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!!!
Yes thats right....The importance of poo. As you all may have gathered I am a great believer in horses being kept as naturally as possible. 'Tucking the horse up in bed' goes against all its natural instincts. Horses only sleep in 15 minutes burst, for four hours a day. So in a stable they do not sleep peacefully all night, but get bored. They cannot satisfy the natural urge to wander about. As herd animals they rely on other members to alert them to passing lions. Its no good telling them their are no scary lions.....Unless there actually are where you live. So in a stable, alone, they are probably on full alert all night. Anyway I digress.
So, our horses live out 24/7. That being the case all the poo is in their fields, not churned up amongst straw. This gives us two major benefits. One, we get to hang out in the field with the herd for longer each day, which increases our bond with them, and allows us to observe their natural behaviour. At a glance we can tell if all's well. Two, we are intimate with their pooing habits. Poo is a great indicator of health. We can see if its a bit loose, a bit hard, sandy, wormy etc. We also know exactly how many poos there should be.....Yes I have counted them many times!!! This gives us an advantage in managing their diets. We are on sandy soil, so at the first indication of sand in the poo, we feed bran mashes with pysillium in.
In so many bigger yards, the actual yard managers rarely get their hands dirty, so can't possibly know whats going on with the horses health. When I ran a bigger yard, I always did the poo picking myself for this very reason, and am proud that in 10 years I had no laminitus and only one colic (and that was a new pony that I wormed as you do, without knowing she had never been wormed and the vast amount of worms that died caused a blockage).
And so to the weather report!! Its finally turned milder....although we are still expecting a cold Easter. Anyway we have been taking advantage and have started to work the ponies. All except the Shetlands have been out on various walk-outs, either ridden or in-hand. My former partner-in-crime, Tess came and rode Daisy, who was like a cat on hot bricks....full of the joys of spring, including showing how well she could rear!! The only drawback with milder days is going back in the evenings to put rugs back on. Although the sunsets are lovely and its nice to have a goodnight kiss from Charlie.
Charlie has also resumed clicker training. He may be a surfer dude with his laid back attitude, but he doesn't forget a thing. Especially when carrots are involved. We are practising him standing glued to the 'target', while I move around him, and he has been an absolute star.
This week we have mostly been playing Hunt the Poo. It looks the same as the beech leaves that are covering the minis field. Its like one of those hidden object games. And I'm not complaining about the sun, but having it shining in your eyes does not help. New Years Day was a particular challenge, having had no sleep!!!
And so today Charlie officially started his training. I am not planning on rushing anything. It will take as long as it takes. There is no time limit, and I don't want to skip a bit. Also I have no set plan. We'll see how it all goes.
Today I simply got him out, tied him up the gate (Yes Yes, before you all start shouting....I did use baler twine), fitted him with a lunging cavesson and spent 15 minutes in my 'school' asking him to move out and around me. Which he did beautifully. Then we finished off with a little "Follow Me". I walk, he follows, I stop, he stops, I change direction, yes you guessed it. The object is to keep him glued to me. Finished off of course with much petting and a parsnip!
No I'm not building a carriage.....But the last two weeks have been real "nuts and bolts" of keeping horses. Rain, followed by more rain (and high winds), have meant its been all work and no play. I for one, am too old now to go out for a fun ride in sideways rain, after 3 hours of poo picking, ragwort clearing and fencing!!
And that is the nuts and bolts of horse owning.....90% care, 10% fun. Although ours live out, it doesn't mean they don't need looking after. There is an awful lot of poo to pick up every day. 7 ponies, 10 poos a day each...yup thats 70 piles a day I reckon. I really must get out more.
Rain aside, it has been mild, so we are taking full advantage of using the grass diet while its still growing a little. This means moving the fences back a little each day. Jo usually does the moving while myself and the dogs guard the gap from marauding shetlands. They are the worst, circling us like sharks!
And with the grass growing the ragwort springs up seemingly overnight. Although the horses eat round it, it really cannot be left.....we do not want yellow fields next summer.
Charlie has been very affectionate, and I am still taking him around the farm for 10 minutes a day. He has been very good, and we have had no more tantrums. He has also got used to me taking his rug off in field for a little airing, only to replace it 10 minutes later when the next squall heads in.
And on Monday he made my day....A super large red crop sprayer came up the track and startled him. He made straight for me, which means he sees me as his source of protection and comfort. Smiley face.
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| Is this my rug mum? |
