Indian Summer, End Of Treasure Hunt and Rugs!

And so to the weather!!  Its been an Indian Summer, almost making up for the lack of real Summer.  Apart from a couple of Storms, the weather for September has been glorious (possibly hotter than the real Summer).  The mornings have been cooler, so its on/off with clothes. The summer shorts and crocs have been put away, and revived again.  THEY (whoever they are) say October will be up in the mid twenties again!!!! For those of us with Natives, who live out 24/7 naked its a bit of a pain.  They are growing their furry winter coats and sweating like a whore in church.

Which brings me onto rugs.......I have actually seen some horses already wearing rugs!  Rugging a horse will NOT stop the growth of winter coats.  Its the amount of daylight hours that does that!  Horses are designed to live outside in all weathers. They are most comfortable between 5c and 25c. Ok in mid winter if you have an elderly, or clipped horse, by all means rug it.  But right now even the night time temperatures haven't been below 8c.  They must be relieved when the sun goes down and the temperatures drop. 

And so its the end of the Top Barn Treasure Hunt Part 2. This time we had 30 Treasures to find. In multiples of 3.  To complete the Challenge we had only had to find 10 sets of 3 Treasures, but the hardcore went on to find 90 treasures!!!  RESPECT!!!!  Charlie and I completed 18 sets of 3.  We logged other treasures and finished with 62.  We also had to complete 5 tasks and declare miles in multiples of 10.  We only declared 20 miles (as its mostly on foot) and finished on 22.8 miles.  We did complete the 5 Tasks, but in our own way.  Charlie can be quite a handful in hand out on the lane.  My dodgy lungs and dicky ticker struggle when he's in racehorse on crack mode.  So I am most grateful for the help of Meg, who kindly came out for a walk with us, leading Mini the Shetland as a calming influence on Charlie and also took a shed load of pictures of treasures. Charlie was tacked up and I even had a hat on, just in case he was calm enough for me to ride a bit.  But he wasn't.  However, we did manage a few steps ridden in the Playpen (formerly known as The School) and a few more steps up the track. Well out of our comfort zone!!

The International Horse Agility Summer Of Sport has also finished and we all got our results. Charlie excelled himself with 3 x 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd. Aswell as getting a 1st in the August Liberty Class. The class I am most proud of is Horse and Hound.  We came !st with a score of 100/100.  The Hound in question is called Luna. She belongs to my friend Sarah.  She was rescued from Cyprus or somewhere, and had been in about 5 homes. Luna was on her last chance. Apparently she was vicious! I just happened to be dog-sitting and at the last minute decided to try the Horse and Hound class.  We had a 20 minute practice while I sorted out the camera angle, and 20 minutes to film the class. Both Charlie and Luna were foot perfect.

And so onwards to October.  A month I love.  The trees turn a fantastic colour, the nights are cooler and its Halloween Month.  Hopefully the flies will die off or hibernate.  I plan to carry on doing ridden work with Charlie. My goal is to complete an Equigility Class before the year is out.

 

Winter Has Arrived - To Rug Or Not To Rug, And Its Nearly Time For The Top Barn Challenge

 So Winter has definitely arrived. A lot of the country has already had snow.  Here in the far East of England the snow has kept away (although some is threatened for tonight).  But its been frosty to say the least. Minus temperatures at night and only just above freezing during the day.  The ice has stayed on the ground with more ice added each night.  Taps and fingers have frozen.  And of course, the tractor sprung a major leak at the Weekend and suddenly spewed forth a lot of coloured liquid. Right in the gateway.  I feared it may have been the radiator. Jo and I quickly moved the Hay by hand before we had a riot on our hands, while trying to figure out how to move the stricken tractor.  Luckily for us Rob, Meg and Nancy arrived to help. Rob had a taste of the liquid on the floor and decided it was not anti-freeze. We looked under the bonnet and found a tube off. After some discussion we decided it was a pipe taking diesel to the Filter and so wasn't terminal.  Rob had another glug, but we were not 100% sure, however all the other important fluid levels were still full, so we risked firing it up and moving it out of the way.  Thank you Rob, Meg and Nancy for poo-picking with your car.  Our mechanically minded Horse Landlord confirmed it was just a diesel leak, so its all good!

