Yep, and first to the weather report, which is not news as its already happened!!! Its been Wild and Windy. First we had Storm Freya, now its Storm Gareth.....although if there was a gap between them I missed it! It was so strong yesterday it moved the tractor!!
Bad Hair Day for Charlie! And now onto the more interesting subject.....Weird Worms! So on Sunday Jo found some worms in Daisys droppings. We don't have worms. We poo pick daily, and the only time we have ever had worms is when Molly first arrived. I wasn't there, so Jo saved 3 for me to look at (like you do haha). My first thought was Earth Worms......Except they weren't red. And all 3 were a bit different. With all our years experience Jo and I have seen most horse worms....but not these! Ask Google. The nearest image comparison was Round Worms....except they are normally only found in youngsters, and at 19 Daisy is hardly young!! In the interest of science, we collected some Earth Worms from the muck heap. I wondered if Earth Worms went white when they died. So I popped them into a jar of water....mostly to stop them wriggling away, but also to see if they drowned and therefore lost their colour. You know if you chop a worm in half you just end up with 2 worms? Well they can also live in water! They must be a form of zombie!
So we put them with the dead worms from Daisys droppings and quickly photographed them, before they started eating them. Just in case you are slightly interested, we them released them into the wild, totally un-harmed! Still baffled we phoned the Vets, who asked us to email the pics through. Result? A bunch of equally baffled vets! The older Vets asked the younger Vets, who may still have some memory of Uni and an encyclopedic memory of Worms. No-one knew what they were, and we all came to the conclusion that they were indeed some Mutant Albino strain of Earth Worm! As it was raining, they had moved up into the droppings, but as at this point they were mutant zombie worms, they did not scuttle back down a hole the minute the droppings were moved. Why only Daisys Droppings? Answers on a postcard please! I think its because she has EMS, and therefore more insulin in her droppings, but the Vet suggested it was just because they were bigger, therefore warmer. Luckily for you dear Reader, I have already deleted the pics from my phone!!! Remember I entered an On-Line Horse Show last month? I didn't realise they existed, but the Top Barn Challenge has enlightened me. So I entered a pic of Charlie in The Muckiest Pony class. To my delight he came 2nd out of about 20 entries, and I am absurdly proud of his first rosette!!!
Sadly the Top Barn 12 Week Challenge is coming to an end. We are now on Week 10. Its been a brilliantly inspiring group, with the most encouraging group of horsey people I have ever come across. People have faced their fears head on, and worked in some appalling weather, to get their hours in. No one on the group will ever say again, "Its too cold, wet, dark, muddy, windy, snowy" etc. So in the spirit of the Challenge, I ignored Storm Gareth with his 50mph winds and worked Charlie with a hoop yesterday (well ok....its a piece of hose-pipe taped up). We had a blast!! Storm? Pffff!!
This may or may not be a link to the video!!!! https://youtu.be/OfJDvlz2aN0
So as you all know, Molly was an odd rescue case!! Loaned to the Rda from a friend of mine (the lovely Rachel), Molly had become very grumpy and unhappy. So Jo and I took her in for a while to 'fix' her, before she went home. She settled in well with the herd, but objected to being tacked up. Initially she wolfed her food, but then refused it. She refused to wear a rug, and although ok with me, laid her ears back every time Jo touched her. Oh yes a challenge. She was a bit lean, tucked up from stress and full of thread worms. So we wormed her, and let her be. Jo made a point of spending time with her. After a few weeks, I took her out for a ride with the other big mares (see previous blog). Still not a happy girl. As she was trying to kick me while I slowly girthed her up, we decided she looked like a girl with ulcers. This was NOT the Molly I knew. So we put her on a daily feed of warm bran mash, with Ulcer Guard, Liquorice and Camomile....which she lapped up. Jo brought her out for her feed every day, so she could bond with her. Within a week the change was astounding. At last we had a happy horse! Unless we took Lily out of the field. Despite the others being there, and hay on offer, Molly still cleared the 5ft fencing to try and find Lil. We have always said, nothing over 14.2hh as we are set up for ponies. We put up a double fence 'Molly Baffler'. Landlord NOT happy!! The time was right for Molly to go home. Looking at the pictures when she arrived, compared to recent pics, the change was amazing. I always felt Molly was missing Rachel. Even when she seemed happy, there was sometimes a wistful look about her, like she wished she could go home. So Rachel came to collect her. She has settled in at home, like she had never been away, and has a new friend to hack her out, so its all turned out well. I miss her, peering over the fence, waiting for breakfast, but am happy to have returned a physically fixed horse to her owner.
Molly the day after she arrived.
Molly 3 months later. And so it snowed. Thankfully a tiny amount compared to last year!! We have been soo lucky. Kent (just across the Thames Estuary), Wales and the West Country seem to have suffered big time. We have been really lucky!
I have continued to work Charlie for the Top Barn 12 Week Challenge. We have had some fun...and some progress. I have discovered I have a Comedy Pony, who is very popular on the Top Barn site. Check out my You Tube Channel (as I am incapable of posting the vids on here!!). Anyway today showed the meaning of the Handler Lowering their energy. You may have heard this saying, and not understood it. Todays video (if you can find it) shows what it means.. Charlie got out of the wrong side of bed this morning. Maybe I did too. Anyway he started being pushy...which pushes my buttons...I start becoming less patient (my energy levels rise), he feels it as a challenge....and we have conflict. Some trainers relish conflict as a chance to exert their dominance. However I would rather have a partnership.....with mutual trust. I do not want to dominate my pony. I want us to work as a team. So time to walk away, take deep breaths, have a break. I chose to change what we were doing. As a friend had arrived, I was chatting away, as I tacked Charlie up. No pressure, my energy levels dropped.....and so Charlie relaxed and stood, loose, while I saddled and bridled him. And thats what trainers mean when they say Drop your Energy Level.
