Those Bloody Dove Pigeons!!! It didn't take long for them to not be scared of the tin foil. To say I was cross is an understatement!!! Jo heard the roar of anger from the fields....... So I found a roll of orange road workers stuff.....And the netting off the hay bales. More wobbling on a hay feeder, and very determined stretching, yards of baler twine and an hour later.....And the buggers can not get in now. Nor can we without un-tying all the baler twine and tying it back. We had the Farrier the other day, and he laughed his head off....he said it felt like entering a Moroccan Hareem Den ??????????? At least the horses were ok with it.
And so we have had the first frosts. Although the water pipes were frozen, and the Water Butts too, it was nice in a way.. At least the sun was out. Bizarrely its now back to grey cloud and double figures....So its rugs off again. Horses are designed to deal with the cold. Their coat hairs move to deflect the rain/cold and keep them warm. So i would rather they were a little cold, than sweating under rugs. We put the first lot of hay out when it got below zero, but they have so much old grass they are not overly interested.
At the RDA I drove Fern last week......first time driving in 8 years. I had forgotten how to hold the reins! Luckily she looked after me, and was so good we practised lowering the wheelchair ramp for the first time. Hopefully my riders and helpers are having fun lessons. Today we went out searching for hidden letters to Santa....and popped them all in the post box. They are all starting to get used to my over-active imagination!!
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| ice from water |
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| new dove pigeon trap |
And still no snow in sunny Suffolk. Although we have had some serious frosts. But I promised a snow pic I think? Here it is..........
I stole this off someone up North.....I'm actually glad we haven't got this....
BUT....we have had minus temperatures.....So here is my top tip.. How many of you bash the water butts with a fork or something, then grab the ice with your already frozen fingers? We use a colander....bash, pick up ice, strain water...all without touching it.
Clever huh? So the ponies are doing well. Lots of hay, but thats it. They are all warm, happy and full. Even Polly is doing well and is sound so hasn't had to be stabled.
So yesterday Jo couldn't make it. Being on my own I rushed around getting the basic care done....Or did I? Oh no, I decided to introduce Charlie to a bit.
Having loaded the trailer with hay I parked it outside the field, and went in with a bridle....well a headpiece and rubber bit. He backed away to start with, but 2nd attempt, I opened his mouth and voila....he was wearing a bridle. I deliberately did it in the field, as I didn't want to make big deal of it.
I left him getting used to it while I put the hay out. I was so pleased and proud of him....As they say Pride before Fall. Slipping the bridle and headcollar off I went to the minis field. The gate is slightly too wide to take the trailer through solo....as I found out when they all legged it past me to graze what's left of the 4 acres. Having poo picked their field I set about retrieving the escapees. I thought I could herd them with the tractor/trailer.....yeah right. They had a good gallop until I finally realised they are much faster. So I had to use my legs, and catch the buggers one by one. That's when I realised my legs were actually numb.
So all that was left was moving the fences back a bit to give them some grass, getting the frozen pipes working and poo picking the big ponies. I actually counted the piles of poo in the big ponies field.......Yup 49 piles!! Thats 16.3 poos each............I really should get out more! Any another top tip...If you have 7 ponies out all the time you really need a mini tractor and trailer!!
