Calling all horse-lovers, this is my first post here so I feel I should start by introducing myself. My name is Ronald Summers and I am here on a passing visit as I am in need of some horse-related advice.
For the past 15 years I have lived next door to a wonderful lady by the name of Julia Riceweaver. Besides being an ex-astronomer, wig maker and a stamp designer, she was also a keen horse-lover.
A few years ago and after her 5th hip operation she realised she could no longer properly look after all her horses and so made the decision to give up all but one of them. The one horse she chose to keep, her favourite, the one that reminded her of her father, came to stay in the field behind both of our gardens. Most days Julia and I would meet and chat and feed Corinthian together while laughing about how ridiculous modern society was in comparison to the old times.
Tragically, the reason I describe Julia in the past-tense is because at precisely 9:54pm on the Tuesday before last, she was pronounced dead. Although no-one can tell for sure, it seems as if she fell down the stairs while reaching for one of the framed photos of Mandy, one of her old horses. I don’t mean to sound insensitive but I am glad that at least in some way, her love for horses was involved in her death.
Last Wednesday morning while attempting to clean behind the fridge I was thinking about Julia when I heard the door bell ring. In my rush to see who it was I got one of my feet stuck under the washing machine. Unfortunately I began to panic and while trying to free my foot banged my nose, grazed my chin and got one of my hands stuck in the same place. The door bell rang again and luckily my shouts for help got the attention of the stranger who opened my front door and came to my rescue. Bizarrely it turned out to be Julia’s solicitor who had come to read me her will.
And it turns out that Julia has left me her horse, Corinthian.
Partly due to still being sore from my accident and partly because he had a rather strange smell, I tried getting Mr. Banteen out my house as soon as I could. Now that I’ve had the time to think further I slightly regret not having properly listened to him before I pushed him away. I realise now that I failed to tell him that I know really very little about horses. Even now as I am typing this, if I turn and look out my window to the field beyond the garden, I can see Corinthian standing there staring at me and it seems as if he’s after something.
Yesterday while I fed Corinthian I realised that he would be perhaps missing his owner. I took it upon myself to construct a miniature wooden billboard and stuck on the largest photo I could find of Julia. I placed it close to where she used to feed him. Unfortunately he appears angry and refuses to go near the sign and has started to run around the field in a way I have never seen him do before.
I feel I really need some help and would be very grateful if people could answer just a few questions for me:
- I have been feeding Corinthian from food stored in a little container marked “horse food” that I found at Julia’s house. I have realised that it is starting to run low and need to know where I can purchase more of the same. Does Tesco sell food for horses?
- Could Corinthian begin to like the sign I constructed if I raised it to the height that Julia used to be? I realised that it is currently fairly close to the ground and as such may not be a convincing enough likeness.
- How can I stop him staring at me from the field? Even shutting the curtains doesn’t appear to work – I did this and peeped through a tiny gap an hour later to find him still staring.
- If I decide that I cannot continue to look after the horse, is there a chance I could sell him to be used for horse races?
I thank you in advance of any responses
Ronald Summers |
