You just have to get stuck in the part loan/ shares. There are plenty out there and you will meet some lovely people and horses but you have to make sure you are comfortable with the horse and the set up and be prepared to politely decline. Be absolutely honest with your abilities.
In the interest of fairness 😝 ( to be very BBC) I did get berated by a middle aged women for not saying thank you.... as I was thanking her 🙄 need lightening hands and a hands free pony apparently
There's a field of mini Shetlands near me and I love driving past them watching their shenanigans. They often look like they are plotting. They were joined this year by a foal and watching the aunts/uncles babysit and play through the fence has been so cute they all seem to take it in turns.
My YO confronted the old guy who nearly mowed us down and he was all apologetic 'I just didn't see you' etc...
I call BS as he mouthed eff off as he passed the last horse, plus I'm also head to toe orange if he 'can't see me' he can't see full stop.
My first rosettes. The above Shetland was ace he taught half the island to ride, had accurate aim for ditching you in puddles, melted into hedges, never had a suitably secured girth, made you nauseous trotting so fast, convinced everyone he couldn't canter (until he did, a bucket was involved)...
A livery yard i was on as a teenager had two identical Shetlands the mare was an angel perfect child's pony, gentle little lady. Her husband was the devil and flatly refused to be backed, could hear a crisp packet from a mile away and was like a destructive missile, frequently just ran right...
I'm in Montenegro in April so I might just have a nosey there. The problem I've found is the ones that say they ship to the UK actually don't have a shipping option other than collect in store. The other option would be propositioning a Hungarian etsy shop that already ships to the UK 1
Not very exciting but we had an uneventful hack no problems crossing the river at all but might as well have taken a swim as got caught in a downpour without my coat 🥶