Looking Back — 2007 

2006 appeared, on the whole, to be rolling along quite nicely, until it came time to take the tups from their field, bring them in for dosing and covering with raddle before placing them in the field with the ewes. Tofu has always seemed to suffer from foot ailments, compared to James. He regularly limps, be it for the odd day or seemingly permanently!

Having received a number of warnings from the vet about the number of accidents, annually, where farmers suffer bruising to leg breaks and occasional death, Ruth has desisted from tackling Tofu in the field for foot trimming. Those small horns are now considerably larger and so is the sheep. He was therefore loaded into the trailer and brought to the barn, placed in a stable and cornered. Unfortunately, not only had he grown larger in stature but in weight also. His horns were semi crescents over his head, the points of which seemed designed to dig into thighs. Such was his weight that Ruth found it impossible to hold him and turn him to sitting position, so Annie came to assist. The overall aim was to get him to the ground, hold him down and then trim his feet. His weight was such that he was difficult to handle even between two people, he came crashing down, Ruth at the time, was holding onto one horn and was unable to fully remove her fingers before he hit the floor. The result was a well smashed finger - crushed like a hammer hitting a melon on a hard surface.

Initially, there was not so much pain as shock, at the sight of the blood that appeared on the tups neck area. Annie came initially to the conclusion that in crashing to the deck, he had somehow damaged his horn, until she saw the look and colour of Ruths' face and the slight gasp for breath. Luckily, Annie acted rapidly, dragging Ruth to her feet and out of the stable, shutting the door afterwards. As Tofu got to his feet and began headbutting the stable door, Ruths hand was pushed into a nearby water bucket, while bandages were fetched.

It became clear immediately that there was no hope of stitching the open wound due to its position right at the end of the finger, so it was simply bandaged tightly in an effort to stop the bleeding. This actually seemed to take a day or so! While the damaged finger was on the left hand and Ruth is right-handed, it was still something of an incapacitating injury and it was impossible to type adequately one handed, so the website was not updated!

The finger remained in bandages for a couple of weeks and, in an effort to function and not cause further damage the finger was regularly wrapped in a plastic bag. This was not the most ideal solution, there seemed little else that could be done, regular finger protectors now seem to be all synthetic, rather like a latex and would not have lasted five minutes. Ishbel Ross a local crofter came up with the ideal solution, she created a leather finger sling and this eased the problem greatly. Gone was the plastic bag, which caused sweating and slowed healing. By March 2007, just before lambing, the entire finger nail fell off, so the sling remained in place. It took until almost September before a good portion of new nail had re-grown.

We gained a new addition to the family in the shape of another dog in 2006. Mac the collie dog. Mac came from Ardgay, his original owner having gone out to New Zealand and the dog was given to the care of the parents. Callum informed Ruth that Mac was a working sheepdog but that he didn't get on well with their own dog, so didn't get much chance to work and he needed a new home. So Ruth duly went along to "see him in action", which in fact, never came to pass… She arrived at the appointed time, climbed into Callums' estate car along with the dog and was driven across Ardgay to some fields, whereupon Callum suggested she might like to see his cows. He stopped the car, flung open a gate, then promptly got back in the car and began driving it through the field heading for a second open gateway. Nearing the gateway there was a rumble from under the car - it seems the car had simply driven over the gate where it lay in the grass. A trip up the slope and round the cows then followed. Eventually, Callum took the car back down the field toward the lane, pausing to re-close the gate, he started up the lane and the car stalled, it had run out of diesel. Callum took an empty fuel can from the rear of the car, instructed Ruth to wait there while he went home to get a refill of fuel, take the dog for a walk, he'll be fine. Right, well, dogs do not generally take to complete strangers, so Ruth found a length of rope in the car, fastened it round the dogs collar and took him for a walk. She was surprised to note that he did indeed seem to be fine. A while later, Callum reappeared with the fuel and filled the car which still failed to start. This time, the problem lay with the flat battery. Jump starting a vehicle in reverse was quite a novelty for Ruth, but the car did eventually start. Turning the vehicle round and facing it back down the lane, it promptly stalled again. Jump starting in forward motion was not successful and the car finished up at the junction with the main road. Callum had to call his wife to come to the rescue and he then had to return with his tractor to jump start and move the car. A sheepdog trial therefore never in fact took place, instead, it was suggested that Ruth simply take the dog home and give him a trial. Ruth agreed to two weeks, popped the dog into her car and drove home.

