Eggsy Pony's year that was 2022 Part 1 January - June

 It's seems to have become a bit of a blogging tradition, during the time betwixt and between Christmas and New Year, to publish a  retrospective blog on the year that's about to end. This is Eggsy Pony's 2022 year that was part 1 January - June: 

January

 2022 started with us losing the land we kept the horses on and also our major source of income. New Year's Day found us desperately seeking somewhere to keep all four equines together as well as a home for a goose and a cat. We'd been told by our then landlord that he wanted the horses off his land by the start of the year and we hadn't found anywhere to go. 

Things were getting very "uncomfortable" at Muddy Bottom, despite the fact that our rent was paid  and we hadn't even been given written notice to quit, the landlord had started chainsaw work on trees next to the horses' paddock. And during the Christmas holidays he'd sent his son and granddaughter to Muddy Bottom to try out their new dirt bikes! 

It was rapidly becoming apparent that we couldn't continue to rent from this man and the family business was also on the site.

Losing the land plus the behaviour of the landlord on top of the enforced business closures during the 2020, 2021 lockdowns forced us to come to terms with the reality that we could no longer continue our family business. 

Eventually, through a friend, we found a livery yard that had vacancies for Eggsy and his friends. Paying livery was going to more than double the cost of keeping our horses but we just couldn't find any land to rent within a reasonable distance from our home so we had little choice but to move there.

We'd also failed miserably in our search for new homes for Hansel the goose and Gingee the cat, both had been dumped in the orchard to fend for themselves and of course we fed them and they became our responsibility. The only solution for them was to come home with us, not ideal but we couldn't leave them there, they'd been abandoned once and we weren't about to abandon any creature in our care.

January 19th was moving day for the horses, Eggsy Pony took hours to load, and, when he arrived at his destination promptly attempted to jump out of his stable. But, Eggsy is no showjumper and he only succeeded in getting his front legs over the stable door and was unable to get himself out of his predicament. 

He was such an unhappy boy and we were fortunate that the livery yard owner allowed us to let Eggsy live out as long as the fields didn't get too poached.

February

February found the British Isles battered by storms, Eggsy Pony and Friends field shelter survived, it's a bit colander like with lots of holes holes in it so the winds passed through. Others on the yard weren't as lucky 

Fortunately no one was hurt and the upturned field shelters were eventually righted with the assistance of a local farmer.

The big news for Eggsy Pony was that we joined Ko-fi which is rather like a blogging platform where fans (does Eggsy have fans ?) can show their support by buying a coffee. Of course the money isn't really spent on coffees, Eggsy doesn't drink them, nor should he, but it goes toward his keep.

March

During March we decided that it was about time Eggsy had his own birthday. We didn't know exactly when Eggsy was born so in previous years we'd celebrated his birthday with an extra carrot or two on January 1st the official birthday for Thoroughbreds in the Northern Hemisphere. 

The date we came up with was 28th May because that's the date that the people who had abandoned Eggsy to die left the area. The date that his life changed forever.

We also celebrated a real birthday, Madeline, Eggsy's  Thoroughbred friend and companion reached the grand age of 20 on March 5th.

April

In April we celebrated the anniversary of Eggsy finally getting gelded the year before. It had been a momentous day for all concerned having taken us simply ages to save the funds to get it done! 

May

May started with Eggsy's canine friend Miss Darcey Puffle Dog's birthday on May 4th but of course for Eggsy Pony the big date was 28th May when he could celebrate his very own birthday, without having to share, for the very first time. He had a little virtual party over on Ko-fi, and was completely spoiled in real life.

June

June 1st was Pippin's birthday, Pippin is Eggsy's elder brother by another mother, which this time coincided with a visit from Auntie Philo who always brings such wonderful and bounteous treats with her.

Another June birthday was that of Eggsy's first friend Boo who was 24 this year.

The birthday boys caused a bit of a ruckus during their birthday month by escaping their field and munching grass on the track. To be fair it wasn't exactly their faults, 3 of the other liveries had broken the fences of their paddock and gone walk about so naturally the other horses were quite interested in what was going on. The fences are a bit wobbly, Pippin doesn't know his own strength so a fence post wobbled a bit to much and he stepped out followed by Boo. 

This adventure resulted in us having to improve the fencing with the addition of our own electric fence energizer and extra electric fence rope. An expense we could have done without especially as Miss Darcey Puffle Dog made her first, of what was to be many, visits to the vet with a swollen foot where she was initially prescribed antibiotics and antihistamines.

June ended in great sorrow when the oldest resident, Little Lady, a miniature Shetland in her 30s was destroyed. Her owner who was also very elderly and rather vulnerable was finding it increasingly difficult to care for her so felt that was the best thing to do. Unfortunately, this decision was made under an enormous amount of influence from another on the livery yard and those who had voluntarily taken over the care of Little Lady were very upset about the whole thing. It was to be the beginning of what was about to become "open warfare" on the livery yard. 

Click  for Part 2 July - December