All pubs should have shovels!

'Luke' is here at 'Buttercup Farm' for two reasons:

a) so that 'Mr F' has a pasture mate now that 'Rose' has moved over to 'Madam's field.

b) it is a safe environment for 'Lillian' to work with 'Luke', who has apparently been a problem horse ever since she bought him. (or was it her daughter that bought him, I cannot remember).

A more recent incident with 'Luke' is described here: A very bumpy ride

Today, 'Lillian was planning on riding 'Luke' again and I would accompany her with 'Mr F' (on foot, not ridden).

We planned to take them through the nearby village and then finish our little trip out at one of the pubs.

'Luke' coped very well; we passed big noisy waste collecting vehicles, we passed children on bicycles who decided to cycle right in front of 'Luke' and he even coped with a collie who was barking at us wildly from one of the gardens.

That same collie however got loose and began chasing us down the main road. Barking wildly, he began to circle us. The collie was closing in and was now uncomfortably close to 'Mr F's hind legs. I was considering getting off and make use of my whip but the owner came running up the street, shouting apologies all along. She eventually caught up with her dog and she was truly embarrassed about it all, including the fact that her dog's behavior held up all the traffic.

It does happen quite often that we are chased by loose/escaped dogs. I wish people would keep them on leads until we are out of sight, even when out in the countryside.

We arrived at the pub and enjoyed a couple of drinks in the warm sunshine. 

But no pub visit goes by without one of the horses leaving a 'gift', resulting in us asking around for a shovel. It usually creates great interest when I go inside and ask at the bar for a shovel ... 

There always seems to be at least one keen gardener asking for the droppings. It has happened that people came from across the road picking up what our horses kindly dropped.

However, overall I am quite impressed at the friendliness of landlords and landlady's when we turn up with our horses.

Nothing major happened on the way back to 'Buttercup Farm' and all in all it was a good result. 'Lillian' was feeling a little more relaxed about riding 'Luke'.

'Luke'