Introducing Blue

What does a quirky shepherd get to help her with sheep jobs… A horse of course!

Meet Blue, the latest member of #teamHeronbrook. Blue is a young thoroughbred who has recently stepped out of the racing world in search of a second career, and landed up with us on our little farm in Derbyshire. He is beautifully mannered and incredibly chilled, and we look forward to seeing how he develops over the next few months, a journey that we will be sharing with you alongside the escapades of all the other animals.

We hope that he will enjoy turning his hand to a bit of sheep work, and has already been turned out in the field with a group and grazed quite happily alongside them. He has only had a couple of dappy moments so far - one while out hacking down the road when a cow suddenly poked its head over the hedge alongside us which was all a tad too exciting for young Blue who had to dance sideways across the road and never quite got over the shock for the remainder of the ride, and the other was slipping in the field on wet grass when turning at speed next to the fence. From the cuts up the inside of all four legs, I can only surmise that all of his legs ended up through the fence and the battle to release himself and stand up left the fence in tatters and more cuts than the vet and I could count. Incredibly, all were superficial, and nothing that a few days on antibiotics and the slathering on of cream couldn’t fix. He has been a lot more respectful of the boundaries of the field since then!

He is about to go into the vet for gelding, or castration, under General Anaesthetic, and then he can really get out and about around the local community without running the risk of getting over-excited at meeting mares!

Over the next few months he will be introduced to jumping, dressage moves, water and cross-country obstacles, and of course rounding up sheep. We’re excited to find out what he enjoys and where his talents lie, and have a lot of fun along the way.