New Bloggy Stuff That’s Getting Done

I am going to be making some small changes to my blog and how I run it, and I just wanted to keep you all informed as to what’s going on. So first of all I will be replying in the comments on the relevant post, so to read my reply to you please go to the post you commented on and look for my reply. Next I will be adding all my new followers to my sidebar so that every one that views my blog can hopefully see a bit of yours to. Then I also need to get around to adding a proper header to my blog. That is just about all, I might do some other stuff but I haven’t got anything planned.

The Storms Aftermath

Well it wasn’t going to last was it, not really, sadly a clean horse is only a short lasted sight, and now they are all muddy, here’s Madeline at least she hasn’t got it all in her mane.

Oh and here is Niko looking surprisingly clean.

And then you look at his other side, not so clean he normally rolls on both sides and rubs his face in the mud, so I was quite surprised to see he had only rolled on just the one side, still I am not complaining less work for me.

Pip did a good job keeping him self dirt free, he has a little bit of mud on him but nothing that will take long to get off.

Then we have Murphy, not as muddy as I thought he’d be. You can probably see his feet need a trim we are going to try and have him done at the same time as Tipper, but he has never had his feet done that we know of, so it should be interesting.

Tipper’s nice shiny coat covered in mud and dust, oh well so all in all I have a lot of grooming to do, and I didn’t get any done today, so I will have a whole load of grooming to do tomorrow before I can ride.

Thanks for all your nice comments on my last post.

Sherri, I do love to see them looking shiny, and yes it was the blog you linked me to before, and I have been following it ever since thank you for giving me the link in the first place it has proven to be a very nice blog, I did also see the boots they are very nice makes me want to get some for Murphy, for when I take him out on the roads with me.

Abby, no it isn’t anything to do with your eyesight, you are seeing him clearly, he is the most furry pony EVER! I just can’t seem to make him lose his winter coat every one else’s has nearly all gone Murphy has a bit, but I can’t get Pip’s winter coat out if you have any tips on how to I would be happy to hear them. I much prefer equines in summer coat and I have never seen Pip in his, so I really want to get it out, but he just won’t lose it. Oh and as for Tipper we have had a chat over the phone with the farrier and they are sending someone to try and do Tipper, they know what he’s like and if he gets too stressed they say it’s best just to let the shoe fall off by itself.

Debi, yes I do spend quite some time grooming, but I do like to groom, it’s nice to stand back and see them all clean. Who is the one that gives you trouble with their feet, all your horse seem like such well behaved chaps. I hope the rain helps your grass, our grass has shot up over night with the rain, but it doesn’t last with us having so many equines in such a little paddock.

Mary, I do like Shetlands very sweet, my childhood pet was a big black Labrador he was a nice chap, I didn’t grow up with horses I haven’t even been into them for that long it’s been about two years now since I got into horses. Yes we may have to trim them for the winter, but if I can keep them clean with out doing so I would be much happier.

Ted and Bunny, yes some days I wish they didn’t roll in the mud and the dust, then I could just do all the other stuff like pull their manes and stuff like that. I think I need to sort out Niko’s tail it is so bushy at the top and is starting to look a bit silly.

Kritter Keeper, I don’t think I have seen your ponies before, I hope they were better about having a bath than Murphy I have to lead him around after he has had one to stop him rolling in the dirt.

Sunny Days

We have had two very hot days in a row now, here are some photos of the horses and ponies, here is Murphy having a drink, nice fresh water, he already had water in the paddock, but I guess he prefers a fresh drink.

And here is Niko enjoying the last few bits of haylage with Tipper, he is a little on the thin side but gets fatter every day now with a big feed and the nice new haylage, he is looking nice and shiny too, I just wish it was easier to keep them shiny and clean.

Here is Pip relaxing in the sun, he loves to lie down and soak up the sunshine.

And of course have a cuddle I love lying with the horses and ponies, only on a sunny day, they can be just like dogs. I remember when I was a lot younger we had two huge wolfhounds, well I was small so they looked huge, it was nice lying with them. I did so love those dogs, but anyway enough reminiscing, on with the post.

So here is Madeline falling asleep with food in her mouth, she’s not as shiny as the others because when I took this photo I hadn’t finished grooming her, I did in the end get her looking as shiny as the others, but our camera doesn’t take very good photos in lowlight so I don’t have one of her clean.

