Fun with Milo

I had a fun time in the arena the other day with Milo. As you know he lives in the stable next door to me so I see him a lot.  I don’t go out in the field with him though so I have never really had a proper chat or a play with him before.

Playing with Milo

He is always rather fascinated by yours truly; I think I heard Alice say that he had some Shetland pony friends where he lived before. We had a lovely time running about together, because Milo is still quite young he likes to play.

He's got a massive head and I was little worried he would knock me over with it if he got too excited! He was great fun to hang out with though and I hope to spend more time with him soon.

Happy Birthday Daisy!

Yesterday we had an interesting visitor to the stables.  He belongs to Daisy, who is a good friend of all of us equines as she rides here every week.  He is a rather fat pony as you can see from this photo!

Daisy and Bullseye in the stables!

His name is Bullseye.  One thing I do know is I am not as fat as this pony – I don’t think he should allowed out in any fields!

Bullseye also brought a few friends along too, who borrowed Teddy's stable as he was out in the fields.

Bullseye's friends

Daisy is with us for the whole week this week, and today is her birthday, so all of us equines would like to say Happy Birthday Daisy!

Happy Days

Happy Days; the sun is shining at last! 

My winter coat is still hanging on though and I am feeling a little bit warm, hopefully my winter coat will soon fall out now and I will look lovely with a sleek shiny summer one instead. I am sunbathing as much as I can in the field to help things along! 

My sleek shiny summer coat

I went to the field over the road a couple of days ago. Rooster was out in the big field and I was put into a little fenced off area alongside the hedge. Now I know that the stables team think I will get too fat if I am allowed out in the big field so I think that is why I was in the little pen. Well, I thought different…

…I waited until they had all gone away and I had eaten all the grass in my little pen, then I tested my jumping skills by popping over the fence and out into the big field with Rooster! 

I had a lovely time all night. when the stables staff came to get us the next day I decided i would have some fun with them; I gave them the run around the lovely big field while they tried to catch me! I don’t think I will be allowed in there again any time soon! 

Riding with Milo

Hi everyone, I'm back!

Today I have some news about Milo for you.  Now you will have heard about him already ; he's been here for a while and been doing lots of training.  He has slowly been gaining experience and learning new skills and now he is a proper working member of the stables team.  He is still quite young, but he's very serious about his work here.  He loves being in the arena with other horses and being ridden so I think this is probably his perfect job! He is also a bit quieter in his stable now which is lucky for me as he lives right next door and his feet are massive so when he is shuffling about he sometimes keeps me awake!

This week we have had a group here who have been several times before to the Calvert Trust Exmoor. They are from London and are called the Trinity group.  I met them all and had a couple of pictures taken with them.  One young lady in the group called Bea has been here a few times and always says she likes riding. This time she got to ride Milo.

Bea and Milo

She had a great time and Milo said her trotting on him was very impressive.  I think he is probably super comfy to ride as he has a lovely low stride, certainly not as bouncy as Rooster! Milo was very pleased with himself after the session and started to tell us all how to do things but Teddy soon put him straight! 

Guest Blogger Hendrix; Devon County Show Part 2

Hey everyone its Hendrix here again, I still have loads more to tell you about my visit to the show! You might remember in my last blog I had just settled down in my stable (with grass growing INSIDE!) for the night.

The next morning Nicky arrived very early and gave me breakfast.  Kerri was soon there too and they groomed me and plaited me up.  There were lots of horses, ponies and people around by then and I was eager to see what I was going to do. I was harnessed up and taken outside where Jon was waiting with my carriage. My eyes were out on stalks now because there was so much to look at!

A show ring was right next to the stables and I thought to start with maybe that’s where I would go with my carriage, but there were already lots of horses in there showing their stuff so I guessed I was going somewhere else.  I asked a shire horse, (do you know how huge they are?!?), what he thought and he said “no lad, you won’t be in there that’s for the showing in hand, you will be in the Lady Clinton Ring I should think”.  Well, I didn't know what he meant so I had to wait to find out.

