The Challenge Is Over, Will Someone Please Turn Up The Heat! And Goodbye Prudence.

 So the Top Barn 12 Week Challenge 2023 is officially over!  Charlie and I completed the Silver Premium, which equates to 5 hours training every week (except the Holiday Week).  I'm not gonna lie......Its been hard doing this all on the ground, even with The Agility Practice to keep us busy. One of the things I wanted to do was get Charlie used to my noisy clippers.  And clip his great furry feet.  One of the things I have learnt was that he is now not scared of the clippers, but of any form of leg tidying.....or even touching!!!  Its all my fault.  Last year I was using sheep shears to clip his legs. With a very pointy end.  He spooked at something and the pointy end stuck in the bulb of his heel!  No big deal really. Lots of blood but no infection or anything, due to me administering lots of stinging iodine.  But it seems he hasn't forgotten this incident.  Which is odd, because today (after only 2 days off) he has completely forgotten how to cross a tarpaulin with me on his blind side!

The other thing I wanted to work on was building some chest muscle.  This we have achieved with a lot of polework and reverse round pen stuff. This is all with a view to finally riding himself. With this in mind I have been tacking him up a lot and mounting, sitting there and dismounting.  We are both bored with this now!

As we went into March the False Spring vanished and the Snow came.  It didn't amount to much, but it's been bloody cold this month. And wet (which is good), and windy (which is definitely not good). As I write the temperature is dipping to zero again. The Daffodils are out, but The Blackthorn Blossom is still very much out. And so The Blackthorn Winter continues!  Please someone turn up the heat.

Poor Daisy had colic again last week.  Its not looking good in the long term. Yes we are on sandy soil and sand colic is common when the grass is short. The ponies pull up the short grass and ingest the sand with the roots. But twice in a month is not that great.  Daisy is 23 now, and never had colic before this year. In my experience at her age this will happen more frequently now. So we have put them on the Spring Grazing a little early.  It could do with a bit longer to grow, but needs must. Meanwhile Charlie has lost his brain cell in the grass somewhere. Not only has he forgot his Agility Course (and we only have 3 days left to get it right), he managed to rear up with the Farrier tonight, while the Farrier was holding a hind leg up! 

And now its time to get the tissues out. On March 7th, Prudence the dog crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  Prudence was Jo's dog and came everywhere with her, so was at the Yard every day. She was such a character.  Sweet and loving, and funny.  She pulled such funny faces.  She had me wrapped around her dew claw, and conned half my food out of me each day.  She was great friends with my old dog Scrumpy, and patiently put up with my new pup hanging off her wattle. 

Without her the Yard felt very odd and empty. Freya (my dog) is banned from the place due to being big and scary and a committed horse herder. Jo had never been dogless before and asked me how long it took to get used to it.  My honest answer?  Forever, or until you get another dog. Luckily a Bulldog needed a new home, so Jo has a new companion and we have a new yard dog.  Dolly the Bulldog who is about 4 years old and was used for breeding. She is adorable and is healing our broken hearts. 

Run Free Sweet Prudence, and give your old mukker Scrumpy a kiss from me x

A Long, Long Winter!

 So whats been happening since the Top Barn Challenge finished???  Well not a lot.  The brief warm days (2 of them to be precise) went as quickly as they came.....and it snowed again!  Not laying this time, but when you have snow showers instead of April Showers, you know its cold.  Having girded our loins for the last 3 months to work the horses in all weathers, we have had Winter Shutdown now.  April has been cold!!  And dry!!  The winds have blown from the North East relentlessly, and the grass is not growing. 

Having moved the Biggies back to The Bowling Green, we were able to not feed them hay for a least 3 days!!  Then they started breaking the fence down to get back to the bare field they moved from!! After Charlie had stretched the springs in 2 gate handles, and Lu had broken down the whole fence, we gave in and moved them to The Hill Field.  Despite a minuscule amount of new grass, they have been happy for a week now!! The Minis were moved to The Bowling Green.....where they seem to have found enough grass to satisfy them.

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There has been No rain, and No warmth!! We are in what is known as a Blackthorn Winter!  Folklore says while the Blackthorn blossom is in full bloom, it will remain cold!  The Blackthorn Blossom is still in full bloom! Jo has tried wearing flip flops, and i have shed a layer (and braved bare feet in crocs), but it hasn't worked. We have gone back to Winter boots (and even hats on some days).  Still, Summer has to arrive soon, doesn't it? Then I can moan about how hot it is, and the flies!!!!

On a good note......We have sharers for both Lily and Daisy.  No names mentioned yet (so as not to jinx it, and also because I haven't asked them if they mind me rambling about them). Jo and I are super excited to have these two mares getting some extra love and attention.  They are both cracking mares but we don't have enough time to lavish on them (as they are so easy compared to The Patchy Twat and The Blonde Diva).

And so the only thing that I have done with Charlie this month is enter him into a showing class in The Top Barn Hub.  Its been too cold (did I mention that?) to bath him, so Class 1-The Smartest Pair was out.  Hes neither a baby, or a Veteran, so another 2 Classes out. Best Ridden????? Really. Only if it means shortest duration before getting off, or being ejected. Best Trot? Charlie has a cracking trot, but with my dodgy lungs and dicky ticker? Not a Chance....!! So Judges Favorite it was.Criteria...Show off Horses Character.  I think we pulled that one off!!

Tune in next month to see if Summer has arrived!!  This has been The Weather Channel!