The End of The Year Blog ( Track Systems, Sandy Soil and 2024)

Well its nearly the end of 2023 (How did that happen?)  Charlie and I have had a great 2023.  He has done really well in Horse Agility, we have progressed to about 8 steps ridden before the panic starts, and I can nearly get the clippers on his legs!! 

What always amazes me (still) is the fact he comes running when I call him, or if he has spotted me in the Playpen (new name for the 'school' as it really isn't), he is waiting at the Gate. It shows how far we have come from the pony that once took 2 weeks to catch!!!!  This is all down to Clicker Training and Trick Training.  This year I joined Connection Training and I have learnt sooooo much about how the horses mind works.  Our relationship has blossomed and its a real 2 way communication now.  Between Horse Tricks 101 Club, The International Horse Agility Club and Connection Training we now have a proper solid relationship and the ability to have actual conversations. I am now exploring the concept of his consent, and giving him a voice that I listen to. More on that next year.

As well as the Horse Agility and slowly slowly ridden work, during the Year, Charlie and I took part in 2 Top Barn Treasure Hunts.  I love a good Treasure Hunt. Its a brilliant concept ......To get out and seek 'treasures' such as Churches, Pubs, Water, Cows.....you get it. Not only was it great fun, we ventured out of our comfort zones in the pursuit of 'treasures' and spent a lot of time hanging out waiting for them to pass by. 

We have just finished our last Agility Competition of the Year. Having won the WO Liberty Silver in November with Charlie, I was raring to start on the final competition of the year.  However Covid struck!  I went to London (yes a Yokel like me, in the Big Smoke).  I went to see the Lionesses play The Netherlands at Wembley.  One sardines in a tin packed Tube Train later and I was struck down. I felt wretched for nearly 10 days. My Horse Landlord is vulnerable so I kept away, only visiting Charlie when the coast was clear. Poor Jo had to shoulder all the work, while I lay in bed watching crap daytime TV.  So I have only had 12 days to pull off a Competition entry, while the weather has raged with rain and wind. We also managed to film a few Xmas Shorts for our You Tube Channel.  Check them out https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLYQBYhWqo_WPVdz9MFkCtA/about.  If that doesn't work just type Charlie The Trick Pony into the search.  I'm crap with links etc.

Meanwhile Daisy, who retired aged 23 last spring, has been hooning around like a spring chicken.  She has EMS, but living on a track system has given her a new lease of life.  She is a great nanny pony, being fairly bombproof, so Jo and I decided she may as well do something. Like helping Charlie get out hacking.  Having done nothing for most of the Year, and never having done any Agility, I brought her in and took her round the OLHA WO Starter Course in November.  I had filmed it, and it looked Ok.  So I registered her with the International Horse Agility Club, and entered.  To my utter surprise, she came 1st. So Daisy has a new career!!  I have since had front shoes put on, ready for the New Year Challenge.

And that Challenge is of course, The Top Barn 2024 Winter Challenge.  I have entered both ponies.  Charlie at Bronze Premium Level and Daisy at Copper Level which is new for this year. My aim is to get them both fit and ready to try Equigility (Ridden Horse Agility).  I also want to Clicker train Daisy, and will be doing a series of videos on YouTube of our progress. 

And so onto that miracle Track System.  Our Winter Field for the larger ponies is 2 acres. We have always strip grazed it, but having used the Track System in the Summer with success, I thought it was worth trying it on the Winter Grazing. Using electric fence posts we have gradually increased the Track around the outside of the paddock, so now it runs all the way round. Then small strips are made into the middle. They are having very small amounts of hay to supplement the grass, and here we are, nearly at the end of the year, with a load of grass left.  They are using the whole track.  I would like to attach some sort of tracker to Charlie, to see how far they are actually moving. 

Now we are lucky to be on sandy soil.  With all the rain we have had so far this Winter, I know a lot of people are having problems with their tracks becoming bogs.  Ours is standing up well.  No one can chose their soil, but here in The Suffolk Sandlings, I have always had my horses on sandy soil. Yes it brings its own problems.  When the grass is cropped the horses pull it up from the roots which can cause sand colic.  We feed pysillium regularly to combat this.  In a dry hot Summer (Oh I wish) the grass turns to dust and we have to feed hay. Ragwort loves sandy soil, so its a constant battle to pull it up. But on the whole I would much rather have sand than mud. 