And so to the main question......To Rug or Not To Rug.  I am a great believer in Not Rugging. Obviously if your horse is elderly, clipped or struggles to keep weight on, then go ahead, rug away. However...... If you have a fit, unclipped healthy horse, it does not need a rug. It takes away a huge amount of stress for you and your horse if you leave him as nature intended. Don't forget, horses survived the Ice Age!

So while as humans we are all freezing and wearing as many layers as we can move in, our horses are not feeling the cold. Apparently a human is comfortable between 25c and 30c.  That means we do not use energy to keep warm at those temperatures.  Although most of us in England would agree we are more than happy around 18c, and 30c is a tad hot!  Its called a Thermoneutral Zone.

Horses have a much larger Thermoneutral Zone. They are comfortable between 0c and 25c.  Horses also have an internal 'fire' which is stoked up by the fermentation of fibre in the hindgut (Ie....Hay Hay Hay).  If the Horse has his natural coat, it is waterproof and provides as much heat to the skin as a 400g rug. Horse hair also stands up when its cold, creating an insulating pocket of air next to the skin.  A rug will press this hair down and eliminate the natural coats ability to retain heat. When checking how warm your horse is, forget the ears.  Horses are designed to leave the extremities cold to direct the heat to the organs. Feel under the armpits!  Also if your horse is covered in snow which is not melting, you can be sure he is well insulated.  If you over rug your horse, not only will he be uncomfortable, he will also be prone to EMS and Laminitus. 

Our ponies are all natives, unclipped, unrugged and live out 24/7.  This is the most natural life we can give them.  They do not have hard feed. They do however have plenty of hay. They are all happy, warm and do not have 'problems' that many pampered horses have.  Yes they will drop weight this winter (hopefully), but that is natural, ensuring that when the spring grass comes around, they will not suffer Laminitus etc.  This includes Daisy (who had EMS) and Coco who the vet diagnosed with Cushings, but who is doing fine this Winter.  And we can sleep at night, knowing they are all fine, no matter what the weather throws at them.  

In the 2nd pic you can see Charlies hairs standing up doing their job.

Anyway enough lecturing! So last months Agility Comps were a little hard. Having moved up a level, Charlie and I had a lot to learn.  There were a few poles to step over, and back up over.  Being a hard nut (partially blind) Coblet, he has the tendency to plough through stuff! Poles? What Poles? Oh Yeah, I'll just kick em out of the way!  We also had a lot of wind, which kept blowing my course over. So I was hugely surprised that we got another 1st in the On-Line Medium Level Comp and 3rd in the Liberty.  We are currently working on The December Xmas Courses. They are fun and involve dressing up which we love. I would like soft ground though for Charlies enthusiastic jump!  There is a lot of running in our level!! I couldn't beat a snail for a seat on a bus with my Dodgy Lungs and Dicky Ticker, so next year we will be swerving sideways and joining the Walk Only Leagues. My November Rosettes arrived today.  I showed them to Charlie, but he was busy eating!

And so its nearly time for the Big Event!  No Not Christmas! Its just a day like any other.  Get up early and see to the horses!  No, I'm talking about The Top Barn 2023 Winter Challenge.  I have already printed off the worksheets and put them in Charlies File.  I know a lot of people have got the diaries.  Others will have computer based spreadsheets. Being old I prefer to write stuff down with a pen!

I have declared Bronze, but will aim for Silver.  Charlie and I have a lot of stuff to work on.  As well as The Agility Stuff, we have also been building up Charlies chest muscles. He is definitely looking more muscular, so its time to try and ride him again! 

Good Luck everyone taking part in the Challenge. 

