And so to the weather report!!! Its been Hot. Yes HOT. 18c hot!! An Early spring!. (It can't last) And so we have been backing!!!! Last week I lent over Lily (no reaction), and got on Charlie (no reaction). A couple of days later, Shona came over, and sat on Lil. Again no reaction. Meanwhile i got on Charlie on the qt, no holder etc. No reaction. This is all brilliant.
Shona on Lily
Me on Charlie Then it was Saturday!!!! Sammi's Birthday Party. Before the party there was lessons. All the ponies were in, doing various things. Eli brought Twix, her very handsome bay gelding. Not sure if it was the presence of another boy, the warm weather, some spring grass or what. But the Big herd went wrong!! First up I tacked up Charlie to join in a lesson with Tia on board (small, quiet and light). He was nothing short of a GIT. He was behaving like a teenage boy, throwing his toys out of the pram. He had a serious case of FOMO. The parrot mouth was present, and he just wanted to be somewhere else. So I ended up just leading him in the lesson and on the Walk Out. When I turned him out......
Next up Daisy and Lu..... Between lessons and Party, we thought we would let Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays, and Grace (Eli's 2nd daughter), ride the mares. Lu was already tacked up, so went up to the school, while I tacked up Daisy. Jo thought I would be using the western saddle which takes a while, and as Lu was a bit full of it, went for quick ride down the lane. Meanwhile I thought she was waiting for us, so opted for quick English tack. Daisy was already agitated, so I told Chanice Who Helps On Saturdays, to take her up to school while I grabbed a drink. I meant lead her up, but Chanice had hopped up already. When we got to school I realised Jo had gone out. At this point I should have got Chanice off. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing?? EXCEPT.... Daisy may get excited.....But its never unseating! And Chanice has been riding her a long time and knows her as well as I do, and can cope with her. And so... i told Chanice to do her usual circling, cones, disengaging Daisys rear end, chill, relax etc. They understand each other. Normally. Daisy had started to relax, when she heard Lu coming up the drive. Daisy went nuts!! She must have thought she was at a rodeo!!! She went into proper bronc mode....Never thought she had it in her. Chanice did really well and sat out the broncing, until Daisy finished with a huge buck, and face planted poor Chanice. Chanice has had a few falls with us (learning process), and usually gets up and laughs. Daisy normally stops and waits. This was different. Chanice didn't get straight up...or laugh...and was pouring with blood from her nose. Daisy was galloping round wildly! We caught the pony, and helped Chanice to the tack-room, just as the Birthday Girl turned up!! All turned out Ok. Chanice went off to A&E and was just bruised. The Party Ponies behaved and Sammi had a good Birthday Party. So we concentrated on Daisys odd behaviour. We put it down to Spring Grass, but were not happy with her reaction to Lu being missing. So we have turned her out with the minis and fenced a large gap between them and Lu. Buddy sour horses not allowed! Its not something we expect, as they all get worked alone, and go off to different places. Having brought Daisy in and lunged her for 2 days, I hacked her out today with Jo and Lu. Its what she needed. Slightly "springy", but normal Daisy we were out for an Hour and a Half, in the glorious sunshine. It was really nice to be hacking along the country lanes in t-shirts!! But this is England. Expect rain or snow by next week!
Just a quickie...... Welcome back to the weather Channel!! After a very mild Winter, we finally got Snow....for a day. But that was followed by Storm Eric. Three days of 20-30mph winds, gusting up to 50mph. Now my dodgy lungs and dicky ticker just cannot cope with wind. It literally leaves me gasping for breath, so I had to take my Holiday Week in the Top Barn 12 week Challenge. Just in case you are slightly interested, today dawned calm and sunny, with a high of 9c!! Work with Charlie began again (well actually, we had a play, while i drunk my coffee).
