Rain and Cloud.

Rain and Cloud.

Helen is back from England and brought me some nice things, 'cos all girlies like nice things. A bridle with a diamanté brow band and a rain coat, not a pink one, but it's very pretty with blue binding and a flashy design on the main coat. Yesterday it was needed. It rained at last. Hooray!!!!! everything smells lovely and the trees all look washed, poor things. Gretel was in the stable when Helen put my new coat on, when she came out the saw me, she thought I was a new pony and chased me away; then ran around looking for the real me, I am the real me of course but even though I called to her, she still didn’t get it. I can't believe she is so dim. Peter and Helen had to sit down from laughing so hard. Helen says she wishes Gretel would do that trotting up and down on the spot when she is being ridden. Dear old Gretel, it still took a while for the centavo to drop that it was the real me and not a cardboard cut-out in a pretty coat.

Last week when Helen and I where doing training, the motor bikes came down the track and I was very scared. They go so fast and make so much noise and as there are so many, it takes ages for them to go past. On my way to hide behind Gretel, I nearly ran into Helen on my blind side. Helen came and stood at our side and patted us; I was shaking so much we had to leave training for the day. Gretel is not scared 'cos she told me later she use to live near a road called the A14 and there were cars, motor bikes and lorries on it 24 hours a day. See what I mean about her being dim 'cos that can't be true. I have never seen a road THAT busy.

We had sad news from our lovely friend Gail. One of her mulas had a very bad accident and has died. Its a bad story and has wobbled the wets of our eyes, all five of them. Rest in peace Molly. Neigh 4 now.

Heat and Dust

Heat and Dust.

I have been very lazy about writing my blog. But, it's nice to give my hooves a rest. We have been very hot the last few weeks and it has not rained for 102 days. Everything is covered in dust including us. The trees look terrible and maybe some will die, I hope its not the fig trees 'cos we love figs. Last week Helen looked at my head which was covered in red juice and thought I had cut myself. She seemed very worried the silly moo. On closer inspection it turned out to be fig juice. I hope the rain comes soon then I will be able to go out with Gretel and Tring on a lead rain. The ground is much to hard for me to walk far with out any shoes and get my legs banged about and as the old expression goes ''never hammer hammer on the hard hard roads'' this is life shortening for horses and what ever discipline we are asked to train for, footing is everything.

When everyone goes out without me I go in the spring field. I like this better and on Saturday I helped Peter pick the almonds. We have lots this year.

Helen is off to the UK tomorrow and Gail is coming to look after us. We like Gail and this week Gail's friend Lilli May has been here. So now I have two small human friends. So I am kept very busy doing riding. Helen is going to bring me a coat for the wet weather, hope its a pink one. Neigh 4 now.

Meat eaters

Oh, deary me!! It seems I am not as bright as I thought; I just found out that humans eat animal flesh. Ugh, I don't know why I didn't know this before, I am 5 years old and a grown up. What is the matter with me? We are specialist feeders and only eat grass and grass products, if we are given anything else it can make us very ill. We should always be fed very carefully and because we live in a modern world where we don't graze 24/7 and don't share our grazing with other herbivores, we have to be given chemical wormers and have our teeth filed. I hate both of those things and so does Gretel. Gretel has a good trick for the horrible wormer. When Helen eventually gets it in her mouth she opens her mouth wide and and shakes her head and it all falls out. But she does not mind the teeth filing so much because she gets a happy pill before the work is done. Nice!!

Getting back to the meat eating, numpty Gretel says I should turn a blind eye. So long as the animals are well looked after and good animal husbandry is practised, what is the problem? Humans are evolved to eat meat. Peter's mother Joan, who I have not yet meet, is a very wise woman, and asks why does Helen become very upset when she sees animals being mistreated? Could the answer be that it is a evolutionary way for Helen to preserve herself and her offspring? So by caring for the animals they will never die out and humans will always have food to eat. This would have a good kick-back for us because there will always be lots of grass for us to eat. Anyway, Gretel thinks when we die, we will be fed to the vultures up in the park. She is going to take me there and show me; not too soon, I hope.

I have made two new friends this week. Limon who lives next door and assures me she is the purrrrfect cat and Maisy who is going to be my best human friend 'cos she would like to learn how to be kind to all equines and understand our needs. So I look forward to seeing you both again and this time I hope Limon will be able to find her way home unaided. Neigh 4 now.

