The Great Escape

Its been a bit of a day!!!!  So we had the Shetlands in a small pen, due to SweetPeas' lameness. All Good.  But with 40mph winds predicted we were worried the Barn might fall on them.  So yesterday we set up an electric fence...Oh yeah...Yesterday. A Nightmare day. Wind and Rain. Lots of rain. Unexpected rain.  I was NOT dressed for that. I was dressed for the dentist.  It was like a sudden Power Shower.  I left drenched.  As I dripped in the dentist its not surprising they asked me to come back for a filling....by that time I was shivering and leaving pools of rain water everywhere. 

So today the sun was out...all calm. I arrived to find the Shetlands mooching around on the drive.  I thought Jo had opened the gate. Mid coffee Mark the Mechanic arrived with a van to fix. During a casual conversation we realised the Shetlands had in fact opened a gate and were not meant to be free-range.  Off we went to look for them.  They were fairly near and Mark The Mechanic and part time horse whisperer went to catch them. We Should Have Known Better!!!

Of course they ran off up the drive, Jo in hot pursuit. Armed with two carrots, I climbed over a couple of fences hoping to head them off. Initially I didn't run...with my lungs its actually slower than walking.  But when I saw them heading down the drive towards the road I broke out into a sprint. They were quicker!  With hearts in mouths, we could only watch them head out of the gate. They could have gone onto the road, but thankfully chose to turn the other way, and flat out headed across the beet field.  SweetPea looked pretty sound!

At this point I had climbed over a third fence, not to mention forcing my way through some spiky Blackthorn Trees. Jo threw the headcollars at me.  She was about to go and get a car, while I was thinking of throwing a bridle on Daisy and going in pursuit. While safe from the road, they were now loose in 35 acres of farmland!! Suddenly they appeared over the horizon heading back. Guess the grass wasn't greener.  Avoiding my out-stretched arms they headed full tilt back up the drive.  While Jo was putting up barriers, I caught up with the little buggers near the hay-barn.  Dropping the head-collars, I knelt down, carrots outstretched and persuaded them into a stable......Whereupon I firmly slammed the door on them!

Never ever has a loose horse left the premises.  Polly is often free-range. The Shetlands, who are escapologist experts (great fans of Houdini) , normally find grass, or turn the tack-room upside down.  The moral of this story is ....errr.. NEVER TRUST SHETLAND PONIES!!!!

Penned In!

This is NOT a Weather Channel.

Although you may be forgiven if you have made that mistake. And so, to the Weather.......March has certainly come in like a lion. Its been wet, its been windy, its been really cold.....and mostly all three. 
And so on the 1st of the month, we moved the bigger ponies into the Three Acre Field.  The grass has been growing there since last August.  It also has a lovely sheltered dip.  This is usually where I strip off to a tee-shirt, only to realise how damn cold the wind is when I come back up the hill.  The little ponies have been given pretty much the whole 4-Acre Field, and are finding grass that the bigger ponies couldn't seem to find.
Charlie certainly seems to have felt a shift to Spring.  He has been very amorous with Daisy and playing gelding games with Lu, who seems up for it. The rest of the time he has been amusing himself with massive twisting corkscrew bucks.  I can only hope he doesn't try that with me on board. Or he may have to be sold to the rodeo.

Yesterday my other half appeared to fix the brakes on the tractor.  Its been a bit hairy in the hilly parts of the field with no brakes.  I was about to try some different bridles on Charlie, as he still has an issue.  Its not the bit, but the bridle going over his head. So Mark wandered up to the field with Jo and myself, holding a selection of leather. He may have been a little horrified to watch Charlie violently overreacting to having just a headpiece and browband popped over his ears. So then I wanted to put his normal bridle on, just to try and calm things down. "Hold this" I said, passing Mark the lead rope.  He kind of anchored himself, as if he was trying to stop the iceberg hitting the titanic. I was about to tell him to give Charlie a little slack, but thought what the hell. The bridle went on so smoothly I was shocked. Not a pull back or rear in sight.  Did Charlie feel the extra strength?  Or have a got a horse whisperer for a partner?

The Horse Whisperer Chatting to Daisy