Deciding to get on with the task of trialling the dog, she immediately took him to the front paddock that, at the time, contained the lambs, being weaned from their mothers. The dog seemed keen to work, rushing through the gate, swinging round to the right in an arc to the rear of the sheep. Those same sheep promptly ran up to Ruth, the dog lay there, obviously waiting for instructions... Okay, not knowing what to do next, Ruth decided to pop him back in the car and drive him down to the ewes in a lower field. Again, he was keen to get through the gate. Not quite knowing the words to use Ruth decided simply to explain to the dog that she wanted the sheep moving from this field, along and through the gate into the adjoining field. But, would he mind waiting until she had the gate closed again. (Did she really think this would work?) The dog shot through the gate so Ruth asked him to lie down, which he promptly did, she turned round to re-fasten the gate and when she turned back... the dog had gone. Rounding the bushes she was just in time to see him herding all the sheep through the gate and into the adjoining field. Hm, this meant a dash to catch up. By the time she got into the second field, Mac the dog had taken all the ewes to the far end and was lying down waiting for further instructions. Deciding she had no idea what she was doing, Ruth called him back and they returned to the car. That evening, Ruth downloaded some instructions from the internet and wrote the pertinent ones down - on her hands.

Each day, Ruth took the dog out to the sheep and it became clear that while he was keen, he was also raw and could focus on one or two sheep only - a strong eye or something. Eventually, into the second week, Ruth decided she needed to seek advice and was told to contact an ex sheep dog trailer near Muir of Ord. She duly drove out with the dog to meet up with the chap. Who upon seeing the dog virtually dismissed him immediately. He doesn't listen to you, he is too powerful for you, he is too old... (Mac was three years old.) His advice : take the dog back, buy a puppy and start from scratch, if the puppy doesn't work out, find it a good home then start again. Ruth was somewhat disappointed, she didn't really have the time left in years, to go through puppy after puppy in the hope of eventually getting a dog to help her move sheep around. About the only really helpful thing she learned that day was that her instructions, downloaded from the internet, were back to front!

Sitting down with neighbour Big Iain, she discussed options. Surely, if a dog was keen to work sheep that was half the battle. Well, yes, he agreed, but, he had heard tell the dog had savaged some sheep... Odd, because he hasn't done that here, other than tearing too fast around the sheep and taking the odd lump of wool (known as gripping) he hasn't actually sunk his teeth in. Big Iain suggested Ruth get a whistle, to regain his attention, should he get over focused. Great idea. Ruth duly went to the hardware shop in Tain (Winkies) and got a half moon sheepdog whistle. This is a strange device, not a lot to it and no one in the shop knew how to use one. On the drive back, Ruth decided to try to blow it, just alongside the Simpsons steading she nearly choked on it. Pulling up to extract the whistle form the back of her throat, along came Colin. No, he had no idea how to use the whistle, he said he had always found a lot of shouting and swearing did the trick... Ruth proceeded to the Ross's where she spotted Willy and Billy out trimming sheep feet. She wandered over, clutching the whistle, holding it up, she asked if either knew how to use it. No was the answer there, again, shouting was suggested…

Five days later and Ruth still hadn't managed to get one whistle to emerge, Annie did manage to make it work, this was to be a frustrating time for Ruth and, as it turned out, for Annie too. Eventually, the whistle was banned from the house. Almost four weeks had gone by now and Callum asked if Ruth wouldn't mind hanging onto the dog a while longer as they were taking a trip out to New Zealand to visit their son. It later transpired that this trip was for four weeks... Meanwhile, Ruth learned from another local crofter, Brian Ross, that the whistle was far too big for her and that it perhaps was not a suitable shape - try an "A" whistle and preferably, get one with a lip and cord attached, that way, she didn't have to put her fingers in her mouth to use it.

