Summertime

And for the moment the living is easy. Two whole days of sunshine and the warmest temperatures so far have meant I have been able to ditch my flannel shirt, sweater, thick socks and fleece in favour of my lighter T-shirts and- oh my God I am also wearing shorts. Won't last though, never does for long so I don't put my thicker clothers "away" so much as move them to one side.

Adrian has actually been off on holiday for the last week or so and we have been out and about a bit. We had one whole day where we saw no horses at all, probably a record of some sort. On Bank Holiday Monday we ended up at the Botanical Gardens near Carmarthen which is where the above photographs were taken. It is a bit of a haunt of ours, a place we can go and have a wander and sort of get away from things here for a bit. They do a nice lunch menu as well. The photos show the glass house, a real must if you go there. The top photo is inside the glasshouse and the other shows it from the outside. The whole site is beautiful and there are plenty of places to walk and see no one at all which is also nice for us.

The good news here at the farm is that after two and a half years, Adrian has finally and at long last finished my poultry area. I feel I should hang out the flags and declare another Bank Holiday for the principality. I love poultry, they are busy creatures and take little looking after. The turkeys are bizarre birds, Stanley is nothing if not incredible. That's him below. He's something else isn't he? Trouble is they are so destructive that I had virtually no seedlings left. All my veg plots have to be netted off as well. Now although I shall miss having the birds wandering round the garden, at least I shall have some plants left. At least he and his woman Gidget won't end up as dinner.

Just a domestic type of day

You need those sometimes don't you? What with horses jumping out of stables, cats with parasites in their eye and the general hurly-burly of life up here, it sometimes does the heart good to just be...well, normal I suppose you could call it.

Don't know where the sun got to, the rest of the world seems bathed in sunshine and high temperatures and we have greyness and the temperature didn't get much above 60 degrees. Such is life up here.

I begin to get concerned about my vegetables about now. Everything is much further behind than I was used to in East Anglia or indeed further behind than the garden that belongs to the couple who live at the bottom of the hill. I had to put the runner bean plants out and sow the rest of the bean seed. I am still wary of putting out my morning glories, they are so sensitive but they also are screaming to go into the ground so I may have to give in to their plea and put them in tomorrow. I always grow sweet peas, Alderman peas, runner beans and morning glories on two structures that I pray are wind proof. The peas are a late variety that grow up to 6 feet high. The seeds I put in the ground rotted so I put some in gutter pipe in the greenhouse and they didn't come up either so as a last resort I have put a load in pots in the warm in the downstairs loo, it's warm in there because of the water boiler so with a bit of luck they will soon be on their way.

I also did a lot of baking today, something I enjoy but don't always get time to do. So we have a nice fruit cake, a load of Welsh cakes and I made a custard tart with our own eggs. It is a much darker colour than the ones you buy in the shops as the eggs are more "free range"-or rather "large garden". You can't say "free range" unless your hens receive no supplementary feed apparently.

One thing I didn't say yesterday was that while we were out, Tabby rang to say she had been contacted by a man that had found a young foal that was abandoned by it's mother and was in a state of collapse. He had tried one of the larger charities and got nowhere, would we take it? Tabby explained our situation with regard to equine flu, suggested he try Animal Health at the local council but if he got nowhere, he was to ring us back. He said if needs be he would bring it over in the back of his car as it was only the size of a labrador. In the interim Tabby spoke to Adrian, who agreed we would do our best for the animal, after all it is what we are here for. She tried several times to get back to the informant but by the time she reached him, he had had a reply from the major charity to say they would send a man out to have a look. I wonder what happened? I hope the animal got the help it deserved. We certainly would have done our very best.

Animals. Who'd have them?

I wonder sometimes.

Yesterday we ended up taking Seven to the vet. He had something in his eye that made him blink and made the eye weep. We had a look and saw a brown thing in his eye that seemed mobile but try as hard as we might we couldn't move it enough to let him shed it naturally so in the afternoon, we stuffed in a cat basket and away to the vet. We were a bit apprehensive because of course Seven is sort of semi feral but he was actually very cooperative.

The vet had a look, up close and personal like they do and then got a pair of tweezers, we held him down and she removed it. The only thing we can think it was was a fluke, or a parasite that normally gets into the skin but somehow got into his eye and partially under the third eye lid. Pardon me while I heave. The the vet removed a couple of sheep ticks, one of which was alive and wriggling (pardon me while I heave again) before we brought him home.

So all was well that ended well there.

The weather report for today should have been light rain but in Wales that means heavy rain to the point of deluge with winds set to tear your hair out and a temperature 5 degrees lower than the rest of the UK which added to the wind chill makes it 10 degrees lower. There you go, I could be a weather forecaster of the telly couldn't I?

