Winter Has Arrived - To Rug Or Not To Rug, And Its Nearly Time For The Top Barn Challenge

 So Winter has definitely arrived. A lot of the country has already had snow.  Here in the far East of England the snow has kept away (although some is threatened for tonight).  But its been frosty to say the least. Minus temperatures at night and only just above freezing during the day.  The ice has stayed on the ground with more ice added each night.  Taps and fingers have frozen.  And of course, the tractor sprung a major leak at the Weekend and suddenly spewed forth a lot of coloured liquid. Right in the gateway.  I feared it may have been the radiator. Jo and I quickly moved the Hay by hand before we had a riot on our hands, while trying to figure out how to move the stricken tractor.  Luckily for us Rob, Meg and Nancy arrived to help. Rob had a taste of the liquid on the floor and decided it was not anti-freeze. We looked under the bonnet and found a tube off. After some discussion we decided it was a pipe taking diesel to the Filter and so wasn't terminal.  Rob had another glug, but we were not 100% sure, however all the other important fluid levels were still full, so we risked firing it up and moving it out of the way.  Thank you Rob, Meg and Nancy for poo-picking with your car.  Our mechanically minded Horse Landlord confirmed it was just a diesel leak, so its all good!

And so to the main question......To Rug or Not To Rug.  I am a great believer in Not Rugging. Obviously if your horse is elderly, clipped or struggles to keep weight on, then go ahead, rug away. However...... If you have a fit, unclipped healthy horse, it does not need a rug. It takes away a huge amount of stress for you and your horse if you leave him as nature intended. Don't forget, horses survived the Ice Age!

So while as humans we are all freezing and wearing as many layers as we can move in, our horses are not feeling the cold. Apparently a human is comfortable between 25c and 30c.  That means we do not use energy to keep warm at those temperatures.  Although most of us in England would agree we are more than happy around 18c, and 30c is a tad hot!  Its called a Thermoneutral Zone.

Horses have a much larger Thermoneutral Zone. They are comfortable between 0c and 25c.  Horses also have an internal 'fire' which is stoked up by the fermentation of fibre in the hindgut (Ie....Hay Hay Hay).  If the Horse has his natural coat, it is waterproof and provides as much heat to the skin as a 400g rug. Horse hair also stands up when its cold, creating an insulating pocket of air next to the skin.  A rug will press this hair down and eliminate the natural coats ability to retain heat. When checking how warm your horse is, forget the ears.  Horses are designed to leave the extremities cold to direct the heat to the organs. Feel under the armpits!  Also if your horse is covered in snow which is not melting, you can be sure he is well insulated.  If you over rug your horse, not only will he be uncomfortable, he will also be prone to EMS and Laminitus. 

Our ponies are all natives, unclipped, unrugged and live out 24/7.  This is the most natural life we can give them.  They do not have hard feed. They do however have plenty of hay. They are all happy, warm and do not have 'problems' that many pampered horses have.  Yes they will drop weight this winter (hopefully), but that is natural, ensuring that when the spring grass comes around, they will not suffer Laminitus etc.  This includes Daisy (who had EMS) and Coco who the vet diagnosed with Cushings, but who is doing fine this Winter.  And we can sleep at night, knowing they are all fine, no matter what the weather throws at them.  

In the 2nd pic you can see Charlies hairs standing up doing their job.

Anyway enough lecturing! So last months Agility Comps were a little hard. Having moved up a level, Charlie and I had a lot to learn.  There were a few poles to step over, and back up over.  Being a hard nut (partially blind) Coblet, he has the tendency to plough through stuff! Poles? What Poles? Oh Yeah, I'll just kick em out of the way!  We also had a lot of wind, which kept blowing my course over. So I was hugely surprised that we got another 1st in the On-Line Medium Level Comp and 3rd in the Liberty.  We are currently working on The December Xmas Courses. They are fun and involve dressing up which we love. I would like soft ground though for Charlies enthusiastic jump!  There is a lot of running in our level!! I couldn't beat a snail for a seat on a bus with my Dodgy Lungs and Dicky Ticker, so next year we will be swerving sideways and joining the Walk Only Leagues. My November Rosettes arrived today.  I showed them to Charlie, but he was busy eating!

And so its nearly time for the Big Event!  No Not Christmas! Its just a day like any other.  Get up early and see to the horses!  No, I'm talking about The Top Barn 2023 Winter Challenge.  I have already printed off the worksheets and put them in Charlies File.  I know a lot of people have got the diaries.  Others will have computer based spreadsheets. Being old I prefer to write stuff down with a pen!

I have declared Bronze, but will aim for Silver.  Charlie and I have a lot of stuff to work on.  As well as The Agility Stuff, we have also been building up Charlies chest muscles. He is definitely looking more muscular, so its time to try and ride him again! 

Good Luck everyone taking part in the Challenge. 