Having searched on the internet and duly ordered the whistle, Ruth continued to take the dog out to practise with. Another piece of advice had been to use a rope. This was fine and worked up to a point - the point at which the dog took off at a full tilt, the rope went taut and yanked Ruth off her feet! There is nothing quite as disconcerting as being dragged along a field, flat on your back, by a dog on a length of rope. Perseverance and a degree of stamina seemed to be required.

In early Spring logging in the forestry on the opposite side of the road commenced, beginning in the early hours of the morning and finishing around 6pm. It was noisy work with heavy machinery constantly passing back and forth. By now, Ruth's sheep were heavily pregnant yet they seemed little phased by the tree felling opposite.

Lambing was due to take place, commencing on 22nd April, but in fact began a day early. Sheep 005 went back true to her old form and produced a giant female lamb and once again, true to form, the vet had to be called. Kenny attended, he looked at the sheep and uttered : Not the same sheep again? I thought you weren't going to put her in lamb after the last one? Ruth, muttered something along the lines of... well, she had twins last year and didn't really have any bother. But, she did promise not to put her in lamb, ever, ever again. So, Kenny duly managed to get the lamb out, afterwards, he stood there, looked down at the sheep and lamb and said - I don't know how she does this, she has a huge lamb and both she and the lamb manage to survive! Once again, the lamb survived and by a month old, it was half the size of its mother

The remainder of the first week of lambing seemed to go very smoothly, until the 28th. While checking the sheep at midnight, Ruth counted an extra set of eyes in the field, shining the torch across, the eyes shone back red, there was a fox walking around through the flock! This was a first, Ruth began slowly walking toward it, whereupon, it simply turned and slowly made its way back through the sheep to the fence. It took itself across the track and went to sit on the old cairn, waiting for Ruth to leave the field. Utterly distraught, Ruth decided to fetch Mac and send him after the fox. He duly took off in the direction of the animal at which point, sense hit Ruth - what if... he gets over to Mid Fearn, what if Hector is out with his gun, he sees Mac but does not see the fox. A dash back to the house to get the whistle... Mac came back promptly. The next day, Ruth phoned Mid Fearn Estate to explain she was sending the dog after a foxes, it was suggested, by Charles Brook, that she might want to consider getting a rifle.

A couple of days later, at 1am, Ruth was out in the field assisting Miracle with her first lamb. Last year, she struggled so much with her first lamb, she had no energy left to produce the second and then had to spend three days in the stable receiving injections, so, Ruth was ready this year. Ruth managed to get the sheep down, its legs fastened with baler band to stop her rising and had just managed to get her hand over the head of the lamb when she glanced behind her... Sitting quite patiently waiting, not six foot away was a fox. Once the lamb was out, the sheep had the baler band removed and Ruth ran round the field after the fox waving her torch and shouting.

The issue with the foxes became a nightly event it seemed and Susan and Andrew also reported sighting a fox or two. Late one night Andrew appeared with his shot gun and he and Ruth walked all round the field looking for the fox. That night, no fox appeared - but, on returning home, Andrew saw two foxes strolling across his own yard! The next night, the one and only gimmer to be in lamb, showed classic signs of being about to give birth, Ruth duly went and sat in the kitchen for an hour, then went out to check on her. Her lamb had been born and creeping toward them was... a fox. This meant all out war. Annie purchased a yellow flashing light which was duly attached to a fence and was moved to a new position each day. The remaining sheep then had the equivalent of a sheep disco each night - minus the music!

We had two losses this time, on the 11th May, Mucky Bottom. She had always been a consistent sheep, always produced twins and never needed assistance, this year was no different. What was different however, was that it was clear, from her demeanour about two or more weeks before the lambs were due, that she was uncomfortable. She did manage to give birth to twins again unaided, but, a week later, was found dead, with her two lambs sitting on her desperately trying to get her to rise. The pair were taken in to the stable and were bottle fed.

