Yep I am defeated by Winter! My New Year goals swept away by COLD, RAIN, WIND......Cold windy rain in fact. This has got to be one of the most dismal Januarys for several years! Its normally cold and bright.....or wet and windy. But this year has been grey, cold, wet and windy! High winds, with rain bordering on sleet. I hate to admit it but the cold wind affects my dodgy lungs and dicky ticker and by the time we have finished the chores, I am ready to go home to huddle under a duvet and sleep. I can only be grateful for the fact we are on sandy soil which means we are light on mud.
Despite that Lulu has lost a shoe.....probably during Storm David, which brought down our power, our outside fences, a few more tiles off the Barn and a large pine branch which took out our top fencing. We have hunted high and low. I mean how hard can it be to find a shoe in a field with practically no grass and no mud? Impossible it seems. Farrier due tomorrow. No doubt the shoe will turn up just after he has left!
Today was the first dry, sunny, calm day this month. I planned to take Daisy out. Rugs off all for a while, spring in the air......SweetPea horribly lame on her near hind. Jo called the vet, and we set about making a small turn-out pen for her and Mini between Barn and tack-room. Vet thinks she has probably pulled ligaments of stifle and gave her a shot of Matacam (Yes Dog painkiller) ....eventually.....after we twitched her. Yes this is SweetPea...Not a lover of injections! Dora had her Tetanus top up while he was there and by this time I had used up all my energy, so riding postponed till next month!!
What with more rain forecast, and a four day stay in Hotel Papworth looming, I officially give up till February!
This is what Dora thinks of Winter.
Yes It is a weather channel....for those that like to know what the weather has been like, as opposed to what its going to be like. Just in case you want to know....Horrible, in both cases. I am calling this Charlies brief turn away time. Just as we thought winter was over, and very short, it has arrived. We had sleet and hail today in a very cold north wind. Yes the smurf hat is back. In December it was 14c, now its down to 5c. But we still have April showers, leaving us the usual spring rugging dilemma. When the sun is out, it has warmth, so we don't want the ponies over-rugged and sweating. But when the next sleety squall blows in, its like the Arctic. So they have lightweights on.....and we hope they are not too cold at night. To keep them warm, we are supplementing the grass with hay still. And running around (well not actually running in my case....A cold North wind is not brilliant for PH lungs), to get them fed, and poo-picked as quick as so we can get back in the warm. I have more time to play with the photos I take!
Bad Hair Day For Sweet Pea
Sweet Pea and Bee keeping warm
A Quick water-colour of Sweet Pea
