General Chat

I don't mind snakes....it's the spiders I hate!!!!

Hi Marjery
OMG snakes!! I would be terrified!!
The hay is not badly priced as it is the equivilant of 100 small bales so £2.85 per bale delivered to my door. another company I contacted wanted £4.50 a bale!!
we are never usually short of grazing, we have around 5 acres but we have the cows and horses separate. My brother is currently building a new glass house on one of my paddocks which is taking up about half an acre or so, he is going to demolish one of the others once it is finished and that will be re sown for grazing but wont be any good until much later this year if not early next year.
we are forecast some more rain tomorrow so hopefully after the sunshine we have had the last couple of weeks the grass I am resting will start to grow properly.
They wont starve, they are all natives so designed to live on next to nothing!!!

Julia

Hullo Julia, That sounds like expensive hay. We sell our small bales of oaten hay for $8 if you come and get it and $9.50 to deliver it and unload it.
One A. dollar = 60pence at the moment. How long do you think it will last you and do you have a decent sized paddock for your horses. Feed must be a worry with your sort of weather. We haven't had any rain since Nov.20th and then it wasn't very much. Our paddocks are absolutely bare, only bits of dried up bits of whatever was growing here and there in the donkeys paddock.. The sheep are on the remains of last year's stubble in the other two paddocks. There is not a blade of green anywhere, the whole countryside is baked a golden brown.
It doesn't worry the donkeys they are not very keen on lush green feed or clover, prefer something dried up.
Yesterday there were distinct snake tracks around the donkeys shed. Their hay shed is there as well and I have a good look there before I venture in to feed them. About a month ago I was coming out of their gate and fastening it up and I turned around and there stretched out was a long fawn and black striped snake watching me. Amazing feats of athleticism were performed when I ducked around a truck that was parked nearby and raced around the yard towards the house and stayed there til my heart stopped thumping.

Another lovely day although a bit breezy!
I have just taken delivery of some more hay, bang goes £285!! I think I am going to have to feed it all summer as I can't see our grazing recovering enough after this particularly hard winter. They only had massive 8 foot long bales left, equivalant to 25 small bales !! they are going to be tricky to handle but its lovely hay and the horses will appreciate it!!!
hope everyones horses, ponies and donkeys are well

Julia

Glad you liked it,music fits so well.

Marion- thanks for that link, it was amazing. it must have been very scary for the riders involved but they must have got such a buzz out of it!! not sure I would have been able to get Molly into that much water although I did get her to go through the river in the lead the other day!!!

Hi Yvonne

Yes I suppose it could have gone bad. Great to see though :))

Hi all

Watched the video Marion, that was great, it could have gone either way the horses could have paniced and gone into deeper water. The riders were very brave too

x

You got room in your garden Stray ? lol

im gona show littlman it when hes comes in from playing out he will think thats brill

i always wanted a horse when little, but had riding lessns instead, i wish littleman would get the horse bug, but he refuses to get on one :( xxx

Isn't it Stray. I've watched it a few times.

wow! marion, that was fantastic xxxx

I'm not a horse person/owner but look at this. Watch it right through and have the sound up.Brings a lump to your throat, brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRc3Ev05QiM&feature=related

Hi Moonchild,
Are you feeling nervous or just cautious. Sorry to spoil your dream.
My neighbour also has a very nice ex racehorse mare that she only bought last year to do dressage but they don't get on so she is going to be sold. on perhaps. They have another mare which my grandaughter can ride quite well but her hoofs bleed and they can't find out why. It doesn't seem to bother her at all. Then there is a stockhorse that dumps her husband off frequently. He would be able to turn on a sixpence having been trained to go after cattle, but is a bit advanced for his owner I think. Last year they heard of another ex race horse that had been in a small paddock for six years and was a bag of bones with a matted tail that someone had cut off so they took him in and he looks a whole lot better now and his tail has grown a little. Finally they have a little white pony that was in a terrible state when they first saw her and with careful feeding and feet and teeth attended to she has now improved out of sight. They were given her but her owner wanted her back when she saw how well the pony looked. They just told her she didn't look after her when she owned her before so she wasn't getting her back. and they haven't heard any more from her.

Reading your post has just broken my dream Marjery.......I dreamt that I bought an ex TB racehorse, 16.2hh and a light greyish brown colour, really unusual to describe........it looked a bit boney and when I tried it out it was a nice obedient ride, but I remember thinking in this dream that if I fed it up, perhaps I would not be able to handle it......plus the fact that me being only 5ft tall I would have been overhorsed...... its a bit like what happened when I went to buy a horse and ended up bailing out the side door and in plaster with a broken ankle.......ouch....

It is actually a bit cool today 20.7C at 10.28a.m. but usually rises quite higher as the day goes on. Nice to hear your weather is improving.
Donkeys are all well but neighbour's new dressage horse has managed to unload her husband and he has now broken a collar bone. If she gets her husband to ride her horse it usually means that it is a bit too frisky for her to get on. The trouble is she feeds all the best feed and the horse doesn't get enough exercise except a jog around her arena changing legs. Being a late starter to riding she is very nervous out in the open and prefers to ride in an arena where she feels quite confident.

re Epsom Salts my brother-in-law says it is "bloody wonderful stuff". He told us to bathe Jennifer's leg with a strong solution as comfortably hot as we could get it and then put a bandage on the leg. We used a face flannel and then wrapped it around her leg and bandaged it up and tipped the rest of the epsom salts over it. It dried quite tightly and you could see the dry crystals on the bandage. He says horses are always hurting their legs somehow or treading on sharp stones or bits of stick or jarring them or even getting a kick.
A book I have written by England's T.V. vet says it is always the hoof if horses show lameness. I dare say horses in England don't live out in the open in paddocks all the time like they do over here.

Epsom salts is an old and tried remedy......I used to use it, it has good drawing and healing properties........ agree it might be a bruised sole....

Hi everyone

it's been lovely today, turned my girlie out naked this morning, hope ponies and donkeys are all well

x

HI,
Tuppy seems much better this evening, just a bit stiff so hopefully it was just a bruised sole, I gave her another Danilon this evening to be on the safe side and i'll see what she is like in the morning.
I don't think it can be Laminitas yet, we havn't got any grass!! I have just halved their field in the hopes that the rested half will start growing a bit now the warmer weather is about.

The injection they have is the combined equine flu and tetanus. the actual jabs were just under £40 but we had the call out on top, I used to travel them to the vets for their jabs but we don't have any transport anymore.

Interesting about the epsom salts, its not one I've heard before, I will give it a try if the need ever arises!

Julia

Hi

Had vet this morning for horse's yearly jabs and teeth check, hopefully wont be too expensive, shared the visit with friend whose horse is lame.

I recently changed vets cos my usual one moved away. My horse isn't keen on vets but she likes the new one, didn't make any fuss at all

Julia perhaps your pony has trod on a stone and bruised the sole.

x