Withering Heights: Once upon a time in March 2013

Dear reader:

The first few posts of this blog are backdated post. This is because at the time when it all began I was writing down notes on sheets of paper or made no notes at all and am writing much from memory. This blog only came to be a few months later.

You will have to cope with a myriad of grammatical mistakes (english is my 2nd language), if you belong to the grammar police you will have a field day. There will also be a mix up of past and present tense as some events have been noted down in this blog straight away while others where collected in form of hand written notes and added later.

We do however hope that you can ignore the mistakes and instead enjoy the experiences and observations shared here. I wish everyone would have the opportunity to spend time with horses, as they teach us and also change us on so many levels, if one is willing to be open and honest.

I had been residing at a farm placed in the Midlands for just over a year, together with my partner. The landlady has her horse here along with 'guest' horses belonging to her friends and family members.

I have always been very drawn to horses and here I enjoyed watching them in the fields. Whenever the horses would be taken out for a ride, I thought 'Hmm ... it would be nice to ride.' I had been offered to ride, too, on occasion but I declined. "Can't afford to get hurt ... self-employed ... can't ride ... " etc etc. My only experience of / with horses goes back to my teenage years. In return for mucking out an entire afternoon at a livery yard I was allowed 30 minutes riding on one of their school ponies. This took place once every 1 or 2 weeks and lasted for perhaps just over half a year. I didn't particularly enjoy it as there was hardly any time spent to just be with the horses.

But lets get back to more recent events: It was in February of 2013 when a pair of quite unruly horses turned up. I watched them out of the windows of my studio. They seemed very disturbed, unhappy and very skinny. I was told these were 2 ex-racehorses. The reason of them turning up at 'Buttercup Farm' was tragic and their condition was not a case of deliberate neglect but a case of sad circumstances.

'Jane', the landlady, was asked by the owner of the ex-racehorses to find them a new home. The younger one 'Rose' (I cannot remember her age - possibly 8 or 9) was supposed to be sold, the older one, a gelding named 'Mr F' (back then 20) was to be given out on loan.

I had plenty opportunities to observe the two in the pasture to the front of the farm. Both very unsettled, the younger one completely attached to the older one. In fact any attempt of separation would end in wild charging around and much upset.

March was an OK month weather wise, still quite cold but we had the odd promising warm days.

Then, towards the end of March sudden snowfall surprised us. And it wasn't just the usual little dusting, no! It was a whole lot of snow literally 'dumped' on us over night. What made it worse was that we had strong winds blowing it all into big snow drifts.

First day of the unusually heavy snow.

2nd day - the heavy wind piled it all up into quite substantial snow drifts.

I must have cleared that drive (some 200 meters) three times in one day. Eventually I gave in as there was just no point. The strong wind continuously blew more snow up the fields and piled it onto the drive. By the end of the day I had developed a serious case of 4x4 envy as I watched them all with ease driving up the road at the end of the drive.

'Shifty' excitedly leaped into the snow only to fully disappear inside a drift.

He wasn't too impressed by it and bunny-hopped back to the house.

But the evening sunset was stunning. There is something very peaceful about snow.

All goes silent and looks clean and bright. It's in moments like these when I do sometimes miss a little bit my skiing years back in my country of origin.

Nobody was able to get up the drive, not even those with their 4x4s. So I offered to go and fill up the water and hay bags for all the horses (there were I think 6 here at the time). I continued doing this for the next day too as there was more snow on the way.

This is the first time I got closer to the ex-racehorses and noticed despite them having rugs on, that they were very skinny. Both looked very discontent with their lot and not at all in a good place mentally.

I was hoping for the weather to improve soon. What was left of that bale of hay had gone now yet what little grass there was under the snow wasn't barely worth eating. Grass growth was about a month behind.

These two horses had no access to stable and only once a day was their haylage bag filled. It wasn't any of my business in theory but I was concerned over the well being of the two horses and so I asked 'Jane' if I could perhaps feed them twice a day, it might help them a little putting on weight. "Well it will cost more if they are being fed twice." Feeding costs were billed to their owner, so I was informed. "But OK. I am very busy but if you have the time you can give them food twice." I was quite astounded by the matter of fact way their condition was dealt with. The horses seemed a hassle to 'Jane', taking up extra room and time. And so I started feeding them twice daily.

They were not all that sure about me at first but the darker (and male) one of the two did come to 'inspect' my person. I remember him placing his nose close to my neck while I was trying to untie their haylage bag as it had all become tangled up in the strong winds. He then proceeded to sniff all the way down my arm and back up to my neck. I didn't move as I didn't want to startle him and I very much enjoyed the closeness. It was like some form of energy shooting through my body, I had not experienced anything like it before. The other horse eventually attempted to come near as well but he didn't let her come close for some reason.

As the days passed, these two horses became more relaxed as they where getting used to their new surroundings and having a little more food must be largely responsible for them feeling more at ease. Especially 'Mr F', the older one, has started following me around whenever I would enter their field, with or without food. The two of us instantly 'connected' ... I felt a strong draw towards him ... not just because he is a horse ... there was something else but I couldn't put my finger on it.

At last, spring did arrive with some nice, warm weather. It was time for the rugs to come off.