Hello fellow equines,
Well, another year under my belt, as it were. The good thing about being a grey is I don’t have to worry so much about turning grey! The not so good thing is I have a lot more of those dark bits on me these days. But hey, 20 years old and still feeling full of beans!
My name is Emma and I live in a lovely, little village called Hayfield, near Aberdeen. My humans, I think, are going to let me live out the rest of my days here with them, they’re good people. Mind you, if my last home with those men was any indication, all humans seem to have been pretty good to horses at some point or another. Some maybe just better than others.
I know a few of you lot read this blog, so let me tell you what's been going on this year. Well, to be honest, not much in this corner of the world. It was mainly business as usual and my job still seems to involve a whole lot of cart-pulling, to my enduring dismay, though admittedly, a great deal less pulling now compared to when I was a young mare. I think, given my age and lack of pep in my step these days, they are now a little bit kinder to me in my old age. They've started using my young half-brother Jasper more now for all the heavy work - that boy is such a brute. A proper strong lad, and he looks to be one of those dark horses with all those black hairs showing through already, just a splash of grey so far on his hindquarters, bless him. It seems as though everyone likes him so I’m hoping that means he’ll be with my current owners for life, the good sorts that they are.
The main change this year for me, as always seems to be the weather. We’ve been plagued with quite a bit of rain again in Hayfield - the good sort that grows lots of lush green grass to munch on, though I think some people are a bit scared of all the floods and what might happen with this extra water.
Back when I was a foal, back when the Roman Empire was alive and kicking and we all lived in fear of those crazy Roman chariots speeding through Hayfield, we would just happily chew on the fields while watching them whizz around, but now those men are all gone. A good thing, too. Apparently they did not treat their horses too well, at least, so they said. I only heard tell, of course, through the whispers of other horses - my owners wouldn't dream of telling me the real truth.
They tell me these things.
You see, I was born way after the last Roman, and no, my humans aren’t that old! They only started keeping horses after that mess got sorted. But they say there were many good Roman horse stories that had to be left untold so the good ones could stay hidden. All they’d say was the Romans took many a fine Scottish pony, some even stronger than me, off to fight with them on the Continent - for what, they wouldn’t say!
Anyway, our good Roman days are long gone - my dear father was born then. A large shire he was. A great stallion, but a little too prone to be on the rampage and that was all too much for a mere human. They were the ones who used to get on me when I was a filly and train me to pull loads around, and for good measure - if you know what I mean.
Now though, the most talk is all about a King in England - called Æthelberht the First or something. He seems to be very good about giving horses, and not just steeds either, but good strong farm horses a place. I heard from a passing farm worker that they need a whole lot more horses than before for working on their farms now, and also some to do with battles. But the passing workers did not explain that.
Apparently it’s a sort of peaceful King in a very strange, distant place I’d never heard of, somewhere across the sea - Kent. Sounds a little bit terrifying to me, I must confess. Lots of nasty-looking, mean men with very loud armour that make horses bolt are usually in charge in these parts - though, not now apparently. Who knows how many poor stallions, and even maybe the odd filly, have died in those strange places, away from our lush grass here, though our workers tell us it’s not our worry any longer. Horses like us, that is. I guess my worries were those chariots, but as the humans all say “ that’s just the way it was”, “ can’t change things in the past” or "things change” They tell us this even when we say we’re not that hungry for any grass in the fields in our old age!
However, things have calmed down quite a bit these days. In Hayfield, it’s all about quiet life now and I like it. Every now and then we see a couple of strange, new horses passing by from up in those remote Highlands, heading South - they are different horses with strange hair, and even stranger ways, but they do not cause any trouble and are nice, quiet animals just like us in Hayfield. The humans here tell us these wild horses from faraway places are really very interesting but quite dangerous if you’re not very careful with them.
Even though it is all quiet in Hayfield now - I hear tell that lots of new types of things are starting to happen now in all the faraway countries where those big ships go. It sounds like these new ships even carry horses from one country to the other. I just can’t imagine what all these countries are like - even my humans say it's quite scary. I hear it's full of men doing terrible things - to horses and humans alike, though there’s talk that it is all starting to calm down again now and there is more trade rather than conflict over those things - things called “Horses” but not like us. Apparently some have all kinds of “things on their heads”, whatever those “things” are - my humans are no help at all as they can’t seem to even explain what it is - they tell me, in their clumsy way, it’s something only humans would be interested in! But at least we don’t have to go and deal with those strange men with the chariots now!
This blog is for all horses like us though, and those humans that look after us so well and like us as much as they like other animals, such as dogs. Even though we sometimes fight with those annoying things when our owners are away from home. They love to get in the way when we are grazing on those lush meadows in the summer after a lovely, sunny day - all that beautiful sunshine means good growth - yum yum! The human doesn't seem to notice our little differences. Well, that is just a dog, a horse wouldn’t have any idea why it would worry about what any human thought anyway. We have such little in common, we can’t even talk properly! They only use that big mouth of theirs to make that noise, a bit like an irritating and unnecessary cough - oh it drives me mad.
At any rate, I love all my humans, even though I really do want them to brush my mane more, the nasty, little fleas I keep getting on me really irritate me - it’s not fair!
The human is not much good when it comes to that kind of job - it needs someone strong like me to be good at grooming my coat but I suppose if I kept kicking the silly humans it might make me not so popular. That and the fact that, even at 20 years old, I can’t see why anyone should care that much about fleas.
Anyway, I would not swap those lovely humans I have at the moment, even if the weather could be a bit warmer - oh for a bit more sun!
I will, as I’m sure you lot would have guessed, leave you now. Until next time - keep your noses clean and your manes shining - that's what those humans love so much - I don’t quite understand, really! A bit strange they are these humans. But you have to take the good with the bad - we have so much in common, us and the humans - a whole lot of grass - especially that extra nice sort we find after a storm and a good downpour, when the ground’s covered with the thick, lush stuff. Ah it’s such good stuff! See you next year!
Emma,
A grey draught mare, near Aberdeen, Scotland
