Prepared For Snow and The Plight of the Papermill Ponies

They promised snow.  A whole weekend of snow! It never happened. But at least we were prepared. The bigger ponies were given rugs with fillings. We stuffed all the water pipes with straw and covered them.  We moved the little ponies into a rambling area around the tack room and between the barns so they had loads of shelter, and dragged their hay bin round. It did try and snow. Some of it even layed for about 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile over xmas I joined a facebook group called Save The Papermill Ponies. The group is trying to highlight the plight of the gypsy ponies that are tethered in and around Bramford village near Ipswich, and are attached to the West Meadows Traveller Site. Now I grew up nearby, and all my childhood played with the gypsy children and rode their ponies.  In those days they were well cared for despite being tethered. By the way my biggest gripe about tethering is that it takes away the horses freedom to flee.....as stabling also does. 
Anyway, I thought I would go and check it out for myself. There are about 50 or so ponies on the Water Meadows near the River, but I never got to those.  I started with a field of just 6. They had water, but were just stood on droppings. Two fillies were actually tethered together. One mare had lost an eye. I was slightly shocked when I saw that, as usually the eyelid is stitched over. This was just a gaping socket. One of the double tied fillies had really long feet.  There was one moulding round bale of hay in the field......which none of them could reach.  Having then rashly broadcast a live video stream to Facebook, I dished out some carrots an gave them an armful of hay each.  
I then became very rash, and made my way up the hill towards the Traveller Site. There is a very large enclosure there with maybe 40 ponies in. I wanted to get close enough to get some long lens pictures. Seeing a man in the enclosure I jumped down into a ditch to hide. Imagine my horror apon looking down, to see a hoof sticking out of a pony shaped mound of sand.  Scrabbling about I uncovered a hairy foot. Thankfully I had enough wits about me to take a couple of pictures, before legging it. By this time it was getting dark and I had no desire to come face to face with an irate traveler. I didn't want to lose my camera for a start.
I think I was in shock for about 10 minutes, then I had to stop the car to throw up (Sorry too much info). That knocked my dry January on the head. 

I'm pleased to say I have had about 3000 hits on the video and loads of shares. The dead pony in the ditch has been reported to the authorities. And best of all finally the constant nagging of the Group saw 10 ponies removed on Thursday.
Hopefully now the owners have seen that they WILL lose the ponies and therefore money, they may step up their care of the others a little.  And the girls of the Save The Papermill Ponies group will continue to check on them, as will I.

Polly Ready for The Snow

Yes this was IT

Below is the link to the video i took.  The first few seconds may give you neck ache but it does right itself quickly.
Many thanks for looking and sharing.

https://youtu.be/9GazCOto_b0

The Toxic Twins and Freezing Fog

So its been pretty cold lately......scooping ice off the water cold. But the sun has been out, somewhat warming us up.  Xmas Day we gave everyone a xmas feed. Boxing Day we moved the big ponies into the 4-Acre field....Our Winter grazing. The 3 smaller ponies are grazing off the whole of the Hill Field plus having a lot of Hay. 
We wanted to go for a xmas day ride........but Jo and I are The Toxic Twins. Jo has a chest infection and is swigging anti-biotics followed by a Steroid Chaser, and I have my annual Xmas Cold.  Full of snot and as weak as a new-born.
So just the basic care is enough at the moment. Normal people would be in bed.
But we are not normal.....we have horses.  They need looking after, no matter what.  As I always say 'Fresh Air never killed anyone'......except maybe Scott of The Antarctic.....and errr people dying of exposure, hypothermia....Ok pass me a spade!
And so today we had freezing fog. The first time i have felt really cold.  Numb fingers an all.  Checking the weather app (rather than going by feel), it said -3.
We upgraded Pollys rug, being old and somewhat bad-tempered with the Shetlands.  Armed with thicker rugs for the big ponies we found the more sheltered 4-Acre field much warmer.  The ponies all felt warm enough in just lightweight macs, so we left them happily munching on the still longish grass and went home to spend the afternoon on our respective sofas, swaddled in blankets and dogs.

An Exciting Buy and Merry Xmas From Us xx

Well what an exciting time.....Jo has only gone and bought a lorry. Its well cute. Ford Iveco, 2 horse, side loader. We went and picked him up last Saturday...I had the easier task of following her back in her Subaru. Oh yeah.....Its a boy lorry.  Harry the Horsebox. Top tip here though......If driving a car with a seat-belt sensor do not have a loose Jack Russell with you.  Or any dog come to that. Or a handbag! At first I was alarmed at the beeping....then I realized it was Scrumpy, my Jack making the beep. Unable to reach the seat-belt and plug it in at 60mph, I turned the radio up.....Which was fine until it starting playing the chart of 1966.  No offence to 1966.....its when I was born, but i like slightly newer music. A plus point is Harry the Horsebox almost fits in the barn, thus becoming a really solid Dove-pigeon baffler.  My other half came along Sunday to check out Harry......he's a mechanic....Mark the Mechanic.  We waited with baited breathe until he pronounced we had a good un.

