CHAPTER 9

During the Spring of 1968, when Conker was born, Mike was looking for more land. There was none to be had in St. Florence, so he was having to seek further afield. He found a 69-acre farm called Pendeilo at Amroth about eight miles away. It had a large beautiful Georgian house, lots of outbuildings and a cottage.

Some 61 acres were good pasture and the other nine were mature woodland. After a long line of negotiations he was able to buy the farm and as they were not ready to move from St. Florence he decided to use the land to rear cattle and built up a small dairy herd. By the beginning of Spring in the following year of 1969, Conker needed to be separated from me, for I was due to have another foal. He would have to be a good distance away and Court Vale was too small to separate him from me.

After a while he went to Pendeilo where he grazed what was called the home paddock, with Jenny and Jacky for company, along with several head of beef cattle. Mike asked Mr. Boswell to break him in and when he came and looked at him, he said: "This one's going to make 15 hands. He's a big strong one. Would you like to sell him to me, for he'll be too big for your boys, but just right for Debbie. She needs a bigger pony."

So Conker left us for a very good home and he's still about at the age of 23. He became a very good hunter and show pony. In fact, many called him a horse, for he was very big and strong and had all the best characteristics of 'Flight', his Arab father.

Now once again very heavy in foal, I was moved with the family to our new farm at Pendeilo. It was Maytime and the countryside was beautiful. In the home paddock by the house was a huge horsechestnut tree where I would rest from the hot sun, and it was beneath the shade of this tree that I was determined to give birth to my foal, which would be due by the end of May or very early June.

Pendeilo was a peaceful place, set in its own wooded valley running down to the sea. I heard one of the visitors call it "An oasis of tranquility in a troubled world," and so it was. There was no traffic, no noise, save that of the animals and birds.

In that secluded paddock beneath the chestnut tree I gave birth to my second foal at 4.30 in the morning of June 1 just as dawn was breaking. It was a filly! She was the image of her father Flight - a light shiny chestnut with the same white blaze and a true Arab head and body. There was no sign of my Welsh Mountain characteristics and she was a bonny well made foal from the minute she was born.

They called her Sherry, for that was exactly her colour. She was perfect. Quiet, easy to catch and lead, she had no vices and like me she broke easily when she was just 12-months-old. After 22 years she's still with me, doesn't look half her age, and if ever there was a show pony it was Sherry.

I've had many foals since, but Sherry was my favourite. She has never left my side since she was born and now as I reach nearly 28 she looks after me. By the time she was 18-months-old she had reached 14.2 hands and was a perfect young filly. She never had a foal of her own, but has guided and looked after all of mine since she was reared. Her temperament is perfect and over the years countless children have learned to ride on her back. Like me she is 'bomb proof', gentle and understanding, so that even the most timid child has nothing to fear from her.

Pendeilo was the most popular farm guesthouse in the district. Every year Mike and Del had a long season lasting from Easter until the end of October. They catered for four families at a time and most stayed for a fortnight.

All we animals were featured in the brochure and I am sure that we were very much responsible for the success of their business. We played our part and gave real enjoyment to everyone.

Mike developed his dairy herd starting with one Jersey calf called 'Sunshine'. She was a great friend of both Sherry and myself. She grazed with us, along with Jenny and Jackie, from being only a few months old. From her stemmed Sunshine 2, 3, 4 and 5, and all were good milkers. There were Friesians and Ayrshire cows as well and in less than three years Mike had 20 cows all bred on the farm from being small calves.

With Sherry running at my side, Mark and Michael would ride me to round up the cows at milking time and they would make their way home to be milked without any problems. We all grazed together throughout the year, except when I was shortly due to foal when I would have my own small meadow or paddock.

When the visitors were staying, Mark and Michael hit upon the idea of charging the visitors' children 6d (21/2p) per ride on me or Sherry. They thought they had a good business running, but little did they know that Mike and Del gave all the money taken back to the parents afterwards.

At the nearby riding school we were schooled regularly by Mrs. Marjorie Moore, the proprietor, and every August she would have her own gymkhana. We did well there and obtained rosettes for showing, and Sherry for jumping. We met lots of other horses and ponies which were owned by very nice boys and girls.

Mrs. Moore was very strict and firm, but she was also very kind to her pupils and their mounts. She taught Mark and Michael discipline, which not only helped their riding, but also their future daily lives as they grew up.

She emphasised the importance of hygiene, especially where food and water were concerned. Feeding and water buckets had to be scrubbed and washed perfectly. Stale food was thrown away and she taught her pupils to only feed what could be eaten right away. She taught them the value of good hay and how to recognise it. Her knowledge of pastures, grasses and herbs was passed on and she emphasised the importance of regularly varying grazing areas, resting them and keeping the grass in good order.

We horses and ponies are notoriously bad grazers and if a field is not looked after we will soon make a mess of it. The grass has to be topped regularly and grazed by other kinds of animals. At Pendeilo this was carried out and Mike had 10 sheep which grazed after us so that the fields were always in good condition.

Mrs. Moore also emphasised the importance of grooming regularly and making sure we were wormed at least twice a year, for worms cause more illness and distress than any other form of disease to horses and ponies. They are picked up by grazing land which has not been rested for at least a month after grazing, so we were always moved regularly, the fields being sometimes divided by temporary fences.

At the farm we had a large orchard containing trees which were very old. They produced very heavy crops of a small sweet red coloured apple named 'Red Tom'. These had to be picked early in August and eaten quickly, for they were not good keepers. Every year the visitors' children were encouraged to pick them and take them home at the end of their holiday.

One day, they left the gate open which led from our paddock to the orchard. Sherry and myself wandered in along with Jenny and Jackie and we could not resist the apples. We ate too many too quickly and I began to feel uncomfortable.

Mike caught us just in time or we would have suffered from an attack of colic. The youngsters who had left the gate open were given a stern lecture on the Countryside Code and after that day a spring was fitted to the gate which made it shut automatically.

At Pendeilo, because we were a long way from the blacksmiths shop and forge, Mr. Thomas used to come every three or four weeks in his van which had a mobile forge run by Calor Gas. He would take off our shoes, trim our feet and then either re-fit the shoes or put on new ones. This activity was always very interesting to the visitors and they would watch him for hours.

Mr. Thomas was getting on in life and had already passed the retirement age. Having only a daughter, he had no son to pass on his skills to.

He was very concerned about this, for he told us that there were no young people coming along to be trained on apprenticeships as blacksmiths and farriers. This was hard to understand, for we knew that there were more and more horses and ponies being kept than ever before and there was no shortage of this well-paid skilful work.

With Mark and Michael growing up and a new brother Simon having arrived, I was given a rest from foaling, for the boys started to go on regular long rides and treks into the surrounding countryside and the nearby seaside areas.

With Mark riding Sherry and Michael with me, we would go off for a day taking a pack of sandwiches and, using bridle paths and tiny country lanes, would explore some of the most beautiful areas of South Pembrokeshire.

We rode where others had not been for years and found a wealth of wildlife all around us. We found badger setts and foxes dens. We watched birds and came to know the resting places of hawks, buzzards and barn owls. We watched woodpeckers and tree creepers and found evidence of mink living wild having escaped from farms where they were reared to produce furs.

For five years we enjoyed the glories and beauties which were Pendeilo and I shall never forget those pleasant wonderful times.

More next week