On the Hoof

There are eight Exmoor ponies, all geldings, living on a lovely piece of public land called the the Law in North Berwick, Scotland. It's on the coast, a short train ride from Edinburgh, and they've been there since October 2013 thanks to the initiative and vision of an exceptional man employed by the local council at the time whose name is Duncan Priddle.  The main feature of the land is a volcanic plug which gives the place it's name: the Law. It is all that remains from an ancient eruption and it sticks up 187m in an otherwise gently undulating landscape. The ponies regularly climb to the top of the Law and Sylvia Beaumont, who lives nearby, is often there to take their photos to post on the FaceBook page dedicated to this small herd. Earlier this year she captured a moment where the ponies were drawn to a man playing his bagpipes with the Law in the background. The video she took of the moment was enchanting . We went to visit Sylvia and the ponies this summer, and for t...

I gave a talk on Zoom a few weeks ago to my colleagues in the equine facilitated practitioners group (LEAP) where I trained. On the back of that, one of my colleagues invited me to visit her place to see how she manages her venture. I looked on the OS map and discovered that her yard was based right next to an Anglo-Saxon burial site on the North Downs of Kent. I saw that it was a short riverside walk from a station that was directly connected to one near where I live, so I dug out my enhanced CRB certificate and my passport and we made a plan for me to visit the very next weekend. When I arrived I saw three women deep in conversation close to a chestnut horse who was standing quite still, as if presenting his whole right side to their gaze. This was Frank, who had made it all the way to 36 years old and now looked rather tired. The three women were talking seriously about him, making plans, and deciding what to do. I noticed the quality of his fur, the look in his eye, and his stan...