This year, Rosie produced twins a male and a female. Both seemed to be well and both seemed to be sucking, on the second day however, the male was found dead. Oddly, Rosie did not really seem to notice she was one lamb missing. All told, we had 17 surviving lambs out of 18, but, only 5 of these were male, which would leave 12 females eventually entering our breeding cycle. It was therefore decided that the "original" cheviots, those that remained alive, would not be put into lamb again, but retired.

In the meantime, Annie had decided that perhaps Charles Brook had been right, a rifle might be required and she opted to apply for a license. In 2006 London seemed to be in the middle of a wave of gun crime, mainly youths being shot. Where they obtained their weapons from is a mystery to us as the hoops Annie had to go through to get a rifle were amazing. Annie had to organise to buy a weapon and a gun cabinet, then apply for a license, undergo police interviews, have the potential location of the cabinet checked, then wait for the license to arrive. Once the license had arrived, she had to produce it to actually purchase the goods and, once the cabinet was installed, a further check was carried out by the police. So, where do the weapons come from that the youths in London manage to acquire?

The rather funny element to all this, was the police inspections and interviews. At the time these occurred, Ruth was in the middle of wine making, and of course, one of the questions asked of Annie related to her alcohol consumption. Annie rarely drinks, save to test some of the brews that Ruth has concocted, but the sight of 10 demijohns all bubbling away must have been disturbing for the two officers who came out.

Other notable events for the year, was the construction, before lambing, of an inner fence to the front paddock. It had been noted, in previous years, that the sheep ate a considerable amount of the hedging and were prone to disappearing into the hawthorn to lamb, which was not at all convenient. A new, inner fence line was therefore constructed.

In light of the problems of moving sheep from field to field and to the mart, a number of options were looked at. The final outcome of which was the purchase of a sheep trailer, this is a low, single deck version and will carry around 11 sheep.

On the subject of sheep handling and moving. When the tups were removed from the females, in late 2006, they and the two wether sheep, spent a few days in the front paddock, before being returned to the lower fields. They were of course fed dry food in the trough and this led to the first of a number of run ins with Tofu, the tup with the horns. He is used to people, shows no fear and his immediate instinct was to run up and head butt, which is actually quite a frightening event. The first time the tups were fed in the front paddock he simply charged Ruth, who was left to run out of the way. Mac was brought in and he immediately "trapped" all four males in the opposite corner of the paddock, so enabling Ruth to fill the trough and safely leave. On one such occasion, Tofu dashed from the group and made straight for Ruth. Still not having full understanding of the required words for the sheepdog, all that she could say was a rather plaintive, Mac, help! Surprisingly, Mac charged back, to the far side of the tup, almost looking as if he were going to move Tofu directly to Ruth. Rather than doing this, he shot round the rear of the sheep, so turning him away and to emphasise the point, took a chunk of wool out of the sheeps' flank - but the tup did not try that again.

Since that event, the only time the tup has charged Ruth has been when the dog was not present. Mac is therefore taken with Ruth each and every time she has to enter their field. Mac, appears to have a mind of his own and makes assumptions about what is to happen, sometimes, he gets it right, other times he is completely wrong. On a number of occasions he has brought sheep to us when we simply wanted to count and check them. When it came time to bring the hogs up from the lower field, the trailer was used and the dog came into his own bringing all the sheep across the field to be loaded. However, as Ruth and Annie were setting up the sheep gates to temporarily hold the hogs, the dog "vanished", after twenty minutes of calling and searching, he was eventually spotted. He had crept across the field, slowly so as not to disturb the sheep and had hunkered down behind a clump of reeds. He simply sat there waiting for the command to go fetch them and no way was he giving his position away to the sheep! Meanwhile, Ruth and Annie were running up and down the track and road looking for him...

