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