Natural Herd Living

I know I bang on about the benefits of keeping horses as naturally as possible....but here I go again. Today I have read 2 articles on Faceache, which are both scientific and common sense. Neither article was related....but actually they are.  They both reinforced my belief in keeping horses in a natural state as possible.

The 1st post was about rugging.  Now if you compete all winter as I have done in the past, you need to clip your horse to prevent it getting too hot. If you clip, you need to rug.  Thats fine. But however, if you are just a happy hacker, as i am now, its fine to leave the horse naked.  After all they are naked in the wild. 
The post went into all sorts of scientific biochemistry, of which I have no hope of explaining here.  But basically......The horse is an animal. They are designed to live outdoors. We tend to humanise animals. But bear in mind....We have thin skin that feels the cold. Horses have thick skin.  Horses also have FUR.  The fur has muscles, which can stand up and change direction, which increases the thickness.  Horses are designed to withstand all kinds of weather.  They survived the Ice-Age.  In Winter in the Wild, they do not seek shelter, they do not hibernate, or live in caves.  The fur gets greasy, which makes them waterproof.  Rain runs off the fur, leaving the undercoat dry. Horses have a very efficient internal heating system, generated by eating.  SO if you are a happy hacker in the Winter, your horse does not need a rug, or hard feed.....Just plentiful forage (hay).  And please dont groom him, as you will remove the grease.  A quick removal of mud around the areas that tack will go on, is enough.

The 2nd Post was about sleep! Not something I have ever thought about before. Humans sleep in one block.  We all know horses sleep in short phases and can sleep standing up....due to being prey animals, and the need to leg it at short notice.
What I didn't know, or think about before was the type of sleep horses need. Like us, they have different stages of sleep.  The sleep they have, while standing up, or lying on there chests, is light sleep.  Like humans, to have a really refreshing sleep, they need to go into REM, where humans dream. This is a deep sleep, muscles are paralysed, and the brain processes its day.  No doubt the horse also dreams....We have all seen dreaming dogs?

For a horse to do this, it has to lay flat out, all the muscles relaxed and paralysed. This is a big deal for a horse!!! It has to feel completely at ease and safe. No mean feat for an animal that may get eaten any minute!  It has to trust its herd mates to watch for danger!  So what happens when a horse is stabled??  First up it has no herd to watch for predators. Secondly, the stable may be too small for it to lay flat out. So the horse that is in its lovely warm stable sleeping all night, is probably too wary to actually sleep properly....Something to think on.

As you all know by now, our ponies live out 24/7 in 2 herds.  We do have guest ponies, but the main bulk of the Herd is settled.  Charlie is the Stallion (so he thinks).  Lu is the Dominant Mare, and the rest are mares. The only reason there is a line of electric fencing between the smaller and bigger ponies is that Charlie was cut late, and stills behaves like a Stallion. They can still touch, interact and hang out together, and therefore feel safe enough to lie flat out.

We have often caught the whole herd, flat out asleep. A herd will normally leave one horse on guard (like a Meercat), but a relaxed safe herd like ours just dont bother!!  This is a natural way of living, making a happier horse, and a less stressed owner.

Why make life difficult?? Our daily routine is laid back.  The horses are already out, so dont stress if we are 5 minutes late to turn out. We dont have to muck out stables (saving on time, and money on bedding).  We dont have to change rugs (more time and money saved). No grooming (more time saved....we only groom lightly when riding). No hard feed.... Who wants to spend all that money on mixes?  In the Winter we spend our money on hay.  Each day we deliver more than enough hay to the fields.  They always have some left over.  Hay equals roughage, equals generating warmth. If a particular horse is on rehab, we may feed it, but with chopped oat straw, mixed with whatever herbs it might need. And so we check and refill the waters, poo pick the fields every day, which saves on worming.....And thats it. 

Keeping horses naturally is cheap, its quick, and the horses are happy because they are living as close as possible to how they are supposed to live.  The 3 F's. Freedom, Friends, and Forage.  Lecture over...Think on it.

