Yesterday I Worried

Yesterday I worried.

Mostly because the weather was beyond hellish.  I had a flute lesson in the morning and, having fed everyone a good hard feed, thought they would be ok outside until I got home at lunchtime.

They weren’t.

When I got home, I put my survival suit on and went out to fetch everyone in – boys in the big shed and girls in the big stable.

Everyone was shaking, soaked through and frozen.  The Minions, especially Waffle and Silver, (Storm and Tids having been indoors) were yawning weirdly, not normal tired yawns, more opening their mouths widely and looking vacant.  I put a rope around each horse or pony separately and dragged them into their relevant shed.

No one was particularly helpful.  They usually know the routine but had completely forgotten it – the cold wind and incessant rain had frozen their brains.

At one stage, I lost my wellie boot in the mud, tried to put it on again with a drooping wet sock, couldn’t so ripped of the sock and did the rest in bare feet in wellies with my sock in my pocket. I hated every minute.

Three bales of haylage were split between everyone and distributed around the shed, likewise with buckets of water.

I left everyone to rest for 20 hours inside.  They needed it.

Lambie and Ster stayed in their shed watching me like Statler and Waldorf (Muppets) everytime I went past.

Here are a few photos from the day before. Everyone was tired then.  Winter is beginning to wear a little thin.  My poor Minions.

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10 thoughts on “Yesterday I Worried

  1. big ears

    poor you, what a day.

    little fellows all needed a break from the weather, we aren’t nearly as bad as you, but our gang are happy to come in at night to get inside and away from the mud and elements.

    Reply
  2. Carol Wood

    Poor you!!!

    We had a welcome frost with sunshine yesterday which made moving about bearable and were just drying up nicely.

    Today, however is a different day with rain all day and ponies miserable and under mud again!!! Nothing as cold or horrendous as you are experiencing!!! So I shall try to stop moaning about the wet conditions and remember there are plenty of horse owners worse off than me!!!!

    PS Apollo says he’s glad he’s living in Lincolnshire and wearing a nice thick rug if that’s what it’s like back in the homelands 🙂

    Reply
  3. Deb Twomey

    You take such very good care of your critters. I wish every equine owner could be half as attentive and intuitive. God bless, my friend

    Reply
  4. Vicki

    No fun for any of them, but especially Storm, poor chap. Hang in there, winter will give way to spring and warmer temps.

    Reply
  5. Terri

    Oh, so sorry for your troubles! (esp. the bare foot in the wellie part — perhaps in summer you’ll smile about this) Yesterday may have triggered memories among the original Minions of the winter two years ago when they were starving and close to death — before you came into their lives! You are so good to make sure each and every critter is ok. Wishing you a hot cuppa (perhaps with a lil shot of something?) and a warm foot bath….

    Reply
  6. Louise

    Our mud was back with a vengeance yesterday, after a couple of days of frost the rain came back and the fields were unbearable again . Only a few weeks til Easter, the clocks changing and hopefully some sign of spring. Keep smiling Frances xx

    Reply
  7. Judith Garbutt

    It sounds as though you had a truly horrible day. Your poor ponies – I hope they’ve all recovered overnight and that you can enjoy them again rather than worrying about them. Your photographs are, as always, wonderful and really capture the characters.

    Reply

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