Its been quite a week........
Poor little Mini has been missing her friend Sweet Pea badly...as are we. So we have borrowed a Shetland friend for her. Piggy, a little boy who is even smaller than Mini. He is besotted by her. Not sure she feels the same, but it has perked her up anyway. I think she may be feeling irritation rather than sadness at the moment, as he follows her about constantly. Not to mention Dora who has decided Mini was HER bff and is constantly trying to come between them. Polly is ignoring everybody.
And so on Tuesday we had a Pony Day...with 10 girls and errr 1 boy. The boy most definitely did NOT want to be there, but had no choice as his mum Eli was teaching. He spent a fair bit of time in the tack-room on his I-Pod ....Sensible boy!! The temperature naturally was about 28c (Nothing natural about that for England, but after 2 months of hot dry weather it has become the norm).
Elis' daughters (Grace and Georgie) rode their ponies (Twix and Sammie) over to help out. Jo bought the entire glitter supply for Europe, spare crisps and squash, and by 9.30am we were ready for the arrival of clients at 10.30am. We even made a make shift toilet in a stable with tyres and paper!!
Upon arrival, the girls had the safety talk, and learned where to go in the event of a fire. Then it was catch in, groom and tack up time. The girls were split into two groups......Group A having a lesson, while Group B helped with poo picking, including a ride in the trailer, then we swapped.
Lunchtime saw the girls turning out the ponies for a welcome rest, and drink, before we all returned to the relative shade of the tack-room for a picnic lunch and a super-fun session running, cartwheeling and jumping through the sprinkler until everyone was thoroughly wet. When I say cartwheeling...that didn't apply to the adults!!!
Then it was off to get Polly and Mini back in for Glittering. Freddie the only boy, having enjoyed the sprinkler, (and having his character on his game killed off), joined in and found he was actually having fun!! The ponies being suitably decorated were then used for gymkhana games (in walk and trot only as the ground is so hard). We used Sammie and Polly for Gymkhana, while Mini was de-glittered. Sammie and Polly are both old hands and you could see them raring to go as were some of the riders.....but we kept it calm!
Very quickly 3pm came around and parents appeared to pick up children. Those that were left helped me bath and turn out Polly. (I don't mean they were left indefinitely!!) We all had a really fun, if hot, day. There were NO TEARS which has to be good. Only squeals and laughter. We are already planning the next one......Maybe on a cooler day!!
And as the heat wave continues and gets hotter Mark The Mechanic (and part-time horse whisperer) and Jo spent yesterday creating shade for the small ponies with the lorry and some tarpaulin. The bigger ponies had their field extended to include the shady dip. Were they grateful??? Were they ****.
This morning saw them all out of their paddocks, having trashed the minis paddock!! Luckily the paddocks are enclosed in the 3 Acre Field which is surrounded by stock fencing and thick hedges of trees and gated and padlocked. And so Jo and I spent all morning repairing the damage. Thankfully Charlie didn't take the lorry to pieces, which is a miracle as he loves vehicles!!!
And guess what????? Yes its gone from 5c to 25c . English weather for you. Not that we are complaining about the heat. Oh no, Not after that Winter. Still there are times of the day that it is.....maybe a little warm for, say fencing, or hacking. Not that we take any notice of that. No we are hardened Horsewomen. We are used to the odd English weather. Four seasons in one day.
Last week, I had a panic on. Found a lump in Scrumpy Dogs mouth that looked very dodgy. The vet wanted her in the next day to remove it. At 11 and a half I was worried about the anaesthetic, and what they might find under the lump. Trying to keep busy didn't help. I found myself staring at water containers as I filled them. It was the longest morning of my life!! Luckily Scrumpy is a Jack Russell, thereby as hard as nails. She sailed through the op, and felt well enough to chase a cat later that evening.
During that slightly dodgy week, it got warmer and warmer. The Bank Holiday weekend reached tropical temperatures. Bliss after the Winter. At the weekend all the little ponies were used in lessons. They are loving being so useful. Even Sweet Pea forgot to rear. And Dora has been amazing. Polly too seems to love being the 'Pony that taught a thousand kids to ride' and is full of bounce.
I have set up a round pen near the tack-room. Okay its not perfectly round, but near enough. And handy for water, drinks etc. Lu and Daisy went out Saturday, with Jo and Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays. In the meantime I was able to work Charlie, who is still being very colty. After some good work, and some dancing/follow me free-school stuff, I got him a small feed and took a chair, drink, phone etc out to sit with him while he ate. Meanwhile the others came back. Lu was looking so pretty I put a harness on her that I want to sell. She was brilliant considering she has never worn a harness before, and only mildly objected to the crupper! While I was taking pictures Charlie decided to move the chair. I managed to rescue my drink in time, but he picked the chair up, then stood all over it. He also found it funny to pick up and wave a jacket that was on the back of the chair.
