Kilo goes to the Hay Festival :)

[eeek]

Have been at the Hay Festival for the last few days, am knackered and sunburned and trying to get my energy back for racing so will try and keep it brief but WOW Kilo is amazing!

For those who don't know, they Hay festival is a book / philosophy / cultural / London-meets-the-Welsh-borders affair. Hay is one of my local towns so the whole thing is difficult to ignore (lanes riddled with people in Volvos who can't reverse etc. grrrr), especially since my FF and I seem to be the only ones around here who aren't living/working there for the duration of the festival.

We decided it was Kilo's turn to go on an adventure, and as the long-term plan for him is that he too works the Hay Festival like everybody else does around here (I could have got a job brown-nosing philosophers for £8/hour but I am not at the moment destitute enough to consider such employment) it made sense for him to get to know the place.

We knew he was good with traffic but crowds and town were unknown territory (apart from seeing him charge around the industrial estates of Lancaster on a dark New Year's night).

We parked a mile out of town and I rode him down the main road. Loads of cars came and some were rather inconsiderate but he was perfect :)

As soon as we were in town my FF and Kilo stopped for a grass break while I managed to persuade about half a dozen friends to abandon their posts and come and say hello.

Then we headed into town for an ice cream. It was extremely crowded but he didn't mind. 99% of passers-by admired him and one stupid bint lamented the fact that the poor neglected creature wasn't shod. He isn't shod because he doesn't do enough road work to need shoes - he had them on until about a month ago but they were coming off unworn so there was really no point in putting them back on for the time being. Grrrrr.

When my feral friend went into the shop for the ice creams Kilo became a bit distressed. Fortunately Kilo's idea of showing distress is to stand motionless with his ears pricked and occasionally neigh, so no harm was done, but I got off him and led him back to his dad anyway. As soon as he saw his dad he was back to his usual droopy-lipped self :)

At some point I was filmed riding him up and down the high street, not sure who by, but please do let me know if I'm on TV (I never watch it)!

We headed back through the busiest streets and junctions and managed to acquire 6 elderly carrots and a firm young apple on the way.

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We stopped at a market where Kilo made friends with the woman with the apple cart, and entertained himself by examining a very smelly bin.

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By this time we had collected a number of children. In fact wherever we stopped we were instantly swamped by small people. Kilo didn't mind. He loves attention :)

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He is ADORABLE with children. A tiny tiny boy was feeding him a carrot and Kilo nibbled it so so gently, miraculously avoiding every one of his fingers :evilgrin:

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We decided to escape the crowds for a while, and went to wake up a friend in her tent. We had another grass break at the campsite, and collected a few more children (barefoot ones, this time, but Kilo didn't step on their little toes...).

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Then across the road to the Co-op to do some shopping, where Kilo dozed next to an extremely noisy motorbike for a while.

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We'd now collected a few friends and (finally) shaken off the children. We made our way back through town and down to the river in a stately procession. As it was a narrow stretch of road full of idiot drivers I walked at the back as some kind of human sacrifice in case anybody drove into the back of us. Kilo meanwhile was blissfully unaware of the dangers of the Great Wide World :innocent:

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One final grass-and-swim break at the river, and eventually, after about 4 hours of sightseeing and socialising, we made our slow and steady progress back down the main road to the trailer.

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I am absolutely blown away by Kilo. He is SO SENSIBLE! He wasn't wild about the traffic cones and drains all over the place, but his way of showing disapproval is to take a detour of a few inches - and within an hour or so he's completely ignoring the peril. If anything bothers him he shows his fear by opening his eyes a little wider and closing his mouth (and in a real emergency he might neigh). But as long as his dad is nearby, he really doesn't have a care in the world. He loves the attention he gets from children and is amazingly sweet and gentle with them.

Kilo is the first cob I've known intimately and thanks to him I can finally see what all the fuss is about! He really is amazing. There is no way in a million years I could do something like that with the trotters...

