Gelding saved from "certain death"

If you think you've had a bad week, spare a thought for poor Jeremy. On the 29th of August, this one-ton gelding waded into a pool of muddy water at a farm near Greater Manchester, when he became trapped and was unable to get out.

A story such as this could have easily ended in tragedy. After all, the poor animal was reportedly up to his neck in water and suffering from hypothermia. Fortunately, a specialist fire-fighting team arrived at the scene to help Jeremy out of his predicament.

Accompanied by his owners and best friend, a donkey named Misty, Jeremy was pulled to safety after being stuck in the pond for more than three hours.

It was a close call, poor Jeremy nearly died – but Misty stayed with him throughout the entire ordeal. One of the owners jokingly referred to the pair as being similar to "Little and Large". While we have no doubt that they are the best of friends, they probably do not wear matching horse rugs...

We hope Jeremy manages to make a full recovery and will be back to his old self soon – and the landowner fences off the pond to stop a similar situation like this from happening again.
Surprisingly, this isn't the first time Jeremy has suffered a near-death experience – several years ago he needed to be rescued by fire-fighters when he became trapped in a canal.

Photo © Kevan via Flickr under Creative Commons Licence

If I close my eyes will the mud disappear?

I don't know about you, but when I go out to my horses I often hope that the fairies will have come along and magically made their horse rugs as good as new again.

But no, inevitably during wet weather, such as we have all the time in the UK, you turn your horses out in the evening in clean rugs and return the next day to find them wearing mucky rugs, with tears and holes, broken straps and, they just seem to look at you as if to say, "What mum, what did we do?"

Well, a canny lady I heard of in the Vale of Glamorgan has come up with a great little cottage industry (a farm shed industry, actually) whereby they will take your horse rugs in, wash and repair them, and return them to you, almost, as good as new.

Stable Cottage Rug Wash is run by Sue Bater, and daughter Alyson, to cater to the local livery yards, racing stables and individual horse owners who all want to economise by making their horse rugs last a bit longer.

Sue rightly says that domestic washing machines often struggle with even lightweight day rugs, especially if they are on the large side, and so she invested in an industrial grade washing machine to cope with the heaviest of rug materials. The business also purchased a sewing machine sturdy enough to take on all types of horse rug repairs, meaning it can offer a truly complete service.

Luckily, the mother and daughter partnership had been awarded a £6,000 grant through Vale of Glamorgan Council's ‘Pride in our Farming Families' scheme and Sue says that this really helped them concentrate their minds on developing a business plan.

Well, I for one wish them all the best and if anyone wants to start a similar horse rug valeting service near me, they would have one very grateful horse owner banging their doors down very quickly.

Do you think horses are 100% better than people?

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, you wake up one day to find yourself stranded on a desert island. Given the choice, would you prefer the companionship of another human being or your horse?
Fortunately, this situation is very unlikely to occur, but I sometimes find myself thinking I would be better off surrounded by animals than people. Previous research has shown that talking to other creatures can help us deal with stress, anxiety, and other negative feelings. If it happens to be a controversial conversation topic, pets can be better than humans as they don't judge or complain, and will always stay loyal.

Consequently, it's no wonder that some people prefer to put on equestrian clothing and take their horses out for a stroll rather than spend time with other individuals. Singer Leona Lewis could be one of the people who much prefer the company of horses.

Speaking in an interview with The Guardian newspaper, the artist spoke about her fondness for horses, confirming that she believed they were 100% better than people.

Although Leona did not feel the need to confide in her steed, she talks to her animal about a variety of different subjects and feels quite comfortable in its company.

Granted, from the moment I put on my riding boots and jumped in the saddle I felt a certain kinship with my horse. However, even though I respect the singer's work, I have to disagree with this "100%" figure.

Although horses are certainly better at running long distances and jumping over fences than people, a steed cannot make dinner, go shopping, or hold a really stimulating conversation. As a result, I believe horses are closer to 80...possibly 90 percent better than humans.
Photo © astaristarry via Flickr under Creative Commons Licence