Early morning rides, farmers’ tans and beach rides where you remember not to ride on the promenade – it’s all part of summer as a horse owner, writes Carolyn Henderson.
Summer is just around the corner. In my circle, we’ve been saying that since May; it was mainly to encourage ourselves as waterproofs started to feel more like second skins, but now it’s true.
For horse owners, summer means special times. Some might seem a little different to those outside our world, but if they strike a key, you’re a true horse person. You know it’s summer when…
- The alarm goes at sunrise and you leap or creep out of bed, depending on whether your sleeping arrangements are solo or shared, for an early hack or schooling session. If your horse is stabled, this allows time for you to give him a small amount of forage/high fibre feed and let him digest it.
- If you’ve crept out of bed, your other half either remains in oblivion; wakes up, decides it’s all a bad dream and goes back to sleep; or says something unprintable. Whatever, you’ve done your best. If he or she disagrees, point out that you could do a lot worse.
- You slather yourself with Factor 50 but still end up skewbald – brown face, arms and neck and the rest an unflattering white. With a lot of practice and clever stuff in a bottle, you can even it up. Well, more or less. High maintenance friends of both sexes say the only answer is a spray tan, but if you’ve got horses, how do you find the time?
- Even routine jobs seem more enjoyable. Sit out in the garden, soak up the sunshine and clean tack. Even better, sit out in the garden, soak up the sunshine and bribe your kids to clean tack.
- You can give your horse a bath without worrying whether he’ll get cold. Nothing beats the pleasure of seeing a gleaming horse with white bits you can only look at when wearing sunglasses. Always take a picture – he’s guaranteed to roll the minute you turn him out, but it’s great while it lasts.
- While the non-horsey members of your family will the temperatures to rise and the rain to stay away, you worry that the ground will be too hard to canter on, let alone jump. You’ve got to get your priorities right.
- The evenings stay light for so long that you can catch up on all the jobs you’ve been putting off. If your nearest and dearest use your image as a screensaver so they can remember what you look like, you can always suggest that they help. The “You could do this so much better/quicker than I can” works wonders.
- Even your farrier is in a good mood. If mine happens to read this, I must add that he’s always in a good mood – except when it’s cold and raining and my Fell pony unties himself and does a runner just before the last shoe goes on.
- If local legislation allows, you can treat yourself to beach rides and forest hacks as well as competitions. Check these, and tide times, before you go. The rules for my nearest beach say that “No person can ride a horse or any other animal on the promenade”, so don’t be tempted!
- You can make time to just be with and watch your horse. It isn’t self-indulgence, it’s a chance to get away from pressure and give your brain a chance to re-wire itself. Who needs fancy names like mindfulness when you’ve got a horse?
- You agree to and even look forward to a holiday, but arrange for whoever is looking after your horse to send daily pics so you know he’s OK and not pining for you. We all do it, and who are we trying to kid?
So what are you looking forward to this summer? We’d love to know.