Yes thats right....The importance of poo. As you all may have gathered I am a great believer in horses being kept as naturally as possible. 'Tucking the horse up in bed' goes against all its natural instincts. Horses only sleep in 15 minutes burst, for four hours a day. So in a stable they do not sleep peacefully all night, but get bored. They cannot satisfy the natural urge to wander about. As herd animals they rely on other members to alert them to passing lions. Its no good telling them their are no scary lions.....Unless there actually are where you live. So in a stable, alone, they are probably on full alert all night. Anyway I digress.
So, our horses live out 24/7. That being the case all the poo is in their fields, not churned up amongst straw. This gives us two major benefits. One, we get to hang out in the field with the herd for longer each day, which increases our bond with them, and allows us to observe their natural behaviour. At a glance we can tell if all's well. Two, we are intimate with their pooing habits. Poo is a great indicator of health. We can see if its a bit loose, a bit hard, sandy, wormy etc. We also know exactly how many poos there should be.....Yes I have counted them many times!!! This gives us an advantage in managing their diets. We are on sandy soil, so at the first indication of sand in the poo, we feed bran mashes with pysillium in.
In so many bigger yards, the actual yard managers rarely get their hands dirty, so can't possibly know whats going on with the horses health. When I ran a bigger yard, I always did the poo picking myself for this very reason, and am proud that in 10 years I had no laminitus and only one colic (and that was a new pony that I wormed as you do, without knowing she had never been wormed and the vast amount of worms that died caused a blockage).
And so to the weather report!! Its finally turned milder....although we are still expecting a cold Easter. Anyway we have been taking advantage and have started to work the ponies. All except the Shetlands have been out on various walk-outs, either ridden or in-hand. My former partner-in-crime, Tess came and rode Daisy, who was like a cat on hot bricks....full of the joys of spring, including showing how well she could rear!! The only drawback with milder days is going back in the evenings to put rugs back on. Although the sunsets are lovely and its nice to have a goodnight kiss from Charlie.
Charlie has also resumed clicker training. He may be a surfer dude with his laid back attitude, but he doesn't forget a thing. Especially when carrots are involved. We are practising him standing glued to the 'target', while I move around him, and he has been an absolute star.
And this Winter never ends!! The snow went, the sun came out....And Then....The Beast from the East sent its little cousin. Thankfully no snow this time, BUT, the 50mph Easterly winds have been bitter. Face numbing!!
At least we can use the tractor, but its still hard work, working against the Wind. I am fed up with the amount of layers I am wearing. And worn down by the bloody wind. Not helped by Facebook reminding me of last year....and the year before, by showing pictures of us riding in tee-shirts!! If the summer isn't really hot I Am Going To Complain!!
Princess Polly, who is let out every day to have a feed and graze, has discovered that we don't mind if she goes into the hay barn, so now heads that way every day. The others have lost a little weight, but went into winter as fat as pigs so its all natural.
Jo has entered Lu for the Suffolk Show again, so we really need to get her working again. Hopefully this year she can stay sound. If only Spring would appear soon...But according to the forecast The Beast is sending some long lost Aunt over to give us a white Easter.
Watch this space to see if we survive the longest Winter ever!!
Officially fed up with Winter
Polly in the Hay Barn
Charlie at the 'All You Can Eat Buffet'
The novelty has definitely worn off. With more snowfall and a cracking East wind straight off the sea, things have taken a downhill turn. No more pretty pictures or snow angels. The last couple of days have been hell!!
Battling through snow drifts in Jo's 4WD, (My pretty car is useless atm), we have got through to the yard. Obviously we have had no choice and would have walked if necessary.
Of course the hose-pipes and taps froze. And the drifts were too big to get the tractor through. Yesterday was the worst. You know its cold when your hairy cob has icicles on his beard and snowballs on his mustache! Thankfully Rob (Nancys Dad) came up with 60 litres of bottled water. Rob lugged water, while I struggled with several wheelbarrows of hay through the drifts against the wind.
Jo meanwhile, ingenious as ever, managed to rig up water from the tack room with a shower attachment. Its amazing how long it all takes in the snow!! After 3 hours, they all had water, hay and feeds.....and 2 very knackered mummies.
Today was actually better. Or are we adapting?? No actually the temperature rose to -1c. The wind had blown some of the snow away and where we had walked had flattened to a compact ice rink. Charlie had lost his icicles and snowballs. Over night someone (LU probably) had destroyed the fence and Lu and Daisy were in with Polly and Dora, and had finished their hay. Charlie had stayed put and was calling somewhat pitifully even though Dora was attached to his tail. Feeding them soon restored them painlessly to the right fields....and as I reassembled the fence, I told them that they had to wait for the hay as I was somewhat busy.
Once again I left Jo wrestling with getting water to all, and I decided the tractor may get through with the hay. It didn't get up the hill without both of us pushing, but I discovered going flat out worked.....and was rather fun.
Only 2.5 hours today!!! We must be getting good. I have no idea how people cope in countries where it snows for months on end!! I have officially seen enough snow now thank you.
