Expectation

The ponies aren't the only ones who can't wait for something to happen, I'm really looking forward to seeing them in their new environment, even though the transportation worries me a bit.

The range of grasses, shrubs, and trees at the new site seem endless and as the summer continues it is good to see the damselflies and butterflies making the most of the sun. The ponies will help them to establish their life-cycle by reducing the length of some of the grasses and opening up areas of ground. They'll reduce the impact of the pioneering silver birch and maintain the narrow tracks through the woodland.

I had a special guest with me today and we measured the outside perimeter of the reserve, some two miles. 

Hello Tracey!

Anticipation

 In the words of Kate Bush: 

"Every time it rains, You're here in my head, Like the sun coming out, Ooh I just know that something good is gonna happen, I don't know when, But just saying it could even make it happen." Cloudbusting.

Yesterday in heavy rain the ponies were all in a very silly mood or perhaps practicing their survival skills.

 They are all bursting with health and I can't wait to see what they make of their new environment when we move them in July.

I have a couple of problems which I need to iron out before they go or hope that the rougher terrain will resolve. Blue had a runny eye which I recognised as a reaction to the dirty water that gets into her eye after the rain has rinsed her forelock. I treat eye conditions as very serious and usually get the vet out unless it is clearly a reaction to the rainwater. Happily it cleared up overnight. Flushing her eye with salty water and putting a band on to keep her forelock away from her eyes really helped. 

For nineteen years whilst grazing on the Forest, Patsy has been able to maintain her own hooves and they have always looked great. Since she has been brought in, they have grown too long and now they are breaking off rather raggedly. She is completely sound which amazes me. I hope that her hooves will improve significantly once she is out on more rugged ground although I am considering whether I might be able to tame her in the weeks before she leaves - I have never tried up until now, preferring her to remain entirely wild. 

Packing Suitcases

Jack and Nell discuss whether their travel arrangements will be affected by the general train strike.

Although we haven't got a moving date yet, we have been preparing the ponies for the move and making sure that we have a 'wild living' first aid, grooming, and trimming kit for all of them. We have to be very sensitive to the environment - just as before - in terms of the wormers that we use (no Ivermectin) and any lotions and potions on their bodies to protect from the sun or the insects. I have just invested in two bottles of Superfly by Biteback Products who boast that all of their ingredients are natural and that they also fend off crab flies. I hope this will be successful for all of the horses and for those of you who also suffer the attentions of crab flies on the Forest, I will let you know how we get on. The reviews are really good. 

Pie, who might think he is going on holiday will also need a decent 'sun-tan cream' and so I have invested in some Filtabac for him; I am told that it is far better than using things like Sudocrem. Up until now I have been able to rely on him finding some shade on the Forest but at home his pink extremities have been sun-burned. Filtabac is entirely unscented and he doesn't object to its application. It is however, anti-bacterial so might be on the banned substances list: I'm asking the manufacturers whether it is safe to use on a SSSI site.

Blue - looking forwards

Operation Daddy's Yacht

When I used to get above myself as a child, my Mum used to say, "What do you think you're on, you're Daddy's yacht? For the four 'out' ponies, and Jack, they really are going to live on their Daddy's yacht because we have been offered a 75 acre conservation site by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. I signed the contract last week, and their transportation is being arranged. The site is very quiet with few dog-walkers and they will only be sharing it with five cows. It's fairly rough terrain with all sorts of grasses and shrubs to munch on - and hopefully trim down in accordance with the Ranger's wishes - and areas of trees where they can get out of the sun and away from the insects. As well as the Ranger, there are volunteer 'Lookers' and I will be going to see the ponies regularly and staying close by for the first week. 

If all goes well, and they have a six week probation period, this is a very long-term project and I can sleep, knowing that they have no roads going through the site. I have explored the site several times myself, and apart from the odd bit of litter which gets picked by volunteers, there seem to be very few risks. Much as I'd like to have all of my ponies tucked up in my house at night, this is the dream situation for this particular set. Fingers-crossed it all works out and we can follow their lives in this haven for wildlife which they will helping to conserve. 

Old Friends

These guys are a popular target for photographers and those that like to pet and feed. Such a shame that the foals get desensitised to people so early and then begin to hang around in the car parks and by the ice cream van in the hope of treats. I found them a long way away from the road and took their photos from a great distance with a long lens. 

Donkeys lose their coats much later than horses and the donkeys that live with my horses at the fields beg me to groom them on days like today.

