Ed’s routine – an account by Miss Chilihouse:
Mrs Chilihouse (my Mum) used to drive me to the stables, close
to Ed’s Circuit #2, where we parked close to the dog that is
usually barking.
The first thing we did was unlock the tack room (unless there
was anybody about) and get Ed’s head collar.
The next job was to find Ed! This may sound simple but the
stable owners often changed the fields where the horses were kept
(all on the other side of the path to where the stables are) –
luckily Ed was the only ‘slightly chubby’ piebald so he was easy to
spot!
One of Ed’s attributes was that he was good at coming when
called, so as soon as me and Mrs Chilihouse got to the relevant
gate, Ed would slowly make his way over when we called him, and we
quickly had his head collar on.
The next job was to lead him back to the stables – the challenge
here was to stop him eating grass en route!
Once back at the stables, and once Ed was tied up via a rope to
the hitching ring, Ed was giving a good brushing with his body
brush, the mud was removed from his legs with the dandy brush, his
hooves were picked clean with the hoof pick and finally his mane
(and sometimes his tail, which was occasionally platted) was combed
with Ed’s comb.
Once Ed was fully groomed, the next job was to tack him up –
first we put on his saddle, making sure the girth was tight. Next
was Ed’s blue bridle, making sure the bit was fully in (although Ed
never liked having the bit in).
Now it was time for me to get ready – I arrived wearing my
jodhpurs, so I had to put my riding boots, riding hat and
high-visibility jacket on, and lastly my riding gloves.
Finally it was time to mount, so we led him over to the mounting
block and I got on, adjusting the stirrups to suit.
With Mrs Chilihouse on foot, it was now time to go riding!
We turned right out of the stables, quickly passing the spot
where Ed’s Circuit #2 is, and we headed up the narrow and, when I
was riding there, the very muddy track (in fact my Mrs Chilihouse
often had to find an alternative track through the bushes and tress
at certain points in this section to avoid the water going over her
walking boots!). A bigger problem was that, despite his long legs,
Ed didn’t like getting muddy either, so Mrs Chilihouse often had to
lead Ed through this bit.
At the top of this track, close to Ed’s Circuit #7, we turned
left, but often had to wait whilst Ed said hello to the young foal
in the adjacent field.
On the next section there were lots of horses in fields either
side, some of which Ed said hello to (especially the friendly
piebald in the field on the right adjacent to Ed’s Circuit #9) and
some of whom he ignored. Shortly after here there was a large open
space on the right where I encouraged Ed to stretch his legs and
have a good canter.
Following the canter field, and having passed close to the field
with lots of butterflies, we turned left (close to Ed’s Circuit
#10) and headed along the ridge. As we approached the first of the
houses (close to Ed’s Circuit #13) there was often a dog that
barked when we were quite close, which used to slightly freak Ed
and he would ‘hop’ to one side. It was also on this section that,
for some reason, Ed would want to turn round and head home –
perhaps a previous rider used to do this to avoid riding on the
road?
Following the downhill stretch by the big houses, and cutting
through on the path (next to Ed’s Circuit #16) to avoid the main
road, we were soon on the homeward stretch up the lane where Ed was
always very well behaved with passing traffic.
Once back at the stables we then did a lot of things that we did
at the start in reverse – after jumping off, and securing Ed to the
hitching ring, we de-tacked, we used the sweat scraper (if Ed was
sweaty or if it had been raining) and we sometimes gave him a quick
groom.
We then gave him his feed, including strips of carrot for a
treat, before leading him back to his field and saying goodbye.
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