Postscript

Following industrial action and a rowdy picket line led by union leader, Jack, the girls are back in with him and Dave is now lovelorn instead. This morning Pie was treated to a make-over - his eyes were washed, his mane and tail brushed and he had his hooves trimmed by David. Standing in the barn, waiting for the next thing to happen, he put me in mind of Suzanne Vega's 'Small Blue Thing'...

Small Blue Thing

Later, his forelock tied up and wearing his armour and lotion against the sun, he went back out. Personally I would never intentionally breed a horse that was likely to be born with lots of pink skin and especially pink skin around the eyes. They are always uncomfortable in the sun - and I recall a leucistic zebra in Kenya that hardly ever had its eyes open. Apparently they are much more susceptible to cancer, although Pie is twenty-four years old and so far seems to have been spared. 

One hump or two?

It was off to Warwickshire this morning to find out if there is any hope of surgery on my shoulder - there is. Running through my Facebook Page I was reminded that Joseph's Camels also lived in Warwickshire and on a whim I gave them a ring to see if we could visit. Fortunately Rebecca Fossett readily agreed and so we spent a happy afternoon talking to her about her milking camels, and giving them all a lovely hug. 

One of the yearling calves.

No milk from this guy, he's a Bactrian and a male.

We came home with a couple of bottles of camel milk and some camel milk chocolates.

Rubiks Cubes

 

It's always a juggle to balance the ponies' welfare needs when their physical needs are at odd with their emotional needs. Jack has been living with his girls for almost a year and sees them as his own.

However, Blue and Nelly are now fat and in danger of becoming too fat, whilst Jack is still a little underweight.

The donkeys and Henrietta are on the tubby side too.

I started off my new plan by bringing the three Forest ponies together in one paddock - not enough for the ponies but too much for the long-ears but it was only for one night.

I doubt the glut of grass will last long with so many deer sharing it but for now I needed to divide the ponies according to their needs. Part two of the plan was to put Jack together with Patsy and Pie in a combined total of ten acres.

Henrietta, and the donkeys, came in, and she suprised me by allowing me to touch her all over with a feather duster. It is years since I tried. She actually seemed to enjoy it. 

Meanwhile, Nelly and Blue went into the paddock with Theoden and Dave - thereby breaking Jack's heart.

I imagine it won't be long before we will need another re-jig. Nathalie's two grass-sensitive ponies are coming in to me while she goes on holiday and will likely share with the long-ears, and I am possibly going to be taking care of a mare and a yearling colt that have been out on the Forest for the winter and who need 'a few more groceries'; they do not belong to me. I hope we can go back to a situation where all of the ponies, horses, donkey and mule are happy to be moved around and enjoy each other's company. 

Royalty

Yesterday, Julie and I went to see Prince - the pony one - in order to establishing his ability to pick up his hooves for humans. For Ruth, this was the first time she had had an audience of more than one while she put the headcollar on and of course she did it with alacrity.

It is so important to support the hoof itself. This enables the pony to balance.

For Prince it was the first time he had worked with three people and yet, once he had checked Julie out, he settled to letting each of us take it in turns to pick up and to start holding up his hooves. Happily, Ruth had clearly established the difference between having your leg touched and being asked to lift the hoof up. This is something that most horses have missed and this was borne out when I was asked to check for a digital pulse on another pony but couldn't get her to leave her foot down for long enough. 

There's always a little bit of wafting as the pony questions whether it is a good idea to let a predator hold his foot. However, with a loose arm it's possible to go with the flow and find a moment of stillness to click and place the hoof down again.

In no time at all, Prince learned to balance himself as soon as he felt the signal to pick his foot up, allowing it to be held up nicely for three to five seconds before it was put down again. This will be gradually extended over the days to come and then he will be able to have is hooves picked out. I have no doubt that this will not trouble him at all. Luckily, he has amazing hooves.

Even better, Prince generalised the information about one hoof to all four hooves and we were soon picking each of them up in turn.

"Prince was brilliant today with picking up his hooves," received from Ruth today.

Then it was back to my own ponies.

Jack and Henrietta still have a lot of moulting to do. 

Deer oh Dear!

There seemed little point in saving the middle field for grass later in the season when forty deer were already helping themselves! The three returnees were therefore let in yesterday so that they can enjoy it too. The camera wasn't on its best behaviour, unfortunately, but I think I captured the mood!

Hover-ponies...

Checking the fences...

...and testing my nerves!

One of the things I really enjoy about having a yard of my own, is being able to make decision on a daily and fluid basis depending on their welfare. Admittedly its not easy to make everything perfect for each pony, but I can loosely cater for those who need more food and those who need less. 

Is Winter Coming?

You might be confused by my summer 'collection' but I am expecting to feed hay year-round now. It's no bad thing as it provides another source of nutrition and contains different vitamins and minerals to my own grass. The donkeys, and Henrietta in particular, need fibre going through their systems even when they have restricted access to the grass. Who knows whether there will be another drought!

I've given the new wheelbarrow a bit of a make-over that it is entirely unique - one friend quipped that the stripes would help to keep the flies off.