‘Dolly the New Horse by Angela the new Horse Person’
From the Windmill Hill City Farm Newsletter Spring 1983
“I am delighted to report to you all that Dolly has arrived and settled in very well indeed.
After much searching and sleepless nights I found just the right animal for our purpose. For the past five years she lived on a farm at Upton Cheyne, just the other side of Bitton. During that time she was broken in and introduced to a trap specially purchased for her. The gentleman who owned her educated her very well indeed with the help of his daughter and grandchildren.
Dolly is an Exmoor-Hackney cross. The Exmoor pony is the oldest breed in the land, the foundation of the British horses – the original wild horse. They are very hardy, can live out in all weathers, are sure footed and they go well in harness. The Hackney horse are a man-made breed noted especially for their stylish action and favourites of ladies of class during Victorian and Edwardian times. Dolly certainly has the spirit and style and white socks common amongst Hackneys. She is 12.3 hands high (measurement in the horse world is done in hand. Each hand is judged to be 7 inches long).
The farm has purchased a reproduction milk-float that was Dolly’s own so she is used to it and pulls it well. Its deep and will be safe for youngsters to stand in. There is ample room for a wheelchair if necessary and it is easy to load from the rear.
Last Wednesday (27th April) Phil Tracy and I went out to fetch Dolly with a Landrover and float kindly loaned to us by Dundry Slopes Project. She had not travelled in a horse float before but like a good-natured-obedient-little pony she stepped in and the journey began. Halfway home the thunder and lightening that soaked Bristol that day began. What an introduction to her new life! She stepped out of the box in torrential rain and smartly trotted into her new house, trying to ignore the new smells and strange sounds made by the goats, pigs, geese and people, all excited and straining to get a look at her.
Since that day she has been introduced to the sights and sounds of the farm environment and the city traffic. Apart from the buses and bicycles which she’s not seen before, there are electric milk floats, pushchairs and all manner of obstacles and odd sights for a farm girl to get used to. She is a delights to handle and listens to my voice constantly for reassurance. Gradually, as she gains confidence, she will be asked to go to fetes and open days and begin her work in earnest.
