Gully (Galate) and Beshada were the two men who looked after our horses. Gully had been with us for a long time and was getting quite old. He and his wife had no sons but they had a girl called Magartu (which means very tall) So the local people called him ABBA MAGARTU. I can remember standing on the veranda of our house and calling out Beshada faras abaki which means Beshada horses please and his reply was “Ishi” which means alright (OK).
When we started riding at the age of about 5 or 6, we had a bamboo saddle in the form of a chair, and we would be strapped into this and then Galate or Beshada, would lead the horse and off we would go, usually to the strawberry or plum gardens where we would gorge on the fruit. So instead of going off in a pram like local people do nowadays, we went on rides around the farm. We had this rule that you had to fall off 7 times before you could say you were a competent rider.
We had many places we could ride to on the farm. Some were quite near but as we got older, we would ride off for a whole day and this was our way of visiting local sites and getting to talk to the local people who lived there. I can remember the last time I saw him in his house. He was too old to come and visit us. I was also at his funeral when he died and I don’t think I shall ever forget him. I can visualise him now as I sit and write about him in Hemyock in 1923