Well, hasn't our world turned upside down in the last couple of weeks??
I hope everyone stays safe and well!!
I am very grateful that Jo and I rent our land privately, as many Livery Yards have banned owners from visiting their horses. I have been lucky over the years to either have my horses at work, or rent privately. The only Livery Yard I have ever been on was years ago and it was DIY with only 4 owners. I think I would probably lose the plot if I couldn't see Charlie and his mares every day!
Being at very high risk due to my dodgy lungs and dicky ticker, I am self isolating expect for doing the ponies. As I live in a 4 room shoe-box flat with Mark the Mechanic (and Part-time Horse Whisperer) I would go insane without our glorious isolated 24 acres to run about in. Ok I can't do running!!! But just the fresh air, exercise and being able to hug Charlie and breathe in his delicious horsey smell leaves me able to cope!! Even Mark chose to use his allotted hours exercise yesterday, coming up to The Farm, grooming Charlie (which he really enjoyed), and helping me Hay. It seems he has already thoroughly explored all four rooms in the flat!!
I am a firm believer of fresh air and sunshine as a healer!
So If you find yourself stuck inside and unable to see your horse for a while, you have my sympathy. If you have Netflix, you could binge watch Heartland(if you haven't already), or watch Unbranded, a film about some guys that took on Mustangs from kill-pen and rode them from The southern border of USA to the Northern border (its real, not a movie!). There is also a bunch of You Tube vids to gorge on. I thoroughly recommend Emma Massingale, Ride Like a Viking, Karl Greenwood and Carson James. Oh and my Channel!!! As for books? Carson James has a great book, or try Mark Rashid. For great novels check out Amanda Wills, Riverdale series. Not forgetting The Ridgeway Romp, now available in paperback as well as E-book (Ok enough self plugging!!!)
And so, The Top Barn 2020 Challenge is on its last week. And what a challenge it's been this year. I baled very early (Week 4) due to a serious Chest Infection that left me with a poorly heart and 2 cracked ribs. Many others were defeated by the strong wind and rain. And now this bloody virus has seen a few out because they can't even get to their horses.
But still Jo has ploughed on through it all. Lulu is as fit as a fiddle and enjoying the extra work. I am so proud of Jo for her determination to finish this challenge whatever! She has about an hour to complete!! Well done Jo and Lulu.
And now the serious bit!! It's a bit of a worry to see many yards that are now on lock-down and are short staffed, are now turning horses out onto 24/7 grazing.
While this relieves the amount of work for the limited staff, and may make the ponies happy (temporarily) there is a huge danger of laminitus occurring. Horses that have been stabled during the Winter (even just at night) have probably been fed grain and rugged. Most will still be chubby from being stationary for 8 plus hours. Suddenly turning them out onto fresh spring grass, maybe still rugged, and possibly with a sudden drop in hay rations WILL cause Laminitus!!
If this is the only option, I would recommend making a track system, so they have to walk a long way for water, still feeding hay, and stripping the rugs off pronto!! Horses are designed to survive huge variants in temperature!! They are also designed to travel miles each day, live on scrubby land and drop weight in Winter!!! Speaking of rugs.....Only clipped horses need them!!! An over-heated horse is going to be uncomfortable at the least!! Wild horses DO NOT have rugs! They can survive in extreme cold. A fat score of 4 or more, is the equivalent of a heavyweight rug!
To save all this stress and change, the simple way to keep horses happy is to leave them out 24/7 all year round in all their naked glory. Feed ample hay and that will keep them warm. Remember horses need the 3 Fs....
Friends, Freedom and Forage! Not Rugs, Stables, Grain! This not only saves time and money, it also keeps the horse happy, healthy and calm. It also means that they eat the new grass as it appears...slowly... and their systems slowly adapt to the change in diet!
In all my ten years looking after the horses at the RDA, they lived out 24/7 on mostly hay (they all had a small feed of chaff and carrots when they worked as a Thank-You). Despite most of them being elderly ( quite a lot were fit and working into their 30's), they thrived, lived in 2 herds, and i am proud to say I never had a case of Laminitus and only one of colic ( a new horse that had a huge worm burden). We had no EMS or Ulcers. None of the horses were grumpy, or hard to catch, and they were all very laid back.
And our own herd is also thriving!! Despite all the wind and rain, we have only used a rug for holding down the hay on the trailer. We have used ONE bag of Chaff all winter!! Our ponies are all looking fit and well. They are at ideal weights, with glossy coats, and are more than eager to work with us....even at liberty.
Anyway Lecture over... But Food For Thought?
Stay Safe.
