grief

George was right beside Bling when she died. He didnt do anything much to show he was disturbed by the awful nature of what happened - at the time. But for the last few days he has been in a state of distress that I do not think I am anthropomorphising to call grief.
On the first ride that we made together with Bling- a year ago-there was an incident with a wild boar. It came on to the path in front of us in the dusk in a forest. George stood stock still in horror. The boar did the same, before taking off into the gloom..with Bling barking in hot pursuit. The boar was running away from the sight of us- but George was sure that Bling had caused it to run off. Since then we have not had a "pig freakout" from George. He was absolutely confident that Bling would keep him safe. Since Bling died George has had a pig horror that has kept him running about all night. Maybe we passed a pig an hour before we camped.. but George cannot erase the image from his mind. He has spent two nights not eating not resting just worrying. When Bling was with us, if she heard George make his snorting alarm call, she would delightedly run and bark at these shadows he was seeing. I can`t bark at shadows in a way that convinces him he is safe.
Next, last night George stayed at the stables of some friends. They have some small dogs. George looked over the stable door at them. It was heartrending to see him looking for Bling..and hoping one of these would be her, and none of them were.
Well I have lost my little friend, but George has lost his friend, companion AND guard.
I cannot think that he is any less sad than I am.

Then and now

In the first (lower) picture you can see George just before we set off for our epic 1000 mile ride.

He lookes a bit bemused..wtf? is his question.. a long trip in a lorry, everything new.. what next horror is in store?

In the top picture he looks much more sure of himself. Thats the older more mature George. The one that`s been there, done that.

But he does look interested..Lets go! What are we waiting for?

So far, except for the adventure with the bull, he has been cool and laidback.(See GeorgePenny Bling for details of the bull adventure))

Having Bling with us helps him a lot. She has enough confidence for all of us.

South of the border down Tragana way

Saturday was a very long day for all of us, and George was pretty tired on Sunday. Here he is relaxing in an organic olive grove with beautiful cyprus trees behind him. But he does look tired.

The photo above (blogs always put photos in the wrong order) shows George on Tuesday after three days of R and R. He looks his usual jolly self.

He has started to play with Bling and has been eating loads of barley and corn. So I shod his front feet today.(Tuesday) Usually George doesnt wear shoes, because shoeing horses is not good for them, if you can possibly manage without.

Now that George will have to be on the road constantly, and on hard stoney ground, there is no way round it for him. Because my back hurts if I do too many feet at once I only did the front feet today. I didn`t do a bad job on one foot (featured above) The less said about the other the better. Also managed to hit my hand pretty hard when the shoe I was shaping leapt in the air and landed on my hand. Bling rushed to lick up drops of blood.

Bling was in enthusiastic attendance when I was trimming George`s feet too. Bits of hoof which are trimmed off are her favourite treat. I am afraid if anything happens to us in the mountains Bling will eat us.

Tomorrow will do the hind feet.

Should set off on Thursday.

We went for a short ride today and George seemed glad to get out and about.

He`s certainly recovered from the journey, which took more out of him than last time.

But that was 6 years ago when he was a much younger horse..

George at the gates of hell

Well here`s some photos of George for those who don`t know him.

Here`s his history. I bought him when he was 5 from Mr Josifi in Corfu.

George had been bred to be a smart, classy carriage horse. But alas, he didn`t want to be a carriage horse. He wanted to race other carriage horses, (which must have been exciting for the tourists) He would NOT stop at traffic lights - and to this day he still will not stop at traffic lights. If we get to a traffic light as it is turning red I have to leap off and hold on to his reins with all my might. So he was for sale, and I bought him. He didnt mind being a riding horse, made no complaints at all about that. He just consistently does whatever he wants. Mr Josifi told me that Georgakis had a "vivid imagination". I thought that was charming. Several falls later I am less keen on this aspect of George`s character.

George is a wimp, but now that Bling has joined us he is much more secure and less afraid of things that you couldn`t possibly think a horse might be afraid of. He objects very much to the existence of 1. pigs. 2 ostriches. 3 turkeys. He is a city boy and doesnt mind traffic, he likes it. The bigger and faster the better.

He is, as you can see in the top photo , very beautiful indeed.

The second picture shows George on the first 1000 mile ride. We had stopped at Tenaron, so that Poseidon (who lives in that chapel even to this day) could be asked to take care of George. Poseidon has obliged up until now, so that`s how I know he was there that day when I asked for his help. That`s his chapel guardingthe gates of hell.

George is allergic to a lot of things, but what exactly they are is a mystery. 4th picture shows George after (I think) he sniffed some hairy caterpillars. He recovered very quickly..but now I carry cortizone and adrenalin in case something like that happens again.

George is a very intrepid animal, and foolishly confident that his owner will not lead him in to dangerous places. Here he is about to enter a disused railway tunnel near to Nea Porri in Northern Greece.

George is a very good horse for long distance travel as he is normally very laidback. Whenever there is a chance for a doze he takes it, which means he doesn`t get exhausted ever.

In addition he is what is called, in horsey terms, a "good doer", He stays in good condition with a minimum of food. He is not fussy and will eat anything (within reason) which means he can take advantage of all kinds of food. Seen here gorging on watermelons.

Because he is bothered by flies and is allergic to fly repellant he wears barrier clothing. Here he is trimming some almond trees. Bling is there in her usual supervisory capacity.

The last picture shows George relaxing the day we reached our target 1000 miles. He deserved a good rest, and he took one!