Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

LIVING OFF THE LAND 156 had about 12 ponies at one time. I used to hire them out by the hour. It wasn't top class riding but my idea was to help everybody and in 20 years we never had any disasters." Old habits die hard and Gladys couldn't resist showing some of her ponies."I bought a Welsh mountain Section A pony. It was a right little madam but it was OK in the right hands. I paid £200 for it and sold it in 1992 for £2,500. I haven't showed since 1992. I've got a Shetland pony now and he's quite nice, but he's just a pet."Gladys' current Noah's Ark includes the pony, a German Shepherd dog, two cats, 12 bantam hens and three cockerels. In a lifetime of being around animals she recalls only one really nasty incident. I had the odd kick from the ponies but not long before father died we got some Ayrshires. We had them in a big yard out the back and three of them had calved."I went out there and this one cow attacked me and knocked me into the wall seven times. I crawled out of the yard black and blue." In the last 10 years Gladys has turned her attention to organising charity pony and dog shows."I'm now doing charity stuff for the National Animal Welfare Trust. In the last 10 years I have done 30 or 40 pony shows for charity and some dog shows as well. I'm slowing down now though; I'm not going to do quite as much." Gladys recalls her life with fondness."The main things in my life have been cows and farming. I never got married and I've always been self-employed."I like doing what I want to do and I wouldn't have been doing all this if I'd got married. "My best and most enjoyable time was showing cattle. You are dealing with different people, friendlier. My life was Jersey cows really, the ponies was just something I kind of got into."I don't regret anything I've done, more or less. Perhaps I would have kept the Jerseys a bit longer, but that's about it." It's clear Gladys has a deep affection for Jerseys. "Some get a bit cantankerous at times but we can all do that can't we?" she laughs. ΩΩΩΩΩ ΩΩΩΩΩ © 2005 Cambridge Newspapers. Reproduced by kind permission