Green Green Grass and a Mini Heatwave

 Hi Guys,

Only 2 weeks late on my promised update!  I know all 5 of you have been waiting with baited breath to find out if I finally snapped a picture of the celebrity I had been stalking for the Top Barn Treasure Hunt.......The answer was NO.  Although I saw him the very next day after the Treasure Hunt ended!!! Waving from his car as we passed in the lane. So i made a celebrity pic up.  I give you Pamela Anderson (complete with rolled up socks in the chest area) 😉😉

So as we all know, June continued as May, with more rain. Daily rain. And a cold North wind, keeping us all wrapped up in fleeces.  But the temperatures were just high enough for the grass to grow like mad, along with the ponies hooves. My playpen has never had so much grass on it, distracting Charlie during Liberty Agility. And so Daisy did what Daisy does best and went lame on me. I had the wonderful Jade Monahan out to give her a full Masterson Body work, and the poor Farrier had his work cut out trimming back all those overgrown feet. But, despite the Track looking fairly bare, There is still too much Green Green Grass!  The enemy of Native Ponies, so I have to conclude Daisy has mild laminitus.

https://www.facebook.com/jademonahan.esmt   Your horse will thank you.

Daisy and I are entered for our first online Trek competition with the Alternative Equine Club but we have until the end of August, so no panics yet!  Charlie and I had fun completing the Liberty Agility competition despite the snack breaks. We had a paddling pool in the course this month.  Trying to keep the water in on a slope was a 'thing' though. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/6JUO3n4Wvxo?si=M8QxSKXXVsa1lSIO

And so as you all know I have Dodgy Lungs and a Dicky Ticker (blah blah boring) which involves a fair few check ups at Papworth Hospital, which is 80 miles inland from me.  This provides a springboard for a night away somewhere.  This time I chose The North York Moors and coast, staying at a Youth Hostel for the night. On my way back to the A1 I was able to call in on fellow Top Barner Pip Mead, and meet her wonderful Dales ponies Archie and Spartan.  Thank you Pip for your hospitality.  I have to confess, I fell in love with Spartan 😍.

And just 2 weeks later I got called back to Papworth for an overnight stay and had a load of tests done to see if i'm suitable for a new drug trial. It was a bit like taking an exam, when you dont know the answers.  And like an exam, I now have to wait for the results!  And would you believe it?  Thats when the Mini Heatwave begun.  Over 30c outside, people coming in moaning that it was too hot (!) and I was in 2 blankets in the air conditioned prison box (I mean hospital room). I have had a couple of days out in the heat though so its all good.

Lots to look forward to next month as The International Horse Agility Club starts its Summer of Sport. Its not too late to join if you want a fun filled summer with your horse.  https://www.thehorseagilityclub.com/join-the-club/

Keep smiling, catch up soon x

Top Barn Weather Curse Strikes Again, Treasure Hunting and Field Disaster!

 Well we are on the verge of the Top Barn Treasure Hunt.  It starts tomorrow. The last few days have been Springlike.  Actual Sunshine!  And Warmth! I removed several layers to reveal lily white skin. But the Top Barn Weather Curse is about to strike.  Yes its clouded over. Ready to rain tomorrow....On Day One of The Treasure Hunt ( and a Bank Holiday obvs).  Have you seen the weather chart for the 2nd week of May?  Solid rain here in Deepest Darkest Suffolk!!!  Top Barn challenges have become a signal to the Gods to send the worst weather. Last year in the middle of filming a Stressage Test, I was attacked by giant hailstones!

So on to the Treasure Hunt itself.  There are several items I cannot find here in DDS.  Like Mountains!  Or Eddie Stobart Lorries.  Luckily we only have to find 10 of the 50 options.  I've picked off several I can find on the Farm.  Which is great. Most especially because in the coming week, there are Roadworks actually on the driveway to The Farm.  Yup a whacking great ditch will be trapping us in.  As I don't live there, it will be effectively shutting us out too! But more on that later!

