We had a visit from Alyssa Mathews in April. She is on a quest to ride and film every horse breed in the world for her youtube channel Discoverthehorse. Below are links to the two videos she produced. The first is her ride on Jack around Brackenbrae and the second is a short history of the breed. She has many videos on her channel of some rare horses and her adventures. Well worth a watch.

https://youtu.be/4fJCEaZvYy8 OUR HORSES

https://youtu.be/jhdi3FjeJwo A HISTORY OF THE BREED

Today we lost our wonderful gentle giant Lockie (Brackenbrae Warlock) He was a kind and loving gentleman of a horse, who would put up with everything from everyone, human or horse, stoically.

The horses were having a huge run about in the fields and Lockie was charging around with them, kicking his heels in the air having a great time, when he collapsed. He died peacefully a few minutes later, before the vet could arrive, but with his whole tribe around and with him.

The lady from Equine Recovery Services came to collect him less than three hours later and his mother Lizzie and Jack his best friend stayed by the fence to see him off. We are devastated but it was quick and he seemed in no pain. He will be greatly missed by all of us at Brackenbrae.

Lockie, the Scottish Farmer Poster Boy for the Cleveland Bay!

An enjoyable day at the 200th Anniversary Fife Show saw Winnie making a storming comeback to the show ring. She and Sparky had gone to the Royal Highland last year but with no spectators and few competitors it was a quiet start to their showing careers. Fife Show this year made up for that for Winnie and Midnight. Midnight had first day nerves in her class and refused to move, resisting all encouragement but managing to come away with a third place, but Winnie was a star and won the Barham Challenge Cup for the Hunter In-hand Championship. They spent the rest of the day on the RBST stand meeting the crowds and behaving very well. A great experience for both.

Brackenbrae Winnie wearing her Hunter In-hand Championship sash

We had a lovely day today showing off the horses to Alyssa and Pete from Discoverthehorse Alyssa is on a mission to ride and video every horse breed in the world and is visiting Scotland for two weeks meeting the native breeds but managed to fit in Cleveland Bays with us today. We can’t wait to see the results on her YouTube Channel Discover the Horse. It was lovely to meet them and wish them success on the quest

Winnie is checking out Alyssa's camera

Lambing has been going well so far this year and the first group of lambs are bouncing about the field.

Enjoying the spring sunshine

This year's Scottish Smallholders and Growers Festival was a busy day for everyone. We took Solstice out for his first ever away day and he thoroughly enjoyed meeting the public and all the other horses (not to mention the alpacas in the pen behind him!) He walked around in the Equine Parade like a pro. Caesar also had a great day meeting an appreciative public and representing Brackenbrae Flock and the Zwartbles Sheep Association, as well as being the hands-on demo in the SAC Vet's "Sheep MOT"

Solstice and Winnie checking out the Fell on her way out to the Parade

Solstice meeting the neighbours

Culriach Czar (Caesar) getting ready for the public to arrive

We also bought some more ducks, 14 week-old Khaki Campbells this year, to join the flock