Tuesday 27th December
2 Horse LibertyFun
(just reconnecting and playing with Solly and Tara after a couple
of months without play or riding due to winter)
2 Horse LibertyFun
(just reconnecting and playing with Solly and Tara after a couple
of months without play or riding due to winter)
Still very mild here and no sign of snow again...yet! lol. There is a big shoot on the estate where we live tomorrow and so we decided that the horses would be happier with more space to run if scared in their old big Summer field. So, today Mark and I walked them back to their big field ;-)
They were very happy to be there and had a fabulous canter/gallop around the field a few times and then settled to graze and roll in the mud. I then asked Solly and Tara into the roundpen that is still there and I played with them together at liberty and rode Tara a bit bareback and bridleless ;-)) FUN...here is some pic's of them enjoying the field again:
Monday 26th December
Another grey day but a great opportunity to take the horses out for another walk/graze session around the cottage and to have some fun/play too. I LOVE that we have SO MANY natural OBSTACLES to play with, just need imagination and away we go ;-) Here are some pic's:
huge amounts of tree branches that have fallen down so far this winter...excellent ;-)
encourgement from me ;-)
and then back them up again....nicely done horses ;)
circling my two babies together ;)
block together....so cool...love my horses ;-)
Hanging out together ;))
Mark with big Stormy
Mark and his lovely mare Holly ;)
Saturday 24th December
All the snow has gone, almost overnight and there's some nice grass to be had SO Mark w/Stomy & Holly and me w/Solly & Tara went for a nice walk in the grassland in front of our cottage and the hill behind our cottage for the horses to stretch their legs outside their paddocks and to have some lovely grass. It was a nice mosey together and the horses loved it. Here are some pics:
Mark actually looks small beside him here
it's what they do best. lol
and below, Mark with them ;-)
Wednesday 21st December
WINTER SOLSTICE
Tara and I sledging on our home made sledge today ;)
Sunday 18th December
EPONA DAY
Today is the 'Festival of the Horse' - Epona Day in the Pagan calendar, SO, to celebrate our own horses I went out in the big freeze and groomed them one at a time thoroughly then donned my best dress and jewellery and went and fed them treats and gave them hugs for being the bestest horses ;-)
It was fun and although freezing luckily my dress was actually warm...with thermals underneath it! lol. I will try during the year to get our herd to actually stand in a line one next to the other with me in the middle so that in future photo calls we can get all 4 horses together nicely ;-)
Here's some of the best pic's that Mark took for me...
Friday 16th December
Today I was determined to get the Dec OLHA Liberty course done, there are only 8 tasks but I know that I need to do it soon before more snow comes SO today was the day. It was very very cold and slippery so trotting over tarp and trying to ask Solly to trot at all wasn't really an option, he knows how to take care of his feet and legs that boy ;-)
Again we didn't get piccie's but I managed to snapshot some stills from the video, sorry about quality:
Task 1) flow through a curtain together
Task 2) Jump a very narrow jump
Task 3) Back up together
Task 4) Trot over a tarp...no trotting today though! ;(
Task 5) Scary corner...more like frozen corner! lol
Task 6) Bounce ball over horse...
you can see the blue ball going over Solly here ;)
you can see the blue ball going over Solly here ;)
Task 7) Jump hoop
Task 8) Pick up and hand me a feed bowl ;-)
We had a wonderfully sunny part of the day around noon today so I went and groomed a very muddy Mr Solly and then grabbed a very hard working video director (Mark ;-) and went and and filmed it in one go. It wasn't perfect but Solly and I had a fun, short session that we enjoyed together ;-) So, that's going to be winging it's way to the OLHA competition asap. We didn't take any still pic's for it BUT I managed to get some stills from the video...here they are:
Task 1) put sacks over Sollys back
...successful and trot for 12' ;)
Task 2) Trot onto tarp, stop, backup
then trot over tarp
then trot over tarp
Hugs after task 2 ;-))
Task 3) Trotting the weave
Task 4) Jump
...end of task 4...stop ;-)
Task 5) I eat something, Solly stands still
without trying to pinch my food. lol
Task 6) Back through the curtain
Task 7) Back through 3' squeeze...today it's chairs ;)
Task 9) Pop balloon with hoof...first try...