And a sort of review.........Last year at a pop up tack shop at a show, I bought a SoloRake, made by SoloComb. I always liked SoloCombs, so I thought the rake would help me with the thick dreads that is Charlies mane. Having chopped it all off last Summer, to help him stay cool, it has grown again. So last week I took to him with the SoloRake. Maybe its only meant for coats?? The blade is good and strong, so I started raking his mane. To my surprise, it broke. The handle is made of plastic (a weak point), and i was literally left holding the handle, while the rake was in Charlies mane. I have emailed SoloComb, so watch this space for their reply.
Finally as part of the Top Barn 12 Week Challenge, I have entered an On-line show. I had never heard of On-line shows before..... Back in the day we took the horse to a show-ground, having got up at stupid-o-clock, to bath, plait etc. We then had to hope the bugger wouldn't get too excited, and behave itself! Having spent all day in inevitable blazing heat, dressed up to the nines in thick woollen show jackets, we then spent 3 hours loading the bugger to come home (or was that only me?), with a sunburnt neck (from the hairnetted hair), to finally arrive home at midnight, then having to unload the lorry and bed the horse down before finally falling into bed clutching a 6th place rosette. So, does anyone know of any good On-line showing sites? The one i found had a class for the dirtiest pony!!!!!! I entered this.....
So as you all know, Molly was an odd rescue case!! Loaned to the Rda from a friend of mine (the lovely Rachel), Molly had become very grumpy and unhappy. So Jo and I took her in for a while to 'fix' her, before she went home. She settled in well with the herd, but objected to being tacked up. Initially she wolfed her food, but then refused it. She refused to wear a rug, and although ok with me, laid her ears back every time Jo touched her. Oh yes a challenge. She was a bit lean, tucked up from stress and full of thread worms. So we wormed her, and let her be. Jo made a point of spending time with her. After a few weeks, I took her out for a ride with the other big mares (see previous blog). Still not a happy girl. As she was trying to kick me while I slowly girthed her up, we decided she looked like a girl with ulcers. This was NOT the Molly I knew. So we put her on a daily feed of warm bran mash, with Ulcer Guard, Liquorice and Camomile....which she lapped up. Jo brought her out for her feed every day, so she could bond with her. Within a week the change was astounding. At last we had a happy horse! Unless we took Lily out of the field. Despite the others being there, and hay on offer, Molly still cleared the 5ft fencing to try and find Lil. We have always said, nothing over 14.2hh as we are set up for ponies. We put up a double fence 'Molly Baffler'. Landlord NOT happy!! The time was right for Molly to go home. Looking at the pictures when she arrived, compared to recent pics, the change was amazing. I always felt Molly was missing Rachel. Even when she seemed happy, there was sometimes a wistful look about her, like she wished she could go home. So Rachel came to collect her. She has settled in at home, like she had never been away, and has a new friend to hack her out, so its all turned out well. I miss her, peering over the fence, waiting for breakfast, but am happy to have returned a physically fixed horse to her owner.
Molly the day after she arrived.
Molly 3 months later. And so it snowed. Thankfully a tiny amount compared to last year!! We have been soo lucky. Kent (just across the Thames Estuary), Wales and the West Country seem to have suffered big time. We have been really lucky!
I have continued to work Charlie for the Top Barn 12 Week Challenge. We have had some fun...and some progress. I have discovered I have a Comedy Pony, who is very popular on the Top Barn site. Check out my You Tube Channel (as I am incapable of posting the vids on here!!). Anyway today showed the meaning of the Handler Lowering their energy. You may have heard this saying, and not understood it. Todays video (if you can find it) shows what it means.. Charlie got out of the wrong side of bed this morning. Maybe I did too. Anyway he started being pushy...which pushes my buttons...I start becoming less patient (my energy levels rise), he feels it as a challenge....and we have conflict. Some trainers relish conflict as a chance to exert their dominance. However I would rather have a partnership.....with mutual trust. I do not want to dominate my pony. I want us to work as a team. So time to walk away, take deep breaths, have a break. I chose to change what we were doing. As a friend had arrived, I was chatting away, as I tacked Charlie up. No pressure, my energy levels dropped.....and so Charlie relaxed and stood, loose, while I saddled and bridled him. And thats what trainers mean when they say Drop your Energy Level.
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.
