Saturday was again one of these gloriously sunny days to start with, so friend of mine Alison and I decided to take our horses for a genteel lady hack – mainly consisting of walking and a bit of trotting, with the emphasis on good conversation and not so much on sportiness or sweat, on both ours and the horses' part – around the nearby villages, known as the Astons. Those readers that are outside England, I can say that our route took us through a proper chocolate box village, which you can usually see in imported British TV series, such as Inspector Morse / Lewis / Midsomer Murders, etc. which are so quaint, complete with thatched roofs, manicured lawns and a pretty church in the middle... No murders here, though.
It's a lovely sound to hear the clippity clop of horses' hooves emanating from the road and echoing around the narrow roads in between the cottages walls. Rainbow even had a look into a window we were passing which had some decorative statuettes on the window sill, as she wasn't sure what to think of them ... I was thinking, please don't freak out about something that's inside a cute cottage and which window was below our girth level... Travelling on horse is ideal through posh villages, as you are high enough to have a good nose over people's hedges! Also a good way to find a new house, if you have a million or so to spend.
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The temperature has dropped to almost freezing at night which means that in Britain we think we are in the depths of winter and so the arsenal of horse rugs are suddenly whipped out and all the horses are sporting various equine fashions. This year, biggest fashionistas are lucky to be wearing cutesy polka dot style by Joules*/Weatherbeeta I have to say that although cute it may be, the 'street cred' of a big horse could somewhat be undermined... Just saying. Though, having said that a friend of mine has one for her horse and it looks cute! Luckily the horse is a mare, called Zara and a really lovely horse, so it fits. For a large 17 hand ex-racer gelding though, not so sure...
(*Joules is actually a chain of posh country-style fashion shops and which I admit to being partial to, but only mostly buying during their sale as I can't afford/don't want to pay full prices, which are rather inflated in my mind – but do have a look if you want to know how a bit posh, possibly horsey, country girl should dress: www.joules.com)
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| Joules and Weatherbeeta rugs - available in various outlets |
But, since I can't be seen to be different – I haven't yet told people 'horror stories' of Finnish winters and how, somehow, the horses do survive, even if the temperatures are as low as -15–30... And how Finns still pretty much use similar winter rugs on their horses as we do here in the UK – so bought Rainbow a new turnout rug, so she wouldn't feel out of place among all these Christy Turlingtons and Kate Mosses of the equine world. After a bit of online research decided to bag a bargain on Amazon at £42.95, Shires Tempest Medium weight rug:
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| Shires Tempest Medium weight turnout rug - Amazon (horse in the pic is not Rainbow) |
Bish bash bosh and the horse is snug again! The rug fits Rainbow fine but I did make a little classic online purchase mistake by not reading the description quite as closely as I should have; the neck piece is connected to the rug all the time, so it's not detachable. Not ideal. So even if it's not raining horizontally all the time and the horse doesn't have endure much colder than 0 degrees on most days, Rainbow is definitely looking like she's ready for an antarctic expedition anytime.
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| Even the muck heap looks mystical in the early-morning mist. |
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