...Second try 'POP'...clever boy ;))
Task 10) Our own choice task,
walking through some pine branches,
they came from a tree that fell during the recent hurricane.
Wednesday 14th December
Good to be back, it's been a week since my last blog post. Nothing much happening apart from hurricane's, snow blizzards, sleet and rain falling. We have very icy tracks and pathways and the horses have been rugged for two days when the weather was really bad. Today though it's melted a bit, the wind has died down and it's not quite so cold SO, time to get my Dec OLHA course in actions me thinks. Solly is sound now (thank goodness) and it will be good to have some play/bonding sessions starting up again.
I set up the main course a day ago but spent a while replacing balloons that had blown away or burst in freezing conditions! lol. I then went and asked Mr Solly to join me...and he caught me beautifully, with just a jesture and love in my heart ;-)
We spent some time getting back our friendly game as being in the back garden is strange for him again. Eveything he did well I praised him and gave him a treat. I then went through the obstacles out of order and then in order. The biggest things were backing through three obstacles one after the other (curtain, small squeeze, bottle bank), the last obstacle (my choice) to walk calmly over some pine branches that came down with a tree last week, trotting onto and off the tarp (as it's a bit slippery ontop of and underneath!) and lastly popping the balloon with his foot!! Actually popping the balloon wasn't such a big deal, the cheaper balloons that I got from a well known big local store actually don't pop with a BANG like I was expecting, they sort of popped with a thin skinned sort of plop! lol. I also found nice long balloons which I felt would be easier for Solly to focus on and stay still more ;-)) He managed to pop two balloons and didn't hardly react at all, he was much more interested in getting treats for good behaviour! lol. Nothing better than positive reinforcement ;-))
Here's a couple of piccie's from the practise session:
First attempt, really BIG try...
trying to focus on it with his right eye!
Big treat for trying so hard. The next time he tried he managed
to pop it and didn't scare himself doing it...good boy ;-)
Tuesday 6th December
Nice bright day today, chilly but I got warm getting 5 barrow loads of poo picking off the paddocks! phew. lol. One way of getting warm that's for sure. Then Mark trimmed Stormy's back feet (did the fronts the other day) and I did Solly's feet. Sollys feet seem to be getting better, still a long way to go but the hard snowy ground is helping them to dry out and harden up...fab ;-)
After trimming I took Solly out for a 15min walk in the grassland in front of our house. He wasn't sure about coming out to start with, he's not been out of the field for about 4 weeks I think, since he came up when he was lame. But I just stood and waited and when he got to me he got a few pony nuts as a treat ;-) He then walked out nicely, grazing here and there but no hastle at all. He enjoyed the views, watched a deer walk by in the tree enclosure and we did some casual Stick 2 Me in walk we me on the left and right and put in some lovely backups with a very very light phase 1 (thought) from me ;-) We also did some S2M in trot along a nice flattish track and he is SOUND...whoop, whoop. Not lame at all now, thank goodness. The dry ground may have something to do with that, will keep an eye on his feet and also going to get some thrush cream together (Pete Ramey's treatment) to make sure there's no infection harbouring in his frogs and heels.
Here's some of today's pictures....
he holds the rope sometimes when unsure of anything! ;)
Monday 5th December
Still snowy up here, it often doesn't snow for much but it STAYS on the ground FOREVER! ;-( But today took advantage of it not being too slippery in the middle section of the track and took Tara out for a hack to the village to post a letter for Mark ;)
It was VERY cold so I wrapped up well but the ride was nice, mostly walk with a bit of trot down on the nice flat village green. Here's some pic's from the trip....
of cattle we walk through on the track ;)
Sunday 4th December
Last night and this morning we had a bit of snow...bit early for my liking but it happened like this last year too ;-( It was lucky that Mark 'read' Holly well on Friday that all the herd are now with us at the house for the start of the bad weather...HOLLY KNEW! she's a clever girl ;-)
SO, there is still grazing in paddocks 2 & 3 (paddock 1 has been eaten down when Tara and Solly were here on their own, last couple of weeks) and all the paddocks are open to them all now. There are two fabulous bridges that Mark made this year for them to cross between each paddock which saves them from jumping a small stream or walking in a deep bog ;-) Thank you Mark, fabulous job. Here are some piccie's from when we opened up the last paddock to them this morning, the bridge was used by all 4 and this was Solly's first time over this bridge. It's interesting to see that they go over the bridges in herd order, usually...Holly, Stormy, Solly, Tara ;-))
in her rug which only got put on last night and is
only put on in very cold or cold/wet weather ;)
are still in order by pushing each other around....