Adrian disappeared outside and didn't return and the finance lady wanted a word so I went on a reccie in the pouring rain and high winds to find him and Tabby out in the front paddock trying to entice the foal close enough to get a head collar on so they could bring her mother inside to warm up. The foal was having none of it and was cavorting round the field kicking her heels up and generally making a nuisance of herself while the two humans had to try not to care.

Tabby had just got a hand near her neck when there was a noise from the main barn where Chance and Sasha had been put to warm up. Now we know that Chance has a bit of a claustrophobia problem but usually if she is in the barn with Sasha she will settle.

Not so today. We heard the noise and looked at Chance trying to get over the stable door and all credit to her she nearly made it as well but somehow she lost it and ended up hanging over the stable door, front feet in the corridor and rears in the stable. The mare and foal were released to deal with this more urgent problem and the foal went into the field shelter with mum which was what was needed in the first place. Gee thanks.

Away to deal with Chance then. She was starting to get edgy now and was shaking in fear. What we didn't want was for her to struggle and hurt herself. Adrian tried several different ways to sort the problem but she is too heavy for him to lift up from either end (good way to be kicked as well) and her weight on the door meant he couldn't open it at all to try and get her into a better position so she could extricate herself. If she hadn't been quite so large that all feet were in fact firmly on the concrete that would have worked.

What to do, what to do?

Bolt cutters. Cut the hinges on the door and it should fall forward and she will move. Bolt cutters didn't work, hinges too big. I suddenly remembered the crow bar I keep in my wood shed (every woman should have a shed) so I fetched that and Adrian had to lever the stable door off and then pull it forward so that the mare could at last move out of danger. But stap me vitals, she didn't want to move then and just stood there. Waiting for a bus I suppose. We checked her over, doesn't seem to be any damage apart from a cut on her leg but we were very lucky that she didn't tear her stomach open on the tin strips that are across the top of the doors, some of them are pretty ragged. Then of course it was what do we do with her now?

In the end we had to move Humphrey and Sadie out of the other barn into the main barn and put Sasha and Chance down there and leave the back door of that open just in case she gets a panic attack and needs to be outside without one of us being there to help her.

So we have one stable without a door now. Chance is as happy as a clam apparently down in the other barn with Sasha but they can't stay there as the paddock is too small for them and the grass will be gone in 48 hours. Then of course there is the problem of we have been trying to keep everybody in seperate places so that we don't have any cross infection of the flu thing the horses have so we will have to juggle that one as well.

Let no man tell us that we have the idyllic life up here till they come and spend a week or two.

Impetus

One thing that I have found difficult about life here on the farm is maintaining the impetus. Adrian and I have a great deal of that of course, we live here and as I mentioned once before, if it fails we have nowhere to go.

However it is still a difficult thing to do, for us to maintain all our energies and to carry on motivating others to do the same.

At the moment whilst in the pseudo quarantine of the equine flu, it is very easy for Adrian, Tabby and me to take it easy, rest a bit and become reclusive up here. It is such a beautiful place and it is easy to forget about the rest of the world, letting it slip past us un-noticed, only surfacing for grocery shopping. I have to admit we did try to get a supermarket delivery only to find we are 2 numbers out on the post code and as such they don't deliver. That would make it even more attractive to stay right here and potter about with few interruptions. To stay in the garden and enjoy the summer weather (what little we get up here) is a huge attraction believe me.

But being a small and not very well funded charity we can't do that. I had a long talk to myself last night, like you do just before you drop off to sleep, and find that I am concerned that we aren't covering enough bases even without being able to take ponies to events. If we aren't careful, we will be forgotten and I don't want that to happen.

The ideas we had the other day need to be consolidated and "got on with" if we are not to falter at the next fence. We have come so far, so very far, we have raised the awareness of the local population and are moving in the right direction. We cannot allow equine flu to be our undoing because we have lost our motivation. Nearly a year after being told by two other major charities we should close, we are still here. Ok, it's a bit dodgy but we are still here and we can remain here if we push on and never let up. But it needs to be all of us that are involved with the Trust, not just a few, we all need to pull together.

So any of you who read my blog and have ideas please get on with them. Things aren't going to happen by themselves, I have learned that you make your own luck to a certain degree and at the moment we definitely could do with some good luck.

Return of the Magnificent Seven

There, just when you thought it was going to be about a silly spaghetti western, I throw you a picture of a cat. Well, there you are, I guess you should never assume anything about me.