To Rug Or Not To Rug?

That is the question.   Its starting to get chilly.  Everywhere I drive I see horses rugged up. We are starting to rug ourselves.....socks, boots, maybe a jacket. Its tempting to start rugging our horses. BUT remember we don't have waterproof fur!  Horses are actually comfortable at between 7c and 14c. Naked. 

At 7c we probably have a thick jacket, so think our horses are cold. But just remember if they are not clipped they have a thick coat which is like us wearing a jacket.  Of course if your horse is clipped, it needs a rug. Also elderly horses need help to keep the heat in.  We have two ponies with EMS (Equine Metabolic Syndrome), and they are rugged earlier. EMS messes with the metabolism, so they cannot regulate their temperature so well. The others are two Shetlands (who are never rugged), a Haflinger, and a Gypsy Cob. The bigger ponies do have lightweight rugs on wet and windy days, mostly because Jo and I are soft, but also because we are on an exposed hill. Well thats our excuse to ourselves, and we are sticking to it!  But they do not need thick rugs....they have their own natural filling...FUR.

We have noticed that snow (When it actually happens) does not melt off the Shetlands backs.....which shows how well insulated they are. Also when it rains, they do not hide under the trees, they carry on eating in the middle of the field. They may look hunched up, but it is the horses way of keeping their vitals warm.  Look carefully and you will see the hair standing up on end....this is all part of natures way of keeping them warm.  The best way to help your horse keep warm is to feed plenty of hay.  Keep the hind gut working and this will keep the horse warm.  Think about where your horses breed comes from...
Shetlands?  I have been to Shetland....Its a cold, bare, treeless peat covered land. (No offense meant to Shetland).  Haflingers?  They live in snow covered mountains. Any British Native either comes from moorland or hill country.

If you are worried, feel the base of the horses ears or its chest.  This is a good indication of temperature. Of course if the poor thing is huddled up not grazing and shaking like a whippet, then by all means rug it.  Just don't overdo it.  Remember how uncomfortable it is to be hot and not be able to shed a layer.

And I just have to say.......Stabled horses.  Warm and cozy?  Ever spent a cold night in a stable?  Not at all warm and cozy.... Of course it is better for the horse to be outside, grazing, moving, able to run.  But if your horse has to be stabled at night.....Nice thick bed and rugs please. They cannot move around to get warm.

WARNING - Autumn is Coming!

Yes..... Autumn is coming.  Our field bordering trees are full of Sloes and Blackberries.  Its cool enough at night to tolerate a duvet. For the last few days I have been wearing jeans (one soaking in shorts is enough thank you....took hours to warm up). 
There are Arabs up on the opposite hill. The eldest is wearing a rug. As is Polly, who has dropped some weight, so is having a feed a day. When the Arabs move to their Winter grazing, it will truly be a sign that Autumn is apon us. The swallows will be leaving soon.  Don't get me wrong.... I love Autumn. I love the colours of the leaves, and the cooler dewy mornings. The lack of flies!! It's a great time to ride....Not too hot, not too cold. Perfect. Yes I love Autumn.....I'm just not so keen on Winter!!!

We have been moving fencing around a lot this week....eeking out the last grass on The Hill Field, and leaving some to rest in the hope that a September flush will happen.  The Shetlands...Sorry Unicorn Superstars are grazing the verges like the little lawnmowers they are. Still, our winter grazing is looking good, and the Barn is full of hay.

Now is the time to stock that Hay Barn, and make sure the rugs are cleaned and proofed.  Its also the time to check for bot eggs on the ponies.  They show up as small yellowish flecks on dark coloured legs.  They are also on your greys...you just can't see them. Bot combs are available.....If you have no life, or you can wait till they have been licked off and then worm!