here is a three horse squeeze for Tara between the
top horses and the fence, she cantered through this squeeze ;-)
Solly making sure Tara (out of picture) knows her place in the herd...
he's looking good, engaged and no lameness from recent injury ;-)
bridge into the new paddock
me coming back over the lovely bridge ;0)
Sunday 4th afternoon
Now that the herd are together again I can actually take one horse out to ride...namely Tara, who needs riding for exercise at the moment SO out we go this afternoon, in the snow. It wasn't fast, it wasn't a lot but we got out and enjoyed ourselves mostly in walk with a small bit of trot back home ;-)
Saturday 3rd December
Today the herd is happy, peaceful and looking like they've never been apart. Before their breakfast this morning I changed their routine today, Mark walked the dogs up the hill behind their paddocks and I took Tara and rode her bareback up the hill with them. The rest of the herd were a little worried about where she was going and called out to her but when we got back (only gone for about 15 mins) they were calmly watchign out for her and were ready for their breakfast.
When we went in to poo pick Holly was lying down, Solly watching over her VERY close, Stormy just to the right of them watching the horizon to the North and Tara was just to the right but further down the hillock dozing (in the picture next she was to the left, just out of the piccie). It was lovely to see them all dozing and relaxing together on their little patch of grass. Now at least they can graze these last two paddocks over December and we won't have to give them hay for now ;-))
Solly and Holly on the top of the hillock,
Stormy watching to the right
Stormy watching to the right
Tara just below Stormy, all dozing and happily content ;-)
Friday 2nd December
The weather has started to be very VERY cold in the evenings and overnight, last night it was about -4* and when Mark went to see/feed Holly and Stormy, still down in the main grazing field, this morning he got the distinct feeling they wanted to come home now. At least if they're home with the others feeding is easier and we can keep a regular check on Holly and put a rug on her if she's showing signs of being cold. She is our main concern with rugs, usually by this time of year she's got a rug on overnight but so far she's been okay, her coat is good and she's fit and keeping good weight on her. But the time will be soon, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, when the temperature is just too cold for her during the night time and having her at home makes it easier to just go out and put it on when it's needed ;-)
So we take the car down the track to collect all the 'bits and pieces' we need from the field and I drive home whilst Mark leads the two monsters back home. I say 'lead' but actually Holly led (Mark leading from Zone 5) and Stormy led behind him, it was good to see that the 'games' we regularly play in the field have got a good purpose. Here are some pictures of them coming home and the lovely greeting they got from Solly and Tara when they got there....
Holly leading, Stormy following ;-)
Holly and Stormy catch sight of Solly and Tara...
they've been apart for about 3 weeks now
they've been apart for about 3 weeks now
Stormy's first attempt over one of Mark's new bridges in the paddocks ;-)
Solly and Tara excited about being with the herd again...
...and so are Holly and Stormy ;-))
Tara waiting to say hello to her friends
Tara and Stormy saying a big HELLO
Solly and Stormy getting reaquainted...
just before Solly put his foot over the fencing and broke the fence to be
back with his best friends! I ws trying to keep them seperated so that
Tara didn't get too fat on the other paddocks grazing AND Solly's bad
foot would get 100% better before prancing about playing with Stormy,
BUT who am I to keep a herd apart ;)
just before Solly put his foot over the fencing and broke the fence to be
back with his best friends! I ws trying to keep them seperated so that
Tara didn't get too fat on the other paddocks grazing AND Solly's bad
foot would get 100% better before prancing about playing with Stormy,
BUT who am I to keep a herd apart ;)
The herd running, happy to be back together again...
miss Fortune's beautiful chestnut still in our herd ;-(
miss Fortune's beautiful chestnut still in our herd ;-(
The herd beginning to settle
