We had a visit from one of our youngsters’ best teenage friends – they’d lived around here for years, they all went to the same school and for a time they’d all been absolutely inseparable. They used to take the dogs out together, and the girls used to go riding up at the local stables. In fact, they both had paper rounds to help pay for one riding lesson a week. In reality that only raised enough for half a lesson but the instructor and yard owner let them pay for the rest by mucking out the stables and hanging around being useful. It must have been hard work mucking out, rubbing down the horses, cleaning the tackle and brushing down the riding hats for a busy livery yard. It suddenly stopped one day when there was an accident in the yard – one of the other youngsters got hurt by a horse, not fatal but badly winded. The owner then stopped all free activity, including their services. No one ever mentioned anything about insurance, public or personal liability. It turns out that my visitor now worked for the insurance division of a major bank; she enlightened us on a few hair raising facts after the event!
