Hello everyone, it’s Emma here from Hayfield, just outside Aberdeen. Welcome to my blog, a place where we explore the fascinating history of horses, and, as you can see, I’ve gone for a special year to cover in this post: 2070!
This is quite an exciting year in equine history because so much has happened already and yet so much more is still to unfold. I’m lucky to be living in a time where the role of the horse is still highly valued, and our future feels bright and promising. It feels almost magical to me as I look back through the pages of our horsey history and see all that’s come before…
Let’s start with the events that unfolded right at the start of 2070, that were so momentous.
In the winter, the long-awaited Equestrian Conservation Bill finally received royal assent in the Scottish Parliament, giving us even greater legal protection than we already had. This was huge news. There had been plenty of talk and some lobbying efforts but ultimately the bill became law because a really clever campaign of young horses and ponies like myself joined together on social media.
There were thousands of images and posts online using the hashtag #ProtectOurEquineFuture, with images of foals enjoying new fields of hay, horses at play, and even older, wiser, retired horses, just gazing into the camera. The politicians loved it! So the message reached people across the whole country - that horses are so important, to people and the environment alike. The public opinion shift really did create history in those cold winter months.
After the exciting win in Scottish politics, I felt hopeful about what was next for horses. My friend Liam, a little Shetland, commented to me about how happy he was to be part of history, though he never realised how long it might last - this feeling of a brighter future for our kind. I told him the same thing - even though things are good for horses at the moment, I just couldn't imagine anything going back to how it was even fifty years ago, with so many of our cousins suffering, or those bleak times a hundred years ago when we were practically endangered. I can only imagine what that was like! Thankfully, that period of real worry for horses and ponies is well in the past.
Speaking of worries - what everyone was truly focused on as 2070 arrived was the opening of the International Equine Sanctuary in the middle of London. You would never believe that this huge plot of land would be green space in the heart of such a vast city! Of course, I couldn’t believe it either. My grandfather, who was a working cob used on the building sites for the last of the old London Underground, would have just been gobsmacked at the sight of it. All those horses and ponies who might have suffered because they were too old, injured or just ‘unsuitable’ to work were welcomed in London. That’s how much things had changed!
On opening day, it was amazing to see the crowd. Hundreds, no, maybe even thousands of children all excitedly jumping about while their parents followed closely behind. Even older folks seemed like kids again, marvelling at all the different horses and ponies – everything from thoroughbreds to Icelandic horses, tiny little ponies and everything in between. The horses all seemed to like it as well - grazing peacefully or exploring the special ponds that had been built especially for the animals.
All this was due to the dedication of humans and a group of volunteers called 'Project Equine'. This incredible team set up special facilities to welcome injured or unwell horses who needed expert medical care. They had a large section for retired working horses and ponies – including draught horses like myself - who had worked all their lives and now needed to enjoy a nice long rest and to be given all the treats they deserved. There were also specialist areas for wild ponies, donkeys, and even zebras. They weren't all together of course – each had their own little spot. They called it “The Zebra's Zebra-sanctuary” to make it feel a little bit special for the zebra to feel at home! Of course, they knew zebras were also horses really, but they still had their own space. And the most amazing thing of all – they were giving sanctuary to all kinds of other animals, including rescued foxes, badgers and even birds that had lost their homes. What a magnificent thing that was! I think they wanted to provide sanctuary to everything on the planet – animals and people. I knew I was already living in the perfect time for horses.
There’s still a lot of work to be done, but things have really turned around since the start of this century. Horses still have work to do – in all sorts of interesting places too – not just farms. Some work as companions and therapy helpers, working alongside therapists to help humans who have mental or physical problems. My auntie Agnes did this work for several years in a psychiatric ward before she retired to a beautiful stable and vineyard near Bristol – another good example of the wonderful possibilities of human-animal relationships today! Agnes has been my heroine since she gave me her old leather saddle bag for Christmas when I was still just a foal. I was always trying to play dress-up as an adult horse. But all I needed to be was me - a nice little grey draught horse, with white tail and mane, like I am now!
My friends told me about their working lives and we all chatted away on Equiworld – a big chat room that was linked up to the 'cloud', which was something that no one understood, and nobody really seemed to care. What mattered was that all horses had their own accounts and they were given all the latest news from across the planet and beyond. Everyone was still on Equinet. That was the global connection - our super speedy internet where everyone - humans and horses – met up. But some still said the best time of day was when we just sat and shared our tales together in the horsechat rooms and the global forum. It wasn't a big change from what our ancestors might have done a hundred or so years before when we all met up at a local waterhole to swap stories and news of the countryside. But maybe the world now was much larger than just one valley.
There was so much more to tell you. I'll have to share it in another post - because I have to rush out now and meet some friends. But it is definitely important for young horses and ponies like me to keep telling our story because I’ve discovered that horses need a little helping hand sometimes when people forget we have just as much right to be happy as anyone else. And it is definitely something to be proud of to live in the year 2070!
Emma out!