Party time

I am late writing my blog this week 'cos we have been making merry. Saturday, Gretel and I went into the spring field and lots of people came to look at us and admired our shiny coats, neat manes and tails. We had music late into the night. We like music, Peter's music is the best; it's called opera and the sound's invoke all different emotions in us. Happy, sad, funny or calm. If we stand close to the wall in the spring field we can feel the vibration, its very soothing.

I have had lots of people tell me how upset they are with last weeks blog; Sengra and Serreta, Thank you all for speaking up. Aida came and we talked to her about what to do. She says there is no law in Spain about animal abuse but things are changing and it's the young people we need to talk to. I am going to do a demo of my own for the school as soon possible. I think Helen should write to the town hall and tell them what we think of horse abuse and riding displays.

Aida says Gretel is not having a potro. She is not too sad and will be having some tests later in September to see why not. In English human speak, a baby horse is a foal and it nearly means a very dim person, just as well that she's not having a fool. Another one like Gretel would need a lot of patience.

All this blog writing is very tiring and I think I will get a raspberry so I can communicate from anywhere, or I might get an I-pod instead because that sounds quite tasty. Neigh 4 now.

Sangre and serreta.

Over last weekend it got even hotter, 37ºC, so we did not do anything all day but stand as still as statues in the shade. Peter has picked the first new algarrobo pods; I am mad for them; even nicer then the white rocks. Thank you Peter.

When its not too hot, Helen sits in the manège and talks to us; she has been a bit upset because of a riding display she went to. She said some of it was good, particularly the Doma vaquera. Doma Vaquera is training a horse to herd cattle. The rider has a long pole [the garrocha] which the horse dances around. The horse doing this, Helen said, was very relaxed and understood his job, which always makes for a happy horse. I know what Doma Vaquera is because I am Spanish. But then we have to spend half an hour explaining it to Gretel and Tring. Gretel, because she is daft and Tring 'cos she is young. Tring said she would love to do that, herding being in her blood, and would like her own herd of goats. But sadly, one of the horses was not being treated so well and by the end of the demo-display his sides where bleeding from repeated use of the spurs and the front of his nose was bleeding from a much too tight serreta. Worst of all, at the end the girl rider whipped and whipped him 'til he laid down. Helen wanted to rush into the ring and whip her, but realized that the rider may well be just as abused as the horse and only doing what some controlling person is telling her. Just like Monty Roberts' childhood with his dad. We stood about quiet and thought about this. I was thinking of some of the horses I meet during my time at ARCH, they talked of having their spirit broken, but what does that really mean??? Is it a total loss of will because you are subjected to repeated painful or unpleasant circumstances? A nice old boy in Canada calls this ''learned helplessness'' which is basically like giving up, throwing in the towel before even trying and even if the chance to escape is presented, it is not taken. Is this true both for people and animals??? This young rider in her heart of hearts maybe knows what she is doing to this horse is not right and, like Monty, when she gets older, she will walk away and take the lovely horse with her. I believe part of the human spirit identifies with that of the horse. And when the human understands and realizes that, he becomes a better person. Neigh 4 now.

Gretel January 2009

Bangs, fireworks and snow

All hell broke loose in Salares on Saturday and I thought the Americans had invaded. But no; it was just the annual fiesta. Our stable looks down on the village, Gretel and I enjoyed the fireworks and as they say in America they were ''awesome'' or is it horsome? Gretel said no need to be scared of the bombers or make rude comments about Americans.

I have been learning to canter which means moving in a three time rhythm without rushing, falling over or leaning on the circle like a motorbike. It's difficult and takes all my strength. Once I found my balance and did a few strides it was time to stop and to get a ''goooood geeerl'' and of course a minty white rock. It's all good fun.

I am reading a blog which tells me about a book called Moorland Mouse and the Moorland Mouse trust and it makes me think I am well off here because I just looked at picture of some poor Exmoor ponies standing about in something called snow. Gretel says it is so cold it freezes your hoofs off and sometimes it will snow here in the mountains where we live. There are some nice pony pictures as well. I liked Kate because, just like me, she is not keen on being left behind when everyone goes out. So take a look. www.moorlandmousietrust.org.uk.

Here is a picture of Gretel in the snow.

I am off to find some shade as it is very hot today. Neigh 4 now.