A man who is probably extremely fond of his pony seem to have discarded the convention of using horse box and horse traillers to move horses and ponies about when he was seen trying to buy a ticket at Wrexam train station with his grey pony in tow. Picture of the man and his pony captured by CCTV was released by the train station.

Shocked staff watched as the man tried to get on the train at Wrexham General station with the grey pony in tow. Apparently a train conductor refused to let him board the train with his pony, he then return to the ticket booth where he tried to buy two tickets – one for himself and one for his pony.

Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) said horses were not permitted on safety grounds. The RSPCA said it was concerned and was viewing the CCTV tapes.

The man tried to travel on Saturday’s 1902 BST service to Holyhead on Anglesey with his four-legged companion.

The ATW spokeswoman said: “Arriva Trains Wales allows dogs and small animals to travel on board trains.

“All animals, except dogs, must be conveyed within a fully enclosed basket or pet carrier with dimensions not exceeding 85 x 60 x 60cm.

The man has also been reported to have been seen with the pony at accident and emergency of a hospital and at a pub.

Countryside Blog pony express, pony in pub, pony on train, pony travelling, wrexam pony owner

The Queen has been shown around the Irish National Stud horsebreeding centre on the third day of her historic visit to the Republic of Ireland.

In a speech at Dublin Castle on Wednesday, she offered her “sincere thoughts and deep sympathy” to victims of Ireland and the UK’s troubled past.

She went on to praise the “lasting rapport” now between the countries.

An apology had not been expected, the BBC’s Nicholas Witchell said, but the Queen came “pretty close”.

BBC Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson said that having reached “half-time” in the Queen’s four-day trip, there was now “no more politics – just horses and showbiz today”.

The Queen is due to attend a variety show at Dublin’s National Convention Centre on Thursday evening.

source/full story: bbc

Countryside Blog Horsebreeding, irish horses, queen horse lover, the queen state visit to ireland

The new from BBC below is quite interesting. The lambs thieves seem to have an interesting ways of tranporting what they stole:

Some of the animals were on the back seat of one of the cars while others were discovered packed into the boot.

Officers have now located the owner of the lambs which were found near Oldbury in the West Midlands in the early hours of Thursday.

Six men were arrested on suspicion of theft after the Vauxhall Cavalier and Rover cars were stopped.

Police said the lambs’ owner is from Toddington, Gloucestershire, and he will be reunited with his flock.

The police spokesman said officers found eight lambs in the boot of one of the vehicles with another three on the back seats.

In the second vehicle, four lambs were found in the boot and one in the foot-well.

“The lambs were found to be tightly bound and were obviously distressed,” he said.

Countryside Blog

Whether 2010 was a good year or not, 2011 might be the one for achieving your goals and dreams, from finding your true love, learning how to ride horses like a pro or even making some career upstream movements. There are three major aspects of each and anyone’s life and this are love, money and work, let’s take a look and see how each of those can really improve our happiness.

LOVE

First things first, love will be our main focus in this article. We all know how difficult it is to spend Christmas alone, New Year’s party with other happy couples, but also one thing is sure: these times have finally went by so you should make room to a new year where anything can (and will) be possible. Right from the start you should dedicate some time to yourself, get to know what you want most from a partner, what do you expect from a relationship and so on. Want to improve your chances of getting noticed on Horse Lovers Dating site? Have a look at your profile and try to do these changes that can definitely make a difference:

-          Update your profile: you should definitely add some photos that show the best of you, maybe you had a great outfit for Christmas’ Party so highlight it on your profile
-          Start a new diary and express what are you looking forward to achieve this new year
-          Go chatting and change memories about how the New Year’s party was for you

WORK

On the other hand, think about how many hours do you spend each time at work…Maybe you even have some extra-things to solve at home, maybe you are doing extra-hours, you will end up seeing that you spend about 10 hours each day with your job, maybe more, a whooping 2,600-3,000 hours each year. Of course, there is not much to be done when it comes to earning a living but you could change the way you are at work – be happy all the time. Avoid office gossips, try to stay positive, neglect negative people and smile more often. Another fantastic way of meeting new people can be related to your job: go out with your co-workers, maybe they have some friends you might find attractive and before you notice, you may end-up within a happy relationship with the person you have always dreamed about.

MONEY

Money are such a sensible subject, especially when we are talking about January, the month where we start looking on our previous month expenses on gifts, parties and so on. But if we consider than January is also a month of sales and discounts, it might be a great time to catch some bargains and once again improve your happiness levels from a financial perspective. Check out clothes’ discounts, find restaurants that offer real bargains, find some fantastic coupons on discounts websites or even participate to free events in your area.

All these might seem so simple at a first-view but they are also fantastic ways to start a new year and definitely improve your happiness from those three points of view.

Countryside Blog 2011 happy year, find love 2011, happiness

Living in the Countryside cost you up to 20% more than living in an Urban area according to a report released recently. The report said for people living in rural area to reach an acceptable standard of living, they need to earn at least £18,600 compared with urban dwellers who only need £14,400.

The report which was compiled by Commission for Rural Communities said people living in a remote village needs to earn 50% above the minimum wage of £5.93 to reach an acceptable living standards. The report said fuel and transport are the main reason for the significant increase in the cost of living in a village.

The index compiled for the report was based on the items people think they need for their household to function properly. Donald Hush commenting on the index said “fuel and transport are the main reason behind this cost, living in a remote rural village you need your own transport to get bye while in urban area there is a public transport system”.

The report also mention the fact that low pay is much more common in the rural area, may rural workers pay fall well short or what they need to keep their household essentials supplied.

The figures the report identified for a single people living in various part of the country follows:

A single person living in a rural town needs £15,600
A single person living in a village needs £17,900
A single person living in a hamlet in remote countryside £18,600

Many rural dweller said higher fuel bill and cars contribute significantly to their household bill. Home in rural areas tends to have poor insulation.

Countryside Blog cost of living in villages, Countryside Blog, rural living