And so to the weather report!!! Its been Hot. Yes HOT. 18c hot!! An Early spring!. (It can't last)
And so we have been backing!!!! Last week I lent over Lily (no reaction), and got on Charlie (no reaction). A couple of days later, Shona came over, and sat on Lil. Again no reaction. Meanwhile i got on Charlie on the qt, no holder etc. No reaction. This is all brilliant.
Shona on Lily
Me on Charlie
Then it was Saturday!!!! Sammi's Birthday Party. Before the party there was lessons. All the ponies were in, doing various things. Eli brought Twix, her very handsome bay gelding. Not sure if it was the presence of another boy, the warm weather, some spring grass or what. But the Big herd went wrong!!
First up I tacked up Charlie to join in a lesson with Tia on board (small, quiet and light). He was nothing short of a GIT. He was behaving like a teenage boy, throwing his toys out of the pram. He had a serious case of FOMO. The parrot mouth was present, and he just wanted to be somewhere else. So I ended up just leading him in the lesson and on the Walk Out. When I turned him out......
Next up Daisy and Lu..... Between lessons and Party, we thought we would let Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays, and Grace (Eli's 2nd daughter), ride the mares. Lu was already tacked up, so went up to the school, while I tacked up Daisy. Jo thought I would be using the western saddle which takes a while, and as Lu was a bit full of it, went for quick ride down the lane. Meanwhile I thought she was waiting for us, so opted for quick English tack. Daisy was already agitated, so I told Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays, to take her up to school while I grabbed a drink. I meant lead her up, but Chanice had hopped up already. When we got to school I realised Jo had gone out. At this point I should have got Chanice off. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?? EXCEPT.... Daisy may get excited.....But its never unseating! And Chanice has been riding her a long time and knows her as well as I do, and can cope with her.
And so... i told Chanice to do her usual circling, cones, disengaging Daisys rear end, chill, relax etc. They understand each other. Normally. Daisy had started to relax, when she heard Lu coming up the drive. Daisy went nuts!! She must have thought she was at a rodeo!!! She went into proper bronc mode....Never thought she had it in her. Chanice did really well and sat out the broncing, until Daisy finished with a huge buck, and face planted poor Chanice.
Chanice has had a few falls with us (learning process), and usually gets up and laughs. Daisy normally stops and waits. This was different. Chanice didn't get straight up...or laugh...and was pouring with blood from her nose. Daisy was galloping round wildly! We caught the pony, and helped Chanice to the tack-room, just as the Birthday Girl turned up!!
All turned out Ok. Chanice went off to A&E and was just bruised. The Party Ponies behaved and Sammi had a good Birthday Party.
So we concentrated on Daisys odd behaviour. We put it down to Spring Grass, but were not happy with her reaction to Lu being missing. So we have turned her out with the minis and fenced a large gap between them and Lu. Buddy sour horses not allowed! Its not something we expect, as they all get worked alone, and go off to different places.
Having brought Daisy in and lunged her for 2 days, I hacked her out today with Jo and Lu. Its what she needed. Slightly "springy", but normal Daisy we were out for an Hour and a Half, in the glorious sunshine. It was really nice to be hacking along the country lanes in t-shirts!! But this is England. Expect rain or snow by next week!
Yup....looks like Winter is over. I love it when its only a week long! It was 14c today. T-shirt weather. The horses are back in lightweight macs. We are mostly out of grass now in the 4-acre so we continue to give them small feeds and lots of hay.
Charlie had an adventure on Saturday. After putting his bridle on again, I decided to take him down to the tack room, where Jo was mixing breakfast. He hadn't been that far yet, so I clipped the rope onto the bit rings. Good job.
We were fine going down, a bit of spooking....at the car, the wheelie-bin. As usual he sniffed the scary objects, and decided they weren't going to eat him. I let him try and graze, but the poor little bugger kept dropping the grass back out! To be fair its quite a chunky bit. All the time Daisy and Lu were keeping a watchful eye out. So all good, I started to take him back.......at which point Daisy went crazy, galloping around screaming. That startled the boy, who spun round, and for a split second we both thought he was going to try and jump a stock fence, struggle up a tree filled bank, to pop another stock fence. Lucky I had that rope through the bit. After that, we had a fairly prancy journey back up the track, with many stops for reassurance. Finally back to the field....Charlie was in fact great, standing stock still to have his bridle off (although he has a real problem with it touching his ears). Meanwhile Daisy was still galloping and bucking. Real bronco bucks.....I didn't know she had it in her.
Today I backed it up a little, and left the bridle in the tack-room, and just did a little lunging and 'follow me' play in the school. We also walked casually back to the field via a pole up on two tyres, which Charlie walked over without hesitation, carefully lifting each leg up. I think he's going to be a jumper....just not sure if my dodgy lungs and dicky ticker will be up for that.
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Whats that your wearing?