So no doubt everyone signed up to The Treasure Hunt, will have spent the last few weeks checking things out.  And possibly following Orange cars (or was that just me?).  I for one have no idea what an Edwardian Building looks like.....I may be knocking on doors to ask people when their house was built. Errr...Anyone know what year that would be?  Cobbled streets in DDS?  More chance of a Mountain. The other day a Police Car came to The Farm (more on that later). What are the chances of them coming back?   So for the general public....If you see a maniac with a horse taking pics of your Orange Car, or chasing you down if your registration plate contains the letter R, especially if you are parked in front of a dry stone wall, on a cobbled street, with a Mountain/Ford/River behind you, please do not be alarmed.  PS Apparently photo-shopped pics are not allowed. 

And so let me tell you of our field disaster.  We have 3 fields.  The 4 Acre which we use in the Winter, The 3 Acre which is our Summer Field and The Hill Field which we use in Spring and Autumn.  We had only recently moved to The Hill Field with the 3 Big Ponies, leaving the Shitlands behind in various weirdly shaped pens snaking around the Farm.  We set up a Track System in the Hill Field and added bits daily.  All was good.......Until the Roadworks began.  We knew about the Roadworks.  We knew they were taking out some trees and the corner of our lane. We had it all set up, so we were not in the way.  Then the contractors moved in........And All Hell Broke Loose.  They managed to remove our outer fence at the same time as removing the trees.  

With nothing between the ponies and the main road we had to move them quick sharp.  So it was off to The 3 Acre.  With all the rain we had in March, the grass has grown quickly. Too quickly for Daisy, who overnight showed signs of Laminitus.  Mini the Shitland, has been muzzled for a while, as she is getting 'footy' on weeds!  So it seemed logical to put Mini and Daisy together on a very small bare part of the 3 Acre, and quickly build the start of a track system next to them for Charlie and Lu. And what to do with Coco, the other Shitland?  Coco was rescued by a friend and came to us starved.  She was initially dx with Cushings.  But we had our doubts. She was put on Prascend and got worse.  She would not eat a thing.  After a session with Jade Monahan, who released her TMJ, she began to eat again.  We stopped the Prascend and Coco has had a new lease of life.  But she does need her grass to maintain her weight.  Logically she could go out with Lu and Charlie on the new grass.  But illogically Lu hates her. Charlie will do whatever Lu says and between them they quickly become bullies, so its a no go for little Coco.  So a third track system has been started in the 3 Acre just for Coco, who is close to her friends, but in her own safe space.

As we are on sandy soil and Daisy has had two sand colics recently, Jo and I began to worry she would be pulling up the tiny bits of grass growing in her pen and therefore consuming sand again.  So both her and Mini are now having massive amounts of Simple Systems unmolassed Beet Pulp and Chaff (designed to be grazed on over a long time) and hay.  Of course Lu and Charlie have FOMO, so we are having to give them a handful of hay each.

With our driveway about to be dug up, Jo and I have had to find places to park nearby. Jo has secured a space at the bottom of the Driveway. I have found a place over the road. Its a short walk to cross the road, but then I have to climb the bank and fight my way over a fence and through a jungle of brambles and hemlock. I attacked all the offending foliage with some hedge cutters the other day and hopefully will have a clear path tomorrow. Better for my lungs than the long walk up the drive. Jo, on the other hand cannot climb the bank with her dodgy hips, so the Long Walk is better for her.

With all this tree carnage going on, somebody complained.  Of course they did!  So the Police turned up. Apparently its illegal to cut down trees in Spring. Most of the trees have been strangled by Ivy and are dead anyway. And its nowt to do with us.  This is all part of a road safety scheme, so they went on their way.....even though I begged them to stay a few days so I could get a pic for the Treasure Hunt!!

In other news,  I have started mounting Charlie and asking him to walk 3 steps towards a target. Hardly groundbreaking news.......But I have finally learned to slow down to his pace, and the ratio for him freaking out and throwing me to the four winds has decreased significantly. We will continue at this slow pace.......