Little Mix

 

All of the horses had their teeth done, a blood test for tape worm, and vaccinations on Thursday. Pie had two loose molars removed. Yesterday he moved to Nathalie's home paddock for a month or two in order to give him a boost for the winter. She will also be giving him two feeds a day of posh mix which she even soaks for him. 

Me and my Shadow

Last week we lost our little cat, Nala. She was 18 years old, and in my opinion, the very best cat in the whole wide world. The sudden shock of losing her has only been matched by the loneliness I feel without her. David is also heartbroken.

Neither of us particularly wanted a cat, but when our neighbours died, we offered to have her because then at least she wouldn't have to go very far and she would still be nowhere near a road. At first she was shy and kept herself to herself but after a while she began to plant herself on me, wherever I was sitting, and was my constant companion when I was recovering from two lots of major surgery and a broken shoulder. Now she is curled up inside my head instead and I have to get used to all of the spaces where she used to be.

Play time

This week - and next - The New Forest Carriage Driving for the Disabled team are running two fun days for their guests. In the dry and dusty conditions at least it wasn't too hot. This was a practice run for the competition next week and the drivers undertook a dressage test followed by a timed round of cones. The latter woke the ponies up and there was some avid trotting and a canter from Mollie.

My friend, Wendy, was very accurate and put in a good time; those balls fall off the cones if they are jolted.

This lady, L, did a very good round too and cantered across the finishing line. 

It was good to have Daisy back this week and she and her team did a great job of keeping H safe and happy.

For some bizarre reason, I won nearly all the raffle prizes and had to work hard to pass the cakes around before I ate them all. I did go home with a wonderful sea trout!

Happy Feet

Good news that Prince has redeemed himself since the great escape. That day he came home and met the farrier for the first time. They spent a little time getting to know each other and the scene was set for s future meeting. 

Last week Prince had all four feet trimmed and was very relaxed about the whole thing. Not bad for a pony that was only taught to have his legs and hooves handles when he was already a teenager. 

Panic buying

Anyone who says, "It's summer, just summer!" can have no connection with the countryside and with the source of their food. Cereal crops and grass are producing just one tenth of their usual yield and farmers are already having to supplement their animals' food as if it were winter. Although food prices might rise, farmers will have to compete with imported goods and won't be able to recoup their losses. 

Horse owners are now panicking with their fields looking like overworn lawns, trying to secure hay for the autumn and winter. I am pleased that I have kept the same hay supplier for almost twenty years - he hasn't changed much - despite the fact that his hay has been at the top end of the price range at times. It has always been good quality. This time he has gone beyond the call of duty, buying in large bales of hay from Devon where they seem to have avoided the drought. These big bales are equivalent to more than 10 old-fashioned bales of hay, difficult and heavy to manoeuvre, but once cut, the hay can be divided up and distributed in a wheelbarrow. I am very pleased with the texture and quality of it and it is always good for the horses to have vitamin and minerals which are different from their own grass (if they can remember that far back).

I am using this and scatterable hard feed to keep them amused and healthy, but they are still bad-tempered about the lack of roughage in the field. A raindance is required.

Nothing to do with Horses

For a few weeks I have been watching a friend of mine, James, make his way through the various rounds of the Kenyan Taste Off, their version of Masterchef. Out of 450 hopefuls, I am glad to say that James was the victor, winning 1 million Kenyan shillings and lots of other prizes including a stay in a top hotel for him and his family.

Hongera sana rafiki yangu.

From the Teeth of a Disaster

I had a very stressful telephone call from Ruth last week to say that Prince had gone missing from his field, leaving his two companions behind. At 6 a.m. he had been there but at some time during the morning he had done a bunk. I gave my usual advice in this situation which was to alert the police to a possible stray horse and then to check the ditches of his own field and those nearby first. Prince had been more adventurous than that and fortunately turned up in a completely locked sheep field in Whiteparish. What had begun as a disaster ended with Ruth catching him and bringing him home triumphantly although she did have a blister on her foot!

Proof that the grass is not always greener...

You will all remember the horrible events in London last year where a handful of Cavalry horses went galloping through Central London after being spooked by some construction workers. The grey in particular looked badly injured with blood all over his chest and legs. People wondered if he might have to be put to sleep.

I met a man last week who had met the horse, who is called Vigo, when he was running a camp at Longmoor, near Portsmouth. They had coincided with the Household Cavalry's visit and were taking the horses down to Hayling Island to go swimming in the sea. Lo and behold Vigo was there.