Tag Archives: winter

Cold Snap

I must say that the horses and ponies are surviving remarkably well in this winter weather.  Their little faces are always very happy to see me and my buckets in the morning. There are no signs of shivering or misery from anyone, which is very good and a relief. You know me, I do like to worry.

Outsde is cold – it snows, rains, sleets and hails possibly all at the same time and mostly when I am outside poo-picking.  I tried silk liners in my gloves but it made no difference really to my poor fingers.  I gave up poo-picking when it turned into a blizzard.  There are limits.

While the horses/ponies were eating I examined Kolka’s coat and noticed that their winter coats are doing their job – the guard hairs are working.

And then at the side all the fur goes into points.

While the inner coat is completely dry and it is the same for everyone.  One very good reason why I don’t bathe my horses and ponies – the grease in their coats is keeping them warm and dry.

Little Pepper is not dissimilar.  She never feels the cold or gets actually wet through.  Everything just bounces off her apart from disgusting things she can roll in.

Ted, on the other paw, is made of very cheap nylon.  So today, before the dog walk, I put on his coat.  What a diffference that made.

Ted went running off enjoying every minute of the walk, even when the weather turned very nasty.  He didn’t even turn tail and run for home like he usually does.

Lambie just went back to bed.

And here is Ted looking very smart in his padded coat and no, we don’t think he looks like a chav (though we do).

 

I Made my Decision

I took this photo first thing this morning.  The sun made an appearance. It was brief.

I duly dished out my buckets at breakfast-time and then I went round feeling each horse and pony.

I was looking for the semblance of ribs, or even a rib.

Breakfast finished, Haakon’s hoof treated, I went to the Shetland ponies’ field and made another grassy bit for them to munch on. It just involves relocating the electric fence freeing up another bit of the field and then calling them there.

Again, I prodded and poked about for these mysterious ribs.

And I quickly came to the conclusion that none of my equines actually have any ribs whatsoever so, with this new discovery, I made a decision – no rugs.  They are all very well covered and don’t need them.  Also, when anyone wears a rug, they just stand there and don’t get around much which is not great.

I told them this so they know where I stand on rugs.

Monster said ribs were overrated anyway.  He may speak from experience.

This Lot

Honestly, this lot……. they have mooched around in their containers all day refusing to go outside, enjoy the relative calm before the storm (which arrives Friday) or even enjoy the rare sunshine.

Nope, they mooched instead trying to catch my eye every time I walked past.

So, after talking it over with my experts (Monika from Sandness Equine Services and Daisy), we decided that the ponies could now have access to their winter track. I know I said I wanted to wait until the temperature was in single figures but I gave in because their track is getting very muddy and they don’t want to be there.

I opened the gate. Tiddles went straight in, walking over the newly cleared and hopefully now packed down mud-free (yer, right!) gateway.

The rest followed, eventually.

Well, nobody needed asking twice and started to stuff their faces immediately.

I hope I have done the right thing and I tell myself the ponies won’t get laminitis here and hopefully the change of scenery will cheer them up and they will not get colic.  That will be the next thing. I don’t like ponies mooching and not eating.  So, yes, I caved and gave them their winter track.

I am hopeless but always with lots of excuses.