It's been a while - am considering giving up blinking because three months seem to go by every time I do so.
Lots has been going on and I haven't wanted to blog about it until all the dotted lines were duly signed upon lest anything go wrong, but now that is done I can reveal the big news which is that we have after protracted machinations procured an additional five acres - hurrah! Really thrilled, as it takes the pressure off somewhat but also means that there is another whole raft of things to do:
* installing a gate - DONE
* fencing the eastern boundary to get the neighbour's horses off it - DONE
* installing water to the two new paddocks
* sorting out the drainage in the lower field :)
* digging out the pond
* removing all the dead wood from the pond - DONE
* harrowing (and harrowing and harrowing) - DONE
* clearing out the bottom ditch
* fencing the remaining boundary, the pond and across the middle
* digging out the field shelter
* laying stone and rubber matting in said field shelter
So as can be seen there's a lot to be done as the land has been overgrazed and neglected, so there's weeding to do as well as discing and re-seeding in the spring. We've been out there all day today (and what a beautiful day for it) armed with chain harrow, axe and chainsaw, and it already looks a lot better. We've taken out the old boundary fence, redone the electric fencing across the access gate, chopped down the old dead wood, piled up all the old shit that was left lying around (including numerous pallets and tractor tyres), harrowed (and harrowed), and planned the next stages of work with young Pheel and his Pitt-alike colleague Richard who I've mentioned before and who'll be here on the 24th to start all the digger work, of which there will be about a week's worth. Noodle will be thrilled :)
Meanwhile the horses are all well, getting their winter woollies and enjoying lolling about in the sun while we all toil away on their behalf.
Saturday 15 October 2011
Saturday 1 October 2011
Since my last update..
.. I have been mainly very busy, and lots of things have happened.
The Good
All the horses now have a secure area of rubber-covered all-weather turnout outside their stables/shelter. Whatever the weather, they'll be able to get outside and stretch their legs without being confined to barracks. There'll be no more hacking out a safe path along the driveway from the stables to the picadeiro to get the boys out for an hour in times of deepest snow and ice, no need to confine mares and babies to stables or worry about paddocks getting trashed when they get waterlogged. Better for them by far and also better for us in terms of husbandry during those rancid winter months when everything is such bloody hard work and even the most steadfast and dedicated of owners start to wonder WHY they put themselves through it.
All the stables and the shelter have been rubber matted so we can cut down a bit on bedding and mucking out will be easier.
The younglings are doing extremely well and are a delight to behold.
The mares have had their first appointment with the dentist and were extremely good. I always wonder what they must think when they have the gag fitted and someone grubbing around in their mouths with a giant rasp which, let's face it, must set up some impressive reverberations inside their heads, but they were model patients and we were delighted. Needless to say, some very sharp teeth were in evidence and now they are no more. Which is nice.
Little Nom has had his first farrier appointment and other than the bit where he opted to keep flinging himself on the floor rather than submit to standing for said farrier (during which I gave thanks for the freshly laid rubber floor), it went really well. He is a precocious little swine wrapped up in the world's cutest foal body and although unsettling for all concerned at the time I think he learned a powerful lesson that flinging oneself around in a pre-teen strop does no real good. Gualter stood like a pro for his second every trim, bless him.
Q continues to do well on his regime, which now involves having his muzzle on during the day and free access to his paddocks overnight. Unfortunately lessons with Mandy have been thin on the ground lately due to conflicting schedules but we did come 4th in the dressage at home series she did (E44) without the benefit of the third and final effort during which we were primed to correct all the things we learned during the process.
T is doing really well in his ridden work even if there isn't enough of it and we had our first canter under saddle last week, very lovely and soft.
We had another Bento clinic, where Q was much calmer second time out.
Knickers is doing well in her weekly work with the boys and it's a huge help to know that they have good sessions three times a week. This is a godsend generally and will be particularly so when it's no longer light by the time I get home.
The Bad
About three weeks ago the boys were both extremely unsettled on the Saturday afternoon, especially Q, who was pacing and completely sweated up in the evening. I brought him in at dusk as usual to his winter paddock and closed the gate, just as I had for the previous couple of weeks. Only this time he either didn't register or didn't care that the gate was in the way and tried to gallop through it. Result: one stallion-shaped dent in the 12' metal gate :O and a very bad nose bleed. I've never dealt with an equine nosebleed before and it was quite horrifying - blood was literally pissing out of his nose and within moments of bringing him in, the yard looked like a scene from a gorn movie. Arggh.
