Natives joy

I’LL admit to being one who was happy to hear trailer tests were being scrapped by the Government in 2021. I passed my driving test after 1997 – and despite doing so the first time with two minor notes, the thought of taking another driving test to be able to pull a trailer has brought me out in a cold sweat ever since.

I’ve gratefully relied on lifts from friends and family for decades, unless taking my own horses out in a little lorry I was legally allowed to drive.

But that’s not to say I’ve since rushed out to buy a trailer and hit the roads without doing any sort of training. Why not? Our parents all did it after all. But in my role I see all the bad news, the traffic accidents involving horses that are enough to make you never want to leave the yard. So despite the test element being removed, I’ll still want training before taking any equine on the M25 – but I’ll be glad to have the option of doing so without the fear of ultimately having to pass a test (feature, p60).

In this issue, we focus on the joy of natives, something we revel in every year and know many of our readers do, too. There are these wonderful generalisations quoted each time, about thoroughbreds – “myths” that are then dispelled within our ex-racer special – Shetlands, Exmoors or Dartmoors, everyone basing their views on their experiences of one or 20.

For those who love a particular breed, nothing else can come close. And I’m no different – having had three spaniels, I sign up to the adage that Labradors come into the world half trained and spaniels leave the world half trained. Many would disagree. Do write and tell us your own views.