Now a quick mention for Bracken.  If you live on Heath-land/Moors etc you probably have bracken in your field. We normally fence around it, but as it was spreading, we sprayed it in the summer.  Now its a nice brown colour we have been pulling it up. ALERT....It gives nasty paper cuts....Wear Gloves. 
Now having kept horses on Heath-land most of my life without problems I thought, a) some moorland ponies can eat it without a problem, and b) it isn't poisonous when dead!  So I did some research.

Turns out Bracken is poisonous dead or alive.  In fact its more palatable dead. Most horses don't eat it when there is other grazing available (as with ragwort), BUT some horses develop a taste for it. As proved yesterday by Polly! We let her out into the main paddock to eat her breakfast.  Despite lots of grass, once she had finished her meal, she started to eat the dead bracken we had pulled and put into a wheel-barrow!!!

Meanwhile Lu and Charlie have been mugging the trailer for the empty feed bucket......Sadly no feeds for them (due to their rather round bellies).

Bloody Dove Pigeons And The First Frost

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!!

ice from water

  

new dove pigeon trap

Indian Summer and A Rain Dance

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

10 Steps Back

After being so good for the farrier, Charlie has taken a naughty pill.  It was forecast for rain and wind last night, so yesterday we rugged back up.  At least Daisy and Lulu were rugged.  Charlie wouldn't have any of it.  In fact he wouldn't let Jo or I near him.  We tried sending him away, but its a bit hard in 2 acres!!!!!  A couple of times I got a rope round his neck, but he's a chunky boy, and I just couldn't hang on.
So Jo took the girls away.....much to their delight they were turned loose in the 3 acre field, which has been resting since the summer, and is full of lush grass.
Needless to say, any mothering tendencies went out of the window, and they firmly ignored Charlie's rather hysterical neighs.  Someone answered down the road somewhere, but no-one he knew.
I rather thought that without his mummies, he would come to me.  Not a chance!!  He had gone feral.  So I left him to literally sweat it out, while we poo picked the minis.
I don't like using food as bribery, but my main objective at that point was just contact, so I took a bucket of nuts and apples out to him.. At least he came over and ate, and then followed me every time I walked off.  As he was, at this point foamed up in a lather, rugging was out of the question anyway.  So the mares came back, and we left.  I spent the whole night fretting, as it did indeed rain and blow a hoolie.  I felt so bad I got him a bag of carrots.
Much to my relief, this morning, the sun was shining, and he was happily having a love in with Daisy, who inexplicably seems to be in season again. 
Without much hope, I took his rug and a pocketful of carrots out to the field, to be greeted by happy, curious Charlie, who munched on carrots and calmly stood to be rugged. 
 Either I have a schizophrenic pony or something had upset him.
The farm had had a large trailer delivered to the next field earlier yesterday morning, and had had a lot of problems which had resulted in the road being closed for quite a while. My only theory is that it reminded him of being removed from his mum with several other colts.  Maybe he associates very large trailers with being caught and bad stuff????
I'm just relieved to have the Charlie I know and love back today.

Batten down the hatches

Holy hell.  Saturday was one of those days when I wondered whatever had possessed me to take up horses again.
40mph winds accompanied by rain.  Oh, did I mention the temperature, at its best, was about 3 degrees c.

Poo picking was actual torture in those conditions, and putting out hay nearly impossible.  I managed to swallow everything that didn't go in my eyes! Luckily we have feeders in the fields, so once we had wrestled it in, it did at least stay put.  
Then it was upgrading rugs, and fighting the tornado to secure neck covers on the actual ponies necks.  Charlie is still only in a lightweight rug, as he has never worn them before, and has a very thick coat of his own.  Besides which, his flight mode was fully on alert, and there was a lot of snorting and spooking from him. If I had attempted a rug change, I suspect there would have been a naked black and white pony seen charging around all over the County.

We then spent way too long uncoupling all the water pipes and packing the taps with straw. I was almost grateful when it actually snowed at 10pm that night.
Of course they all survived and its warming up again (well up to 6c)

much more peaceful today