The UBF lives on a spectacular finca. It really is beautiful, nestled in the village of Calvia and overlooked by the domineering church. The oleanders and jacarandas bloom for many months of the year, littering the ground with purples and pinks and off-white flowers, like confetti. The farm is full of chickens, geese and aggressive turkeys which chase you when you are not looking, including the UBF. The resident dogs yap and bark and race past the horses at breakneck speed busily chasing sticks or intruding pigeons. The tractor rumbles away occasionally and the hay is delivered on a rattling trailer through the UBF's field. So he has seen a few things, the Ugly Brown Foal, and he has not really reacted to any of it. It was time to take him off the farm for the first time in two and a half years!
The problem with the paradisaical finca is that it is on a main road. To be able to access the gorgeous little lanes and tracks we first have to walk a few hundred metres up a very busy road into the village - we have to walk past the bus stop and pray that the number 107 doesn't turn up at the same time we do. Lorries hurtle, cyclists whizz by in their pelotons, people drive too fast and take no care with horses - so we decided to take Ed on the road on a Sunday afternoon, the quietest day of the week.
Kira, my 12 year old mare who is wonderful in traffic, nanny-ed him up the pavements and past the post office, town hall and bus stop. He did so well, sweating anxiously but holding it all together. As we wandered from the main road and onto the village lanes, Ed encountered barking dogs, traffic from behind and in front of him. He saw sheep and goats and chickens and rabbits. He nosed at a dog agility course and peered into fields with horses, just like him. He was very good, it was a big outing and a real milestone in his education - that there is life outside the finca where he lives.
