The Exmoor pony handling course was a great success. Five students took part in the course, which was run by Philip and Vanessa Bee of Positive Horsemanship http://www.positivehorsemanship.co.uk/ . Each student had an unhandled, newly-weaned Exmoor pony to handle and teach the 'five foundation skills'.

Two places are already booked for the course in 2008, which will be a long weekend of three days from Friday 31st October, with full board at West Ilkerton. There are four places left, so book now to avoid disappointment.

It was my turn to be 'home alone' while Chris, Sarah and Nick (Chris' brother) went to Scotland for a long weekend to see George at Ardmaddy. They went salmon fishing the first day (and caught one) and hind stalking the next day (and shot one). On the third day they took the boat out onto Loch Etive. Poor Sarah did all this with her foot broken in two places (she'd been kicked by an Exmoor pony during branding the week before. We thought her foot was just badly bruised, until she took herself to casualty in Exeter because her foot swelled up painfully after she'd been to Scotland!). Here are a few photos of the Scottish trip: