After a long, long walk up through one hilly field after another, Clyde's herd comes into view... human visitors are probably rare up on this remote Cotswold peak but our old boy hasn't forgotten us and came cautiously towards us...
He had a surprise in store today: Jay brought him all the way down to civilisation and the stable yard and reintroduced him to his saddle:
He didn't seem to mind, stepping out smartly and willingly - just like the Old Days when he bore her to victory over many a jumping course or cross-country scramble.
They dd a short tour of Stanway Village: when he sensed home, he neighed to his mate Boyo, miles up the hill - and from very far away, we heard a distant whinny as Boyo called back - get back up 'ere Clyde, yer missin' all the best grass!
His step quickened. Stripped of the trappings of work, Jay turned him loose through the gate and left him to make his own way up the hill, a long, long trek. He trotted - then cantered - up a steep sheer slope that knocks the wind out of humans - cantered till he was a tiny, small thing - and rejoined his herd as if he had never been back down to alien lands.
Not one cough from a pony diagnosed with COPD that might never go away. Not one! 
Clyde's view:
Dear old pony.
Good news indeed.
Clyde is an inspiration to the rest of us old fogies to run uphill while we can.
How does Jay manage to ride him, didn't he stop having shoes when he moved to the field. Do ponies not always need shoes.
I am glad to see his pictures again, I did worry about him in that dreadful snow but if he hasn't even got a cough now it can't have done him much harm.
Dear old pony indeed 
Yes! we must keep running - uphill, as long as we can - and our withers too will keep in fine fettle
Aww Furby we worried too! But surviving a winter of snow on a hilltop, unrugged, after a slow mellow autumn to get acclimatised to living out, has given him new life, and a much better life. His coat has grown naturally thick and woolly (like a mammoth) once it sensed the coming winter, and not being groomed means it keeps its natural waterproofing oils.
As for shoes, only horses who do a lot of roadwork need shoes which were developed to ensure that horses could travel 40 miles a day either ridden or pulling carriages 
It's actually better (much) for their feet to never be shod at all. He gets his checked and the horny bits trimmed by a farrier once every few months. There is a soft 'frog ' in the middle but without a shoe, stones don't get trapped there anyway.
It's so wondeful not to hear that painful, wrenching cough and see that bright cheeky eye...
Couldn't be better news.
I must admit I don't race up many hills these days. Perhaps I should move in with Clyde.
Do there feet grow back if they have worn shoes and then get set free like Clyde.
I think the bit of the hoof that the shoe is nailed to is actually the horse equivalent of a giant toenail, so the horseshoe and its fixings shouldn't hurt at all if done properly.