So I got invited to the Top Barn 12 Week Challenge on Faceache. Its a brilliant idea. There is limited sign up.....About a thousand of us. You commit to a certain amount of Horsemanship Hours a week... I chose Bronze Level which is only 3 hours a week....But as I am doing Groundwork with a goal to ride with Charlie, its plenty. There is a worksheet to fill in. There are also Mini Challenges to be done. On the Groundwork Challenge this ranges from Lunging a few circuits, to teaching the horse to lay down on command! In January when the daylight hours are limited, and its cold, this is great motivation!! What a brilliant idea. There is a competition. At the end of the 12 weeks, the admin will trawl through the millions of hours of uploaded vids and chose a winner for a weeks holiday at Top Barn in Gloucestershire. I have never come across such a supportive ( and motivated) group on line. The levels of horsemanship range from first time owners to experienced competitors. Everyone has a demon, or challenge to conquer. Across the land brave pants are coming out. And people are killing off Mobile Phones while trying to video such bravery. With this motivation, I have worked Charlie almost every day. I am making videos which can be seen on my You Tube Channel....Not sure how you find it....but they are ending up on our Facebook page, East Suffolk Ponies. By the end of this challenge I may be riding Charlie, if not I will be a proficient Video Editor...even if I have no clue how to share the links !!!!! In the meantime.....a photo LOL!!!
So Xmas got very sociable!!!! First up we had a Mini Pony Party. About 12 girls played gymkhana games and pony glittered. Lu was brought in for gymkhana which may have been a little beneath her Eliteness!!
But Mini enjoyed it....
On Xmas Eve Rob and Meg brought a 'Picnic' up......which was actually an oven to make wood fired pizza which was yummy.....Good job the O'conners turned up to help us eat it all!! Xmas day itself I wasn't doing anything special so volunteered for the poo picking. It was a beautiful sunny day and I took a lot of selfies and general pics. The Ponies looked like they had been to the pub the night before. There was a lot of dozing going on. Mini was happy to do the 'Xmas Pose'
Boxing day!!!! Maybe least said the better Lol. Please stop reading right now if you are anyway BHS or Health and Safety conscious!! I went on a Boxing Day Alcohol Hunt with Sarah. I truely meant not to drink much......... I borrowed a horse off Georgie who shares grazing with Sarah. Monty, a lovely big black cob, who hasn't been out for ages. (Poor Monty). With Sarah on her lovely William, we started with a glass of port. And off we set. The idea is to ride around Aldeburgh blagging drinks!!! I have to say....we DID have fluorescent sheets on the horses (Aldeburgh being full of tourists at xmas). The first two stops we received very pokey sloe gin. By the time we got into the High Street to stop at the White Hart, we threw caution to the wind and opted for Zambuka Shots!!
More Zambuka at Dps Bar. By this time we were hugely photographed, while grinning like loons and waving like the Queen. We went home via the beach, somehow avoiding the hoards of walkers, calling in for a final glass of Champagne at the last house. It seemed wrong not to attempt to finish the bottle of Port when we got back!!
