Horses, horses, and .... more horses!

I ended up parking in Stanmer Park for a short time on Thursday morning, and was surprised to see that field where we flew the kites packed full of cars, caravans, and horse boxes. There were caravans all over the place, and people going past in traps (carriages) pulled by horses. So I ended up finding someone to ask what was going on. They were all setting up for a horse driving competition starting on Friday. The man I first asked was helping to set out a series of gates for the competition on Saturday, and only mentioned Saturday's events to me. Michael took the children there late afternoon on Thursday though for an hour to see all the horses, and luckily some ladies they met told them about the Friday as well.

These ladies had called them over to their stables, saying they were in a hurry, but they could come and see the horses for a minute if they wanted. Rachel and Hannah ended up happily holding the lead ropes of the two horses, Jack and Joe, while they munched on grass in the field, and the two ladies took advantage of the extra hands and both set to work mucking out the stables etc.

So Friday morning, Michael went off to uni, and we went off to watch the Dressage competition. We walked there rather than driving, and it rained on us all the way there, so it took us half an hour or so. We just missed seeing Jack and Joe do their bit in the morning, but stayed until about 4.30pm and watched an awful lot of horses, and Rachel, Hannah and Sarah got some more time with Jack and Joe, and some other horses around them that they were getting to know.

If you don't care much for horses, you probably won't be bothered by all of these pictures, but if you're anything like my children, you could look at them for hours. In fact, they could stand and pet a pony for a whole day quite happily, which it turned out is all they wanted to go back for! So here you go .. some very smart looking horses...



We had watched a lot of teams taking their turns without the camera, before Michael went home to get the camera (he was there for a little while with us in the afternoon before his last lecture at 4pm). Mostly they'd been wearing their rain hats and coats because of the cold, wet weather. It was lovely once it was dry enough for them to take those off - everyone looked so smart! There was an especially wonderful looking team that we watched right before Michael arrived with the camera.





We watched a lot of teams with four horses in the morning in one arena, and doubles in the second arena. There were single horses pulling lots of carriages too.
I noticed these two horses had their tails plaited too beforehand. You can just see in the second picture that they unplaited them just before their turn. I guess it was to keep them tidy, maybe with all of the wind that day (?), but it made them lovely and wavy - just like my girls like to do before church sometimes. :o) The driver isn't really about to whip the horses by the way in that picture, although it does look like it! They used them ever so gently to just touch the horses on one side or the other when needed.








Rachel loving some time with Jack...



Sarah and Hannah with Joe...




They had very fancy portable stables! They folded out from the side of their horse van (lorry really!) The other stables weren't quite that big, there's were a bit like a meccano set to put together rather than just opening out from the van, but it gave the horses more space which was nice. The other side of the van opened out too - they were using that for a place for them to sit and eat etc., then they lived in the main part of the lorry. I guess the main back part was for the horses to travel in.



One of the smart buggies / carriages ...



Rachel befriending a horse across the way ...



A couple of teams with four horses:





The children all thought it was especially clever that the horses were able to back up the carriages.



We were back this morning in time to see Jack and Joe take part in the marathon. It was better weather today - no need for rain coats and extra warmth from the wind. (I managed to burn both days whatever the weather!) Yesterday though, all of their lovely foliage was forever being blown over, and people's hats flying away in the wind and having to be chased down.

The marathon was a 20 min (ish) course around much of Stanmer Park, including 7 sets of gates. Each set of gates had to be gone round in the correct order, and the teams were times at each point. Some were very careful, some extremely quick, and a few managed both. One single horse carriage we hated watching as the poor horse was being whipped so much and spoken to so harshly, and not surprisingly wasn't responding very well at all. The rest of them were a lot of fun to watch, and the drivers were much kinder in how they called out to the horses. Hannah was impressed that the horses understood the verbal calls of 'left' and 'right' as well as a few other things.





This is Joe and Jack pulling Sue (driver) and her friend (groom - I never got her name, but a very friendly lady!)





