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I will now answer the very difficult question of why I enjoy having horses. My honest answer is that I don't know. In fact, if I truthfully said that I enjoy carrying heavy water buckets across frozen yards with the water level slowly rising in my boots, or that I enjoyed standing in the middle of a field desperately shouting 'B-R-E-E-Z-Y', I would need to be sent immediately to the nearest lunatic asylum.

Louise and 'Amy' - on one of her 'going' days!

With horses, the bad times are very bad, but the good times are phenomenal.Here are a few examples:
The new millennium came to painful start with Amy demonstrating her many and varied acrobatic skills in the middle of Harlestone Firs. Unfortunately, I was on board at the time, but you need not worry; this situation was not to last for long! I promptly found myself face down in a large, damp patch of mud! Being a resilient and persevering child, I decided to catch the previously named rocket launcher (supposedly a member of the equine species) and clambered aboard, but my voyage was to be a brief one and I found myself on the ground for the second time in five minutes.

This time, deciding that the previously named supposed member of the equine species was in fact an unexploded bomb just waiting to detonate, I stayed with my feet firmly planted on the ground and my hands firmly planted on the previously named unexploded bomb's reins - for a while at least. You will not doubt that my face was destined to have close contact with the Northamptonshire soil for one last time. This, I feel, has made many people jealous as I was able to gain all the benefits of a mudpack for free, and on a Sunday morning!

At this point it was decided that the experts/rescuers in the form of Jane and Ewan, who are the lucky people who look after the unexploded bomb during the week, should be called in so that operation 'Get Unexploded Bomb Home Without Killing Anybody' could be completed almost successfully.

By now I will have put you off going anywhere near a horse for the rest of your life but, I assure you, there are many advantages. You did not seriously believe that I enjoy being frozen, terrified and bruised, did you?

Actually, I am having difficulty thinking of the most satisfying aspect of being, as my uncle puts it, a 'horse nut' because there are so many. It's not winning rosettes, and that's for sure, because I have dreamed about winning that red rosette for half my life and never once achieved it - but I'm still enthusiastic. It's not about having people look up at you and say, "Wow, she's a brilliant rider", because that has certainly never happened to me. I think it is just being with this horse and getting to know it as a friend and partner in crime. You rely on your horse like a racing driver relies on his car; without your horse you would be nowhere. It's about being part of a team and trying to do your best and, yes, so what if you fail to jump the two-foot fence? At least you've gone over the one foot fence.

Louise & 'Foxy' having fun at Pony Club Camp

Continues........

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