Wednesday 29 July 2015

Chulmleigh Old Fair

We had a really busy and enjoyable day at Chulmleigh Old Fair today with our fundraising stall for the ponies!  Margaret came over early in the morning to help get the stall set up and Jenny had already donated her little rocking horse and hobby horses to add to the stall.  With the help of Gill and Anne we were able to stay at the Fair until 4pm...whilst Margaret looked after the ponies at the yard!  Thankfully the weather did hold out for us and there were only a few rain showers.

We raised just over £229 for the ponies...so thank you everyone for your efforts and of course to the organisers of the Fair who put so much effort into making the event a big day out for everyone!

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Thursday 23 July 2015

Firsts For Faie and Faye

Our young volunteer Faie was able to be our first volunteer to ride Arthur today and they were both brilliant together...a great start to the school holidays!!

Learning to ride bareback and how to control your
horse without the use of reins!



And for Faye....today turned out to be the day when she learnt to drive the big tractor!


Kes and Oscar's group photo!  The also had Pat the dog visit today
as well!  
 Thank you to Anji who came to volunteer today and who took lots of the photos for us!


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Wednesday 22 July 2015

Special Visit And Big "Thank You"s!

Julie and Topsy
Big "thank you"s to Thea, Julie, Diane, Harriet and Tracey who came to visit on Saturday afternoon.  They brought lots of gifts for the ponies (including lots of apples!) and items to sell on our stalls to raise money...and lots of lovely delicious snacks and treats for everyone to enjoy during the afternoon.  We are very grateful for their donations too - just over £54!  We really enjoyed their company and how understanding they are of our work for the ponies.  They really love being able to do some interacting with them too.  Thea is very kindly running a workshop in September to raise funds for us too!  Such amazing support!

Diane and Arthur

Treacle soaking up the atmosphere!



Margaret is working very hard for us at the moment too so needs a special mention!  Not only has she been putting in extra hours at the yard but she's also been busy harvesting more fruit to make jams and marmalade which is proving to be very popular!  She sold £20s worth in one transaction yesterday so it just goes to show how popular it is!  Thank you Margaret!

We're also dog sitting at the moment and enjoying having a special big dog about - he has such long legs he seems to have extra-ordinary ways to fit himself into spaces that he wants to get in to!

Exhausted after a day's work!

Determined to sit in this chair!
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Friday 10 July 2015

July's Flying By


July is flying by so quickly - there's so much to do and seemingly not enough time to get everything done!

Thank you to Margaret for coming to the rescue this morning.  A punctured tyre meant Faye was later than usual but thankfully Margaret was able to cover looking after the ponies at very short notice!  As dedicated as ever, she spent most of the rest of the day picking Gooseberries ready to turn into delicious delights to sell on our fundraising stalls to raise money for the ponies.  Thank you to Cilla and Jenny for donating their supplies of Gooseberries from their gardens!

 Arthur's been working on his ridden work.  There's lots of new courses to work on as part of the Horse Agility Summer of Sport.  One of them is Equagility, a ridden course.  It would be nice if Arthur can take part but we'll see how we get on!

Just finished a super session - good boy Arthur!

Snoozy Dan - photo from earlier this week!

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Thursday 2 July 2015

July's Photo


These two little foals are spending some quality grooming and bonding time together - so far they'll have had virtually no human contact other than seeing the occasional tourist or walker go by.  They're quite accepting of you quietly watching and observing them.  Once you get to know a group of wild ponies, you will often know them better than their owners (who rarely seem to check on them at all!).

You'll know where the herd will be depending on the time of day or the weather...they'll even come and share a gorse bush with you when the weather comes down hard.  It's amazing how sheltering a gorse bush can be, just best not get too close to it!

The herd works together as a group - and they'll adapt to the situation if necessary, including moving or roaming about at the pace of their slowest member...much more tolerant than we are as a human society - we could certainly take a leaf out of their book!

The problem is of course, that these foals will only have a couple of months before their world is turned upsidedown - unwanted by human society they will be "dispatched" and then forgotten by their owners...it's soul destroying come the autumn to go back out to find the herd you knew and ponies have "disappeared".  To an owner the pony might be unwanted - to the herd they may have a crucial role to play...but all this is because the "management" of the ponies isn't for the ponies themselves at all.

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