Yes, now we don't have to put hay out, our time is taken with moving fences!! With no rain in sight, we have been moving the ponies along the field, opening up new grazing, and closing off old grazing. In the hope that it will rain, and the grass will grow back for the Autumn.
Along with the sun, we have had oddly cold nights still (3c) and chilly North Winds. Yes, us English Are obsessed with the weather!!
We have been given permission by the landowner to graze the 12 acre field, which has been planted with a thousand trees, but left with 20m clearings, in which one day, in about 10 years,will contain Teepees for camping. We are now able to graze the circles.
So Jo and I set off on the tractor to explore. Wow....It was like being on Safari....without Lions etc. We actually got lost! Some of the trees are pretty tall.....some are stunted. The grass is high everywhere. Having hunted high and low for the clearings, we found 5. Unfortunately, they have a lot of ragwort in them. We had hoped to move the Shetlands straight away, but we have a bit of work to do first. And Jo picked up a tick!!!! And so we continue to move the Shetlands around. Although Sweet Pea seems to be sound, we don't want to risk her running about with Dora yet. Its times like these I agree with tethers, which would be handy to graze the little 'uns for a few hours while we are there.
Of course we wouldn't leave them tethered overnight. I don't agree with that at all. Equines being prey animals, get stressed if they are unable to run away at the first sign of danger, real or imagined. Which brings me on to a brief update from West Meadows in Ipswich. The girls from Voice of The Horse Facebook Page, worked long and hard to get the majority of....dare I say it.... The travellers ponies,off tethers last year. Despite the Admin of the group getting asbos for harassment, the council did indeed fence the wasteland/water meadows in Papermill Lane, Bramford, so that 80ish mares could run free. However, the owner has 40 or so mares on land close to West Meadows Traveller Site, that he rents off the council, so its been hard to monitor these ponies. All through the Winter there have been reports to the RSPCA and Redwings Horse Sanctuary of distressed ponies. Unable to go and check we have pursued the council about the amount of plastic hay wrappings strewn over the field. I spent a cold Winters afternoon lurking on the A14 embankment, dodging police cars and taking pics. As the council are keen on Ipswich becoming a centre of excellence for re-cycling plastic, this seemed a good place to start!! Anyway, after a council visit 2 weeks ago, this week reports have come in that two Redwings lorries were parked in the entrance of the Site. The same night, the shelter that houses the Colts waiting for the Meat Truck, was burnt down. There only seems to be about 15 ponies left on this site. This can only be good news!
In other news.... We have lots of children coming to ride at the weekend with Eli teaching them. Its all good fun and we are planning a 'Pony Day' with lessons, stable management, a picnic, Pony Painting and a Gymkhana.
Charlie joined in today in-hand. Fully tacked up i led him round. Then Jo took over the leading while I walked alongside, leaning on the saddle. He was pretty chilled and quickly got over the fact I wasn't by his head. This is extremely good progress on his behalf.... We will continue.
Daisy and Dora giving lessons
Charlie with Jo...Learning to go without me.
Polly and Scrumpy in our lovely wild flower meadows
And guess what????? Yes its gone from 5c to 25c . English weather for you. Not that we are complaining about the heat. Oh no, Not after that Winter. Still there are times of the day that it is.....maybe a little warm for, say fencing, or hacking. Not that we take any notice of that. No we are hardened Horsewomen. We are used to the odd English weather. Four seasons in one day.
Last week, I had a panic on. Found a lump in Scrumpy Dogs mouth that looked very dodgy. The vet wanted her in the next day to remove it. At 11 and a half I was worried about the anaesthetic, and what they might find under the lump. Trying to keep busy didn't help. I found myself staring at water containers as I filled them. It was the longest morning of my life!! Luckily Scrumpy is a Jack Russell, thereby as hard as nails. She sailed through the op, and felt well enough to chase a cat later that evening.
During that slightly dodgy week, it got warmer and warmer. The Bank Holiday weekend reached tropical temperatures. Bliss after the Winter. At the weekend all the little ponies were used in lessons. They are loving being so useful. Even Sweet Pea forgot to rear. And Dora has been amazing. Polly too seems to love being the 'Pony that taught a thousand kids to ride' and is full of bounce.
I have set up a round pen near the tack-room. Okay its not perfectly round, but near enough. And handy for water, drinks etc. Lu and Daisy went out Saturday, with Jo and Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays. In the meantime I was able to work Charlie, who is still being very colty. After some good work, and some dancing/follow me free-school stuff, I got him a small feed and took a chair, drink, phone etc out to sit with him while he ate. Meanwhile the others came back. Lu was looking so pretty I put a harness on her that I want to sell. She was brilliant considering she has never worn a harness before, and only mildly objected to the crupper! While I was taking pictures Charlie decided to move the chair. I managed to rescue my drink in time, but he picked the chair up, then stood all over it. He also found it funny to pick up and wave a jacket that was on the back of the chair.
Yesterday, Jo and I decided that it was a good idea to re-fence the biggies field, and move them down the hill, so that the grass can come back at the top. Good plan in 28c, at midday. As usual it took longer than we thought, what with fencing the edges, and adding miles of hose on to reach the bottom of the hill. Still we have vowed NOT to say Its Too Hot. So we drove ourselves on through the hottest part of the day, until we were like clockwork dolls winding down.
Today was even hotter......so we went out for a hack at 1pm!!! Having lost a lot of Farm Track Hacking when a Giant Farm bought a lot of nearby land, we decided on crossing THE ROAD and plodding down some country lanes. Lu hasn't been that way since she was a baby, and Daisy has never been that way. I even wore a hat!!!! And we both wore fluorescent tabs. OOOOH get me...So BHS. I even put long boots on (a bit Lara Croft with the short shorts), and took my phone, And a lead rope!!
THE ROAD is always busy.....and fast. Personally I don't care having crossed the M4, and some major A roads,not to mention cantering along the A12 verge as a child, and riding a 3 year old up the A140. Its a mere co-incidence that the only riding accidents I have had that have ended up with me in hospital have been on roads. So i set out to be nanny to Lu, Daisy being bombproof an all.....
Turns out Lu is perfectly cool in traffic, whereas Daisy reacted like she had a stick up her arse. Still it slowed the traffic down! My usual hacking position of one finger round the buckle of the reins, had to be adapted in order to steer Daisy and thank traffic. I also found out my new 'brakes' bit was no brakes at all. Still they were both awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed a new route. In fact I was like an excited kid...pointing at every farm track and dodgy looking footpath, saying "Where does that go?" Poor Jo. It must have been like a child in a car saying "Are we there yet?" every 2 minutes. Needless to say we were all very sticky when we got back (including Charlie who must have been charging round his empty field for over an hour). But the beauty of the new round pen, meant we could turn them loose while we got a drink and de-booted. I brought a sweaty Charlie up to join his girls and we were able to hose them all down from the middle of the pen.
Sadly in mine and Daisy's excitement I forgot to take any pics on my phone, of the quaint cottages and the awesome view over the river, but i did manage to set a brilliant riding app, which even shows our route...Little things!!
