Woohoo its been warm!! Tee-shirt weather. The Daffs are everywhere, as are bumble bees at the moment. We have spring cleaned the hay shed and removed miles of tarpaulin that kept tripping us up. And we have been working the ponies. They have been naked and shedding winter coat at the speed of light. The fields look like a pillow fight in a kids dorm!
Charlie has been long reining daily and is being a star. The other day I tripped over a molehill and face planted the ground. As I let go of the reins so as not to jab him in the mouth, he lept forward one stride, then came back for me. Many horses would have galloped off at high speed. He's also had a sack of bran on his back and me leaning over him at the mounting block again. My other half (Mark the Mechanic) has been working on a car at the yard all week with tools and blankets etc spread around. Charlie walked straight onto the blanket to eat the carrots I had left there. Later I rode Daisy over it with no hesitation. Madam Lu kicked up a fuss, but at last put one foot on it. Charlie is so nosy he stuck his head in the back of the van and also examined the engine.
I hacked Daisy out Tuesday. Having not been ridden since about last October she was slightly excited. Having failed to get a girth around her I abandoned my english saddle and used the Western one, even though the breast plate is too big to do anything. I thought I had cinched it up tight enough. Anyway she jogged everywhere having a fine old time, while I lounged around and experimented with just hooking the reins over the horn so I didn't have to use my hands at all. Riding for the chronically lazy. I love it! On the way home, unusually she spooked at at pheasant. Then followed it up with a bronco bucking fit. That saddle is brilliant for bucking. You just don't move. Poor Daisy...she throws her all into it, but its still not unseating. I laughed all the way home. When I get off remembering to step down, the whole saddle swung with me. Guess my cinching needs to be a lot tighter!!
Last weekend it was Poplar Park horse trials. They are the first biggish ones in the eventing calendar and Jo and I did a couple of hours on the gate....all in aid of the RDA. The weather was spring-like and we had a fine old time watching riders coming up and down the track.....either off to jump, or trudging back having finished. Pippa Funnell seemed to have so many rides, I asked her if she had a twin. She is a very nice lady, not to mention extremely talented, and introduced us to her horses each time she passed us (once every 10 minutes). I gather she did very well....So well done Pippa.
We were able to watch a bit of show-jumping and walk the course which was very well built. I used to work at Poplar Park, and its a great course. Very undulating and sandy soil so always good underfoot. Always makes me want to jump again............
So I admit, I have been away a while.....I have moved and BT are "having problems at the exchange", so its been a while with no internet. Its still not connected but I can sometimes get BT Fon.....the rest of the time I have to go to the pub to use their internet (SIGH). Maybe my readers are paying BT to go slow?????
So its a quick catch up. Having posted pics on Facebook (Ooops) of my incompetence with the western saddle, I was quickly informed that the bucking strap was too tight, and that when tightened up it causes bucking!!! Hmmm. That would explain the bucking fit then! I tried it on Daisy...without the bucking strap, and had a ride. I have to say it felt a bit weird, and I need a breastplate, but I think I'll get used to it.
We then had the vet out to do some dentistry. We told her to bring Ketamine....Charlie being a baby, Sweet Pea not liking muzzles and Daisy being a bit unpredictable as to what she will accept. Charlie was a star and didn't mind at all. Sweet Pea was an angel. Daisy went to sleep. Jasmin (Mini) went NUTS.
Of all of them.....the smallest, sweetest pony! A week later we took her to the vet in the lorry, with Sweet Pea for company and dogs. We sort of erupted everywhere when we arrived! Heavily sedated Mini had an electric rasp to remove some nasty hooks.
Jo has decided to enter Lu at the Suffolk Show, so we have been de-spooking her. We had a play with an umbrella which was hilarious. Lu ran off, so did Daisy initially. Charlie tried to eat it. Having twirled it this way and that with Charlie, I retrieved Daisy, who decided it wasn't so bad whilst eating Herbalicious treats. Lu took a bit more convincing and ended up looking a bit of a twat as herd leader!
Meanwhile at the RDA we need some more horses. Viv and I went out to Essex on a very rainy day and I tried out Stormin Norman, a 13.2hh black and white cob with a long mustache. I was instantly in love. He could be Charlies' brother. A perfect trial....Didn't put a foot wrong, so hopefully we will have him on loan soon.
Things with the Papermill Lane Ponies are not so good. 4 of us went for a visit a couple of weeks ago. We photographed a lot of underweight ponies, with no water and bad hay which was mostly out of reach anyway. We distributed what hay and water we could, untangled a few caught up in each others tethers, and stumbled across bags and bags of bones. We all went home feeling saddened and sickened, fired off lots of emails and complaints. I'd really like to go home with a lorry full! We will continue to fight
Since the snow that never happened it has been COLD. Yes thats COLD in capitals. The water pipes completely froze, leaving us lugging water containers from the Tack Room. And just when we need the tractor and trailer....the wheel fell off the trailer! One minute I was trundling along....next minute I wasn't.
Course the trailer was full off poo. Try as we might we couldn't lift or remove the trailer so we had to shovel the poo out where it was. Turns out the split pin had jumped off the wheel. Yes, you couldn't make it up. Using the metal detector the next day failed to find it. Scrabbling around in the poo we had dumped (Phnaff Phnaff) did. So no harm done, except we had a pile of poo to shovel up and then off load at the muck heap, making it 4 times we had handled it.
Having been coveting a western saddle kit for Charlie for months, I finally got it. Very cheap, but it came as, saddle,bridle,cinches, and blanket. Today was the day to try it on him. To be fair he has been very hormonal the last few days, trying to mount Daisy at every opportunity. So he needed a distraction. A bit full on after months chilling in the fields and growing. He took it all in his stride, despite Mummy not knowing how to cinch it up properly, and the rain pouring down. Once in the "Arena", he had forgotten lunging basics, preferring to come in to me. So I let him loose and picked up a whip. Sending him away sent him into a temper tantrum......bucking, squealing, generally being a boy! Eventually he settled and worked a little. Time to start regular work methinks.
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.
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| Polly Ready for The Snow |
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| 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
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.
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.
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| The Shetlands |
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| Me and Charlie |
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| Harry the Horsebox |
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!!
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| ice from water |
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| new dove pigeon trap |