The cat in the picture is indeed named Seven and he has mysteriously reappeared again. When we moved here he was still semi feral, we had only just managed to entice him into the house. He sort of moved in on us at the other place, I already had 6 cats and didn't want another one, but this fluffy 6 month old silver tabby just wouldn't go away. We trapped him and tried to get one of the animal charities to take him but none would, their policy was to neuter and release in the area from which he was trapped. As we lived on a main road and I wasn't prepared to come home from work and find him dead on the road, we kept him and because we couldn't think of any suitable name, decided we would call him Seven as we already had the other 6. Ah well, I always have been a sucker.

When we moved here, Seven came along with us and the others but we quickly realised that he was a cat apart. When we finally let everybody out after a week or so he wandered off and we didn't see him for a month. I knew he was around because he whinges a lot, particularly if it is time to be fed but he wouldn't come in the house again for a while. That first winter he came in occasionally, we could tell the weather was going to be bad if Seven came in. The first summer we only saw him sporadically, a fleeting glimpse here and there. It became a bit of a "Where's Wally?" type of challenge for everybody that came, spot Seven if you can.

I think the longest he was ever AWOL was about 6 weeks one summer. It got to the point where I assumed that he had met with some accident and was no more. I was just beginning to get used to the idea when he appeared across the yard and then as quick as wink was gone again. When we did manage to get hold of him, we checked him over and he seemed to be well fed, sleek and despite the long coat, not a single matt on him. We came to the conclusion that he had found a little old lady's knee to sit on and that he only condescended to visit us on Bingo night. And so it stayed up until just recently.

Friday evening the cat flap went and there was the familiar whinging. Most strange as it is prime hunting time for cats up here, rats, mice and other small creatures abound and we didn't expect to see anything of him for several weeks yet. In fact, that very day I had wondered where he was so I must be a bit telepathic. But Seven was there, as large as life yet on close inspection, wasn't as fat as he has been, he has a few matts and his general condition wasn't as good as I have seen even in the worst of the winter. What is even more surprising is that he shows no inclination to disappear again. Most unlike him. I am beginning to wonder what his angle is or if the little old lady whose knee he has been cuddled up on has gone to a more permanent type of bingo game, if you get my drift. Something isn't right.

But never mind, I am the type of person who likes to know where my animals are, I never cared for his wandering off for weeks at a time though Adrian says that is what some cats do. Not my cats thank you. I would much rather have him drooling all over my knee than somebody else's so that I know he is alright.

So welcome home Seven.

You will have to excuse my sporadic appearance on the blog, we are sort of off and I don't always get round to updating myself. Back to normal by the 4th June I think.

Yesterday for instance we never really finished till about 9.30 when I washed the dishes so I didn't switch on...I am afraid I am not one of those people who burn the midnight oil, I am in bed with my book just after 10 every night unless we are out or entertaining (both very rare events).

Good day though yesterday, lots to think about really. First off I finally managed to learn how to do bigger resolutions on photographs on my 'pooter. I am a bit of a techno phobe/nerd. If I don't have to do something specific I don't sit on the box for hours learning all the subtle nuances that make up a computer, simply not interested. But there are times when you have to buckle down and do something you haven't done before and sorting out the resolution was yesterday's challenge. It was easy in the end, don't know why I was so wary of it. So the photographs have now gone off to be edited into our slot on Good Morning.

Didn't I tell you all that Adrian and I are going to be on the telly? Very exciting. It is for a downsizing thing, an advertisement I answered way back in November last year. We were chosen because we have changed our lifestyle and cut all the strings of the old life, no second home tucked away somewhere just in case, this is it. If it all goes down the tubes, we have nowhere to go. A very sobering thought that really motivates you to make a "go" of things.

Which brings me to part 2 of yesterday, a brainstorming half hour between Adrian and myself, Tabby and one of our volunteers who has come back despite the flu as she has no contact with horses. We came up with some good ideas that involve local people that will raise awarness of the Trust and hopefully some much needed cash as well. We aim to have something going on at least once a month. Not always easy and of course coming up for Christmas we get very busy with donkey things as you can imagine. Millie had 5 engagements last year. Nearly couldn't get her head through the door in the end. Anyway the July event is a 6 day sponsored ride that I will tell you more about as I have the details and we have come up with a couple of things into the autumn up to November. We like to keep busy.

Yesterday afternoon was taken up with a course that Adrian and I went to that was all about using animals as land management and the benefits to the environment. Quite interesting, all about grasses and forage and flowers and what animals are best used in certain circumstances.

It was nice to hear that our fields, although over stocked at present due to the flu, contain a lot of healthy options for horses as opposed to just grass. In the leaflet I was able to tick off 85% of the plants listed. Things like stitchworts, vetches, scabious; wild flowers that you don't see in fields that are fertilised and resown ever few years in order to maximise the nutrients of the grass in order to fatten up the animals on it quicker. We aren't in that game anyway and our equines don't need "good" grass. They prefer some of the more delicate herbs to forage. In one area of the woods in a sunny but very damp glade, we have a plant that I had never seen before and has been identified as lousewort. Not a particularly inspiring name or indeed an inspiring plant being only about an inch in height and width but the glade has a fair covering of it. We are told by them wot knows that the glade is a very good habitat and I suppose the lousewort proves it.