[annmarie]

cobs rule especially ones with white eyelashes and different colored ears love his feathers as well what a cool dude xxxx

[BEX101]

He's such a good lad.

[Pie_x]

I love the sound of where you live it sounds great. Wish I lived in a lovely town like that! Kilo is my sort of man! How brilliant is he?! Beautiful as well :) x

[chescar]

He is such a smashing lad. So glad you are enjoying him.

[CautionToTheWind]

You really have some brilliant adventures! :D

I do love Kilo, I'm sure I recall he's not that old and he's taking all that in his stride!
My Holly is 8 and still can't deal with bus stops never mind market stalls!

Brill thread! :)

[beks the artist]

Your adventures are so romantic, bohemian and cultural! Love reading them! Well done Kilo! xx

[sparkey]

I love the way you write! I hope a book is in your future plans!
Lovely use of the word "bint" hee hee hee.
So what will Kilo be doing when he's working at the festival? When I read the title of the post I thought it was some kind of bringing-in-the-hay party where the horses were pulling carts full of hay out of the fields. Not so.... :D

ETA, only in Britain would they think of naming a town after a forage crop. What's the story with that?!

[My Crazy Clan]

He looks good, lovely photos.

Why do people have a problem with unshod horses? I get this all the time, makes me thnk I am doing something wrong.

[Cobby Keri]

wot a brave lad, bless him

[Susan]

Oh he's super. What a brilliant pony you have there.
I didn't know that you lived near Hay - I have been DROOLING over this year's programme, really wanted to hear Owen Jones speaking about his new book.

[Bright Sparkx]

Lovely pictures :)x

[kaylea941]

oh he is gorrrgeous!!!! I want him :love::love::love:

[daytona]

Wow wee. What a fab fab horse you have there. He is just fantastic what a brave good lad. Great pics and story as always. You really should write a book. xx

[eeek]

CTTW, he's only 5! And he is 10 times more sensible than Vinny, who is somewhere between 16 and 20. I have a theory that silly horses usually get sillier with age, and it's only the sensible ones who grow more sensible over time. (I met a 15-year-old at the races yesterday and was chatting to his owner. I remember him in his younger days when he was VERY erratic. Guess what, apparently he's getting worse! It's just that his driver has learned to cope with him after all those years.)

Sparkey, I'm not really sure why the place is called Hay. It's short for Hay-on-Wye, and in Welsh it's Y Gelli.

I think Kilo might be selling strawberries off the back of his cart next year, but we're not really sure just yet :) Got plenty of time to think about it.

Susan, if you ever want to go to the Hay Festival you're welcome to stay with me! I'm only 10 miles away.

[ness]

Great pics-he is such a steady lad!

[Madbee]

He's fab, so glad he's getting on well - I think you were definitely meant to be his family! Hay festival sounds very exciting too :)

[injioho]

Loved reading that! Kilo sounds like an amazing boy, no wonder you and your FF are so pleased with him!

[Susan]

Susan, if you ever want to go to the Hay Festival you're welcome to stay with me! I'm only 10 miles away.

Please book me in for next year! :)
I'd love to visit.

[vels mum]

What a great experience for him and doesnt look like he was phased at all! Fab lad :D

[amandaxx1]

God he really is one in a million isn’t he! You dropped on with him, he’s a super star.

Great pics x

[Loz]

He's such a cracking lad, you and your FF must be over the moon with him. He's so handsome too, really got something about him.
I'm another who thinks you should write a book, I'd buy it that's for sure.

[eeek]

Kilo would like to thank you all for stroking his ego so nicely.

He's amazing isn't he! I still can't really believe how chilled out he is. I have to keep checking the photos to remind myself it actually happened.

He's a LOVELY ride as well - I was quite surprised the first time I rode him. I was expecting him to be a lot slower, but he power-walks everywhere (you have to walk fast to keep up with him) and is nice and forward going.

What shall I write my book about?

[Louise]

Kilo is such a pretty boy

[Ambers Mum]

such a little star!