been out this winter, what a state he get's himself in, he must find every mud patch there is in the field but he seems to enjoy it more than being in the stable at night !

These are the two bodyguards !

Home Based Business

I've been looking at ways to start a home based business online in order to pay for these horses of ours. I thought that if I worked from home then I would have time to spend on the horses as well as earning the money to pay for them. I've looked at just about every idea there is on the internet and have found lots of ideas although many of them are just scams that cost money not make it. I have however found things about affiliate marketing and adsense and things like that so that is the line that I am going to go down. One of the best websites seems to me to be the Money Pump Guide which gives you a step by step guide in simple language of how to start a home based business on the internet.
It is more important than ever to earn money because since I last wrote we seem to have acquired another horse, this time a little 14 2 mare we’ve called Ruby who is in foal. This again came from the meat farm. Apparently it is common practise to get mares pregnant before sending them form meat as they weigh more and the meat tastes better. Just doesn’t bear thinking of.

Horse Care

So I've now been talked into enrolling on an NVQ course on horse care. Probably have to have insurance for that as well!

Went today for my yard induction and first riding lesson in many years. Didn't actually do too badly I don't think. We were given a talk on health and safety, risk assessments and the like and then given a tour of the riding stables and a quick look at some of the horses.

Had to go out into the field with a few others to catch the horse that I was riding and bring him back into the stable yard. Then my first lesson on how to care for the horse. I had to brush him to get all the mud off, pick all the mud out of his feet and then tack him up with saddle and bridle. It's quite some time since I did that but I managed.

Then we went into the school for a riding assessment. Don't think I did too badly but I didn't think I should canter on my first ride for about 10 years. Just had a walk and a trot. My horse was very nice, much more responsive than Pilgrim. At least he did walk and trot when I asked him too.

Afterwards we watched how you are supposed to lunge a horse, then came home and mucked our own horses out.

Who needs to go to the gym!

Angela took Pilgrim out for a walk again. This time she went with another horse, a coloured cob. Our big heavy horse decided to be a bit of a bully and tried to kick the smaller horse – not very friendly of him.

We took him out again just on his own, Angela riding and me walking in front. That was really hard work. He only has two speeds, slow and top. Took us nearly an hour to walk half way to the next village but once we turned him round to come back, we found that he could go quite a bit quicker if he thought he was going home for some more horse food! And talking of horse food a large bale of haylidge lasts no time at all the amount this Percheron eats.
We have now enrolled for a course on horse care so that we can get more experience in looking after our growing herd of horses.

So the big lad is back and broken in – at least partly. On the day he came back Angela rode him and declared him just my kind of horse – slow and safe so yesterday I went for my first horse ride in several years on a 17.3h percheron. We managed to find a girth that would go round him and a saddle that would fit. We did have to improvise the bit slightly and adapt it with a bit of bailing twine – classy! I did of course have to get on him via a large set of steps but once up there it was quite comfy except for the fact that I was using Angela’s stirrups and they were far too long for me. Felt a bit like a cowboy with a western saddle. We managed to walk down the lane but it took quite a lot of persuasion to actually make him move and not just stand and eat grass.

Pilgrim's return

So now Pilgrim is back home and all our horses are back together. The two heavy horses and the racehorse. Two nearly white horses and a bay horse. Perhaps we should get another one so we can have two white horses and 2 brown horses.

My daughter is also a good artist and has done lots of paintings of horses, wild horses, draft horses and racehorses.
This weekend we will have to start cleaning all the horse tack ready for horse riding together. Pilgrim is really a draft horse but we are going to ride him until we have the money to invest in a carriage of some kind.

I have just started Blue on a horse supplement as he is getting older and has creaky joints and needs extra vitamins.
It is going to cost us lots of money now for the different types of horse feed we are going to have to get. No doubt we will also be checking through the horsewear catalogues for waterproof rugs if the weather continues like this.

I've also just looked at the insurance. Have you seen how much it costs for horse insurance. Going to have to find out how to make money from home to pay for everything.

I tried to stand but my leg wouldn’t work. I just had to drag myself to the side of the ski run and wait. Meanwhile he had got so far down the mountain and stopped to wait for me but I didn’t appear. There was nothing for him to do but take off his skis and walk back up the mountain. Another occasion for him to get very, very hot. When he eventually found me I told him that I thought my leg was broken and that he had to go and get help. He then had to go all the way down the mountain to find the paramedics. I want you to bear in mind what I told you – he is not very good at turning. He just went straight down the mountain, gathering speed and cheers for snowboarders as he went.

Eventually they came to fetch me and I was brought down the mountain, flat on my back on an oilskin sled thing dragged behind a paramedic skier.

Here endeth my skiing career.