Friday Knight(ley)

Mr Knightley, who flew in from Dubai, has now been here exactly 2 weeks.  I had been worried that he would find the change from desert climate to Exmoor a real challenge, but in fact he settled straight in and took both the weather and his very different lifestyle in his stride.

It was only when I got round to looking at his passport that I realised why - he was bred just the other side of the Channel in Normandy so he must have felt like he was back in the place where he grew up!

According to Edward, not just the climate but also the geology of Normandy is very similar to Devon, so apart from the fact that we aren't speaking the right language, its obviously very familiar to him.

In Dubai he had been turned out only on his own or with one other horse, so it took him a few days to get used to living in a herd again.  At first he was obsessed with Paddy, who was next door to him when he arrived, and tended to overreact when other horses were around, but he has now integrated well and he is much more relaxed as he has realised that the other horses are friends not foes.

With more movement and more comfortable feet he is also beginning to stand and move better - this photo was taken today and his latest footage is up:



ETA: An update on yesterday's broadband meltdown - our previous provider is still in meltdown as far as I am aware but I have (I think) found a new provider.  Wish us luck, we are hoping to be back online properly again by next week - which means I will no longer be blogging either from my neighbours kitchen or from South Molton library(!)...Just as well as I have stacks of photo and video updates backing up!