Also I have had a personal heartbreak which has rendered me incapable of doing much. Two weeks ago I had to say goodbye to Scrumpy, my doggy companion for the last 14 years. Many of you will know Scrumpy. She was a character, and my best friend. She had a happy life, and spent all her time with me. She came to work with me (at The RDA), she came to parties and the Pub with us, and even on our holidays as we couldn't bear to leave her. Now she has left us, we are left with a massive hole in our lives and hearts.
That's the price you pay for all the unconditional love of a dog....Heartbreak! And its worth it.
I have been trying to keep myself busy with the Ponies and The Farm. Summer seems to have arrived....which is nice....BUT we NEED some RAIN. After the wettest February ever, we now seem to be having the driest May ever. The grass is burning off already and it's all starting to look like Burnt Grass Ranch again. The ponies have already gobbled up The Hill Field and have moved to the 3 Acre (Our traditional Summer Grazing), where we are doing a cross between Strip Grazing and a Track System. I.E We have a track plan in place, but are moving it up a bit every day, in a strip grazing fashion. And the ground in the 3 Acre is like concrete (which is odd on sandy land), but its always like that, so we are having to water where we are moving to.
Having not ridden for a while, with Lockdown easing, its time to start riding again. Daisy and Lu need the exercise and I am impatient to start riding the cobs. In the meantime I have been making and posting vids on You Tube along the theme of 25 Things to do With Your Horse on The Ground. I have just posted no 17. Cones.
We had fun making No. 16 Which was Spa Day. Charlie and Lu both had much needed baths. But we still have to bath the other four if anyone wants to help. Dora and Lil are ok to bath....And anyone feeling brave? Daisy and Mini also need baths. Yes I know Mini is only about 3ft high!
Last week I set up my new wildlife cam, pointing on the Round Pen, where the 3 smaller ponies were busy mowing the grass, weeds, nettles and hedges for 2 days. Not the most interesting footage in the world! I trawled through 10 hours of 10 sec clips, to make a 5min video. The camera is set off by movement. That also seems to include trees waving in the background and moths! But i checked it all.....just in case something exciting triggered it. It didn't! But what the video showed is my strong belief in horses being out 24/7 is justified. They did not curl up and go to sleep, as many people that stable their horses think, but spent all night doing what they do during the day....Mostly grazing, some grooming, some dozing and a little sleeping, although the longest time a pony was asleep laying down was 15 minutes! YES 15 MINUTES!!!!
You can watch the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/H8bofvmC9tg