No sooner had we reassured ourselves that we had stemmed the flow than a giant ripping noise emanated from T's field and we found that he was charging around with his shredded rain sheet flapping around his legs. Took a while to get near him to get it off, by which time we were wondering what the bloody hell was going on and what in dawg's name might happen next. We took a walk down the neighbouring fields to check on their horses and see if we could see anything that might be causing the disturbance, tooled up with our pack of dogs and a number of implements for self-protection just in case, but there was nothing obvious other than what looked in the pitch black like a foal that was yelling its head off, in the nearby camp of our travelling friends across the way.
I discovered the following weekend that the "foal" was in fact a shetland pony stallion who'd been liberated by persons unknown from a field a few miles away and mysteriously ended up at said camp. Turns out he was such a handful that they ended up calling the owner to come and fetch him the next day. So the general conclusion is that it was the presence of a small but forceful new stallion presence in the environment that set our boys off and caused the ruckus. Luckily no major harm done and I was both shcoked and extremely relieved that Q suffered nothing worse than the nosebleed and a couple of scrapes on his legs.
The Good
All the horses now have a secure area of rubber-covered all-weather turnout outside their stables/shelter. Whatever the weather, they'll be able to get outside and stretch their legs without being confined to barracks. There'll be no more hacking out a safe path along the driveway from the stables to the picadeiro to get the boys out for an hour in times of deepest snow and ice, no need to confine mares and babies to stables or worry about paddocks getting trashed when they get waterlogged. Better for them by far and also better for us in terms of husbandry during those rancid winter months when everything is such bloody hard work and even the most steadfast and dedicated of owners start to wonder WHY they put themselves through it.
All the stables and the shelter have been rubber matted so we can cut down a bit on bedding and mucking out will be easier.
The younglings are doing extremely well and are a delight to behold.
The mares have had their first appointment with the dentist and were extremely good. I always wonder what they must think when they have the gag fitted and someone grubbing around in their mouths with a giant rasp which, let's face it, must set up some impressive reverberations inside their heads, but they were model patients and we were delighted. Needless to say, some very sharp teeth were in evidence and now they are no more. Which is nice.
Little Nom has had his first farrier appointment and other than the bit where he opted to keep flinging himself on the floor rather than submit to standing for said farrier (during which I gave thanks for the freshly laid rubber floor), it went really well. He is a precocious little swine wrapped up in the world's cutest foal body and although unsettling for all concerned at the time I think he learned a powerful lesson that flinging oneself around in a pre-teen strop does no real good. Gualter stood like a pro for his second every trim, bless him.
Q continues to do well on his regime, which now involves having his muzzle on during the day and free access to his paddocks overnight. Unfortunately lessons with Mandy have been thin on the ground lately due to conflicting schedules but we did come 4th in the dressage at home series she did (E44) without the benefit of the third and final effort during which we were primed to correct all the things we learned during the process.
T is doing really well in his ridden work even if there isn't enough of it and we had our first canter under saddle last week, very lovely and soft.
We had another Bento clinic, where Q was much calmer second time out.
Knickers is doing well in her weekly work with the boys and it's a huge help to know that they have good sessions three times a week. This is a godsend generally and will be particularly so when it's no longer light by the time I get home.
The Bad
About three weeks ago the boys were both extremely unsettled on the Saturday afternoon, especially Q, who was pacing and completely sweated up in the evening. I brought him in at dusk as usual to his winter paddock and closed the gate, just as I had for the previous couple of weeks. Only this time he either didn't register or didn't care that the gate was in the way and tried to gallop through it. Result: one stallion-shaped dent in the 12' metal gate :O and a very bad nose bleed. I've never dealt with an equine nosebleed before and it was quite horrifying - blood was literally pissing out of his nose and within moments of bringing him in, the yard looked like a scene from a gorn movie. Arggh.
No sooner had we reassured ourselves that we had stemmed the flow than a giant ripping noise emanated from T's field and we found that he was charging around with his shredded rain sheet flapping around his legs. Took a while to get near him to get it off, by which time we were wondering what the bloody hell was going on and what in dawg's name might happen next. We took a walk down the neighbouring fields to check on their horses and see if we could see anything that might be causing the disturbance, tooled up with our pack of dogs and a number of implements for self-protection just in case, but there was nothing obvious other than what looked in the pitch black like a foal that was yelling its head off, in the nearby camp of our travelling friends across the way.
I discovered the following weekend that the "foal" was in fact a shetland pony stallion who'd been liberated by persons unknown from a field a few miles away and mysteriously ended up at said camp. Turns out he was such a handful that they ended up calling the owner to come and fetch him the next day. So the general conclusion is that it was the presence of a small but forceful new stallion presence in the environment that set our boys off and caused the ruckus. Luckily no major harm done and I was both shcoked and extremely relieved that Q suffered nothing worse than the nosebleed and a couple of scrapes on his legs.
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