 I was soon put to my carriage and although it was all very busy around me I knew I had to behave once I was being driven because that is my job. Nicky made me wait while Kerri stood with me until it was time to go. A lady with a clipboard came and walked in front of us through the stables area and out onto a roadway which was FULL of people, dogs, pushchairs and lots of noise!

It was busy! (thanks Kevin Beer for the photo)

I was a bit overwhelmed but Nicky said “come on, you are fine, nothing to worry about”.  I just got going and soon realised it was actually quite fun with all those people watching me!  The lady with the clip board (I later found out from my shire horse buddy that she is called a steward), led us all the way to a grass arena;  the Lady Clinton Ring.

In the ring it was just me and the Calvert Trust Exmoor team showing our skills to the crowd watching us.  We gave them a demonstration of carriage driving with a wheelchair driver sitting next to Nicky. I had a great time and at the end everyone gave us a huge round of applause. I loved showing what I can do to all the spectators and I loved it even more when they all clapped.

In the arena

A man stood in the middle of the arena telling the crowd all about Calvert Trust Exmoor and what we do here.  I even learnt a few things myself – did you know that some people who come here get to do forest skills?  I have never seen that but I asked Teddy when I got home and he said it all happens over the road in the woods by the farmhouse.

Later on I did another performance and this time it was even better, as I knew what to expect.  I must say having plaits put in my mane and tail and even glitter put on my coat made me feel very important!

I felt very important! (thanks Kevin Beer for the photo)

When I had finished I had time for a graze on the patch of grass next to the stables area and managed to watch some show horses in their ring.  I think I would like to have a go at that too sometime; I think I would be splendid! Soon it was the end of a very busy first day and I had some time to relax in my lovely show ground stable and a chat with the horses around me.  I must say I think the shire horses are even cleverer than Teddy (but don’t tell him I said so!).

We had two more lovely days at the show and each day I did two demonstrations with the team helping me.  I had a wonderful time and saw lots of new things at the show, I also saw some familiar faces as some of our regular visitors and volunteers came to see us, which was brilliant.  Each day when I was in my stable lots of show visitors came along to say hello to me and all my new friends. I must admit by Saturday afternoon I was getting a little bit tired!

For my last performance we were just getting ready outside the ring when I heard the strangest noise. To me it sounded like some strange animals but I heard someone say it was a bagpipe band.  Now I don’t know what that is exactly but let me tell you they certainly make a racket!!

Later on Saturday afternoon I watched Nicky and Richard pack all my harness and other equipment into the minibus and Jon loaded my carriage onto the flat trailer.  I guessed it was time to leave the show and go home.

I was a bit sad to be going but I couldn’t wait to tell all the other horses about my exciting time away.  In fact as soon as we got home and Nicky put me in the field I ran straight over to Bertie and had a proper natter.  He didn’t seem very impressed with what I was saying so I had to chase him around a bit.  Teddy however thought I had done a brilliant job representing the stables and told me he thought I had finally grown up!  Rude, I thought…

…Well I guess it is time for me to let Pilgrim back on the blog now, but you never know I might get another chance to chat to you all in future.  Got to go and let Jack know how clever I am now, I think he is the only one I haven’t told my story to. 

Guest Blogger Hendrix; Devon County Show Part 1

Pilgrim: Hi everyone, I'm letting Hendrix have a go at writing the blog as he has had a very exciting time at the Devon County Show. 

As you all know he is full of himself usually so you can only imagine what he is like at the moment!  Anyone would think he was the only horse of any importance!  

___________________

Hey guys its Hendrix here, or to give me my full title 'One Too Many'.  That's my show name for those of you who don’t know by the way. Pilgrim has obviously realised that I am very special, and I have very exciting news to tell you which he knows nothing about so he said I could write the blog.

