Summer Has Arrived, Hemlock, and Orange Cars Are Like Buses!

 SUMMER HAS ARRIVED!!!!!  Finally the North Wind has been chased out by a beautiful warm Southerly Breeze, blowing in hot air from Spain. Oh its fantastic. Today reached 28c.  Time to have the boots and fleece surgically removed. Actually that happened 2 weeks ago and my white legs were released on the general public. I am literally basking in it.  The summer has of course brought out the Horse Flies and on a good note, the Butterflies.(If You Know, You Know).  The dog then found a host of fleas to live on her!  We tried Frontline, Baths, Powder, Flea Collar.  Nope Nothing worked.  We had to go to the Vet (cue horror music and screams).

We have a Belgian Malinois.  They are reactive at the best of times and fierce...ly loyal. We signed up with the local vet as she has not been to Vet since her first jabs, when she was just a tiny Maligator.  Now she is 32kg of pure muscle.  We explained she is wary of strangers, and duly arrived for the last appointment of the day, with said Horror in a Muzzle.  We started ok.  She barged behind the reception desk to have a love-in with the Receptionist.  Then surprise surprise a dog came out of the Vet Room.  Freya normally likes other dogs, but muzzled, on a leash, in a room...tooo much. She lunged. We were quickly ushered in, and the Vet firmly behind his desk, said she looked in fine health, was a good weight and was happy to prescribe the Flea Tablets.  We were nearly home and dry........He suddenly stood up and came towards me.  Freya went from most chilled to guard dog in a split second and lunged for the Vet.  He banged his leg really hard getting back behind his desk. The upshot now is if we have to take her in for any kind of physical examination, she has to be sedated.  I was very dissapointed as I have known him for years as a very good Vet.  But having already witnessed her reacting, and having been told she was reactive, I thought he should have stayed put, or at least got up and moved in very small stages. 

Anyway....Lets talk Hemlock.  There has been a lot in the Horsey Press recently about the difference between Hemlock and Cow Parsley. Basically Hemlock is poisonous and Cow Parsley is a nice snack for your Horsey.  We seem to have a lot of Hemlock about this year, probably due to the non-stop April Rain. So how do you recognise it?  Well its tall, has purple splodges on its stem and stinks like a load of musty old mice!  It exudes evil from every pore.  Meanwhile Cow Parsley is dainty and pretty, and smells a bit herby. We have a lot of Hemlock this year. We also have Deadly Nightshade which we leave because its pretty.  The horses never touch either.  They will eat around a small Ragwort plant. Trust your horse to know whats good for it and what isn't.  After all they have survived in the wild for Millennium. 

Hemlock, a nasty tall stinky plant.  This specimen is over 6 foot tall.

Nice Pretty little Cow Parsley - Smells good enough to eat.

And now we must talk about Orange Cars.  We all know why.  Everyone doing the Top Barn Treasure Hunt has been obsessed with them.  Not as Obsessed as seeing an Eddie Stobart Lorry ( rarer than a Unicorn Pube), or a Butterfly (plentiful now its warmed up, but somewhat fluttery) or a Bird on a Wire (that may only be me). But Yes an Orange Car is somewhat rare. After many hours spent with Charlie in the Hill Field which overlooks the road, I can confirm Grey/Silver is the most common colour car. I can also confirm the most common cars here in deepest darkest Suffolk are Land Rovers or Ford Rangers. There are NO buses. Or Police Cars.  The only crime here is the Marriage between Brother and Sister (and no local cop is going to book their own parents).  I have been hoping for a bicycle or 2, maybe strapped to a Camper on its way to the beach, or an Ice Cream Van. But no.  Today while innocently hanging around filming passing cars (Is that Illegal?), like the Bus that never comes, suddenly 3 (YES THREE), Orange cars came by!!!!!

So far I have 25 treasures ( though I may have made some of them.....like the Drystone Wall I built).  I didn't go for the Mega Challenge of 50 Treasures because I knew some were impossible.  Especially on a not quite ridden pony, and the dodgy lungs I own that stop me walking too far.  So I have my legit 10 Treasures plus a few more.  And only 2.9 miles to complete by Friday.  We have finished our Agility Competitions, so apart from Tuesday (all day hospital with Mum) and Wednesday ( almost all day Hair appointment with Mum) we have 3 days to complete our miles.  And I would really like to add a Thatched Cottage and Pond to our Treasures.  They are only half a mile down the lane......But since the bottom of the driveway has been 'upgraded' Charlie thinks monsters live there.

