It's Sunday and I give myself a day off so my hands can rest for a day.
After having been to see 'Mr F' for the usual morning routine I take myself to a local coffee shop where I warm up and spoil myself to a large (HUGE!) hot chocolate. No doubt it will bite me in the butt later as milk doesn't agree with me, probably the lactose.
It is a sunny winter's day with a very chilling breeze. I spend just over an hour in the coffee shop, until it begins to get busy. It's time to leave. The previous weekend I went to visit one of my favourite haunts in the White Peak with it's beautiful lime stone pastures. Soft rolling hills as far as the eye can see. Today I have taken my camera with me to capture some of the beautiful landscape. Although a photograph will never do it justice.
I used to live near this area so know it well. There is a particular place that I had been wanting to visit for years but never did. It's called 'Magpie mine'. A former lead mine that was used up until the 1950s. It's ghostly remains stick out as an almost eerie reminder of the past.
I park in a nearby village and make my way up to the mine. Now fully exposed to the elements, the wind is pulling and tugging on my jacket and the ear flaps of my hat. Nonetheless, the views are stunning and so joyous.
View over the limestone plateau and it's pastures
'Magpie Mine' - From a distance it looks strangely steampunk-ish.
Closer up - taken with mobile phone as fingers too cold to operate camera!
As I am standing in the grounds of 'Magpie Mine' enjoying the views my thoughts wander for a while and I briefly envision riding over these fields with 'Mr F'. He would greatly enjoy the views up here. Alas it's no good thinking as in reality I may not be able to ride him again. Instead I soak up the views without thoughts.
Luckily we have had hard ground frost and all the mud remains frozen in time. By the looks of it, walking up to the mine without the ground being frozen would have meant to wade through ankle deep mud.
What bliss a little stone cottage would be here in the middle of nowhere. With a little fireplace, surrounded by nothing but nature.
The freezing temperatures are working on my bladder and it is time to retreat to the pub in a nearby village. I know this pub well from previous years when I used to live in the area. As I am driving, I stick to lime and soda, at least it's cheap. I make myself cosy in a corner of the bar out of the way of walkers that want to eat. My notebook always travels with me and I spend a good hour noting down observations, thoughts and ideas.
On the way home I stop one more time to take another picture of the stunning and so peaceful views before I continue my journey back to 'Hill Farm' to spend some time with 'Mr F' before it goes dark.
The initial plan was to go for a walk with 'Mr F' but the roads where just too icy. But there is still the menage. Not necessarily my favourite place. 'Mr F' isn't too keen on it either although he likes the coverings as it is soft on his feet. It's an odd thing really: every time I enter a menage all enthusiasm leaves instantly. Now what? 'Mr F' is a very quick learner and is easily bored. I have to come up with new 'challenges' all the time to keep his attention and willingness to join in.
Being an ex-racehorse he will have had loads of different types of stimulation, be this travelling to and from races, the races themselves, the busy yard, people coming and going. He livens up when things are happening. It is my job to offer him some form of stimulation, especially as he is growing older. I need to keep his brain stimulated.
We don't have much in terms of obstacles for the menage but there are a few poles and cones. It is enough to put together a little obstacle course. I lead 'Mr F' up to the menage and 'park' him in the middle where he quietly stands and watches what I am up to. He isn't so sure about those yellow tiny cones. There is something about the colour yellow that he doesn't agree with. Yellow sponge, yellow tape measure, and so forth. I place the cones so we can slalom around them. The poles are placed so that he has to learn to walk between them. Some I place so he has to walk over them lifting up his legs properly. The idea is that he thinks about his feet and where he places them without knocking stuff over.
I haven't done this with 'Mr F' before as we didn't have such easy access to a menage. Getting him to walk between the poles rather than dodging them took a few tries. At first I placed them fairly wide apart and slowly narrowed the gap between them. I could see by his face that he was concentrating on where he put his feet so he wouldn't stumble. The same with the slalom. Here the idea is that we slalom around them without me having to push him across. Bear in mind we are both walking, this isn't ridden work. I wanted to find out if he observes my body movements. And low and behold, I didn't need to do anything. We both slalomed around the cones, head (his) to shoulder (mine), on loose rein. I didn't have to push him out of my way or pull him back in. We spent a good 40 minutes in the menage and 'Mr F' was eagerly observing what was going on and what I might want from him.
Again I think: how willing these horses are to cooperate with us. WHY? It's a difficult balance to keep, not to turn the horse into some kind of pet but to preserve at least a bit of it's true character. I don't wish to 'condition' him or shape him into some being to suit my needs. That never was of my interest. What I do here in the menage is solely to keep his brain involved a little bit. They play with each other, all this is is play. When we play we learn.
It's time now to fetch the boys. 'Jackie' will be back late so I am bringing in the youngsters. As I lead 'Mr F' into his stable and walk off to fetch the boys, he is remarkably calm about being left behind! He just stands there watching me walk away. It is as though he is still busy digesting what we have just done. A busy mind, perhaps too busy to panic?
'Mr F' being very content and interested in what's going on.
All the horses are very pleased when they can come back to their stables where it's dry, where there is food and shelter from the winds as 'Hill Farm' is very exposed.
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