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.

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.......