Preparations were made for the construction of the poly tunnel, again, planning consent was required! It was also decided that some earth works would be required and mounds of earth created which would eventually act as windbreaks. This earth came from the original mound, created next to the barn by Ronnie Fraser when the barn was first constructed. Ruth used the digger to move some of this and so started the process of the windbreak. Two fruit trees have already been planted in the area, one marks the burial site of Mucky Bottom, the other marks the grave of Rosies lamb.

A decision was made to create a central track, running between fields at the front of the property and the rear, rough pasture. A start was made with the digger, which, after a few days of heavy rainfall, much to Ruths' consternation, got stuck, that part of the project was put on hold until dryer weather came. This would prove to be a non event in 2007. The weather across the year was a strange mix. Summer appeared to take place in March and April and the usual Summer months were replaced by prolonged periods of rain. Sheep shearing did not therefore take place at the usual time, but was delayed by poor weather and eventually took place in late August! How the hill farmers managed we have no idea, but almost everyone had a delayed shearing time.

Most of the land through which the central track would run was well overgrown with gorse and whin bushes. It might have been simpler to take the chainsaw and cut through them all, but the digger, on commencing the track, had uplifted a number of potentially hazardous reasons not to use the chainsaw - wire! At some stage, the original fencing to the fields had been replaced by a new fence, but, the old fence, though fallen down, still remained in place. Old implement parts, remains of steel containers, petrol cans, spades - any manner of metallic waste appeared to be strewn along the length of the proposed track. Therefore, the majority of the gorse and whin bushes were cut manually. Great mounds of the cuttings began to pile up and we were reminded that we would not be able to burn this. Annie therefore took the decision to cut down every branch, remove the greenery and then cut the remaining lengths into sticks that could be burnt on the fires in the house. Not having a suitable chopper for the greenery, not being able to take it to a local waste disposal - we simply had no option but to burn that! Meanwhile, the piles of sticks in the barn grew.

Once a certain length of the proposed track had been cleared, an area of the rear rough pasture was fenced off and gates added. This would then become usable by the sheep and would add to our pasture availability.

One of the biggest problems of erecting fencing in this area has been the nature of the ground. Putting in fence posts is a problem across the entire property, with the large number of stones just below the surface, but it was especially the case around the rear rough pasture. Added to which, it appeared at some point as if there had been a dry stone wall in place. This would not have been easy to remove and, in one area, Juniper trees are growing.

During the winter of 2006-2007, Annie decided to apply render coat to the inner barn walls, which, since the barn was constructed have remained simply as concrete block work. Large amounts of sand were purchased and the cement mixer once more used to mix render, the usual two coats were applied and once complete and dry, the walls were painted. This did appear to create more light in the barn area and certainly gave a better finish.

The swallows once again reappeared, though in considerably reduced numbers over previous years! The birds also turned up earlier than expected, and for them, not at a good time of the year. The unexpected very dry period meant there was little surface water around and we discovered, fairly early, that this was a severe drawback for swallows. The birds use surface water and earth to create a "mud" in order to build their nests. A number of nests, some complete with eggs or very young birds simply fell to the ground. Only one or two pairs managed to construct two nests during the season and most of the birds were very late leaving with their young flying offspring. We suspect returning numbers might once again be low in the coming year.

Having rendered every wall in the barn and painted it and, in light of the fox problem encountered during lambing, Annie took the decision to concrete the barn floor. The original idea had been to lay a horse friendly surface, for two reasons, this was not carried out, firstly the overall extreme cost and second, as you will discover further on, our riding days were to come to an end. So, having decided on concrete, the next phase was to plan the operation. Neither of us felt up to concreting such a vast area, so ready-mix options were investigated, along with outsourcing the labour. The latter proved the most difficult, the job was deemed either too small or too large by a number of companies. After three months or so of trying, Annie declared we should start the job, doing it section by section. She also decided to run water pipes, under the floor area to the opposite side of the barn and add drainage to one section, in this way, if needs be, Ruth could, in future years, bring all the sheep indoors for lambing.