We are very keen to hang on to things like that, coming from East Anglia made us very aware of just how barren the arable landscape can be. Huge fields of oil seed rape, peas or wheat and very few wildflowers or wildlife to break it up. Wales has an abundance of both and I love walking and seeing something different every time. Not all that keen on the pole cat that took one of my remaing chickens the other evening but you have to take the rough with the smooth I guess. After all how many polecats are there around at all?

New Residents

Hopefully you will all pardon my absence yesterday, the day seemed to fly by and I moved from one thing to another. As I sit here now, I am trying to think what I actually achieved yesterday. Oh yes- I remember now.

Still lots of rain about though the clouds were a bit more spaced out today, a bit more blue sky. Interspersed with lots of the wet stuff of course. As we were on our own again I helped Adrian with some stables, we have had loads of damp and chilly ponies in and of course the donkeys aren't waterproof so they were in Tuesday night to be cleared out yesterday. The weather was supposed to be better last night so all were out, easier on us all though there were still a couple left over that we didn't do. Sorry Tabby.

I also took some photos of Star who came to the Trust on Tuesday, I told you about her. She is the lovely bay mare in the photo. As I said she has a home to go to hopefully but she is indeed a beautiful creature. What with photos, computers and a bit of necessary shopping at the end of the afternoon, that was yesterday shot to pieces.

Yesterday was also the day that the Trust became rightful owners of the abandoned Shetland you see in the other picture shown with Adrian and a rather unsure Merlin. Dropped over a farmer's fence about 2 weeks ago, the miniature Shetland is all of 2 ft 6 inches in height. Isn't he the biz though? Because all the nameless animals this year have to start with the letter "C" and because of his huge stature, Adrian has named him Cquirt. That's a soft "C" like in celandine or ceiling. We couldn't think of a better name for him. He does have small man syndrome and as he is still a stallion (a whole year to 18 months old!) he keeps trying to attract the ladies.

This afternoon he was giving the eye to some of the older mares as they were feeding in the horse walk. He gave it all he had, bit of a stamp and a paw, a flash of the bent neck and a fling of his very bad mane. We've all been there girls haven't we? The mares, all being twice his size (at least) were suitably unimpressed and the herd leader, a aging gelding named Barley just sort of told him to push off in a horse sort of way. Cquirt was unperturbed at being given the elbow but in truth he won't get anywhere with the mares, they have seen it all before thank you. The would much rather read a good book I suspect.

Today was the first day of our 12 days off so we got some things in the garden done in between the showers; more wood shifted and I now have a sort of cold frame made out of an old window frame and some concrete blocks I found. Adrian has suggested that I might want to make a list of all the jobs that need doing that he can get on with when he has the time.

I doubt there are enough trees in the forest to make paper for the list.

As is common with most people, I often get bogged down in my own personal little troubles. Small worries quickly become big ones and you think that you are the only one in the world with a problem.

Working here at the Trust doesn't mean that we just deal with the animals that come into our care, we usually meet the people behind the animals. As you know equines come here for a variety of reasons, neglect, abuse, cruelty or an inability for the owner to cope due to chronic or terminal illness. That particular situation is close to the hearts of many here as the founder of the Trust died of cancer herself at the very young age of thirty eight, still with so much to do.

An animal came to us early last year, his owner unable to care for him any more because his partner was dying of cancer, the horse was several miles away and the owner openly admitted he was neglecting his beloved gelding as he just couldn't cope. It was a huge wrench for him, the gelding was 11 months old when bought and we took him at the age of 18. All I could do as the back of the truck went up was to wish him the very best of luck though we both knew what the outcome was going to be. I felt useless.

Late last year we took in three animals with the same situation, owner had cancer, her parents had cancer. The woman couldn't be there when we collected the animals as she was just too distraught at losing what she considered to be part of her family, a large part of her life. The people who were there knew the horses well and were just as upset I think as the owner was. There were many tears shed.

Today we took in the last we can take in for a while, at least until the flu is finished with and we can rehome some that are waiting to go out. We had hoped to put off the intake till after the flu but we couldn't, we already have a home for the animal but that will have to wait now.

The owner is suffering from ME, a debilitating illness that meant she could no longer care for her beloved horse. She was distraught when we left, knows it is the best thing for the animal but she just can't do it any more.

