Daisy and the little uns have had less grass, but haynets every night to keep their bellies working. Daisy has also been doing 10 minutes in the Round Pen every morning, before having her EMS-busting Breakfast.
Last week the farrier came, sucked his cheeks in and pronounced them all too fat!!! We had actually noted their lardiness. This is nature at work. In the wild, horses lose weight in the Winter, gain in the Spring, lose a bit in Summer when the grass dries, gain in the Autumn Flush....And Yup the cycle continues! However these are not in the wild, despite living as close to nature as possible, we simply haven't got 20 odd miles of land for them to cover daily. Nor have we got the time to ride that far every day.....Anyone wanna come and help exercise??? Also Charlie and Lil are just starting their ridden careers, and are not being hacked out yet. Dora is just a tad too small for me to hack without feeling guilty....And Mini??? Mmmm I could straddle her and my feet would still touch the ground!!
And so I tried out a theory last Saturday with Daisy and Lil.....Double lunging!! Both together in the round pen, me in the middle with the lunge whip. Would they follow each other? Or would it end in chaos? It Worked!! Yup I have invented Lunging For The Lazy (or time pressed owners). There is NO finesse to this....but it works as an exercise for....er exercise!
I also took Charlie out for a walk with Jo on Lu. I planned to ride him back up the drive again. But... All he was interested in was eating. He got cross when I stopped him and he started nudging me. By the time we got to the end of the drive we were both a bit cross. But I got on. He backed up, I squeezed and clicked, he reared, and backed again. He was bubbling up, so I got off. As there was a roar of motorbikes coming along the road, I didn't want to lose him. When Charlie gets cross, he starts to build it up into a tantrum. When we reached the 4-Acre Jo and Lu turned off to school and I continued to the Round Pen. By this time Charlie was in full Teenage Boy mode, prancing, neighing, pulling, trying to push me into the hedge. As I was untacking him, he took off, racing round the Round Pen, with his reins getting ever closer to his ears. I eventually managed to untack him so he could have a full blown temper tantrum! Lu meanwhile, in earshot, was apparently on her toes, but obedient.
These outbursts are rare these days!
So for our next Lazy Trick.....Haynets out to the field. They are heavy. The Hill field is a fair walk......Mmmmm....Would the horses carry them out for us? We knotted 2 nets together, slung em on and set off. Surprisingly Charlie and Lu were more than happy to carry them!
Yesterday we tried the double lunge with Charlie and Lu, who were brilliant, and carrying the Haynets with Daisy. All Good. I might start a Site for Lazy Owners 😂.
And so to ODD Mares!! Lil is a tart! She flirts with Charlie, teasing and squirting!! But also flirts with Lulu! This has happened before, but this week more so! We have to walk past Lil, while bringing Lu and Charlie out. Instead of aiming at Charlie, she is aiming at Lu. And the Ultimate Ice Queen is responding by squirting back. And Charlie is ignoring it. But while in the field together, Lu has NEVER squirt-flirted with Charlie!! Lu is the Alpha Mare. Does this mean she has more testosterone? Can Lil sense that? Can Charlie sense that? Does anyone know the answer? I will be doing some research into Alpha Mares and their testosterone levels. But... Anyone care to chip in?
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