Sue, and Lady Braybourne (below), were the only two drivers with tandem carriages (front and back like a tandem bike or pushchair). It seemed a lot harder that way. They did really well, but both of them seemed to find it hard some of the corners, and weren't nearly as fast as some of the double and single carriages.



A four-horse team.



Our friendly team - nearly done.



There were some lovely children there to watch too. :o)
Running like horses,



rolling down hills,




just being happy,





of course, spending time with some very clever horses,




watching other teams get ready to go for their turn,



and waiting for their sisters who could not bear to leave the stables and horses behind!



There was another event - cones - which we didn't go to as it was on the Sunday. Saturday was a lovely relaxing day (when I was allowed to stay still!) Walking wasn't so easy, but nice to go all together and just be there for a few hours without doing too much. We made up for it mid-afternoon though when we dragged Rachel and Hannah away and went home to get a few things done before Sunday and a very busy week next week.

"E i addy oh, we're going to a farm!"

We really enjoyed going to just about the whole of General Conference last weekend between us. Then on Monday it was Rachel's 10th birthday. She woke up to balloons and birthday banners, spent a little time looking through her baby book while waiting for breakfast, and then was sung to and blew out the candles on her breakfast! She likes what they call "banana breakfast", with some berries added in. It's sort of cakey in consistency, so it worked!



After breakfast Rachel got quite excited about the day, and was gaily singing "e i addy oh, we're going to a farm" going upstairs to get dressed and ready to go. Jeans, top and wellies on - of course - this girl wants most of all to live on a farm, and opts for this on many days in an attempt to be living her dream. She desperately wants us to have animals, or at least one, which is something we're not up to doing right now, but will be in the future somewhere. So with some thought her best option for her birthday was visiting a farm. There is one around here that has been mentioned to us by two people, so that's where we went. First stop they were all fascinated but wary of the extremely speedy chickens. Peter felt much safer half way up a fence, but even better in Mummy's arms!





Rachel enjoyed the various animals around the farm. She and Hannah were in their element while helping groom the shire-cross pony they had there. Peter felt a bit safer with the Shetland ponies, but had a go too.






Her favourite of all were the rabbits though, especially the babies. She kept going back to them while the others played outside for a while (Peter was desperate to do this rather than look at animals), and had to go back there one last time before we left. Hannah I think liked the guinea pigs a little more. I, with my fascination for colour, just loved the peacock's tail feathers!!








I sat down to rest my heavy bump and my back for a while while the children spent some time in the playground there, and was joined by a cockerel who flew up onto the back of the bench I was on and proceeded to crow and crow to another cockerel a little farther away. They kept answering back until a boy came along and scared him, so the friendly cockerel quickly flew onto the picnic table towards me. I didn't fancy a cockerel in my face, so that was enough for me to move. I still loved watching their colours though as it pecked around my feet.






Here's a few of some of the children playing.







Peter kept coming back to this picture board as he could stand on the hay bails behind it on his own and loved to climb up there and stick his head through the holes. :o)







Rachel wanted to stay around for the afternoon milking on the dairy farm. We were all pretty hot and wiped out by that time, and went to play in the hay barn, which we hadn't found until that point. Amazingly, it was just what we all needed! Rushing around, getting buried with hay somehow refreshed and enlivened everyone although the odd person was a bit itchy afterwards where the hay had got inside their clothes a little too much! It was really fun in there, and felt just lovely. There was another Mum playing in there with her children, besides Michael, and it was just fun. We had mixed feelings over the milking. Treatment of animals is not always what it ought to be. It was interesting especially for the younger ones to watch though as they wouldn't remember when we last watched milking at a dairy farm in Wales, and Peter wasn't even born yet. I think Rachel and Hannah enjoyed it too.












We got home much later than we thought we might, so had a quick birthday tea, and then Rachel had a welly boot treasure hunt to find her birthday gifts before going off to bed, happy and tired from a day at the farm. :o)