Autumn has arrived, along with some potential dangers to your horses and ponies. My field has two big oak trees that the Mabel and Diva love sheltering under in all weathers. However, this year the girls' favourite tree has outdone itself with the number of acorns it has produced. In previous years I haven’t worried about the girls and the acorns as it never produced many and they didn’t eat them.
This year it has literally thousands of acorns, and I have never seen such large ones. Unfortunately, I spotted Diva having a crunch on some of them. It soon became apparent that she was actively seeking them out despite plenty of grass and hay being available, and my concern grew when I noticed remnants of acorn in her droppings.
I had to do something to prevent her from eating so many that they would make her ill. Hence spending last Sunday fencing off the trees to stop the little devil from feasting on the acorns. It has certainly done the trick and I can rest easy, safe in the knowledge that my girls won’t be poisoned.
People also need to be aware of atypical myopathy or Sycamore poisoning as it is more commonly known. The seeds will be falling and, working at a veterinary hospital, we unfortunately see several cases each year.
As with most things, prevention is better than cure, so walk your fields at least weekly and take action – such as fencing off sections – if necessary.
Remember the virtual show Diva was entered in? Well, her lovely rosettes have arrived and she seemed to enjoy posing for her photograph with them. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to get a photo of Jackson wearing his as he has been turned out in a bigger field with Florence and is currently refusing to be caught!
As the nights draw in, horses and ponies begin to grow their winter coats. Diva is now sporting a very thick, velvety coat that seemed to grow overnight. She is still very shiny though.
Are your horses and ponies now woolly monsters? I would love to see photographs of them. See you next time.
Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.