I have hugged more people in the last two and a half years I think than in the previous fifty four years of my life. I have seen more tears and shed some myself as well, it isn't always easy to be efficient and I am certainly not cold hearted. At least I am able to reassure the owners that their animals will be well cared for and often we are able to put ex-owners in contact with new owners so there can be some contact.

We can't always help them but we try to when we can. I feel so very sad for them, their lives are falling apart and then they lose just that little bit more often the one being that they have been able to share all their thoughts and fears with.

And that is when I suddenly realise I don't really have any worries at all.

One of our volunteers is starting chemo therapy today. All of us here wish her the very best.

Rain, flu and coleg students

AWOL yesterday as the head of Trustees was here for most of the day. Lovely lady and always a pleasure to see her. We sorted a lot of different things appertaining to the website and a few other bits and pieces as well so we know who is doing what. Always a good thing to know.

Today the rain is sheeting down. We have lots of very wet horses and a few that are chilled. My goats are not happy in the rain, the dogs refused to go out, one of the stables is flooded and I had water seeping into my downstairs loo again.

We can't raise the house so we shall have to lower the ditch again I suppose. Why do they build Welsh houses right up against ditches? I can't fathom that one. The house is old and built into the side of a bank so that it looks like it looks as though it nestles snugly, warm and cozy against the prevailing southwesterly winds however because the ditch isn't wide enough or far enough from the house and is in fact higher than the house itself, after a heavy rain, the water seeps in; if it happens over night you can come down to and inch or so which of course you don't necessarily notice till you are seated on the throne and the ends of your pajama legs are dripping wet.

We thought we had cured it till the Big Freeze led to the Even Bigger Thaw and the cold obviously cracked something somewhere meaning water was running under the house and into the downstairs loo. Deepening the ditch was the only way to deal with the problem, Adrian went out with his mighty pick axe and an hour later had managed another 6 inches of depth. So now if we have water inside the house we know it has to be a very very heavy rain. Adrian has had a look so I suppose he will be searching for the pick axe very soon.

With over half the equine population now flu ridden and all the herds exposed to it, we have decided that the best way forward is for them all to just get on with it. Today it was Steel, the Arab x Connemara's turn. He has skipped the coughing stage and gone straight to the snotty nose stage. Adrian reckons all of them come down with it that way now. That's another one out of the way and still only Tumble the quarter horse who we can honestly say has made a full recovery.

The students from Coleg Elidyr have returned from their spring break to resume their work experience with us. The Coleg is a residential school for young adults with learning disabilities. It is based on the Camp Hill ideal of teaching life skills; they have marvelous facilities at the Coleg. At a visit we saw their forge, weaving room, gardens, woodworking, candle making areas and a fully working livestock farm with sheep, pigs and cattle all looked after by the students there . We were approached by one of the staff and asked if we would be prepared to take students on for work experience, an area they are lacking in and we agreed. I have to say it has worked really well for all concerned. Many of the students lack self confidence or are wary around certain animals. Working with the horses gives them that self confidence and we can see the strides they make in horse handling. There are two here at the moment, one was terrifed of dogs and cetainly not sure about how to behave around horses. After a week or two he walks my greyhounds, leads horses, mucks out stables, grooms "his horse" and has come a very long way forward.

The Trust seems to be moving more and more into this area of work. Animals and special needs people seem to "click" somehow. Maybe it is because the animal can sense there is no hidden agenda or perhaps they can sense a certain innocence in special needs people, I don't really know. I do know that more and more we see how the animal changes when approached by special needs people and how much that interaction helps the people involved. Sort of gives you a warm glow inside.

To quote Pooh bear it has been a "rather blustery day."

Hasn't known whether to rain or shine so being Wales it chose to rain for most of it. I chose the housewife option today and did housework. God I really know how to live don't I? But even I have to bow before the great god hoover every once in a while. I try not to make a habit of it.

Our equine flu head count is now up to 16 either having, have had or awaiting to have due to exposure to the flu. That is near enough half the equine population here. The main herd are starting to come down with it now, a bit of a relief in a way as we have been on tenterhooks worrying and trying to keep them free of it and who knows, perhaps that has dragged the whole situation out more than it should. At least this way, there is now a chance that we will get through it more quickly and be able to return to normal life again. I am still wary of Zorro getting the illness after such a bad bout of pneumonia and I would worry sick if the foal gets it but other than that, it is a bit like sending your child round to Jimmy's house when he has the measles so that your child gets it over and done with.

The AGM scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled, too many trustees with horses who don't want to put their own animals at risk and indeed who can blame them. If we don't soon see the end of it, we are also at risk of being unable to continue with the August Open day and that would be bad news as it is one of our biggest fund raisers of the year. Leave the decision too late and we might not have enough time to put a decent Open Day together. Lot of stuff hanging on this equine flu.

