IT WAS not quite ‘High Ho Silver away’ but a county vet was able to call upon her trusty steed to overcome the snow and get to work.

Francis Bakker overcame the ‘Beast from The East’ on Friday, March 2 to travel from her home at Sheriff Hall Farm – between Kingston and Whitekirk – to East Linton.

Not for her a 4x4 vehicle to overcome the snow. . . all she required was the one horse power of her horse Zeus.

Francis, who works for Links Veterinary Group in Haddington, said: “It was quite an adventure.

“I stay at Sheriff Hall Farm and East Linton is about two-and-a-half miles away.

“I had to take a few detours and it took me about an hour, an hour and a half, to get there. The snow was really, really deep in places.

“The road into our estate had snow maybe three or four feet deep and I had to go through fields and partly over the roads and the John Muir Way. I had to pick my way where I could go with the horse – walking, I would not have made it.”

Zeus helped Francis get as far as East Linton, where he was left in good hands before she then jumped in a car to get to work in Haddington.

There, she was able to relieve veterinary staff who had previously been on call and allow them to make their own way home.

Francis said that it was quiet at the vets but it was important to ensure someone was on call 24 hours a day.

Come Sunday afternoon, she was able to drive all the way home.

Francis thanked Caroline Gray at East Linton’s Smeaton Nursery Gardens for looking after Zeus and added: “Zeus was such a good boy – he quite enjoyed it, I think.

“It was something different; he spent the weekend being pampered at Smeaton Stables.”