Diva (Melland Queen of Scots) usually gets her summer coat quite early compared to other horses and ponies, but this year she has been holding onto hers for a lot longer.
Like in the winter when the short days encourage the winter coat to form, the trigger to make ponies moult in the spring is the daylight getting longer. I wonder if the fact that the rain has been relentless this spring has tricked the ponies a little, as the cloudy skies made the days dull and dark.
Thankfully, she has now decided to finally allow some of her floof to come out! There are various grooming tools that will help get the coat out. I tend to use an old-fashioned rubber curry comb or a Furminator that a friend gave me several years ago, which is a metal-toothed rake. The coat is still not coming out quite as much as I would expect, so does she know something about the weather that I don’t? Are we going to have a cold snap?
When her coat starts to come out in handfuls she leaves little furry patches when she rolls in the field. Birds take advantage of that, and you will often see them flying away to line their nests with Shetland pony hair.
I love the fact that Shetland ponies get such short, sleek summer coats after having a very long and thick winter one. At the moment it is hard to imagine a sleek Diva as, although her coat is changing, it is a long way from what she will look like – hopefully soon.
Storm Kathleen blew through over the weekend but, although it dried up the field nicely, it didn’t help me by blowing away any of Diva’s floof!
After a nice winter break, I have finally brought Arnie back into a level of consistent work, and I am so pleased with how nicely he’s going. I really do believe in winter breaks, especially when they are that bit younger, and this one has really done him the world of good.
I really do love the retraining of racehorses. They are so smart and quick to learn new things. As Barqi is only four years old, he will pick up a new way of life very quickly.
With things getting off to a rocky start – I think I read this is the worst rainfall in over 50 years! – what better pick-me-up than the “Fred & Rowena Cook: A Life After Racing” rehoming service contacting me about the most precious four-year-old gelding, who was looking for a new home straight from the British Racing School (BRS)?
The trio have been keeping me busy these past few weeks: Freya has had a saddle fitting, Bob’s had a lesson and Autumn’s been out with a new friend exploring lanes not too far from our yard.