So if anyone is available Monday, Thursday or Friday to come for a walk down the lane with me (Shetland Pony provided) I would be most grateful. If you bring a pushbike that would be great.  If you turn up in an Ice Cream Van, followed by The Police............Wow....You get unlimited riding on Charlie.

Hot Hard Summer, Goodbye Dora and Maligation

 Its been sooooo long......I have been officially Maligatored!!!! Yup that is the official term for owning a Belgian Malinois pup!!  They are not called Maligators for nothing.  They are officially the most trying, nippy, attention seeking pups ever. They rarely sleep!  They constantly want to be with you, they demand your full attention at all times. They have huge amounts of energy and want to be entertained at all times. They have a Tasmanian Devil Mode, which switches on at Midnight, where they demand you play with them for 2 hours. If you don't they try to rip you to pieces.  If you tell them off.....they rip you to pieces!  If you try to sleep.....they rip you to pieces! Even the most dedicated Mali owners will tell you....they are horrible puppies!! Thankfully Freya is now 5 months old and we are starting to understand each other.  There is light at the end of the tunnel. We are nearly up to 4 hours sleep a night 😊. I am able to walk about without the leather arm guards now....mostly.

The herding instinct still has to be dealt with.....She cannot be let loose with the ponies yet. She just wants to herd them, they just want to kill her....and she has no fear. To avoid tears, I have had to abandon any training of Charlie, and just content myself with cuddles, while Freya is in her cage in the truck (just enough time to poo pick). 

Still it doesn't matter. Charlie doesn't mind and we get a once a week slot when we can have proper time together.  It is not exactly working time right now. The summer has been Hot...And Dry!!  The ground is baked hard and we are looking like Burnt Grass Ranch again.  The temperatures have been in the Thirties regularly and we are Brits.  We cannot cope with anything above 20c and we need rain!!

So Dora went off to her new home. She hasn't gone far, and now belongs to a little girl and her siblings, where she can hopefully fulfill her potential.  I got on really well with Dora, so thought I would miss her heaps.....but I kinda don't.  She used to try and 'help' me move the fences back.  I don't miss that. We also thought Lily would miss her, as they were always entwined around each other. But Lil has shown no signs of missing her........She is more than happy with her Shetland Herd.  So Good Luck Dora....We do love you.....but ....

The "replacement" i.e Coco is quite a lot cuter!!! She is no trouble at all. She has just fitted in sooo well. Her poos are so small, I can't help think of Coco Pops when I pick them up. Today she had a massage from Jade Monahan which she thoroughly enjoyed.

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Meet Freya... And Track Systems

First up I would like to introduce you all to Freya. She is a 3 month old Belgian Malinois.  Yes they are the German Shepherd like dogs, favoured by the Navy Seals for their ability to climb (cat-like) up a two-storey building!!  While we cannot replace Scrumpy we also could not live without a dog in our lives.

As a puppy she is hard work at the moment!!!!  But very lovable. And oddly very cat like!  She arches her back up while doing her morning yoga stretches. She washes her face like a cat, walks like a cat, and already jumps like a cat!  I think we may have bought a cat! Although going on her legs and feet, she is a large cat (black panther springs to mind). 

With this distraction, I have managed very little with the horses!  Charlie has a cough, so I had the vet out, after trying Cough Mixture, Honey, Thyme and Garlic.  The vet thinks its the dust and pollen so he's having a 10 day course of Liquid Ventipulmin and the Vet Special remedy (which I won't give away here) and it seems to be working. The Vet also thinks I'm mad...probably.
In case she was early, I had Charlie in the school making a video about worming. We then built a tyre pedestal and played with that. Then we went for a hand graze on the verge......Every time I sat down I was attacked by ants.  So I started to crawl around on hands and knees, just following Charlie as he grazed, like you do. AND THAT'S WHEN THE VET ARRIVED!!!

Anyway at last the rain has arrived. Hopefully the grass will begin to grow again. It's certainly made it easier to push fence posts in.  And so we have begun a track system for the big horses.  We are also using strip grazing.  So they have their water butts at the end nearest the gate with a long narrow track leading down the hill, round the corner and up the other side, to where we are moving the fence back every day so as the new grass is exposed, the longer they have to travel for water.  It's a useful system for natives, making them walk further, and therefore keeping them fitter and leaner!