Over the last 3 days I have been taking pix of the ponies wearing xmas hats...Or trying to.  Last year I photo-shopped a hat on Charlie and myself.  This year, with the trust between us pretty strong he was happy to wear a hat and pose with me loose in the field for a selfie. Trouble is what with holding the hat on in the wind, and not having gorilla arms, the pix ain't that good.  Daisy wore the hat but wouldn't stop eating, and Lu ran off snorting. The Shetlands on the other hand are born models. With smaller ears I was able to secure the hats and they stood and posed.

Meanwhile at the Rda we had our final session before xmas.  We played pass the parcel.  As the speakers are all packed away for the move I ran around holding my phone aloft as it played xmas songs. Oh did I mention I had an elf tee-shirt and hat on?  Tilly wasn't at all sure of me.....I thought it was the music coming from my pocket, but it was the hat.  After kneeling down to let her sniff the hat, she then realised it was just me. And guess what was in the parcels? Yes a carrot in all of them. All the riders got a pic of themselves mounted on a card.

So its Merry Xmas from me, The Super Model Shetlands, and Him.

The Shetlands

Me and Charlie

Harry the Horsebox

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

Daisys' tick and Dove Bafflers

Its been a hectic couple of weeks.....Whats new?  Well its got as cold as a witches tit.  Well the Easterly winds have made it feel that way...Winter is here. 
Unbelievably Daisy got a tick. You'd think it was too cold, but no the tick was there as large as life on her chest. In the old days, on a yard I used to work, the owner would burn them with a lit cigarette.  We didn't dare, in case we burnt Daisy as well.  So we tried to kill it with Witch Hazel, and smother it with Vaseline, having failed to find a tick puller.  After a few days we thought it wasn't working.....the lump was quite pussey and hard and the tick was still there.  So using animal-lintex and a lot of heavy duty electrical tape, we strapped a poultice to her chest. Amazingly it worked!  Tick dead and gone. Woohoo.
In the meantime, I have got fed up with the Dove-Pigeons that live in the barn. In the summer a Buzzard got most of them, but they have gradually drifted back.  So we installed a Dove Baffler, made of pie tins and bottles on baler twine hung up on the entrance rafter. This entailed me wobbling about on an upside down hay feeder....But it seems to have worked!
I am thoroughly enjoying my Friday Rda sessions. Its like I have never been away.....and as a bonus I take my last client out on a short hack, either riding Fern (a Dales mare), or Tilly, a little black and white gypsy cob, who I adore.

 Dove Baffler

Daisys' Tick

Riding Fern

Charlie Has Visitors and Winter Arrives

Sorry I haven't posted for a while.  I have a new laptop which is taking a bit of setting up.  And the clocks have gone back so now there is less time than ever.

Winter seems to have appeared suddenly.  Last week I was poo picking in a bra with bare feet as it was so warm. Now it's 3 layers, long boots and a hat!! The big ponies have lightweight rugs on and we have moved to the Winter fields. At least there's so much old grass we won't have to fence for a while. 

I have been sneakily getting on Charlie while Jo is busy lunging Lu. And Daisy is still excitable.  Though I schooled her the other day and she settled nicely. 

Charlie had visitors the other week. His owners came to see him. Sadly they are not able to carry on with Blossems Rescue Centre but all the ponies have homes.  Charlie was enchanted to see them, and Sara was impressed at how much he has grown.  I  assured them that he has a home for life. 

In my other life as Rda instructor last week I clipped 2 ponies.... First time in 8 years.  Bit wobbly!!

Hobbit Feet!!

First clip in 8 years!

Cat On Hot Bricks and Shetland Love-Ins

Wow its been a busy couple of weeks.  We are constantly fencing, so the horses have old grass, and we save pasture for new grass to grow.  The Indian Summer finished with 30c at the end of September, to a mere 14c for a more autumnal feel.  Goodbye flip-flops and shorts (and tan), hello hoodies and boots. Better for working the horses though.  I have set up another school and Charlie has been learning to jump on the lunge.  He has been working out where to put his feet.
Daisy has been like a cat on hot bricks.  It may be the extra sugar in the grass, or the fact her feet don't hurt, or an Easterly wind up her tail. Whatever, we have been hacking out alot, and she has taken to jogging everywhere, tossing her head, and plunging. Lu in comparison has been very good.

I have started teaching at the RDA and loved every minute of it. One of my clients from the mid nineties came in, gave me a big hug, and a photo of her sitting on my Paddy, with me beside her.  I almost cried. Another client remembered me. Theres nothing like it for a feel good factor. So if anyone reading this lives near Sutton, Woodbridge, and can spare a couple of hours Friday morning, please come along.  There is coffee, biscuits and a lot of smiles.

For another smile factor, just spend time in the field with your horses. The other day, while waiting for the water to fill up in the Shetlands field, I lay down in the sun. Straight away they both came over and started licking my knees and belly and leaning down to blow with there nostrils.  If I scratch there bellys, they try to groom me back, nibbling my hair.  Charlie wandered over in the adjoining field and flicked water all over me with his nose....The more I laughed the more he did it. He also loves a belly scratch, and lifts his head up like a giraffe.