November Rain. Top Barn Challenge, and The YouTube Shorts Phenomenon

 Yup its the middle of November.....And its raining. Constantly.  I know in the Summer I moaned about the lack of rain (constantly), but enough is enough. I am FED UP of getting wet now. I have even ordered a dry robe/human tent and am starting work on an Ark. Now in theory I don't mind the rain (being British and all), but its come with wind.  The wind knocks over my delicate Agility Course. As I have become addicted to Agility, I want to get on with the November competitions....If the wind could just drop, and stop blowing away my 'Flag Alley' and flattening my 'Curtain'.   Last month being Halloween, I had Witches Hats on my cones, and was constantly chasing after them as the wind took them.  But I did have a couple of calm days, and managed to film my entries.  I am thrilled to announce that Charlie got a First in Liberty with a Perfect Score, and a 2nd in The On-Line Course, which bumped us up a level, so we are now working on Medium Level Tests.  We also worked on The Level 3 Course Blueprint.  An easy set of moves.....but done on the offside.  Still pretty easy.....unless your pony is partially sighted on the Offside....Like Charlie.  It took a lot of work, and a lot of trust from Charlie, who prefers to have his Offside clear.  Working at his shoulder on that side meant I was blocking his view, and he constantly tried to swap sides.  But we did it!

We also had a lovely sunny day on Monday....Meg came over and we took advantage of the weather and hacked the mares out.  Meg rode Daisy and I rode Lulu and we all enjoyed a nice relaxed hack in the Sunshine.

And so we are revving up for the new Top Barn Challenge. It doesn't start till January, but its Sign Up Time, so everyone is hyped up.  Top Barn Online has been running the Winter Challenge for a few years now.  Perhaps Admin could let us know when it started?  I am now on my 5th Challenge. I failed to complete the 2020 Challenge due to catching the dreaded Covid and ending up with pneumonia and 2 cracked ribs from coughing!  But we completed 2019, 2021 and 2022. 

Top Barn is a very special Livery Yard in Gloucestershire, and they came up with a brilliant idea for an Online Community and a Winter Challenge to get people outside and doing stuff with their horses during the deepest darkest winter months. The Online Community has grown and grown, and there are now Summer Challenges and Competitions, aswell as a thriving Online Community.  Members have become friends, and visited each other.  Nobody judges and everyone is welcome no matter if you are just learning to ride, or compete at high levels.  Everyone is there to support each other.

 And so every January the Winter Challenge begins.  Its  NOT a competition.  Everyone pledges a Level Of Commitment.  I.E  Bronze Level....You commit to 3 hours work with your horse a week. 30 mins can be Pamper Time, which includes Hanging Out, Grooming, Carrot Stretches, Hand Grazing etc, with the other 2.5 hours consisting of training, which can include Groundwork, Hacking, Schooling, Lunging, Trick Training etc etc.  The Levels go up with the time committed...Silver is 5 hours and so on.  This goes on for 12 weeks.  During this time you get one Holiday week, and one Rollover Week.  The Holiday week is just that. A Holiday....Yeah put yer feet up, Get the Beers in.  The Rollover week is a week you may need to take due to sickness, 6ft snowdrifts etc, but the time needs to be made up before the end of the Challenge.  My advice is to get your Rollover hours 'banked' early so that week is in reserve.  It is based on honesty.  You should record as much as possible by Phone, Pivo or Partner-willing-to-film.  Or record your activities on an app such as Equilab.  Then upload your progress weekly. As I said, Its not a Competition, so if you cheat, you are only cheating yourself.

I strongly advise everyone to go 'Premium' .  I think it costs £12 this year.  Thats literally £1 a week.  Lets face it, you'd be lucky to buy a loaf of bread or pint of milk for a quid!  For the £12 you get many extras, such as Rhi's Randoms.  Each week Rhi sets a task.  If you Complete, Video and Submit the task in the week you go into a draw to win a prize from a sponsor. At the end of the 12 weeks, everyone who submitted all 12 mini challenges get a Rhis Randoms Rosette.  There is also access to Question Time ( with Rhi, not Rishi Johnson or whoever is PM), Rider Yoga, a fantastic time sheet to fill in, and the girls at Top Barn deserve your support. They work really hard, making up challenges and checking submissions.

I would like to add here that I am nothing to do with Top Barn.  Although this sounds like an advert, I promise you I am not being paid to promote this in anyway.  I am just a member of the Top Barn community who has enjoyed 5 years of friendship with fellow horse-owners and love the Winter Challenge. Its something to look forward to and a kick up the butt to keep working throughout the Winter, when it would be all too easy to see to the horses, then go home to hibernate.  I don't even have a link to join, just look-up Top Barn on Faceache.

If I wanted to promote something (and maybe I do) I would steer you towards Charlies YouTube Channel...... @Charliethetrickpony ..... I think. I have discovered YouTube Shorts!  Videos of 15 seconds or less.  For some bizarre reason Charlies YouTube shorts have attracted up to 25k watches and doubled our pitiful Subscribers. We now have  86 Subscribers.  Only another 914 to go and Charlie can pay for his own hay!!!  We are currently uploading 'band names' once a week. So go on, subscribe to our channel.  It doesn't cost anything and you can imagine me struggling to come up with a band name we can re-enact each week😀.  Example..... Wham.  https://youtube.com/shorts/osBy23XULxw?feature=share

So... Sign up for Top Barn, watch Charlies YouTube Channel, try something new with your horse, make a promise to yourself that you will achieve just one thing over the Winter, just embrace the wild weather......But Don't Hibernate!!  I will touch base once more before the dreaded C word x