And so it is ...

And here she is now ... comfortably 'established' on a rug in front of a crackling fire, drinking a cup of coffee and reading a magazine ... And her being here and us being together is bliss, simple and pure bliss. So far the daytime has been spent settling in, familiarizing with the land and the house, meeting the "rellies" and Tess and Yarrow and, this afternoon, taking a long walk through The Valley ....

The evenings and early mornings are cold, the early morning sunlight hitting a heavy fog in the valley which dissipates quickly under the sun's early heat; the early evening chill settling on the horses and the paddocks and begging for doors and windows to be closed and the fire lit.

We spent some time this morning getting to know Duchess, a 13-hand pony that may be Niki's riding companion, doing Join-Up (letting the horse accept you without force or undue dominance) and turning Samson (Hans' 17.5 hand Percheron cross) from Yellow to White (OK, he hadn't been washed for a few months but looked very healthy and happy - it's just that he's now once more a Dapple Grey rather than a Dirt Ochre.