Roy...

What a darling :-))

So today we met not one, not two, not three, but many beautiful horses.  Clydesdales and Shires.  Oh my, what a way to spend the day!

Alan's support worker Penny lives and works on her best friend's Horse Stud and Livery not far from us.  She invited us to go and meet the horses last year but we didn't manage to get ourselves organised, so last week, when Penny asked if we were free today and we were, a plan was made.

The drive to the farm is through some of Perthshire's finest countryside, and on a day like today it looked absolutely stunning.  Penny's directions consisted of directing us to a road and saying drive for one mile and when you see lots of horses, that's us, and sure enough empty fields turned into fields with beautiful horse roaming all around and looking absolutely stunning.

We arrived at the farm just after 2pm and thanks to over a week of dry, sunny weather, the yard and fields were rock hard, perfect for my wheels.  No mud to get stuck in.  Penny came to greet us along with little Archie, the old blind terrier who amazed me with his ability to navigate around the farm.  He is very friendly and trusting even though I almost ran him over! 

And so Penny gave us a tour of the surrounding fields and every field we went to the horses came trotting over to say hello, including the little foals who were all gangly legs and fluff :-)  They really are the most magnificent creatures.  And huge!  
Penny has been around horses since she was a child and is extremely knowledgable and it was fascinating to listen to her talk about the horses and the work of the farm, and be able to answer my millions of questions.  I was enthralled by all of her stories of life on the farm but especially the birthing dramas, including one time when she had to give CPR to a new born foal.  

We also met R & H, the owners of the farm.  It was clear to see how utterly devoted they are to all the horses.  It really is a passion.  It has to be, it's a 24 hour a day, seven day a week job!  

As we met the horses, Penny told us their names which of course I've forgotten.  I will ask her to name them for me again when she sees the photos.  The only one I can remember is Batman (10th extra) as she got him out from his stable and we were able to get really close to him and give him proper tickles.  So huge but so gentle and patient. 

David also sat in one of the training carriages.  He liked cracking the whip a little too much for my liking!  I'm not sure he'd have been so happy to sit there if there had been four horses tied to the front of it! :-)

It was wonderful to be able to photograph them too, but challenging due to the strong sunlight creating harsh contrasts as well as not being able to see anything on screen on the back of my camera.  The electric fences also proved problematic, and whilst I did my best to either shoot through or above them, lots of shots need to have the fences removed in PS, which I will do when I've mastered PS layers.  These shots might actually spur me on to learn how to do it! 

I've put quite a few shots in extras, including one of wee blind Archie and the other farm dog who's name I've forgotten.  Penny will remind me tomorrow :-))

Jet, the other doggie's name is Jet :-))