A sleeping terrier, frog and deer: when you find more than you bargained for in your hay
The mundane task of filling your horse's haynet becomes significantly less mundane when you have a flattened frog or stray address book to contend with...
Don’t mind if I have a snooze here do you?
“I found six month old Border Terrier Cleo (pictured, above) from Collective Equestrian in Chew Magna, Somerset in the hay. Even a few months later she still loves sleeping amongst the hay bales. Along with her brother Bertie as well as their Whippet x Cocker Spaniel friend Tilly, they are often found riding along in the wheelbarrows at hay time!” Elizabeth Allen
A frog (not of the prince variety…)
“I was going to a BHS Access Ride at a lovely estate in Ayrshire. When I was about to unload my horse Darcey I saw a dead frog on the ramp of the trailer, which she had shoogled out of her haynet. It was flat and almost mummified looking. I hadn’t noticed it when filling the net the day before — oops! The funny thing was it was my birthday, so I think Darcey was giving it to me as a present. Not the best present I’ve ever received…” Lorna Wright
…and another one
“Some years ago, a young friend found a flattened, desiccated frog in a hay bale. He incurred some displeasure at school when he was found to be using it as a bookmark.” June Craig
The family address book
“Last summer my dad was in a hurry to get the last bit of grass cut and baled before the weather turned. He was quite happy with the way things were going until he discovered his bag had fallen open while hung on the tractor. Needless to say much amusement was had when finally in the winter there appeared in the haynets a chequebook, the family address book and the lid of his lunch box — resulting in some confused horses!” Jenny Phillips
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A preserved hedgehog
“I once opened a square bale of haylage to find a complete if somewhat flat perfectly preserved hedgehog, poor little mite. Not funny really but when it plopped out smelling far from fragrant — it did raise a few titters on the yard. Talk about wrong place, wrong time?” Jacqui Clayton
Oh deer…
“I once found an entire deer buck carcass in a bale of hay. The sink was horrendous and we had to throw out all the bales underneath it because the deer “leaked” on them.” Andrea Feldaverd
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A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.