Planning Permission

Hey ho, I suppose we shall get there in the end.

When Adrian applied for the Manager's job back in the summer of 2006, we were told that the Trust was seeking planning permission for the barns that are attached either side of the house. One is an old cow barn and the plans are for an office, toilets, crew room, sort of domestic stuff.

At the moment, the main office for the farm is in what is in reality my front room. All the people who come here end up in this office; the rest of the house is very small and we have no living room, just a single room about 12ft by 17 ft for everything including dining table and four chairs, dog beds and cat baskets. We have nowhere to sit in the evening other than the dining chairs and a stick chair, have to say most evenings all the chairs are occupied by cats anyway (we have six ) so you have to fight to be comfortable here.

The only toilet facilities for visitors is the little house in the big woods so to speak, a ty bach in Welsh and it is in the centre of my back garden. Very rustic and not great. When we have open days we have to rent porta-loos and now that we have lots of people with special needs, they use my downstairs loo as we also have no other hand washing facilities.



The other barn (we call it the stone barn) is set to be an interpretation centre and a dining area for sandwiches and drinks, nothing heavy in the catering line but just somewhere for visitors to sit that isn't in the rain. Did I tell you it rains a lot here? Well it does. It is in the stone barn that the "problem" with our planning permission lies.



So all of that was in 2006 as I say and we are still waiting for planning permission for the work so that we can start fund raising. With so many people coming here with special needs, we are desperate for the cow barn to be converted so that they all have the correct facilities and I can have my loo back. And my kitchen as the loo is just off there and you have to go through one to get to the other and the whole thing is just not suitable.



The problem with getting planning permission seems to be bats. Bats, that's all. We had to have a survey done to see whether bats are roosting in the stone barn. Costs an awful lot of money, more than a small charity trying to make it in a big charity world wants to pay out more than once.



So the "bat man" came along a couple of evenings in the summer of 2007 and he went away and we were told verbally at one point that all was well and we awaited the go ahead and nothing happened. Letters and phone calls and nearly two years later and still no planning permission. We have had a communication that informed us that after two years, there is now dissention between the National Park bat people and another group of bat people who cannot agree that the findings submitted two years ago are correct and they insist that we need another bat survey to gather more evidence as to how the bats go in, whether they roost in there (we were told verbally two years ago they didn't) and how we would be required to lessen the impact of the renovation to the bat population living in there that we were told two years ago we didn't have.



Last week a man finally came to see us, the third planning man who had been given the file. A very nice guy trying to sort it all out. However he also says we will have to have another bat survey or go for an appeal and we could lose it and it could cost a whole lot more than another bat survey. And by the way as we have applied for planning permission for the whole lot, we can't just do the toilets etc and leave the other barn. We would have to reapply for just the cow barn to be converted.



The Trust doesn't mind how many bat surveys we have but we really don't think we should be paying for more than one. However, it is going to be "Catch 22" isn't it? No tickee, no washee.



We either bow down or get nowhere. Without proper toilet facilities we cannot progress any further than we are now and that could mean the end of us.



The final decision isn't up to me of course, that's why we have Trustees.

And finally

This was all four of them in the garden on Tuesday when it was lovely and sunny if blowing a hooli.

It's heaving it down out there now. Such is Wales. I told you we never feel deprived of weather here.

This is Sky

A lovely little creature really. We were told she had never been in a house. First day, straight up on our bed. She isn't silly.

This is Lucy

A fine looking greyhound isn't she? She is now eight and a half, a very timid dog who has the worst dog breath of any creature I have met despite teeth cleaning

This is Jack

Aged about three now i think. Always looks like he is worried about things

Grey day

The equine flu is starting to make a difference up here now. A couple of people who had asked to rehome horses from the Trust have decided they will look elsewhere as we are unable to give them a date to release the horses to them. Bad news for us actually as we are very full and are having to take another animal in. It is a pastoral care case as opposed to neglect or abuse. A worthy case and within our criteria however we had hoped to wait until the flu had passed through. The owner can wait no longer now and the animal will have to come in. That will make thirty three on site, really three too many for us but there is no help for it at the moment. Hopefully we will be able to move some animals soon.



At the moment it is raining. A nice gentle pitter patter type rain that is good for the garden and the grass in the paddocks if a pain in the bum for me because it will also mean the grass in the back garden will grow another foot over night.



I took the dogs out for their run and of course they got soaked. Did I not tell you all that I have four dogs? I know i mentioned Merlin but he is but one of my quartet. Altogether I have three greyhounds, Merlin, Lucy and Jack; all rescued in some way or other. Merlin was found tied to the bumper of a car in Ipswich, Lucy was a non-chaser from the dog track at Great Yarmouth and Jack was auctioned off from the dog track at Swansea and found his way here through a local greyhound rescue. Being greyhounds they don't care too much for rain. Lucy isn't keen to be dried off, Jack likes a rough go over with a towel and I am afraid Merlin prefers the hair drier. I don't pamper my pets much.



