More nonsense about my ponies...
Ponies are love! I've been flitting between yards to exercise Horace all week (he is so much fun!), but my 'home herd' are, as always, where my heart lies.
The gingers
I bought Dink and Flash in on Tuesday night, because the farrier was visiting yesterday and we thought it would be nicer not to present him with eight muddy hooves. :P They were in Bea's stable together, and thought the horse mirror was fascinating. Dinky just kept gazing at herself in it (she is a Barbie Princess kinda horse, after all), while Flash kept trying to find the 'other pony'. Very sweet.
After the farrier had been (they were both very, very well-behaved) I fixed a new paddock for them. I took them out of their little paddock the other week because the bad weather we've had has turned it into a quagmire, and I was worried they'd get all manner of foot problems from standing in it 24/7. So I put Bea in the Shire field and let the gingers have full range of my field.
...Which turned them into barrels on legs, even with me putting them back in their little paddock at night. So, to avoid laminitis, I made another small paddock that stretches a bit further up towards drier land. We'll see how long this one lasts.
This morning they both came into the field shelter, one after the other, to give me a 'kiss' over the fence by gently pressing their little noses against mine. XD
Pepsi
Pepsi is Pepsi. There's not much more to say on that subject. XD She greets me every morning with sweet little whickers, but I suspect that's mostly because a) she knows I'm coming to feed her and b) she's competing with Dinky, who also calls to me. She competes with Dinky a lot. Pepsi is very fond of Flash and, although Dink's opinion of him seems to tend towards annoyance, there is NO WAY she's going to let Pepsi have him. Poor old Peps. It must be hard trying for the attention of a younger man when there's a flaxen-haired vixen nearly 20 years her junior in the way. Not that that stops her...
So in summary: Pepsi is a cougar. True story.
Bea
I'm sorry to say I haven't had much to do with Bea since she's been in the big field, save what I usually do with the Shires in there - check water twice daily, check them twice daily, investigate if anything seems amiss (it didn't). She was on her own to begin with (although she had the gingers on the other side of the fence), but has been in there with Harvey and Boy since the weekend. Which I think she approves of, matriarch that she is. :)
Last night, long after I'd finished at the stables for the day, the heavens opened and I lay in bed listening to the rain hammering against my window and thinking about poor old Bea out in the field. No one could ever accuse me of being precious about my horses - I'm pretty sure they won't melt in the rain. But Bea is an older lady.
After finishing work today, it was bloody cold and threatening rain so I thought I'd fetch her in on my way past and put her in the stable. As we walked down towards the main gate, I could actually see the rain coming towards us - it was almost like mist, pouring in across the fields. When it reached us it was raining horizontal, and we were both soaked by the time we reached the stables.
So she's in tonight, even though it's stopped raining now (about 10 minutes before Horace and I finished our ride, typically). No harm in giving the grand old girl a dry bed for the night. Plus, I realised how much I'd missed having her on the yard. She's such a big gentle mare. Gah! It's going to be hard to say goodbye to her when I move.
But my heart was full when I made my way home tonight. I had Bea in one stable, Pepsi in the other (who'd only come in to eat her dinner - she has free access in and out), and the gingers in their little adjoining paddock. All my ponies together. I like that! :3
The gingers
I bought Dink and Flash in on Tuesday night, because the farrier was visiting yesterday and we thought it would be nicer not to present him with eight muddy hooves. :P They were in Bea's stable together, and thought the horse mirror was fascinating. Dinky just kept gazing at herself in it (she is a Barbie Princess kinda horse, after all), while Flash kept trying to find the 'other pony'. Very sweet.
After the farrier had been (they were both very, very well-behaved) I fixed a new paddock for them. I took them out of their little paddock the other week because the bad weather we've had has turned it into a quagmire, and I was worried they'd get all manner of foot problems from standing in it 24/7. So I put Bea in the Shire field and let the gingers have full range of my field.
...Which turned them into barrels on legs, even with me putting them back in their little paddock at night. So, to avoid laminitis, I made another small paddock that stretches a bit further up towards drier land. We'll see how long this one lasts.
This morning they both came into the field shelter, one after the other, to give me a 'kiss' over the fence by gently pressing their little noses against mine. XD
Pepsi
Pepsi is Pepsi. There's not much more to say on that subject. XD She greets me every morning with sweet little whickers, but I suspect that's mostly because a) she knows I'm coming to feed her and b) she's competing with Dinky, who also calls to me. She competes with Dinky a lot. Pepsi is very fond of Flash and, although Dink's opinion of him seems to tend towards annoyance, there is NO WAY she's going to let Pepsi have him. Poor old Peps. It must be hard trying for the attention of a younger man when there's a flaxen-haired vixen nearly 20 years her junior in the way. Not that that stops her...
So in summary: Pepsi is a cougar. True story.
Bea
I'm sorry to say I haven't had much to do with Bea since she's been in the big field, save what I usually do with the Shires in there - check water twice daily, check them twice daily, investigate if anything seems amiss (it didn't). She was on her own to begin with (although she had the gingers on the other side of the fence), but has been in there with Harvey and Boy since the weekend. Which I think she approves of, matriarch that she is. :)
Last night, long after I'd finished at the stables for the day, the heavens opened and I lay in bed listening to the rain hammering against my window and thinking about poor old Bea out in the field. No one could ever accuse me of being precious about my horses - I'm pretty sure they won't melt in the rain. But Bea is an older lady.
After finishing work today, it was bloody cold and threatening rain so I thought I'd fetch her in on my way past and put her in the stable. As we walked down towards the main gate, I could actually see the rain coming towards us - it was almost like mist, pouring in across the fields. When it reached us it was raining horizontal, and we were both soaked by the time we reached the stables.
So she's in tonight, even though it's stopped raining now (about 10 minutes before Horace and I finished our ride, typically). No harm in giving the grand old girl a dry bed for the night. Plus, I realised how much I'd missed having her on the yard. She's such a big gentle mare. Gah! It's going to be hard to say goodbye to her when I move.
But my heart was full when I made my way home tonight. I had Bea in one stable, Pepsi in the other (who'd only come in to eat her dinner - she has free access in and out), and the gingers in their little adjoining paddock. All my ponies together. I like that! :3