Autumn is here
Autumn in Spain can be a lovely time of year, but we are
always aware that winter is just around the corner. The
horses definitely become more of a chore, once the rain
arrives – back to the mud and cancelled riding. Muddy
cat and dog paw prints everywhere all add to the fun.
The first rains always take us by surprise. We got our
straw covered by the skin of our teeth, when we had a
freak day of rain in August.
From being on a high, having had such a successful and
happy summer with the horse riding, things naturally
become quieter, with less holiday makers and un
predictable weather. Our new venture this summer, the
barbeque and swim ride was a huge success with lots of
very happy customers, but is difficult to continue
through the winter, even without the swimming, as the
weather can let us down at the last minute. Bad enough
to have riding cancelled, but food prepared for nothing
is another matter.
In September we took on the task of separating the mums
from their foals, to wean them. With three of them now
turned a year old, and Leo turned four and still feeding,
it was time to do something about it. We had tried to
separate Picasso from Capri already, as Capri was
getting too thin. We decided that we would take her to
our friends house and leave her there with their horses
for a few weeks. We didn’t want to do it, but felt it
was best for her. Would you believe it, just hours after
we left her there, she was standing outside the horse’s
field, having made her way home, approximately two
kilometers, all on her own. After that we decided that
the best option was to put all the mums in an adjoining
field, so that they could still see their youngsters but
couldn’t feed them.
We planned to keep them apart for four weeks, but an
early morning thunder storm just over three weeks into
the separation had us giving in, and putting them back
into the main field with the others, so that they had
shelter. Thankfully the separation worked, though
typically, it was Leo who made the most attempts to feed
again!
I must admit to enjoying getting back into my jeans and
wellies, after months of sweating in shorts and vest. I
don’t worry now about the horses getting cold as winter
draws in, as they quickly get their warm winter coats
and cope very well. This is their third winter of living
outside. I have converted their stables so that they can
go in and out as they choose, with open doorways and
also archways knocked through to link the stables,
providing escape routes, should things get a bit rowdy.
Some of my horses are unshod, some have front shoes only.
The only horse that has back shoes is Hercules, the Cob.
His poor English feet struggle with the hard Spanish
terrain. It is unfortunate that he is also the boss of
the herd and the most likely to kick out, though saying
that, it is very rare, and we haven’t had any nasty
incidents yet. As they all live together, things are
generally very relaxed. They all eat together and have a
lovely relationship, with a definite herd hierarchy.
They each seem to accept their place in the herd, though
the foals push the boundaries (and mostly get away with
it) cheekily sharing Hercules’ food.
I do enjoy the novelty of the cold weather when it first
arrives, it’s lovely and cosy when you have that first
log fire, but with the extra cold winters of the last
couple of years, firewood (or lack of it) soon becomes a
worry. Its incredible how much you get through isn’t it?
We do not have central heating. Our house is very old
with thick stone walls and keeps quite warm. It would be
a shame to spoil the old walls by installing pipes and
radiators, so we cope with open fires and gas heaters
and the odd electric panel heater – a brilliant new find.
They are a square plate that fixes to the wall and can
be painted to match your décor. They simply plug in and
use only 400watts. Of course you do need enough
electricity – something a lot of us struggle with. We
only survive now as we have had our own transformer
installed to upgrade our supply.
Our summers are always hectic and tiring, with lots of
friends from England visiting its one long social whirl.
Its always great fun and we wouldn’t have it any other
way, but keeping up with the late nights (shooting star
watching competitions by the pool) and still getting up
early to see to the horses takes its toll. Autumn brings
a bit of a rest in comparison, though I always feel very
lonely when the kids first go back to college. With
Clive out working I am suddenly back to being on my own.
I usually solve my boredom by starting a new decorating
project. A couple of autumns ago, when John left for
England for his brief spell in the army, he suggested
that I could knock down his bedroom wall and extend the
kitchen. Of course I said don’t be silly, and assured
him that his room would always be there waiting for him.
The trouble was, the seed was sown, and I soon started
to like his idea. Within weeks of him leaving I had
knocked down his bedroom wall and had a lovely new
kitchen! Little did I know then, that fourteen months
later he would be back, with no bedroom to come home to.
We solved the problem by converting the kids den above
Clive’s shed to a little studio apartment for him, so he
did alright out of his clever idea in the end.
The d.i.y over the years has been continuous. Though our
house was perfectly habitable from the start, it lacked
character and modern conveniences. We were lucky when we
moved in that my parents were having a new fitted
kitchen installed. We had their old units and once
painted with new marble worktops they had just the right
farm house kitchen feel. Inside the house there wasn’t
much more to do, just building wardrobes and extra
bathrooms and generally giving it a homely rustic feel
that it lacked. . Outside was a different story, over
the years as well as converting the barns into the guest
cottage and building the stables and pool, we have
gradually knocked down outbuildings to extend our
courtyard and landscaped the gardens – just a pea field
when we moved in. It has been constant hard work, but
very rewarding. We like to think that one day we will
finish and sit back to enjoy the results but I doubt it.
In hindsight we have realised that it is a good idea not
to rush straight into things. Ideas we had when we first
arrived were put on hold for one reason or another, but
actually turned out to be for the best, as new ideas
were much better.
The garden is now taking shape, but with the current
water shortages we have had to concentrate on just
providing enough water to keep the plants alive, meaning
that they haven’t flourished as much as they could have
done. One thing that grows in the winter time is grass.
To start with this was a problem as we did not intend to
have any and saw it as a nuisance, forever trying to
weed it out from between the plants. I finally realised
that it would be best to stop fighting it and started to
keep it strimmed down. It now provides us with a lovely
green lawn effect between the shrubs, the mix of grass
and weeds all looking the same when cut short.
 Of course
by June it is yellow until the first rains of the autumn
but it still looks neat and tidy. Its a nightmare in
early spring though, when I do the first cut as I am
literally down on my hands and knees sifting through the
grass looking for bulb shoots, so as not to strim them
down. Of course I never find them all and sadly cut a
few bulbs down which is such a shame. This year I have
taken photos of all the bulbs to use as a guide next
year.
We had a very strange and annoying incident last spring
– I have planted bulbs in the verge outside our house,
daffodils being one thing I miss from England, I was
keen to see them flowering in my garden. Unfortunately
someone else thought they looked pretty too and actually
dug up a whole clump, still in flower. I was so upset, I
wish I could have seen who did it.
Another problem we have to contend with in the garden is
the chickens. I love the way they wander around, pecking
the ground, they look so funny, but they can be so
destructive. When I bought my first lot of hens I was
asked if I wanted their beaks cut, something that
horrified me and I said no. These hens were a menace and
cut off all my flower heads using their beaks like
scissors. When I had to replace them I could only buy
hens with cut beaks which at the time saddened me but I
feel very guilty to admit that they are so much better
for the garden! Now my flowers stay in one piece, but
they still love to dig the soil and often dig up
anything newly planted.
Clive’s biggest bug bear is the horses eating the
garden. We have grown a mixed hedge around their field
and sometimes when the wind blows they are able to reach
the trees and bite the tops off. They are also fond of
taking a bite of any tree they pass when we set off to
ride, Hercules being the keenest tree eater. Clive
despairs of ever having a decent garden –he really has
the patience of a saint, especially as he is not quite
the animal lover that I am.
*Puppy update:- They are now about 2 months old and
really gorgeous little characters.
We have male and female, some are plain black and some
have brown markings. They will make a medium size, and
if they have their mums character they will be lovely
well behaved dogs. Please get in touch if you can give
one a home. (see photo)
To be continued…………………
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