Last week, finally, Flora returned home from her "kindergarten" holiday on a friend's stud, where she spet the winter mixing up a small foal herd with her bouncy cheery way.
Flora's welcome wasn't all cheer and joy, as Winnie felt a bit threatened by this boisterous youngster coming back, remembering the little sweet foal she had seen off in September...but meanwhile, they've all settled and get on with family life in (almost) harmony.

Winnie gets her breaks from being the boss of the lot by going out with me to our local West Cork Trec League, where she gets a chance to show off her agility and sure-footedness in indoor obstacle courses. This is a great activity to do with horses all throughout the year, and soon, it will be time again to go off on Trec orienteering competitions...see www.trecireland.com for more.

So I made it to Austria and back, and what a great trip it was! I took on the long journey to represent the Irish Working Horse Association at the AGM of FECTU, the European umbrella organisation for all working horse groups.
It was inspiring to meet working horse people from 8 other nations, and much time was spent exchanging thoughts, ideas and experiences. Of course, there was the AGM business to get through, but listening in to it gave me a good insight in what is going on in the European working horse scene.
It is ever so inspiring to see that there is a world beyond our little green island where people share similar interests, responsibilities, challenges and experiences. We were made very welcome by our Austrian hosts, and there was plenty of time to socialise, be entertained and have a good laugh!
Highlight of course was the horse-drawn sleigh ride through a winter forest to a traditional cottage in the hills where our meeting took place - couldn't have been more perfect!
There are more photos of my trip here: http://www.irishworkinghorseassociation.com/photos.html