Laurel View on Lockdown #Log 13
They always say the grass is greener on the other side, and our mares certainly seem to think so as this week they decided to break into the playground field yet again. I must say I commend their dedication to continually following the mindset of ‘where there is a will there is a way’. Between the mares continued endeavour to escape to greener pastures, Marvin’s extreme yoga and Addy’s super senses (I honestly believe Addy possess the spirit of a dog and was just accidently placed in a horses body, between the constant licking, nudging, picking up items as if he wants to play fetch and of course his ridiculously impressive ability to sniff out a pack of unopened polos as if he were a sniffer dog). It appears nothing motivates them more than the concept of food.
Mr Admiral, lover of polos and avid advocate of “someone else can walk in front of me so I can check it is safe for me to proceed” continued to have his mindset challenged this week. Despite some minor disputes and disagreements, we managed to walk round the hacking track rather successfully by the end of the week and have since dared venture up the road. It is set to be a long road ahead (I’m not even sorry about the pun) but it has certainly been a learning experience as I have discovered just how unfit I am, Addy has shown he’s a little self-centred as he is willing to sacrifice any horse or human which is willing to walk in front and face whatever mysterious monsters lie ahead and lastly Addy is clearly not Liverpool FC fan as he displayed an extreme dislike of a fans flag we just about managed to pass on the road, but the main thing is we are slowly but surely getting there.
The only group of animals at the yard worse for escaping than the mares are the lambs which we vaccinated and weaned off their mothers this week. Initially put back into the playground field to support field management, they have since dispersed themselves across our entire cross-country course finding whatever nooks and cranny’s they can possibly disappear through. Thankfully they are typically easy enough to gather back together again and put in a smaller enclosed space when somebody hires the playground field, it just gets our step count up a little when we initially have to track them down.
Hugo, one of our two year olds, was reunited with his winter holiday buddies Bailey and Casper in the field with the majority of our other riding school boys as he has been brought back up from the field to get his hooves trimmed and tidied up. Our yearlings Binx and Lumiere who he was initially in the field with will be brought up on Monday morning also to see the farrier, however, as they have not been castrated yet we decided to just bring them up on Monday rather than risking any of those extra hormones causing any accidents.
In the office we have received a large amount of interest from potential new customers wanting to start riding with us. We are delighted that so many people are interested in wanting to learn to ride or get back in the saddle. However, at this time we are unable to take on any new clients mainly as our first priority is to get our existing loyal customers back to riding but also the risk assessment doesn’t allow us to safely assess a rider whose abilities are not known to us. Many of our more capable customers have returned to riding already, but quite a number of the riders from the classes deemed proficient have not yet managed to book to return just yet, hopefully they will find a suitable space in their schedule to restart soon. We have been working extremely hard to put in place measures which allow us to operate as close to normal as possible whilst restricting the spread of the virus and consequently keeping our staff and customers safe. We understand how frustrating this wait to get back to riding can feel. Please be assured once we get the all clear we will be prioritising all of our existing loyal customers and then look forward to welcoming new clients to meet our fantastic team of humans and equines.
That is all for this week. Till next week whether you decide to venture out to support some of our fantastic local restaurants and cafes or choose to stay in and support local businesses which can bring their delicacies to your door, I hope everyone stays safe and has a fantastic week.