So it just remains to Wish You All a Happy Xmas.  See you all in2024.  x

Top Barn Challenge - Week One and Coco's Results

 OK so lets start with little Coco. When her bloods came back from her initial Cushings test her ACTH levels were around 135.  I have no expertise in Vet Blood Tests!  But 135 is high.  Normal ponies have ACTH levels of around 13.  Please don't ask what ACTH is!!!!!  Something to do with Cortisol, Insulin levels! What we do know is that Cushings is similar to diabetes in humans and the ability to process sugar levels in the normal way.  So Coco has been on Pracsend (a Cushings Drug) for 5 weeks.  She has also had homeopathic and herbal treatment (but please don't tell the Vet). In that 5 weeks her improvement has been outstanding.  Her ACTH levels have dropped to around 30.  The Vet was gobsmacked!!  Pracsend doesn't normally work miracles that quickly. She is slowly gaining muscle.....and better still for us.....she has become a cheeky madam!!  We let her graze free range for a couple of hours daily. She is now cantering away when we try to catch her to put her back with the others. That might not be a Win for some people. But for us, it shows her personality coming out, and her energy levels and zest for life!!

And so the long awaited Top Barn Challenge is GO GO GO. We all started Day 1 with great enthusiasm, despite the rain.  Jo chose to tidy Lu up, while I did some Treat Manners with Charlie.  Meg went big with Daisy and took her off to what we call "The School".  A roped off area measuring nothing like a school!!!!  Daisy was having a frilly moment.  Meg took Jo off to see what she was doing. After some time had passed I realised I could hear a commotion. Charlie and Lu were upset (in fact Lu was rearing up against the Barn sides).  So I turned them both out to find Daisy had run through the Stock Fence at the bottom of the "School" and had a foot trapped. Not only was her foot through the Stock Fence, but she had somehow got it UNDER her shoe!!!  A tense hour passed, while we tried every cutting device we had, to no avail. By the time Daisy had consumed every apple and carrot we had, not to mention a hastily filled hay-net (Thank you Nancy - aged 7 - for filling it up quick smart), Jo manged to borrow some heavy duty wire cutters, and we finally freed the idiot!!  Luckily the Farrier was due the next day, as Daisy had managed to get some wire between her shoe and hoof!!!!!

With no harm done, we had a good week. By Saturday Jo and I had pretty much achieved our hours and ended Week one on a high.  We all went for walkies together. Jo riding Lu, and Meg and I long reining Daisy and Charlie.  The sun was out, and despite the fact the temperature never climbed above 3c we were all feeling Spring-like.  Meg then realized Covid had got the better of her and had to quit the Challenge. Meg works as an OT and Nancy her daughter is only 7.  With the whole of the UK in Lockdown, Nancy was home-schooling again. Only this time Home-schooling doesn't mean 5 hours of PE and Nature.  This time round poor Nancy has to actually attend online lessons, so Meg has now become teacher and health care worker!  Never mind, there's always next year.

Jo and I started week 2 with a solid 45mins of training. We bounced into Day 2 fully intending to bag another hour as the sun was out and the temperature up to a tropical 5c.  But we were met with the sight of all the small ponies in with Daisy, and Charlie and Lu in the Minis paddock.  After Minor heart attacks, we discovered that there was not a single scrape on any pony. However the Electric Fencing between the paddocks was trashed!! Electric string broken and tangled up like a ball of wool mangled by a kitten, 4 fence posts shattered into pieces and the Paddock cut up like a Full six Chukkas of Polo had been played.  It took us a precious hour to fix it all up!  Turns out Lily has come into season.  Charlie is in lurve.  But so is Lulu. Lily is a hussy. She has been flashing, squirting and flirting over the fence, then when she gets the attention she wants, from either the Alpha Mare, or The Gelding, neither of which are capable of scratching her itch, she strikes out at the fence.  Tune in next week to find out what fence related incident has thwarted our Challenge!!!!!