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Just as an after thought....My dog has a blog.
www.eastsuffolkdogwalkers.co.uk
So the warm weather continues (and the rain and wind today). Xmas day itself was warm and sunny... Yup t-shirt weather. All the ponies had a xmas day feed as a treat. Not sure they knew why though.
So on Boxing Day we decided to move the minis right to the far end of the 4 acre, fence off the whole way along giving them a fairly narrow strip, and move the shorter cross fence back daily to strip graze them. That's the sort of thing horse owners do on Boxing Day, as opposed to getting up late and munch leftovers while watching naff xmas movies! We let them run free while we did this, much to the disgust off the biggies!
After 5 hours of fighting the self tangling fence wire, and the hose pipe connections that refused to connect, we caught them up and went home to enjoy eating leftovers and watching naff xmas movies.
And so to yesterday...the fence needed moving back. Jo does the moving, while Prudence and I fend off the circling sharks (I mean ponies). Scrumpy usually shouts instructions from the other side of the fence. We had a longer strip to defend than normal, but armed with a poo picker, for about 20 minutes I held all the ponies in an obedient row.....Hey I said, Olympia here we come next year. Liberty ponies!! The ponies meanwhile were making plans. First they sent in Jasmine, the smallest and cutest miniature Shetland. My favourite as it happens. And I had a pocketful of polos. While she fleeced me of polos, pretending she didn't understand that I wanted her to lift a hoof and say please, the others watched obediently from distance, lulling me into a false sense of security and dreaming of my Olympia Liberty Ponies. They waited until only the middle strand of fence was left,then Jasmine legged it to the right. Being nearer the fence line, I lunged right, flailing like a beaten goal-keeper, as Sweet Pea and B, made the run for it on the left, clearing the wire (god knows how they even saw it). Polly, who probably couldn't see it stopped, while dear little Jasmin simply ran through it.
Well you have to laugh.....me and a Bulldog, beaten by Shetlands, a mini tb and a welsh pony! Jo and I convinced ourselves that they would stop eating when they were full and the ground wouldn't get so poached. We commented on how the bigger ponies were not as sharp!!! So far Sweet Pea hasn't come up for air.
Today I was at work till 12-ish, and Jo was finishing off the minis field when I arrived. "That bloody Piebald", she greeted me with. Oh no, whats the boy done. Apparently Jo got warm and left her fleece in the trailer, which Charlie is obsessed with. After a while she looked up to see him cavorting around holding something fluorescent. Yup it was her mobile phone, which he had removed from the fleece pocket. Apparently Jo had a bit of a tussle to remove it from Charlies teeth. Needless to say the screen is broken, and Jo can't see who is calling. Oh dear....it wasn't that long ago Scrumpy stood on Jo's bag, squashing an ice cream carton, which caused her bag and the said phone to be filled with cappuccino flavoured goo. I think I owe her a new phone!!!
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| enjoying the sun |
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| xmas lunch |
Well after all that rain and wind, would you believe the sun has got his hat on and the temperature is around 12c. So we have stripped the ponies naked. Except Princess Polly, who has been down graded to a lightweight. It is so mild and warm you can almost hear the grass growing! We were kind of debating the de-rugging, but then we saw the blackberry bushes were flowering!!!! In December???? Someone once told me, if you need a coat, then so does your pony. Well I am sweating in a tee-shirt, so I guess that's true.
Today was the Farriers visit. We got the biggies in first. I brought Charlie and Daisy in tandem.....He's very chilled when I have another horse in hand. And he was as good as gold having his feet trimmed. The farrier was very pleased with him. And so was I. I even let him have some of my coffee!
So then I went to get Polly and B. Hmmmmmm. B just would not be caught. I sent Polly down to the barn on her own.. She is so good she obliged. Then I ditched the headcollar and hid the rope. Still couldn't get near the little sod. And she meant it too. Ears back, lashing out. I tried a flower pot full of grass....Nope. Plan b. Let shetlands out into the full 4 acres, hoping she would come over once separated from Sweet Pea. Nope. Okay, steady stalking, looking away, muttering whoa girl, good girl ( I actually meant come here you little witch). At one point I was able to stroke her neck, and got a handful of mane. Which nearly got ripped out when she legged it.
When Jo appeared, as a new opponent, she managed to get a rope round her neck...And the little sod still tried to spin and kick Jo!
Needless to say, she pushed her luck with the farrier, trying to cow kick him. Sadly for B, he hasn't been doing that job for about 30 years, without learning something, and after a quick lesson in whose boss, she stood, without protest.
She has probably had some bad stuff happen to her, I mean how many welsh sec a's are unrideable??? They are normally the greatest kids ponies. But whatever has happened has left a really mean streak in her. Another one to fix!
