It’s been another eventful time with the trio, from Bob trying his hoof at shoe removing (his own I may add leading to an emergency farrier visit due to a lot of foot soreness – he picks his timings so well!), to moving to the scary back field, oh and the clumsy owner that is me falling off …no not a horse.. but a stool whilst stripping wall paper and injuring my back! D’oh!

The weather has been lovely, and I’ve managed to fit the odd short ride in, mainly on the big lad just to keep him ticking over, and despite not being on any form of calmer for weeks now he has been brilliant. No spookiness or sharpness, and no tension whatsoever in his back, I am dumb founded at the change in him and how happy and relaxed he is 😊

We spent one of the lovely evenings banging in some fence posts along the river bank in the back field, and although it was tough work, the weather, scenery and bird song made it enjoyable. We spent the next morning clearing branches and sorting the remainder of the fencing before letting the trio loose. Autumn had been watching us for a short while and knew exactly what was going to happen (she is very observant when she wants to be and clocks on very quickly), we opened the field gates and Bob who was at the front just stood there looking confused.

Autumn wasted no time and whizzed passed him down the drive to the new field with Aria trundling behind. Once Bob realised he was being left off he thundered off and followed into the field. I was expecting a lot of galloping jumping and prancing so I could take some good pics, but what I got was a quick 10 second trot then all three heads down grazing lol! It was nice to see them happy and chilled, and also meant no more mucking out for me as they could now live out yippee only the fields to do instead!

On checking them the next morning they were all fine but after a small brekkie congregated round the gate, odd I thought, so I went back up and let them through to the old field where they happily grazed. I think they had a bit of an overload so I did this for a few days – in the new field at night and old one in the day just to help them adjust and also keep them off too much grass as I know laminitis is becoming prevalent, and after a few days they were very happy and back to normal. Even with them now living out I still cant help myself and I’m up early getting to the yard for just after 6am! I will settle eventually to maybe a lie in of 6.30am…one day!

The wet patch in the field has got worse, we had the water company out and they can’t find where the leak is coming from so have taken samples, hopefully we should hear something this week as although its great the field/grass is getting water so the field can grow and recover, but I really don’t want a swimming pool in winter! Anytime Bob has been in that field though he has taken full advantage and gone to the wettest bits for rolls and came in filthy!

I bought the horses all new fly rugs as they have been pestered by midges beyond belief and I have felt so bad for them even with their old fly rugs on, so we are trying the zebra print to see if it works, and so far so good! They were still getting bitten behind their bellies so I’ve also got a fly cream I am trying which seems to be helping a lot as before I bought it all I could use was udder cream. I’ve also read on a forum that brewers yeast is meant to be good against midges as they don’t like the taste in the blood? Not sure if it will work but due to the amount we seem to have I’m willing try anything! They have been on it for only a few days so I will let you know if there’s any progress. If anyone knows of any good anti midge fly repellent mixes please please let me know!

As we are on an extended lock down, I have found im on social media more and more and one of my old hoursey friends from many years ago told me about a group that had been set up for our old yard where we sent the majority of our younger years. I’ve just joined it to see if can find anyone I used to know, sadly the owner who was like a gran to me has passed away and the yard split down and sold off, but it is lovely to see the old pictures of ponies I knew, the fields, stable blocks and even a pic from one of our fun shows where Merlin won the class (not sure what class though!). A bit of nostalgia is lovely as it brings back a lot of old memories not to mention reminding me how far I have come with the horses, and also how much more complex owning a horse is to 20 years ago! Wow how things have changed, don’t laugh at the throw back pics too much 😊 Stay safe all!