With the summer fast approaching, the time comes for us humans to plan for going away on holiday. For those of us with horses. this can present a challenge. To be honest, most of my ‘holidays’ are going to overnight shows, but for the first time in an age, I was heading off for a long weekend with only Flora the dog and my friend Jill along for the ride.
As a result, Diva, Mabel and Florence needed to have their care arranged. At this time of year, they are pretty much living out 24/7 which makes their needs a little easier. However, this holiday also coincided with the prime time for the risk of laminitis too. Diva, thankfully, has never suffered from this horrible condition, but I am extremely vigilant when the grass is growing quickly. I check for increased digital pulses and heat in her feet and generally have her out during the day and in at night or vice versa rather than out all the time.
I am very fortunate to have friends who I can totally trust to look after them as if they were their own, allowing me to head off without any worries.
It was lovely to get away with just the pooch to look after, as Flora loves a lie in as much as I do! We did get plenty of exercise too though and enjoyed our first trip to the coast.
Much as I enjoyed my break, it is always lovely to see my girls again. I miss Diva’s little cheeky face and Mabel’s gentleness and Florence’s greediness at the first sign of any food. One thing I do only very rarely is give my horses or pony a treat in my hand. Except when I give them a thank you as they come out of the ring at a show, I usually pop a treat into their manger or even just on the floor. The main reason being that hand-feeding can encourage horses to nip or push at you if they begin to anticipate a treat.
My next holiday will be our trip to the Royal Highland Show towards the end of June with Jackson (Melland Jackson Jive) and Diva (Melland Queen of Scots). Will she be the Queen of Scots at the show? To be honest, I would just love to be placed at one of the best showcases for the breed I have come to love.
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.