Meet Monty, my timeshare horse.
Isn't he a handsome chap?
Hehe, timeshare is probably not quite the best way to describe our setup but it's close. Monty belongs to Faye and as she has two horses and has just really hurt her back (ouch!), she was looking for someone to part loan the Montster. I saw the ad, sent her an email and voila! I now look after him and ride him 2-3 days a week. Suits me perfectly as the yard isn't close enough to home for me to realistically manage any more days but it's enough to still feel like I'm properly involved with horses again.
It's bliss. You probably think I'm a complete maddo for saying that - spending two hours a night in the cold, dark and pissing rain (and oh my god, will it please stop raining?!), getting lavishly covered in mud and hay and being towed through deep puddles and barged into hedges on the way back from the field is not most people's idea of fun. Anyone who's horsey will understand though. It gets into your blood. I spent most of my childhood and teenage years doing all of the above and I missed it so, so much.
Yes, the winter is the grimmest time to be involved with horses - you spend most of it freezing and grotty - but I figure that if I'm fine with it now, the summer will be a doddle! I don't mind a bit of evening gloom. I've got my thermal long johns and I'm fully head torched up! Plus the yard has a little indoor school so I can still ride during the week.
Faye is absolutely lovely and Monty is a proper sweetheart. We're having lots of fun together!
These are his field chums:
And his next door neighbour Rocky:
And the two teeny tiny Shetlands on the yard!
