She is a rescued brood mare, nine years old, sweet-natured but needing a lot of feeding up and a lot of human attention, which she's not used to. She is broken to ride and drive, which is a good start!
And this is Bob. He is off the mountain, a two-year-old colt who is to be broken the Horse-Whisperer way. Already you can lean on his back and he doesn't even look to see what's happening. He is absurdly friendly, but prefers carrots to apples.
He was named by us before we found Hope - who had her name already.
Fortunately for me, my friend Jane, who helps with the sheep and the washing up, is very experienced with horses. She gets to keep a couple of horses with free feed and housing, and I get to learn harness work. I want them to pull beams to crush bracken; to pull a sledge or cart with firewood, muck, hay, straw, etc; and, maybe, turn the drying hay slowly and gently to preserve the precious herbal leaves. All those jobs can be better done by horse-power than tractor-power, especially in a wet winter.
Next spring - the new geese pair take to the Road - Bing and Dorothy . . . . .
