This morning, for a change of scenery, Loraine and
Chloe and I drove Stacey to where her riding stables are – to visit her horses.
Diva and Alberto belong to her outright, and then her auntie and gran have Jacko,
Millie and Danny. Horses are her love and passion – you could easily see it
written all over her face, as well as by the way she stroked them.
As I questioned Stacey about the names for the various
colours of horses we saw in the surrounding fields, I learned some horse breed
terminology I hadn’t been aware of before: what in America we call ‘pinto’ or
‘paint’ for a horse with black and white spots, here that colouration is
referred to piebald – large irregular patches of black and white (usually
black on a white base). But there’s more! If any other colours (bay, brown,
chestnut, grey, dun or palomino) – are thrown into the mix – along with the black
– then it is known as skewbald, and both of these are official designated
breeds.
Chloe was a bit intimidated, as you could well imagine
she would be, by the size and grandeur of the horses. They kept nibbling at her
hat and tried to nuzzle her hands, thinking they were going to find something to
eat. In fact, Stacey had popped an apple in Chloe pocket to feed them and they
could smell that. You can easily envision how well Chloe opening up her hand to
offer an apple went over: those big lips and teeth – no way! Anyway, it was a
lot of fun being there and sharing those moments. Ever since I was a kid, I
have had the usual girl thing of loving horses myself!
The route to the stables is worth noting. Several
miles out of town, the roadways got more and more remote – less homes, buildings
more spread out. Reminded me very much of driving down Center Street in Provo,
as you get further out into the country and see farms and barns. Soon we were
traveling over large ruts in the dirt roads. By the time we arrived at our
destination, I saw that we were up on a knoll, close to the edge of the coast,
and you were looking down over miles of grassy fields, with the random horse
here and there, and sheep. It was beautiful and romantic – I could have stayed
there for a good long time, and the nice thing was that – for a change – we
didn’t have to rush too awful much.
Later this evening, under the impression that
Loraine was out on errands and thinking that this would be a perfect
opportunity for her to pick up some bulk supplies as long as she was at it
anyway, I texted her to say we needed to replenish our supply of toilet paper.
A comment soon came back, ‘use a small sheet and rinse when used.’ Very funny.
I retorted in like manner, ‘fine for me, but what about the other guests?’
Reply – ‘we’ll charge by the sheet.’ Only then did I get the REAL answer, ‘take
what you need out of Andy’s room – that’s been him texting you.’ I should have
known – he is such a cut-up! (Not out doing errands at all, Andy and Loraine
had gone to see Le Mis – they loved it, felt it had a definite spiritual
message. Loraine came home all red-eyed and weepy. Andrew and Ashley also loved
it; everyone says, you MUST go and see it!)
Photos_
1- 3 divas (the little sign above the name reads, ' a very spoiled horse lives here')
2- 4 friends, including Millie, the Shetland pony (as opposed
to persons or cats)
3- that silver lake out their is the sea
