I wasn’t going to move the Shetland ponies yet until I received a text yesterday evening from a friend saying that one of her ponies had come in “a bit footy”.
Footiness means their hooves are tender and it is often the first sign of laminitis from newly arriving spring grass. I didn’t need telling twice.
The ponies had to be moved.
So after their breakfast, I called them all up.
And they were such good boys, leaving their field without question or argument or even a headcollar.
The boys immediately went off to investigate their old paddock and I had opened up their containers too.
OH and I set up the electric fence energisers (one for each side) and I let the ponies out to go down to their track, where they will now stay until winter.
There’s not much grass on the track but there seems to be enough at the moment. This time of year what is growing is “rocket fuel” and I just can’t take the risk.
The fields have greened up over night, literally (or is that figuratively?)
And everyone has done very well over winter, so if they lost weight, I wouldn’t be too upset. If they need it, I will also supplement with hay, but I widened the track (to avoid a muddy corner) and they’re not interested in eating this new grass, which I will take as proof that they don’t actually need hay at the moment.
I wish I could make the boys understand that this is for their own good and rocket fuel is always dangerous to fat little ponies.
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They are just beautiful. And it is amazing how they come when called! I also hope that this will save you from having to do as much clambering around to take of them while carrying buckets & water. Difficult backs make everything more complicated. Good to see Pepper ,the livestock manager, on duty by the container. ;-}
Back to poo-picking the track. Always hard work.
Never a dull moment with your herd, and thank goodness for your friend giving you the heads up about her own pony.
Next time you are in town, have you considered a tattoo which says “no hay, no hay, you don’t need hay” ?
This is such a difficult time of the year and I know how difficult it is. Mine looked a bit ‘off’ on one fore foot last week so he’s been on box rest with his soaked hay and an hour in the bare paddock with another pony so he can have a roll and a mutual grooming session. It may be that he just has a bit of bruising from flying about the big field with the big horses, on slightly hard, uneven ground, but I have to treat it as potential lami, just in case.