13th August, 2011 The Godshill Hinny

I've been promising Lindy that we will see the Godshill hinny while she is here. Here she was, standing by the bus-stop yesterday. Like a lot of bus-stops on the New Forest, it has to have a door on it to stop the animals taking it over as accomodation!

13th August, 2011 No foot, no horse

I met a horse yesterday that because he is in pain is being difficult about lifting his feet up for the farrier. Whilst the owner is busy seeking medical advice from the vet and the farrier amongst others, we have to find a way to reach a compromise with the horse so that he can have his feet cared for. We worked on timed lifts so that he is given a break after every minute of holding his foot up - hopefully the farrier will agree to go with the same format and, providing it is a safe moment to do so, put his foot down after say two minutes each time. In that way I am hoping that the horse will realise that the discomfort is finite and work with us. At the moment there is no way that he can lift up his feet up to put them on a tripod so I aslo started to clicker train him to place his foot on top of a log (which will now be covered in rubber matting to make it non-slip). Instead of politely but persistently moving his feet away, he began to approach the log in the hope that I would be picking them up again.

11th August, 2011 Beaulieu Road Sales Part II

Further scenes from Beaulieu Road. I fear the outcome for the mare in the first picture. I do think that is your mare has produced foal after foal for you, the least you can do is give her a tidy and quiet ending on the Forest itself. The second pony is from "the other side of the tracks", the unofficial sale that goes on in the car park.

The last pony was in fact led into the sales ring and is well handled. Bewildering for her then to be turned loose, hit and chased about with a flag. Hitting seems to be down to a minimum although there was a chap wandering about with the ubiquitous bit of blue pipe favoured by some as a stick.

11th August, 2011 Beaulieu Road Sales Part I

The first of the autumn sales. The work of the New Forest Pony Publicity Group in promoting the New Forest pony seems to be paying off with lots of owners polishing and training their ponies before they go to the sales. Prices for older well handled and shown ponies was pretty high - the filly at the bottom, for example, fetched £680. A three year old gelding topped £1,200. The policy of severely limiting the number of stallions turned out and the time for which they are turned out shows that the Commoners are prepared to take a very responsible attitude to breeding and this should be reflected in the demand for this year's foals.

It worries me that the drifts are not very far off. If I allowed Peechay to be weaned at the drift he would only be three and half months old - too early. I shall do my best to get him, Nelly and Blue in before the two drifts in our area and of course he won't be weaned for a good few months yet.

I hope the two donkeys found a home together - they were absolutely inseparable in the pens. Donkeys form an incredibly strong bond.

11th August, 2011 In which Chancer has a Brazilian

Dr Tim Brazil came to see Chancer this morning to carry out a gastroscopy. Life had been a bit complicated by the fact that thunderstorms were threatened last night and I didn't feel that was a good time to be keeping Chancer in a building with a metal structure. This meant he couldn't be starved properly for the requisite number of hours prior to the procedure. Nevertheless, I limited his intake by turning him into the pen. By this morning he was quite cross and hungry and doing some very interesting gymnastics. Bless his cotton socks because he then led quietly around to Fabia's where we had borrowed her stable and electric socket. He also stood like an angel while the horrid tube was poked up his nose and down into his stomach under very light sedation. The brilliant news is that his stomach is the pinkest, beautifullest, most perfect stomach in the whole wide world and I can at last relax that there is nothing other than more grass and protein needed to keep him right - he already looks a stack better than a couple of weeks ago; in fact he looks extremely well now. When you are told that over 90% of racehorses have gastric ulcers there is always a vague nagging feeling that your horse may have them even though he has been out of training and turned out for the last 4 years. It is only now that our vet has thought that it was worth a look given his loss of condition.

Tim Brazil (European Specialist in Equine Internal Medicine) is a thoroughly pleasant and calm chap. He answered all my questions and gave us a thorough tour of Chancer's insides while we had the opportunity. Hopefully he will send me pictures when he comes back from his holidays.

10th August, 2011 Farrier-day

Once again it was time for Anna to have her feet pared, something we tend to take for granted with our horses. She is getting easier to catch and, having had one sideways look at Matt, she let him get on with his job. Her feet are almost normal now and she should be a lot more comfortable.

9th August, 2011 Double Dutch

Woody, at the top, is learning how to accept long reins, starting off with a single line. In the absence of Jenny, Guilda enjoyed some long reining at trot before going out and about on the Forest and taking a look at some of the traffic on the main road through Burley. Both of these ponies are half Dutch New Forest pony.