MEADOW PIPIT AND I NEED TO TALK ABOUT TRIGGER

Yesterday, feeling pretty grotty, I schlepped up to what is known as the Round Pound, and sat on its stones to recover. this is the site of the loveliest sculpted Hawthorn tree that I have posted photographs of many times. Five minutes later, four birds flew into it and perched. I grabbed the camera and thought I had shots of skylarks but, on blowing them up, realised they were Meadow Pipits. Reading about them, I am now convinced that I have often made the same mistake at a distance and never had the camera to capture them properly. They do the vertical singing thing like skylarks up to 40 metres but are 'reluctant to fly' according to my book! Anyway, what a sweet little bird. More to come over the summer I'm sure. 

Regarding the Round Pound, there has always been some controversy over its date. Some say Iron Age, some Bronze Age, some Medieval. Can I find a decent picture of it in its roundness? No. Here are a couple of the tree which lies in the outer ring to one side. I can highly recommend this article about it that I found when looking for other people's pictures!

http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/roundy_pound.htm

 

I need to talk about Trigger. Some weeks ago I made a heartbreaking decision about him which took a huge amount of soul searching and angst. He is just sitting there on his own, unused and wasted. I don't have the physical strength to do much ground work with him and with everything going on with Origami Boy (not my place to discuss....he may allow it sometime), I just don't have the time for him. I love seeing him every day but I don't have the room for a companion and I just don't think it's fair for him like this. He's not an easy pony and needs an awful lot of work. At 13.3hh he's an odd size that few adults are prepared to take on and he is by no means a child's pony. A few people have been putting out feelers and asking clients and friends but to no avail. This morning I spoke to a wonderful woman at horses4homes.com who was brutally honest with me and said that, given my accident, despite it not being his fault, he would be forever tarnished and nobody would touch him with a barge pole. She advised me to have him put to sleep, which I cannot do. He's not great companion material either, not being small or laid back enough. I find it very difficult not to get on him again; he is a constant reminder that I can't indulge my passion, only rediscovered at 42 after a 25 year gap. His past cruel treatment has caught up with him and me! It seems my decision may have been for nothing. He would be good in a riding school where he could follow but, as the lady said today, from an insurance point of view, he would be an impossibility. It looks like we are meant to stay together, but if any of you know of anyone who might be able to give him a home or needs a BIG if undersized project, do let me know. I need land....that would solve my problem but it comes at a HUGE price round here and not one we could afford. I see people buying up tracts of it, empire building, and leaving it to go to waste and it makes my blood boil. Anyway, rant over - sorry! Until next time, here is my boy looking handsome last summer when I first moved him over here. How I wish there was that much grass now!.