Senti - meet her!

I AM SORRY to say that little Senti died in the night last night. I suppose it is the way of baby animals, but I am very sad for Shilingi, for the camel team, and for Tom and Max who were the baby's real owners. Everyone will have done what they could. 

For the last two years I have been asking William whether my camels, Tulip and Shilingi, were pregnant and then whether their babies had arrived. I am pleased to announce the birth of a kike (female) camel yesterday. 

Shilingi is a first-time mother but has over fifty other camels to show her what to do. For the first few days the calf will have all of her mother's milk but then will need to share it with the milking bucket. The calves are never weaned. As a female she should be able to stay with her herd for the rest of her life, surrounded by her mother and her aunties, cousins, and eventually her own calves. 

As you can see, she is tied up by the leg. This too only lasts a few days while she is too vulnerable to follow the herd. She will graduate to the home paddock at headquarters and soon be able to go off with the herd for the day eating all of the new grass, shrubs and trees that have recently flourished in the rain. 

The Freedom Retirement Home

What a wonderful day today. I was feeling so poorly yesterday I didn't think I would get there; luckily, I was feeling much brighter this morning. With David in the driving seat, we went up to the ponies in the reserve and to trim two sets of hooves. 

The light across the reserve was spectacular and made the reserve seem mystical. I must not romanticise too much, there are a few issues such as litter to contend with, but I cannot think of anywhere more perfect for my elderly ponies whose teeth are beginning to let them down, surrounded by long grasses and things that they can easily browse. 

We met the ponies heading off to the water trough. Jack was first in the queue to have his hooves trimmed and to keep him happy, we steadily moved towards the trough in between each hoof so that he wouldn't be left behind by the others.

I was very pleased with Jack who was happy to have his feet done in the middle of nowhere.

Patsy was not on the list; her hooves trim themselves naturally and are looking particularly good. 

Blue was second in the queue and stood very quietly while she had her hooves trimmed. 

Pie will have to wait until next time. 

The flies are at last disappearing. 

The cows were a long way off but gradually came over to share the water.

They're very gentle creatures and so polite.

After being briefly separated, the five cows are all together again now. 

We sat down by my favourite tree and watched them for a while.

Camelth

It has been a while since I went to see the camels at Lower Woodford. On Tuesday I was picking up a suitcase and some childrens' clothes to take to Kenya with me and also having my regular haircut with Amdrea, one of the camel grooms.

At the moment there are only two camels left - poor Ivan having succumbed to kidney failure very recently. There is an air of sadness about the place, but it is essential that new companions are found for them, especially as there is such a big age gap between Luna and Timojin. This entails scouring Britain and Germany, from where the import regulations have become even more complicated following Brexit looking for likely candidates. I hope to be called in to photograph any new arrivals! I'm just a hopeless groupie...

Timojin now in his early twenties.

And Luna, who was bought from the same place and at the same time as Ivan, with my friend Alix.

And Alix again with Mammoth donkey, Lucinda, and Poitou, Jennings. 

Handsome Prince

 

Maybe it's Maybelline

"What a lovely day today. Prince has been amazing again. He had lots of burs in his forelock and it was a bit of a mess. Using clicker, in the same way we introduced the duster, he let me brush his face with a very soft brush that I’d bought ages ago and let me gently brush and pick out the burrs. He looks very handsome – you can see from his mane that it was a bit breezy!" Ruth

Here is Ruth's daughter who has a very good instinct around horses and in fact brought his little field mate around when he first came to the farm. 

Pass Wide and Slow Awareness Campaign

There is a Facebook page dedicated to the message "Pass Wide and Slow" around horses and riders. On Sunday morning I went down to Burton, near Christchurch to help with Awareness Ride 72 run by the indefatigable, Jodie Sloane. Fifteen riders, walkers, and cyclists turned up to help the spread the message that vulnerable road users have the right to be there. The new Highway Code sets out the new advice about passing riders, more specifically than before, that is at no more than 10 miles per hour and no less than two metres away. 

Every day, riders across this country are put in danger by the ignorant, reckless, and deliberately terrifying behaviour of vehicle drivers and some end up very badly injured or even dead. Drivers do not own the roads, there is no such thing 'road' tax, and riders and other vulnerable road users should not be subjected to this sort of behaviour. 

Emma and the Queen

 

The Queen's favourite riding pony, Emma, a Fell, with the Queen's stud manager and groom and great friend Terry Pendry along the long mile at Windsor Castle the day that the Queen took her last journey. The Queen's headscarf lies across the saddle. 

If you go down to the woods today...

I went to see the ponies myself yesterday. They were in really good form and had a few less flies to contend with. Sensibly, they have started to grow their winter coats. 

I can generally find a bagful of litter while I am there - I need to make myself useful - but this find makes me think that the bears have been having a little too much alcohol with their picnic. 

Pony Spies

Those wonderful Lookers have been keeping a close eye on the ponies and cattle at the reserve this week. Persil-coloured Pie seems to look a light brighter now that he has been rinsed a few times. 

I shall be going to see them myself on Saturday. 

Bounty Hunters

For a while I ran another blog called Loisaba Life about the Loisaba Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, a place we have visited a few times, first of all for work and then for holidays. It contained pictures and stories about the everyday life of the staff who work there, and the domestic and wild animals that they meet - sometimes there is a crossover between the latter as orphans are hand-reared and attempts are made to reintegrate them with their wild and wider families. The archives are still available at Loisaba Life

One such was Bounty, a Grevy's zebra, a species which is endangered. He was mainly raised by Joseph and grew to love him, following him about everywhere and allowing him to handle him more than anyone else. Joseph, who was very tender with him and took him out on walks, shadowing any wild Grevy's zebra that were nearby. In the wild, male zebras like Bounty would tend to wander around and make the most of any encounters they had with females. The females on the other hand are in smaller groups and sometimes hook up with a male Common zebra and his band of mares. Sadly the two species are able to inter-breed and this is another threat to the pure Grevy's zebra. 

Inevitably Bounty has matured into a fit, strong, stallion and the time came when it was no longer safe for him to spend his time at the stables. He now lives at the cattle boma where Joseph visits him when he can. I hope to be able to keep you updated and that I will see him and Joseph on my next trip. 

Acorns

I am having to hold my breath at this time of year. A combination of the drought, almost 100 deer eating my grass, and a neighbour's dangerously dead tree overhanging one of my fields, I cannot use the one paddock that has no oak trees in it. This year appears to be a bumper crop, known as a mast year, for acorns and they are now falling fast. Luckily the grass came through suddenly after the recent rain and the horses - and the Forest ponies too - are not running around trying to find them. I don't even have the option of fencing the trees off as they are on every side of the field. 

Acorns, taken in quantity, can be deadly and white Blue, who lives out on the Forest, got terrible colic from them one year. Luckily he seems to have learned a lesson and has been fine since. 

'Burnt' grass after the drought

One of the trees but Dave is not looking for acorns

Apparently, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence...

Works' Outing

About once a year there is a Day Trip to Fritham organised by the Penn Common Mules. This year there was only one, but since he was almost snow white and had VERY long ears he stood out from the rest of the ponies. There were some beautiful foals about too.