Page 152 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

THE DOOR
When we returned some time later with Jupiter, the next most lively of the trio, we found
Ebony out of his stable, wandering around the grassy area behind the garden wall.

Only there was an added complication, he had not bothered to open his stable door. He
had simply walked forward with his head down and taken the door and door frame out of
their sockets. The door frame and
stable door were still firmly in place
around the horse’s neck!
(Improved stable brickwork now and
Ebony is showing Ruth some of his
tricks.)

EBONY ALMOST GOES TO THE
SCHOOL SPORTS
We were finding it more and more
difficult to keep Ebony out of
mischief.
He was maturing rapidly and now
reached five years of age. Outings in
his cart were a joy for us both but we
realised he was in need of more and
more work to keep him calm.
A chance came in the early summer
to allow him to do some good in the
community. Sports day was fast
approaching at our local village
school in Carrington, about a mile
and a half down the road.
Ebony’s two wheel tip cart would be too small to accommodate all the children for rides so
I decided to convert one of our four wheel wooden wagons normally used to haul our
firewood from the woods at Tumby.
They had rubber tyred wheels and an attachment for our little tractor as the loads were
heavy and distance too far for the horse.
Suitable shafts were located to fit Ebony and the day of the sports arrived.
I was to leave in time to arrive at the end of the actual games and give the children rides
on the sports field.
The rubber tyres on the wagon made the journey far smoother, but Ebony was uneasy and
took some time to settle to his task. He knew something different was in the air.
Out of the village and heading south there is an open stretch of road between our village
finishing and Carrington beginning, it was just at the junction of a turning to the right that
Ebony jiggled about and one of the chains around his bottom that acted as a brake
dropped off its hook.

NO BRAKES
Oh dear, our brakes had come adrift.
Simple wagons like these did not have their own brakes you see, the horse was used to
stop the vehicle as well as make it go forward.
Only there needed to be chains around the horse’s bottom and fastened to the wagon, so

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