## Part 2: A Change of Mindset
Hello again everyone, I’m back here at Hayfield. You know what, sometimes you have to go back a bit to understand why things are as good as they are now! I went to the Hayfield Archives the other day to do some digging around for historical research about 2070. You’d be surprised at how much interesting information is buried there, even for a small town like mine! It was quite strange. It was in the records held by our 'local Equine Liaison' who looked after all our interests – including what to do when there were too many foals born. That never seems to be a problem nowadays, so I had to read up to figure out what the humans were dealing with! You see, they had a really tough time figuring out the right things to do to make sure the horse population stayed manageable and the horses weren't forced into poor working conditions, with no food or even homes. That was the challenge for horses in the past.
That's where it gets a bit upsetting. For much of the previous centuries – it was always about 'making money' out of horses, even when humans couldn’t really understand why so many horses seemed to disappear each year – they said there was an ‘Equine Gap’ where we suddenly all vanished - only to come back years later, but often in far smaller numbers!
Of course, we’re all happy things were different today – but this time of uncertainty had lasting impacts. This led to some pretty bad decisions and a real shift in human attitude when horses were no longer as economically valuable - and no one could understand what was going on!
I still remember my grandfather's story from his younger days - a story passed on to all us Hayfield foals. He spoke about the long winters when all the animals suffered from cold and lack of food. His first few winters on this earth were bleak. Horses struggled with hunger and the bitter chill of the air. This wasn't always a given – in fact in much of history there was a close partnership and even a kind of respect and love that many horses shared with their humans - though this often depended on who your humans were.
Anyway, the point was that back in his youth, his parents kept moving all the time to different places in England - places with harsh winters. They always wanted a nice little farm, he said, somewhere safe to stay put for a while - with decent food for themselves and enough feed and hay for the family. The constant moving about was no good, my grandfather explained. That meant less rest for the horse - a lot more stress to be travelling and not enough rest for them to build their strength up for winter. He wasn't a particularly tough horse - in fact, he was just your typical cob and he’d much rather enjoy a big snooze on a soft pile of hay! He said that it wasn’t so much about him – it was the youngsters - the foals, who didn't really have any say at all in what humans planned out. The human mind, back in those days, often felt they needed to put a bit of profit or gain back into everything - like everything always had to be a business, especially when it came to our kind. I guess, a bit like the modern human saying – “If you want to be treated as part of the family - make sure you pay your way!" I imagine it's hard to understand that for someone who hasn't really got any money - like me!
As I continued my reading, the Archives seemed to reveal more and more strange stories of ‘human ignorance’ that actually came with ‘good intentions'. One case which stuck with me was the invention of the 'Artificial Pony'. This was a bizarre, kind of rubber horse designed to take away the 'mess' and 'problem' of ‘real’ horses! That idea made absolutely no sense at all to me, because of course - nothing could really ever compare to the love and affection of a true companion – the connection of a true horse. And to think that the human idea of just 'recreating' a horse could ever be close to the same as being able to ride an actual animal - I just can't even imagine it! It made me laugh as well, thinking about people sitting on an enormous inflatable rubber pony.
Then again, this wasn't something my grandfather really told me. He wasn’t around for all this strange technology – even he couldn’t imagine things like this would ever happen, although I’m pretty sure, even if he had experienced all this, he would still just be his usual ‘nice’ self - with a snigger at human attempts to reinvent nature! A smile spread across my face as I pictured him saying 'there is no replacement for the real thing'. But it did give me another point of comparison - that we didn't always just feel a kind of affection or friendship from some humans but at times that the connection was far more significant and deeper than I’d even been able to comprehend. That was something else that felt really important to discover.
My grandfather died in his later years during the 2020s – a really difficult time in history when things really began to change for horses and their relationship with humans, he said. Those years really helped create the foundations for a brighter future for horses - although that period seemed to leave humans slightly scarred. Maybe this time of difficulty caused them to reflect on what was really important - the love and bond that some humans had with horses.
Thankfully, things were so different for my parents – a family of three generations now living in the Hayfield countryside. I was always taught that I had an incredibly important job, that made me a unique creature and helped define my future, that of every single horse, and what was truly important in human history. This was because humans came to understand that 'connection' was actually vital for both horses and themselves. It seemed that people were ready to understand their responsibility to respect horses and animals in general.
But there was more - another really fascinating bit of news I stumbled across in the Archives! I couldn't believe it. They talked about a special horse from China who was so famous for having amazing skills! His name was T'sai – he had incredible strength – I hear that his legs were able to shift the equivalent of a huge 4x4 vehicle! That was phenomenal strength and he helped the humans a great deal as a farmworker - he was a true working horse, and apparently one of the last working horses in the country. Even now, we talk about this horse as an icon of what is possible between humans and horses.
Now, of course, many horses still have work to do, including a really amazing number in Scotland. A huge percentage of farmwork relies on us here. But humans in all countries had shifted away from ‘industrial farming' and realised that there were far better methods that helped all species, even including the bugs, beetles and creatures living beneath the soil. I even heard that this change really helped make the planet greener and healthier! Who would have thought that respecting the work of horses would be the answer to solving the earth's problems. I am so proud that my kind played such an important role in helping everyone have a happy future.
