As I write this, the weather is unseasonably hot, which brings new challenges in caring for the horses.
Diva, Mabel and Flo have been turned out 24/7 since the overnight temperatures became mild. Mabel and Diva love it, but Florence likes her comforts and so would most likely prefer to come in at night.
I am lucky in that my field has two mature trees that offer excellent shade for the horses. Florence loves the heat and is often in full sun while the other two snooze under the tree. Many fields are much more open and lacking in shade. It isn’t always possible to put a field shelter up, so you need to look at other ways to provide a little shade. One relatively easy thing is to put tall fence panels on the corners of the field, which can provide some shade without the expense of a shelter. They are great as a windbreak too.
Of my three equines, only Florence wears a fly sheet as she is quite sensitive to fly bites and midges, and she wears a fly mask with nose net as this prevents her white nose burning. She is a bit of a needy child! Diva has a mask this year as there were a lot of flies getting near her eyes. Mabel, however, just rubs any mask off, no matter the make / style etc.
I check them twice daily, and after poo-picking the field I often lean on the gate and just watch them for a while. Diva had a drink one morning as I was watching, and when she finished, she kept opening her mouth and working her tongue; something was clearly bothering her. She trotted off down the field and tried to eat some grass, but did the same thing. She will be three on the 13th of July, and so I suspected that a loose baby tooth might be the cause.
She let me take hold of her tongue, which enabled me to take a look in her mouth without the risk of getting bitten accidentally. There it was: the first cheek tooth on the left side hanging on by a thread. A little tug and out it came. I didn’t find any of her front teeth when the adult ones came through, so I was pleased to have this one. She was instantly comfortable and made short work of getting back to grazing. After the wet winter we endured, I can’t believe that I am hoping for some rain to get the grass growing!
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.