It says much about the stamina Annie still has, in that she undertook a construction job for some people in Edderton, the building of a new extension to an existing house. This in itself was no easy task, the stone was in fact, round field rubble and the entire construction matched the original house. So the only real time available for working on the concrete floor were to be Saturdays. A start was made, two cement mixers were in operation, one on the rear of the tractor, the other a smaller electric mixer. Once again, Munro Pirie and his wagon came into play, he delivered the required amounts of ballast for the concrete mix and the "dirty sand" used for the blinding, and, as usual, he was able to drive into the barn to drop the loads, in the light of the inclement weather throughout most of the "Summer" this was to be a bonus as the stuff remained dry.

So, in and amongst the other work and lambing, the barn floor was commenced. We could not do this alone and managed to get help from a couple of people who gave up their Saturdays to help us with the project. We are indebted to Ian from Bonar and Stewart, otherwise known as "Trout" for their efforts. At one stage the entire operation had to be put on hold for a couple of months after Ruth wrenched her shoulder. The local doctor prescribed painkillers, which were incredibly effective, so much so, that by day three Ruth felt she could manage to plant some runner beans in the garden, but found, to her dismay, that on plunging the hand trowel in to the ground the pain almost made her pass out. Painkillers are all well and good, but sometimes a false impression can be gained from their use! After a couple of months break the concreting recommenced and, by November, the work was complete.

This particular area of the Highlands seems to suffer frequent power cuts during the Winter months, when the power fails, gone too is our means of pumping water from the bore hole. While there are water tanks in the house, both are small and would not enable re-filling of troughs or water containers for livestock. Annie therefore decided to install a large capacity water tank in the barn itself, initial installation began in 2007, but the final connections were not made until February 2008.

2007 also saw Annie attempting to increase the number of beehives and to this end, she purchased two new hives, watched for additional Queen cells and swarms. At one point, local beekeeper Robert and Annie were called upon to remove a "wild bee" nest at Tressady Estate in Sutherland. There, to their amazement, in the roof space a huge colony of bees had gathered. They discovered that the bees were original Scottish Black Bees and decided to try to rescue the Queen and some of the drones etc. Despite their best efforts the bees failed to thrive and sadly, the colony died. However, one swarm was collected and placed into the new hive that Annie had constructed from a kit. Sadly, at the end of 2007, this hive too had failed and it transpired that the likely cause was Varroa, how this has spread is a mystery as there are no other beehives in "close" proximity.

The up and down weather - raining and strong winds instead of the usual sun in Summer and the very early dryness caused considerable issues for us growing wise. Many of the vegetables were late to flower, or, in deed, the opposite occurred, many went directly to flower and seed before producing anything we could use. The soft fruits grew very large, even the wild raspberries were larger than usual, but, probably due to a lack of sunshine, there was little flavour or sweetness in them.

Hay making was also somewhat later in 2007, the weather somewhat hampering the cutting. Robertson's delivered the hydraulic mower, which meant Ruth did not have to rely on Andrew next door not only to set up his mower on the back of her tractor, but also for opening and closing it so she could get into and out of the fields. The new mower operates on a hydraulically lifted ram, so lifts vertically to allow passage into and out of the field. This was to prove a considerable bonus, but was still somewhat hampered by the very wet ground and meant trying to cut slightly higher than is usual. The first attempt Ruth made saw her virtually digging herself into the field!