I learned something incredibly important about how times have changed for the better when it comes to our world and how we interact with horses and the wider world - it seemed humans finally managed to get it right. That’s why I can't wait for you to discover how 2070 truly transformed everything in our world! It's about more than just a shift in the human mind - it's about everyone coming together, helping one another, making a difference, and taking our role seriously. That's my story about horses. I can't wait to tell you the next chapter! I’m so glad that our amazing ancestors helped us to have this life in 2070!
Emma out!
## Part 3 - The Future is Here
Hello everyone. Now I can tell you all about what really happened in the year 2070, starting right now - and it's a real rollercoaster ride. We're on the edge of what could really be described as a revolution!
The reason we know that we’re right at the cutting edge of progress, of course, is due to our beloved ‘Global Equine Networks’. In 2070, Equinet finally became a fully interactive virtual world and one that changed everything about horses’ future. In fact, we’ve heard stories about a sort of 'prototype’ network being used to get the message about saving horses right out to the world during those really scary years a few decades before, the period of our near extinction, so it feels good to know how this new form of global community will help us and future generations of horses.
Our whole equine community has been talking non-stop about the amazing opportunities created by Equinet. It's already transformed how horses are looked after. We have 'equine doctors', of course. That was the same as back in my granddad's day - just much more sophisticated - they actually use a type of magic that humans call ‘advanced genetic analysis' to identify and prevent all sorts of problems, right down to the very genes of the foals before they're even born! Now humans and horses both agree that preventing problems - for everyone - was just as important as curing illness.
So that means Equinet is a space for everything that’s important to the horse world, as I said – with real magic. Now we have ‘expert’ foaling services across the world - we know that those first few days are critical, so a horse’s first impressions about being loved and cared for can be absolutely magical! But Equinet also tells us all about ‘veterinary science’. This means that we've moved away from painful surgical procedures and moved on to far less painful options, involving all sorts of other types of treatment – including new treatments, or at least ones we've been lucky to receive. But humans say that they ‘reinvented’ all of their medical processes to benefit everyone - both humans and horses - though what I don't quite understand is how all this new 'veterinary magic' was supposed to help us understand how horses really felt when it came to receiving medication. They were also careful about what medicines and treatments they prescribed. That's another real shift in how people work with us and why, at least for us, it's such a massive win! I just wanted to shout out “Yippee - we’re lucky horses” because even if they couldn’t fully comprehend a horse's perspective, they tried as much as possible to make things right and just to be kind!
The other thing about Equinet, is that it’s made everyone so much more aware of the horses out there needing help – whether they've got bad health or have just lost their homes for one reason or another. Because humans do make mistakes and don't always understand our needs. This is the ‘Equine Charity’ service where hundreds, or maybe even thousands of horses from all over the world can receive a second chance at a happy life – everything from those horses living with a little old woman to ponies running free in the vast prairies of South America. It seems the whole planet cares! There is always hope. I even saw stories about some wild horses, the ones with the huge manes – the beautiful mustangs - who had actually been running free on the dusty tracks of a Nevada desert, being given safe sanctuary and being reintroduced into protected lands across California. Who would have thought that one day they would feel safe in their homes again! It was definitely a different way of looking at what was important in the world, rather than just a profit margin! This truly amazing idea came about because someone had decided to dedicate themselves to caring for horses – with no expectation of receiving anything in return! They were completely giving and selfless and just felt happy knowing they’d improved the lives of these beautiful, wild creatures. They just cared.
So many changes. We all still love being cared for by loving humans and we just love that the humans who love us still really appreciate horses and ponies and know just what makes us feel happy and well – good care, good food and a loving stable with nice warm hay on a cold day!
My world has always revolved around my beloved stable, a farm just beyond Hayfield, called Glenacre Farm. I am so grateful that this farm, the kind of haven that horses and ponies like myself, continues to thrive - even with all this huge world outside and our exciting adventures in the global community.
What I also like is that all our horsey lives in Glenacre are pretty typical - a family of mares and their youngsters, working hard and sometimes feeling a bit lazy. Sometimes we just wanted a lie-down in the sun and get lots of tummy scratches! What’s the point in rushing, really, we just love a good dose of horse-life – no matter what’s going on around us in the big world. We've learned that all of this is something to treasure, to enjoy, because there are times when we’ll have a lot to learn about the wider world, and how everything will change.
What has surprised me about Equinet – and maybe I have been sleeping through too many global horse meetings – is just how much horses and humans can do together! I didn't know that there was such a huge world out there beyond Hayfield and even beyond our farm. So far, all my travels have only been on Equinet! But I’m keen to find out just what this new world is like and who knows - maybe I’ll be posting from another location next year, a world I only ever knew before through virtual reality. I guess what is amazing for me is that things are now better for horses in many ways but things still haven’t really settled down yet! It feels as though a huge exciting future for us all is only just starting.
I’m looking forward to the day when I might actually have to travel a long distance. But right now I have an enormous pile of delicious carrots to enjoy and a beautiful patch of sun-drenched meadow.
Emma out!
