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.