---

The biggest, most unexpected event to hit us in 2007 lay with the horses. In May, Ruth noticed a small lump on the side of Rebels face, about the size of lump usually caused by a fly bite. Generally, Rebel was never bothered in this way, though Memphis was frequently seen with the odd small lump caused by a fly bite - they generally disappeared after a day or so. But, not this one. About three days after Ruth first saw the lump, neighbour Susan had organised for the farrier to call for the foot trimming. This has always been a shared event and makes the trip a little more worthwhile for the farrier. On this occasion, she had forgotten to mention it to Ruth and had simply taken the farrier to the field and held Rebel and Memphis while their feet were trimmed. Speaking to Ruth later, she said the position of the "bite" might indicate that it was in fact a tooth abscess. Concerned, Ruth called in Lorna the vet, who checked the older horse out. Some debate then followed, well, it might be a tooth abscess, in which case, to excise it would likely mean the removal of the tooth and, given the horses age, well, he needed all his teeth. Lorna consulted with her boyfriend, a vet with the specialist Equine vets, between them, they decided to leave Rebel for a week and see if the abscess would burst through on its own. Ruth was instructed to monitor the situation, which she did daily, finding the lump growing in size each day. By day eight, the horse was unable to breathe through one nostril, Ruth again called the vet and Lorna duly came out to visit.

This was not to be good news, Lorna did as many tests as she possibly could, but said, with great sympathy, that this was more than a tooth abscess and the specialist vet would need to be called. A few days later, Chris, Lorna's boyfriend from the specialist Equine Vet practice in Kessock came out to see Rebel. Rebel and Memphis had been brought up to the stables for this visit as Rebel would need to undergo a light anaesthetic while an endoscope was inserted in his nostril. There are no equine endoscopes, the vet came armed with a "retired" human endoscope, purchased from Raigmore hospital and took biopsies of the lumps that was blocking one nostril. Chris explained before leaving, that, from what he had seen, the lump was in fact a tumour and Ruth was not to get her hopes up. The location of the lump and given the horses age, meant it would be near impossible to remove via any surgery. Four days later, Chris telephoned with the biopsy results, definitely cancerous and the type of cancer was rapid, his best estimate was two weeks. This news was utterly devastating.

The predicted death of the older horse, well into his 30's would also impact, heavily, on Memphis, the younger horse, aged 11 years. Memphis had, since her arrival with Ruth at the age of one year old, spent all her time with Rebel. With each of Rebels' "escapes" from his stable, Memphis had always had a panic attack, the loss of the horse would also impact greatly on her future. Discussing the possibilities - should, or indeed, could, another horse be brought here to keep Memphis company, would we ever ride again... It was decided that we should find Memphis a new home - a permanent loan, where she would interact with other horses and also receive more attention. For two weeks following the diagnosis, Ruth and Annie almost lived in fear. Rebel seemed totally unphased, but it became clear, over time, that both he and Memphis were aware that things were not right with him. Ruth decided to forgo the potential worry of laminitis, and gave Rebel a Mars chocolate bar each day - his favourite. This seemed to increase his longevity, and at the end of the two weeks, while the lump on the side of his face had grown, it seemed to have ground to a halt. Looking at Rebel, in one of the last photos to be taken, it is difficult to see what ails him, he looks fit and well.

Ruth had been expecting to attend an Open University Residential School in Nottingham for her Biology course, but decided not to attend that one, but to play catch up and attend the School for a course she did two years previously, which was scheduled for Edinburgh - much closer to home, should the need arise to return. She duly attended and spent the entire week in a worried daze not enjoying the course one iota. Rebel had not deteriorated further when she got back. By mid August however, the lump had grown up and to the top of his nose, the day of the big decision had arrived and Ruth called the vet. Andrew came round after work that evening and took the digger along to dig a large hole. The next day, the vet arrived with a veterinary nurse, Yvonne, Susan from next door arrived and Annie was present. Susan had offered to take charge of Memphis, and, once Rebel had passed on, she would walk Memphis up to him, so the horse would know he had gone, after this, she would take Memphis to temporarily join her horses, so she would at least have company.

Rebel went to sleep on the 17th August, Memphis accepted his death and while very quiet for two or three days, did not whinny or call for him. A week later, Danielle came across from Gairloch Trekking Centre and took Memphis to join her horses on the West coast.

Losing a dog or a cat has been hard in the past, so too a sheep, but the loss of Rebel was devastating and, to a degree, still is. Annie had the stonemasons in Golspie carve a large block of granite and this now sits by his grave site along with three Scots Pine trees that she planted. It took weeks for Ruth to go visit the site ad she still misses both horses.