As if all this wasn't enough Jo turned 60 during the week so on Saturday she had Tackroom Cocktails... Or as I kept saying Cockroom Tactails!! The Cocktails in question were Champagne Cocktails, made with Champagne, Brandy, Angostura Bitters and a Sugar Lump. The Tackroom was packed and people were very merry!!!! BTW - The horses were looked after first!!! On New Years Eve we had a very eventful ride. And that was before any alcohol was imbibed!!!! It all started out innocently enough. Meg was all set to take Nancy for a plod on Mini. As Daisy was looking sound, we were talking about taking her for a walk. So I suggested Nancy ride her, led by Meg, while Jo and I accompanied with Lu and Molly. Molly was like a cat on hot bricks!!! She just wanted to go. Which was not possible with a 5 year old on Daisy. The more I held her back the worse she became, gathering her body up and cantering sideways. So we turned back. Not the best idea!! Molly revved up more, and then Daisy (who was very sound), thought a jog would do no harm. She jogs a lot with me, I find it quite comfortable as I am used to it, but actually its quite bouncy. Too bouncy for a 5 year old! Molly was completely sideways at this point, so I saw poor little Nancy fall. Quite a long way down off a 14.2hh when you are 5. After years working at an Equestrian Centre and the RDA my instinct when a rider is down is to jump off to assist. So thats what I did.. As I started back up the track with Molly, it dawned on me that it would be nearly impossible to grab Daisy without Molly kicking her, as they haven't really made friends! Thankfully Nancy was fine, although didn't want to get back on, which left her walking while Meg led Daisy, after helping me back up, which wasn't easy as Molly wouldn't stand still. I rode back with one stirrup 4 holes longer than the other, while Molly still pranced! When we got back Nancy agreed to ride Lu in the school and had a lovely time. I never forget being told by my Dad that you have to get straight back up. (I think that was when I was 6, after I had concussion from my hatless head being knocked against a road as the pony I was on bolted while I was being dragged as my plimsoled foot had gone through the stirrup) And so as Jo and I have a New Years Resolution to ride more for fun, and try to find more of a work/fun balance, we took Lu and Daisy out for a nice long hack on Wednesday. We went down the lanes of Snape, across the common to the Burger Van, where I was tempted by an eat now pay later burger. Lu was bored by the time it was cooked and black clouds were coming over, so we legged it down the road that takes us back to the Farm tracks, while I was still eating. Yes awfully BHS to be trotting down the road, scoffing a burger (I did lose a few onions!). It has turned a bit colder today.....But we still haven't rugged. They are all furry and not at all cold. Its easy to think of the horse being as cold as we are...BUT they survived the Ice Age. They have thick skin and coats. We don't!. We are feeding plenty of Hay and they still have grass. Plenty of forage equals an internal central heating system.
Meanwhile as cold humans we have a lovely wood burner on the go in the tack room.
Oh boy are we glad to get back to normal!! Despite Storm Deirdre, that brought cold winds, and freezing rain, we are happy bunnies, and the work load seems so much lighter. Its sooo nice to have them all back together. On Saturday we thought we would put Molly in with Charlie and the girls in with Lil. You know what thinking did!!! Jo and Ellie got Daisy and Lu, while I got Molly. As soon as I got Molly to the gate Charlie raced over doing his stallion thing, while Molly reacted by rearing, and spinning to kick him. My hands were so cold, she pulled the rope clean through them and took off. One impressive leap later and she was back in with Lily!! I've had horses jump out of fields and stables before.....But never back in!! So we left them as they were. Molly and Lily are thick as thieves at the moment....even grooming each other. But we know Lil is fickle when it comes to friends, so we will wait until the time is right. Molly is very good at communicating what she wants. Just before Deirdre arrived I tried to rug her. After she took off bucking the first time, I tried again. This time I got the front straps done up (despite the faces), and then she took off again. It took a few minutes to persuade her i was going to take it away. No one else is rugged, but I thought she might appreciate it, being older. Apparently not. So the only one moved is Daisy. Being a bit 'Footy' we thought it best she went in with Mini and Dora, who have no grass left to speak of. Daisy is so laid back she can go in with anyone. Dora seems to think Daisy is her mummy and is attached to her 24/7. After Storm Deirdre left the sun came out and they all had a good run about, frolicking in the sun for fun. Its lovely to see. We also brought Lu and Charlie in and set about them with scissors, rakes and grooming mitts, trying to remove some of the Ufford mud. They both seemed to really enjoy the attention. Jo took Lu off to the school, where she danced and pranced. Meanwhile I took Charlie to the round pen where he was eager to please, even letting me lay across him. Time to get him riding!! I have a hankering for another adventure while I still can. Having sold the idea to Tess (my old partner in crime for the Ridgeway Romp), I am thinking of doing Peddars Way. Its only 46 miles long and runs from Thetford in Suffolk to the North Norfolk Coast. We could do it in 3 days easily. We wouldn't need back up like The Ridgeway. Just a lift to the start and home again. We are thinking next Summer.....
