ME AND OTHER ANIMALS

CHARLIE (THE SADDLE BACK PIG)

 Charlie, believe it or not, was a wedding present!  I have always had a passion for pigs and when a friend of my husband and mine, who is a pig farmer, asked another friend, what would be a suitable wedding present, she suggested that he gave us a pig!  I was delighted with her.  She came as a little piglet and soon became very tame and friendly, as well as very large! I think she always thought she was a dog.

GRACE AND ALICE (TAMWORTH PIGS)

When we lost Charlie (no not to the freezer!!!) we saw some Tamworth piglets advertised and I decided I needed some more pigs.  Grace and Alice were the dearest little piglets, who again grew into very big girls.  We did have a litter from each of them, every year, which gave us pork and bacon that we knew had been reared to high welfare standards, as they were all free range, living under a huge oak tree with a load of acorns!

HARRY

Harry lived with me for nearly 30 years.  I bought him as a 4 year old straight off the race track. Harry was the horse nobody wanted, well that was just fine by me.  He took me all through my twenties and thirties and most of my forties, so when I lost him, I was devastated, he had been with me almost half my life.      

 Harry took me round my first point to point race and although I was terrified he looked after me all the way!  He was also a great cross country competition horse.  I have many great memories of days flying around the countryside at break neck speed  (Harry only had two speeds, flat out and stop).

JODIE

When I left London, to go back to Devon, I said the first thing I wanted was a dog, as I wouldn't have one while I was in London.  Jodie was that dog.  She was sold to me as a working sheepdog but I had my doubts when I looked at her as a pup, and sure enough as she grew she turned into a very definite collie x Springer spaniel.  She was a wonderful companion, and she was the first dog my son remembers.  Jodie was the start of my interest in obedience, and although we only did exemption shows, the seeds were sown.  She lived to be a very old lady, surviving a stroke at 14 she lived on until she was17 years old.

VIKKI

Vikki was a wonderful birthday present.  My grandmother bred Irish Wolfhounds in Ireland and I had always wanted one, but never been in a position to have one, when she had a pup available. Vikki was a rather unusual red cream Irish wolfhound.  She also did obedience, and was very good at heelwork and recalls, but when it came to retrieves she would look at you and seem to say 'I'm a sight hound if you want a retriever get one!'   I was lucky again with Vikki in as much as wolfhounds are not long lived dogs, with many not living beyond 6 or 7, I had Vikki until 1 week before her 11th birthday.

GINGER, BRIAN JASPER AND OTHER FELINES

We have had a number of cats at the stables who were supposed to keep the mice and rats at bay, but they all seemed to prefer the comfortable life of sleeping in the hay bales and going 'walk about' on long summer evenings, so I don't think the mice or the rats were ever in any great danger!!   Jasper would wait for us, sitting on the gate post up by the road, and would then ride down the lane in the car.  If you left a car door open Jasper would be in.  He was known to have gone on many trips because no one spotted him in the back of the car.