I met Julie up at the fields just afterwards - she's passed most of the pandemic away by working and taking her degree. We went off to see 'our' Chancer, the ex-racehorse. He has been out on loan to Nicky for about ten years now - longer than Julie or I owned him in the first place. He's looking super well after a gap of three years since we last saw him face to long-face. I wonder what his destiny would have been if he had been any good at racing, bearing in mind that his sire was Horsechestnut, one of the fastest horses that ever lived!

Three Babies

The pandemic, quite apart from it's horrible human impact, had a dramatic and negative effect on the Forest. When the bell went for the first lockdown, Forestry England withdrew its ranger staff, somehow believing that the great British public would behave themselves. All of the car parks were closed and for a very limited time, it was like going back to an age where there were far fewer motor vehicles and far fewer visitors - whether they be local or from further afield. However, people began to feel anxious, angry, and imprisoned very quickly, and came to the Forest to get in touch with nature, let off steam and to express their feelings. Despite apparently loving the Forest, even before the rules were loosened, people started to park on the verges in vast numbers, to go off road and off track with their mountain bikes, and to let their dogs off in vulnerable areas - and this continued and got worse throughout the rest of the period. The Litter Pickers of the New Forest were - and still are - faced with mountains of litter including dog poo in bags and soiled wet wipes. The usual problems of pony and donkey feeding, drawing them to people and the roads continue, and is passed down the generations as foals learn from their mothers.  

I have never had a problem with people enjoying the Forest but I hate to see them breaking the rules and putting the ecology of the Forest at risk. 

Thankfully things seem to have quietened down at this end of the Forest and the opening up of the airports, and street parties at home, meant that half-term was fairly reasonable. Let's see what happens during the summer. 

Mystery Tour?

 Pie: "Where have you been?"

Me: "Making arrangements for your 'flight'."

Pie: "Why are we in here?"

Me: "So that the girls can get down to their weight allowance."

Pie: "Can we tell anyone yet?"

Me: "Not until we've got the tickets."

Two Worlds Collide

I'm a bit rusty at this and considering the best way to go ahead. There's been a fair bit of enthusiasm for the idea which then led to a push for the Loisaba Blog to be reignited too. It's good to be reconnected in any way and the two may become intertwined. Conservation features so highly in my life now what with the woodlands we look after, and other possibilities in the future, it might be interesting to contrast with the heady world of animal conservation in Kenya where droughts and predators can make life very harsh indeed. 

Yesterday these two worlds collided when Tom and Jo, Max and Imara, who manage the Loisaba Conservancy came to visit, meet the horses and walk amongst the Forest ponies. The last time I saw them was at Christmas 2020, in Kenya, when I was introduced to these two chaps: 

This is one of the grooms, Joseph, who had the happy duty of bringing up an orphaned Grevy's Zebra called Bounty. The two of them were practically inseparable and while Joseph carried out his duties in the yard, Bounty trailed after him. Bounty is now living at one of the cattle bomas from where it is hoped that he will make friends and mix with others of his kind, although he is also inclined to pay Joseph a visit whenever he can. There's more about Bounty and Joseph on the Loisaba Blog

The four of us were able to catch up on a lot of news - the arrival of the rhinos at Loisaba and the imminent arrival of a baby camel from my own Tulip.  

Four years

Other than to advertise my books, it has been over four years since I last posted. I felt that the horse training chapter of my life had closed, and with nothing left to talk about, it seemed best to shut up. However there is something on the horizon that may be of interest and so I'm going to test out my new stand-up-and-sit-down computer desk and see what comes out. 

For anyone who enjoyed my original blog, there are always my books - From Sober Dress to Sturdy Boots, The Horses are Alright, and The Balloon Collector - more details, stories about me and the horses, and the redemptive nature of a good man and wonderful animals; pony books for adults as one of my readers called them. They are available singly or as a set and all proceeds now go to three horse charities: HorseWorld, Shy Lowen, and the Moorland Mousie Trust. Of course my trusty foal training book, No Fear, No Force is also available and is now on its third reprint. Here's a link: Sarah's books.

I should give you fair warning that there have been several extremely sad events during the time that I have been away and I have learned that grief is something that doesn't just disappear but something we have to learn to live with. First of all I lost my Mum three years ago. Apart from being the wonderful editor of my earliest books, she was someone who taught me so much about horses and shared with me a deep love of animals. Never a David Attenborough programme went by without one of us ringing up the other and saying, simply, "David Attenborough, lions, BBC1 now!!!" before putting the phone down. I gave her the most fantastic send off I could, and her ashes now lie at the foot of White Rock in Kenya where she can see all the wild animals going by - lions, elephant, zebra and giraffe. 