Our latest addition was Sky, a sheepdog who has absolutely no idea that she is supposed to help round the sheep up and not sit in the centre of them wagging her tail at me. She came to us last year when Adrian took a pony to a new home and sort of brought her back with him. She is a real favourite with visitors, particularly people with learning difficulties who find that dogs aren't as bad as they have been led to believe and prefer to have their tummies tickled rather than bite off the hand that is doing the tickling. As she is a long coated sheepdog, Sky doesn't feel the rain through the three or so coats she is wearing and just has a good shake when she comes into the kitchen. Gee thanks Sky.

SMALL CHARITY VERSUS BIG CHARITY

You'd best settle down as I could be having a bit of a rant here. The title says it all. Of course this in my personal opinion and should be treated as such. I suppose in that case this is a bit of an edtiorial. But then I did say this was a blog about the trials and tribulations of a small equine charity in a big charity world didn't I? So I think I had better get my personal feelings about it off my chest and done with so I can move on with you all.

If there is one thing that we have learned here in the last two and a half years it is that being the underdog in the charity world means that you can easily be forgotten by the public. Tucked away in the beautiful Welsh countryside as we are means we aren't on the tourist route so we get few passing visitors. You have to make an effort to come up here so visitors are always welcomed by us for having made that effort. We work tirelessly to raise awareness of the Trust in the hopes that we will be able to keep our funds above danger level; at the moment we have well less that one year's funds available to us.

The major charities have huge sums of money. I break no confidences with that statement, it is all on the world wide web to see, all charity accounts have to be available. One day when you are sitting at your machine with not a great deal to do, have a trawl and have a look at just how much money some of them have and indeed how much we have. Their advertising budgets alone are more money than we see up here in the space of several years. Their medical facilities are all superb, their stabling palatial, their staffing levels we can only dream of.

We carefully consider where every penny goes to and nothing is wasted. We have a duty of care to the animals we have as well as those who will come later. As a small independent charity, we are very much front line here and will often try to pick up the pieces when major charities won't act. We have a criteria and try to stick to it but it is a rigid criteria often flexibly applied. We will bend as much as we can afford to in order to help animals in need.

Now don't get me wrong, we work very closely with several of the major charities and the people on the ground are good people, hard workers and committed to their work. No problems with any of them actually. All very helpful and nice people. But still the smaller charities struggle on with little if any help from their larger brothers, many going under. We have been told twice in the last year that despite being a wonderful place and doing wonderful work under difficult circumstances (blah, blah, blah), we should close down, sell up, forget about it, we're too small, we will never make it in the twenty first century world.

Well I don't think so. We have a professional job here to do, it is an important one. It is one of ANIMAL WELFARE. We will survive in the twenty first century without the help of any of the major animals charities if we have to. It is hard work but we will survive.

So next time a major animal charity rattles a tin under your nose or advertises, just give a thought to one of the smaller ones that you may or may not know about. I would love you to support us and us alone (yes please!) but there are so many that need your help, I just ask you to think about it a bit, that's all.

Rant over and thank you for being there.

good views and good news

Just thought you all might like to see one of the reasons that I like living here. This was taken this morning in a part of the farm that is in ancient woodland and goes down to the Sawdde River to form part of the boundary of our 40 acre farm. After last night's heavy winds, Adrian decided to check the boundaries for fallen trees etc and Tabby, Kathleen and I went along. The bluebells are all along the slope and virtually down to the river at this point, the smell is intoxicating and the whole affect so beautiful that words fail me sometimes (doesn't happen often).

From there we wound our way back. Our finance lady was there doing her thing and just before she left, she gave us the good news that we are now just short of breaking even financially. That is despite the big problem we had in January and early February when we froze solid up here for eleven days. We had no running water in the outbuildings or the house for eleven days. My God that was hard work. Anyway when the thaw came, the water main split as did the bore hole pump and it cost the Trust nearly a whole month's money to repair.

Looking at that picture you wouldn't believe it would you? All looks so innocent. But you never know what is round the corner here and though we are pleased that we are near to breaking even, we are definitely NOT (in big letters) complacent about it. Wales is a very hard mistress.

Our fund raising goes on. We haven't the back up of money that the big charities have so we have to keep trying to get funding in.

However every once in a while you have to take "time to stand and stare" as the poem says. That's why I went to take photos this morning. It helps to keep you going and to keep you firmly rooted.