 

Last Wednesday I did some carriage driving here at Calvert Trust Exmoor with guests, as I often do.  Once I had finished it soon became clear that something unusual was going to happen.  I was given a bath which made me cleaner than ever before; I was so shiny you could have seen your face in my coat! 

While that was going on lots of equipment was loaded into the minibus and the horse trailer was hitched up. Also the four wheeled carriage was put onto another trailer.  This gave me a clue that I was going somewhere special but I had no idea how special yet!  Nicky put travel boots and a tail bandage on me and I was loaded up into the trailer.  She got in the minibus and I gave all the other horses a goodbye whinny as we left.

  

We went on a very long journey, I was fine to start with but then I had a problem…I needed a wee!  I wasn’t too sure how I could do that while the trailer was travelling along so I gave the trailer a few hefty kicks so Nicky would know I had a slight problem.  She soon stopped to check on me but then I got stage fright and couldn’t go!  The trailer was soon on the move again but now I was really bursting so I gave the trailer another kick and Nicky stopped again.  This time I was fine and felt very relieved once I had relieved myself!  Once we were back on the move I soon settled down and had lovely net of hay to eat.

It took ages to reach our destination and when we did arrive I was very glad to get out and stretch my legs.  I had never been anywhere like it before.  There were lots of stables in a long row and plenty of space around so I felt quite safe and happy.  The stables were my version of heaven.  Nicky laughed at me because I was so surprised to see there was grass growing INSIDE my stable!

I had to ask a huge shire horse what this was all about, he said that most show grounds had this kind of stables – they are put up for the show and then taken down again.  He said he went to shows all the time and it was always fun which made me quite excited about what would happen next. By now I was exhausted though and after munching my way through most of the grass growing in my stable I went to sleep for the night.

Enjoying a munch! (Thanks Kevin Beer for the photo)

Show Preparations

In my last blog post I was telling you that Calvert Trust Exmoor is Charity Of The Year for the Devon County Show. Well the Stables team have been really busy with all the preparation for the show, but it wasn’t just Hendrix to get ready, the carriage and of course the staff had to get ready too. 

Hendrix has been at Calvert Trust Exmoor for 6 years now, so he's the perfect pony to represent us at the show. I thought it should be me going but I’m a bit small to pull the big carriage, so Hendrix better do it!
  
Luckily the weather has been really nice so Richard and Nicky were able to wash the carriage and even paint the carriage floor. I wanted to help with painting the carriage but Teddy reckons my fur would stick to it, so I supervised instead which is a more important job!

The carriage was looking really shiny once it had been painted, but I over heard the humans talking about putting our name on the carriage so people knew where we were from.

The next day a man arrived and put some Calvert Trust stickers on to the carriage, I thought they looked very smart, but was a bit disappointed as I thought it would have had my name and picture on as I am the star of the stables!

Fitting the Stickers

Next it was Hendrix turn to get ready he had to have a bath I think he really enjoyed it, especially as the sun was out and he managed to do some sun bathing to dry. Then Clive the farrier came and put new shoes on him. All his tack, harness and rugs also got cleaned, everything was looking great. 

Later on I was watching Richard and Kerri and they were walking around with a clip board looking all official (they don’t usually!) 

They were collecting stuff together like rugs, tack, brushes and ticking them off their list. I asked Teddy what was going on and he explained to me that when you go to a show with a horse that you need to take loads of stuff with you including spare stuff in case anything breaks.

They had so much stuff piled up I thought Hendrix was going away for a couple of weeks not a couple of days! All the equipment and tack needed to look after Hendrix was then loaded up into the mini bus and nearly filled it.

That evening, once everything was loaded up, including Hendrix in his own personal trailer, we all gathered by the field gate to wave Hendrix and the team off. 

for the next blog I will get Hendrix to tell you all about his big adventure at the Devon County Show, we can’t wait to hear how he got on.