the usual: F & J up front pestering, Luke looking on longinglyI'm being kept busy at work and outside work with the coaching I do and other bits and pieces.
I went up to my mum's a couple of weeks ago to help with the preparing for winter trim session which I just did in the field as the boys were grazing and milling around me as usual. They love/find it interesting when I go in and unless the grass or hay is very tasty, I usually have all three of them head over to see why i'm in their domain. Usually I have carrots, and this time I did, but they had to stand and have their manes and forelocks pulled for them this time. They also get their tails banged across just below their hocks to stop at least some mud getting in there. There's been so much rain, and the Highways Agency still haven't been to re-drain and fix the pasture so it looks like another winter of a muddy half of it. The other side is drier and much greener, but at coming in time, they have to stand in the mud or on the hardstanding by the gate, which sucks.
I was staying over this last weekend to horse sit, so when I got up to breakfast them on Sunday morning and it wasn't raining or sub zero temperatures and the field was still half wallow, I thought it might be nice to let them have a nekkid roll in the sand school. They all agreed - Jack twice, Luke only on one side, and Frankie fatly - and Frankie in particular showed off, bucking and kicking and flinging and snorting and prancing. Thinking back, I should probably have spent some time playing with him as they won't want to run around much on slippery ground, and he just gets this wicked look in his eye where he wants you to watch him show off his athleticism and his stops, slides and turns - he'd be great at running patterns - and to chase him a little bit, so he was seemingly disappointed when I just put Jack and Luke out with him, for him to chase and snarl at, before grooming, re-rugging and letting them head out to the field. They went quietly, almost keenly, but he was still in such a faffy mood that he 'forgot' where the gate was and ran up and down the fence line snorting, because he could see them in the field but couldn't get to them as fast as he wanted. Calling him didn't work, he didn't want to be caught, so I *had* to bribe him with some feed which of course calmed him instantly and he followed me to the field and indignantly found himself a pile of hay. I'm going up on Weds/Thurs this week, so i think i'll give him a bit of a loose school before he goes out on Thursday morning and he can have a roll and a mess around. I'll try for some pictures. It can't be fun to be in a rainy, muddy field, but nor is it fun to be stuck in a stable, even with hay in either situation. fingers crossed for a move to a warmer climes soon...
I was staying over this last weekend to horse sit, so when I got up to breakfast them on Sunday morning and it wasn't raining or sub zero temperatures and the field was still half wallow, I thought it might be nice to let them have a nekkid roll in the sand school. They all agreed - Jack twice, Luke only on one side, and Frankie fatly - and Frankie in particular showed off, bucking and kicking and flinging and snorting and prancing. Thinking back, I should probably have spent some time playing with him as they won't want to run around much on slippery ground, and he just gets this wicked look in his eye where he wants you to watch him show off his athleticism and his stops, slides and turns - he'd be great at running patterns - and to chase him a little bit, so he was seemingly disappointed when I just put Jack and Luke out with him, for him to chase and snarl at, before grooming, re-rugging and letting them head out to the field. They went quietly, almost keenly, but he was still in such a faffy mood that he 'forgot' where the gate was and ran up and down the fence line snorting, because he could see them in the field but couldn't get to them as fast as he wanted. Calling him didn't work, he didn't want to be caught, so I *had* to bribe him with some feed which of course calmed him instantly and he followed me to the field and indignantly found himself a pile of hay. I'm going up on Weds/Thurs this week, so i think i'll give him a bit of a loose school before he goes out on Thursday morning and he can have a roll and a mess around. I'll try for some pictures. It can't be fun to be in a rainy, muddy field, but nor is it fun to be stuck in a stable, even with hay in either situation. fingers crossed for a move to a warmer climes soon...
