I posted this on Instagram today and thought I would post the whole thing in one go for those who want to read the whole story in one. It's been a while since we've had many updates from Crackers so I thought it would be nice to have some new stories for 2025.
Crackers' Trip to the Beach
Chloe was ecstatic, she had been nagging her mum for months to let them take the horses to the beach. Her friend Sarah had taken her perfect little pony club pony, Mocha, to the beach in July and had been going on about it ever since. Not a day went by when she didn't think to tell Chloe about how beneficial it would be to take the horses down and how good it was for their legs to ride in the salt water, although of course, she would also make a point of saying how it probably wouldn't make much difference for a 'cob like Crackers'. Chloe seriously wondered why she still hung around with Sarah and her gang of perfect pony club pals but then she remembered that she lets her use her fancy shampoo at Pony Club camp and allows her to put Crackers in her fancy lorry to go to shows and thought it was probably worth all the jabs and jibes.
But today her mother had finally relented. She agreed that they could borrow a horse box and take Crackers and Billy down to the beach. Chloe and Edward were over the moon, they couldn't wait to gallop across the golden sands and feel the spray of the surf against their feet. The only slight problem was that it was currently January, and in the UK, and all three appeared to have conveniently forgotten that even on a sunny day like today it was hardly going to be barmy. When they got there the wind was horrific. The moment they opened the car door it whipped against them, pushing the door back and nearly making it slam into the van next door. Chloe groaned, Crackers HATED the wind. Actually, she mused, he hated all weather. For a cob he seemed remarkably fair weather minded and she just knew he wasn't going to be amused at being made to get out and walk along a freezing cold beach in a gale.
The moment she got Crackers out of the lorry she realised he was not going to be in the mood. He was immediately on his toes, snorting and throwing his head in the air, arching his back and tail like an Arab and prancing on the spot. She was so glad she had travelled him in his tack, there was no way she'd be able to get a saddle on him when he was like this. Billy, meanwhile, was, as usual completely indifferent to the whole experience. Interested only in eating the wisps of grass by the side of the car park and sniffing at Edward's pockets in the hope that he might find some polos.
With some effort Edward and Chloe's mother managed to restrain an angry Crackers so that she could get on his back. Reluctantly he stood still stamping his feet and shoving his ears back determined to show his absolute disgust at being made to get out of bed early on a Sunday morning in order to freeze his hooves off. Crackers wasn't quite sure why he couldn't' have just gone for a ride at home, in the shelter, or preferably, just stayed in bed, why instead did he have to get out of bed and come to this god forsaken place? Accompanied by their mother and a sleepy Billy and Edward they walked down onto the beach. In front of them was a long line of white sand, covered in sea weed and there in the distance was a grey angry sea, whipping up huge waves of foam that crashed against the beach, bringing with them all manner of rubbish and detritus. Picking their way through plastic bottles, sea weed and old fishing lines they walked down to the sea and ambled along the line of the surf.
"Once you get used to it it really isn't that bad" Chloe chattered her teeth as she turned a forced smile to Edward. On the way Edward had been just as enthusiastic as her but now they were here she couldn't work out who was more annoyed, him or Crackers, who now had his head down trying to keep his long mane out of his eyes and turn himself into the wind whilst also walking in a straight line. For an uncoordinated Cob this wasn't the easiest of feats and he nearly fell over his own legs multiple times.
"Why don't we have a canter?" Chloe suggested as they walked along, "Might warm us up".
Edward groaned. He was pretty sure that going faster was not going to improve the feeling of stinging cold spray against his face, but Chloe had already kicked Crackers on and the grumpy Cob, always willing to get things over with as quickly as possible had galloped off into the distance. Billy was less enthusiastic and loped along at a pitiful attempt at a canter for a few strides before giving up, trotting for a bit before eventually grinding to a full halt and falling back to sleep.
At first Crackers had thought galloping would improve the situation. He was wrong. Very wrong. Far from making him warmer he was now distinctly colder. How could rain hurt? He'd never felt rain that hurt before? It was winder, he was fat, he was fluffy, he hadn't been clipped this year and was pretty sure his winter coat was supposed to protect him from things like rain, but yet he could still feel it. Yes this was not fun. He'd had enough. Time to stop. But as he pulled up Chloe kicked him on, determined to live out her fantasy of galloping through the surf like a romantic heroin in one of those Edwardian novels she had become so obsessed with recently. Crackers, however, was not living out his fantasies. He was living a nightmare. He'd had enough and with a great effort he threw his quarters into the air and with an all mighty buck sent Chloe flying into the sand. Grinding to a halt he decided he needed a snack after all that effort and started to nibble on the strange black thick grass that lay about in the sand.
Soaking wet and sore Chloe turned to look at Crackers, seaweed sticking out of his mouth, sand in his mane and tail, reins around his neck and genuinely looking a frightful sight. With a stomp she walked up to him, pulled the seaweed out of his mouth, grabbed his reins and trundled back to Edward who was sat on a sleepy Billy chatting to his mother and trying not to laugh.
"Home?" her mother suggested.
"Home." Chloe agreed. Wondering whether maybe she should try the moors next, afterall, those were also romantic weren't they?