A later visit to Kenya over Christmas 2020 and into January 2021, just as the pandemic bit for the second time, drew me closer to the people that work at Loisaba and I even started to write a blog about them and their work before it failed either for lack of photos or for lack of information - hopefully I can restart it one day. Meanwhile, however, our time in Kenya was marred by the knowledge that Peechay had been admitted to Donnington Grove Veterinary Hospital for colic surgery, and despite being under the best colic surgeon in the country, he had to be put to sleep when a second operation failed. I hated to think that I would never see him again and hadn't got to say goodbye but that was the horrible position that people were in, all over this country, with their own relatives and no, I will never forgive Boris Johnson for what he put people through while he was partying. Actually, just shorten that to I will never forgive Boris Johnson!

Just when you think that's all of your bad luck for the year, losing such a young pony (he was only nine), Juma (who was only four) was killed on Roger Penny Way by a driver whose trial is due to be heard on 7th September this year - exactly one year and one month from the collision. I am still devastated but decided that I should make a fuss and campaign for the installation of average speed cameras on this particular road, and two other B roads, where people frequently don't observe the speed limit. The Council supported my petition to consider the cameras and some progress has been made with a feasibility study just about to start. Nothing goes fast in the Forest apart from the traffic. Seriously, I cannot express the sorrow I feel about losing my beautiful pony - whatever happens as a result of the feasibility study or the court case, it will never compensate for the loss. Since Juma was killed all of my New Forest ponies and Pie have lived at home. 

I know that over these last few years, my previous clients have lost some of their own horses - and other animals too - I can completely empathise with the way they feel. It can bring you to your knees.

Just as everything seemed to be going down the plughole, I was reminded of a story, much modernised , about God, a man and a flood:

There's a huge flood and a man is stranded in his house. The emergency services come along in a little rubber dinghy and say, "Get in, get in, you will surely drown," but the man replies, "There's no need, Jesus loves me and he will save me." The water continues to rise and now the man is upstairs at the window. The emergency services come along again in their little rubber dinghy and say, "Get in, get in, you will surely drown," but the man replies, "There's no need, Jesus loves me and he will save me." Things get worse and it starts to rain heavily. The man has heaved himself out on to the roof. Now a helicopter comes along and the winch man shouts down, "Climb up and hang on, you will surely drown." Once more the man says, "There's no need, Jesus loves me and he will save me." Anyway, he drowns.

He is met by St. Peter at heaven's door - "I want a word with God," he says, "Now!" Peter shows him to God's cloud. "I believed in Jesus and still I drowned," shouts the man. God looks down and says quietly, "Well, he sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more do you want?"

One dinghy came in the form of good news about the animal 'accident' figures on the Forest. There have been no fatalities for the last ten weeks thanks indeed to the work of the police and The New Forest Road Awareness Group (formerly the campaign group) which have been working together in a concerted effort to educate and occasionally prosecute speeding drivers. Councillor Edward Heron has warned against any complacency, however, and emphasised the need for Average Speed Cameras on Roger Penny Way.

The helicopter hasn't quite arrived yet but I can't wait to tell you all about it when it is soaring overhead. In the meantime, you might enjoy some of the highlights of my blog about Loisaba, the wildlife conservancy in Kenya where I was able to go behind the scenes and talk to some of the wonderful staff who work there: Loisaba Life These stories also include my two camels, Tulip and Shilingi, who live as part of the milking herd at Loisaba.

After I lost Petra, Theoden seemed to be absolutely fine, but when I began to ride him again he seemed to have lost his confidence completely. A friend let me have Dave on loan and eventually gave him to me when the two horses got on so well. He's an absolute sweetheart and a treasured part of the family. 

And finally, a couple of years ago, I bought the pony we have known for so long as Orange Girl (now Patsy). She had struggled after feeding her last foal all the way through the winter and I was worried that she might go off 'in the wrong direction'. She is now living in with my other ponies and although not tame, she takes a keen interest in the contents of a bucket. She's as beautiful as ever. 

That's it, four years summarised into one post although not a lot happened during the pandemic anyway! Three books, a working knowledge of Swahili, and a very tidy yard were about it! I have missed this and I have missed you.