Despite our very best efforts, another animal has started showing symptoms of equine flu. we started nearly a month ago with Tumble our rescued quarter horse going down with the symptoms, nasty infection but at least not Strangles (don't even go there) and with vet care, Tumble has recovered. We went into immediate quarantine as soon as we knew we had "something" and all equine movements were cancelled. At least all movements out were cancelled, we did take in an abandonement or two, it's what we are here for after all. All the animals were kept in herds according to their exposure and we went started a rigid round of trying to keep things disinfected and all the germs away from all the other horses. It seemed to be working and we loosened up a bit but today we found an unconnected animal has contracted it. Sadie has it now, she was kept completely separately from the infected herd with her companion Humphrey.

It's a bummer isn't it?

Lately it hasn't been the best of times for us in the way of equine health. Just before Easter Zorro came down with choke followed by pneumonia. We nearly lost him, even the vet figured he wouldn't make it. Many vets visits and a shed load of drugs later and we were sure he would make it but it was close. Now equine flu. Double whammy of vets bills. Big time.

At least none of the horses that have it now are in need of vet care, it seems to have diluted a bit but we still need it gone. We have lots of committments that are best done with a pony or two, makes more impact when you go to a school or fete. We can only hope that it will work it's way through the herds more quickly than this so we can get on with things again.

A perfect Sunday

Working outside makes you concious of the weather big time. When I worked in an office, the only weather I experienced was first thing (5.30am) when I went out to do our animal before going to work, the weather from the house to the car, the car to the office, what I could see through my office window, the office to the car, back into the house and and the little bit of time doing my animals again.



Not so now. We are outside in rain, wind, snow, sleet, hail, sunshine and showers. Most of that happens in one day in Wales so you never need feel deprived of weather.



However I must say that today was that which is even more scarce than an honest politician, a perfect Welsh spring day. End to end sunshine and hardly any breeze at all. So unlike yesterday that we could have been in a different place altogether but we weren't, we were here on top of the mountain, on a 40 acre farm on a perfect Sunday.



That's why I am a bit later doing my blog, you see. I have been playing out in my garden all day long. Potting up seedlings so they now have no excuse at all but to grow (except perhaps dying), taking the turf off the new flower bed I am designing to get rid of some more grass, doing the edges that I quickly learned to hate since starting the new flower bed, general domestic garden stuff, you know what I mean. It did strike me as I hurled off another lump of turf that I have removed more grass than most people have in their whole back garden. Very strange thought.



Adrian did all the residents today. Came in for a cup of tea about 10am moaning that the donkeys must have had some sort of cocktail party in the barn last night. All that was missing was the empties. Certainly they were noisy enough. I could hear al four of them braying sometime about dawn, it fair rattles round the barn believe me. I expect it was a bit of a "do" to welcome Eeyore, a young gelding jack donkey who came in on Friday. Lovely creature who clearly believes he is quite the young donkey about town. Unfortunately Millie, our Poitou donkey has never been one to have her head turned by a new face in the herd. Looking down her nose and then aiming a quick flick with a back hoof and Eeyore knew exactly where he stood. Rock bottom.

What's this all about then?

I can hear you asking that even as I type.

This blog is all about the trials and tribulations of the Lluest Horse and Pony Trust, a small equine charity that is stuggling to stay alive in a big charity world. It is also about our lives here. That's me by the way in the photo; I am the tall one in the coat and hat, the short guy is my beloved greyhound Merlin and we were posing for a photo on whatI have found to be a typical Welsh summer's day. Actually for the benefit of any American readers, that photo was taken on the 4th of July. So much for the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer then.

My husband Adrian (manager) and I have been here just over two and a half years. We upped stakes, packed everything including all our animals into two artics and moved here from Suffolk in October 2006. More about all that in a later post i think. So we moved from the land of flat and drought to the land of song, mountains and what sometimes seems like never ending rain.

We love it here. We even love it when the rain comes down sideways, the mud is over the top of your wellies, the wind is taking your hair out by the roots and yet another pony stands squarely on your foot.

The last couple of years have been a big learning curve, neither of us had any charity experience but we have enthusiasm, committment, drive or perhaps we are just gluttons for punishment, who knows.

We have had many sad times here, many times when I have lain awake all night worrying about whether we will still be here in a year's time. But equally we have had many joyous times; the birth of a foal from a rescued mare, getting it just right when rehoming an animal, the way special needs people react when they have intereaction with a horse or pony or even just watching an aged mare canter up the field for the first time when you thought for sure she would never be capable of doing such a thing again. We have cried a bit but we have laughed a whole lot more.

I hope to entertain anybody who happens to pass through my blog, I shall do my best anyway. There will be some photographs as well. There is rarely a day goes by without something out of the norm going on.

I hope you all enjoy it.