Yesterday, Jo and I decided that it was a good idea to re-fence the biggies field, and move them down the hill, so that the grass can come back at the top. Good plan in 28c, at midday. As usual it took longer than we thought, what with fencing the edges, and adding miles of hose on to reach the bottom of the hill. Still we have vowed NOT to say Its Too Hot. So we drove ourselves on through the hottest part of the day, until we were like clockwork dolls winding down.
Today was even hotter......so we went out for a hack at 1pm!!! Having lost a lot of Farm Track Hacking when a Giant Farm bought a lot of nearby land, we decided on crossing THE ROAD and plodding down some country lanes. Lu hasn't been that way since she was a baby, and Daisy has never been that way. I even wore a hat!!!! And we both wore fluorescent tabs. OOOOH get me...So BHS. I even put long boots on (a bit Lara Croft with the short shorts), and took my phone, And a lead rope!!
THE ROAD is always busy.....and fast. Personally I don't care having crossed the M4, and some major A roads,not to mention cantering along the A12 verge as a child, and riding a 3 year old up the A140. Its a mere co-incidence that the only riding accidents I have had that have ended up with me in hospital have been on roads. So i set out to be nanny to Lu, Daisy being bombproof an all.....
Turns out Lu is perfectly cool in traffic, whereas Daisy reacted like she had a stick up her arse. Still it slowed the traffic down! My usual hacking position of one finger round the buckle of the reins, had to be adapted in order to steer Daisy and thank traffic. I also found out my new 'brakes' bit was no brakes at all. Still they were both awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed a new route. In fact I was like an excited kid...pointing at every farm track and dodgy looking footpath, saying "Where does that go?" Poor Jo. It must have been like a child in a car saying "Are we there yet?" every 2 minutes. Needless to say we were all very sticky when we got back (including Charlie who must have been charging round his empty field for over an hour). But the beauty of the new round pen, meant we could turn them loose while we got a drink and de-booted. I brought a sweaty Charlie up to join his girls and we were able to hose them all down from the middle of the pen.
Sadly in mine and Daisy's excitement I forgot to take any pics on my phone, of the quaint cottages and the awesome view over the river, but i did manage to set a brilliant riding app, which even shows our route...Little things!!
And so we have an Indian Summer......Its the middle of September and it was 29c today. All the grass is burnt, hell we are burnt! The ground is too hard to work the ponies, and the fence posts are breaking when we try to move the fencing back. We have been doing a rain dance. Polly has bruised soles, so is out in boots. Daisy, with her shoes on is feeling well. The other day I thought I would take her out and lead Charlie. mmmmmmm......
I went round the 4 acre first.....good job really. Daisy was like a cat on hot bricks. In the end I had to let go of Charlie, as Daisy was plunging and bucking. I just sat and laughed as it felt so good to feel her so happy.
Luckily I had been practicing the bucking.....on a mechanical bull at a Festival. Major fun if you ever get the chance. It got very competitive.
So today we picked up 50 bales of hay.....As I stood there surveying our hoard I said, 'We won't need to hay until October'. Jo pointed out thats only two weeks away. WHAT???? Its still the middle of summer surely? I panicked at that point and dragged all the rugs out. Jo power washed them while I painted them with Fabriseal. I mean, knowing England it'll be snowing next week!
Bull
Riding
Waterproofing rugs
First the weather report......And the heat goes on. It was 32c the day before yesterday and Jo and I were muttering about mad dogs and Englishmen, as we shoveled shit during the hottest part of the day. We have moved Lulu and Charlie onto the 3 Acre with Polly and Daisy, as the grass is all burnt, albeit still quite tall. We have separated them though, Charlie has moved in with Daisy and Lu with Polly. It seems to be working.
Today the Farrier came to sort out Daisy's feet. I brought Charlie in as company, and to give him a good groom, and plait his mane, hoping it will make him a bit cooler. Following the ex rays the Farrier cut away a fair bit of Daisy's toes, to expose the rotten bits. He then put front shoes on her to give her something to stand on, and make it possible for us to work her......The last thing we need right now is Laminitus.
I was in the stable with Charlie putting the longest, thickest plaits ever in his mane in the hope it will make him feel a bit cooler, when he suddenly spun away. I realised the Farrier had started his forge, and there was a good chance Charlie had never heard that before. When Daisy's hot shoes were put to her feet, Charlie grew to about 15hh and had eyes out on stalks. He must have thought she was on fire! All good education, as he will certainly need shoes at some point in his life.
But best of all when we turned them out Daisy galloped away bucking. Her feet must feel soo much better already.
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cut away toes
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