Here is Tipper, he is now starting to get over his problem with picking his feet up, the other day I was able to pick up his feet with no help, but now his shoe has come off.

Here’s his shoe, he came over to see us and when I was making a fuss of him I noticed that it had come off, so I went off to hunt for it, as you can see I did find it in the end. We have called the farrier but haven’t been able get a reply yet so we will just have to wait, on the bright side his foot is looking a lot better and the mark is growing out quite well.

And one more of Murphy to let you see his shine, I think he looks the best but he is getting to the point of being fat now so we are going to have to do something about that. All these sunny photos are from yesterday, and today it is pouring down and there is lightning and thunder, still I guess that’s British weather, I will probably be doing a post about today but I wanted to use these sunny photos.

Thank you all so much for the comments on my last post, I am sorry about taking a while to comment on your blogs, but I hadn’t had enough time to blog the last few days.

Mary, Pip is very cute, his furry, also known as feathered, legs are nice but I’ve got to say I don’t look forward to trying to keep them clean in the winter with all that mud, maybe we will have to get him paddock boots.

Sherri, yes he has lovely clean teeth, but he has still got two baby teeth, I am not completely sure but I think that they should have come out by now, so we are just waiting to see if they come out or if we are going to have to get the equine dentist to take them out, they don’t cause him any discomfort so all is well for now.

Abby, yep it is so much better to be able to put them in a stable with no problems, Pip is coming along nicely he is very sweet about most stuff and boxing him was the only real problem so it is nice that he has got used to it now.

Kritter Keeper, they are quite nice, but we have a problem - the doors have dropped and are proving hard to open, this hasn’t happened to all the boxes luckily, so Pip can still enjoy the comfort of a box.

Ted and Bunny, thanks for commenting, and yes Pip sure is a sweetie. Glad to hear that your horse Bruce is now happy to be out.

Tammy, thank you for stopping by, hope you enjoy my blog.

Colt in a Box

I did a post about getting Pip used to being in a box quite some time ago, so now I am going to do a follow up post to show how he’s getting on.

He is very good about going in his box now, no time is wasted he will walk straight in with no problem now, as you can see he is having a nice feed we started giving him a feed in the stable, it has helped a lot.

He still isn’t quite right, he’ll go in to have his feed no problem but isn’t too happy about have to stay after his feed but he is getting used to it now, and boxing him is no longer a problem, we have no intentions of keeping him boxed for any real amount of time but it’s nice to have a well behaved pony.

And here is a photo of him checking out all the neat stuff that comes with a box, like soft and comfy bed, still think he would like the paddock more, he is back out with all the others now enjoying the new haylage.

In other goings on Tipper was great about having his feet picked up today, he almost picked up the first one straightaway, bit less cooperative with the second one, but we got it done pretty quick compared to before, so I am happy him.

Thanks for the comments on my last post.

Sherri, I think you are right, animals are good at telling if something is not quite right for them, especially Murphy I think he likes his job as haylage critic.

Abby, yes we may have to put the ponies in a different piece of the paddock to stop them getting too fat, but for now they are ok so they can munch in peace. And yes the cloud was full of rain, lots and lots of rain, but the weather has been pretty good today.

Mary, hello it’s always nice to see new followers, hope you enjoy reading my blog. Thanks glad you like the photo of the cloud.

Debi, thanks for the tip, they are already having a small feed a day but if they don’t show any improvement we will have to increase their hard feed. Our paddock is anything but laminitis green but we will have to watch the ponies on the haylage Murphy is a very good doer.

Autumn Mist, no there is no wining with a mix of equines, I think we are going to have to start taking Niko to have his food in the stable because he is useless at getting anything to eat when the others are around, oh well.

Murphy's Seal of Approval

We have been having some weight problems recently, as the paddock is way too small for three thoroughbreds and two ponies we don’t have much grass, so obviously we are having to supplement their diet. We are doing this with haylage, but not too long ago the haylage got rained on, now I don’t know but it seemed to take a lot of the goodness out of the haylage and the equines were losing weight, NOT ACCEPTABLE!

So today our trusty supplier has delivered a wonderful new bale of haylage, so fresh, so green, so yummy, or was it?

So here is a close up of the delightful haylage, now that does look good right, but first of all our number one haylage critic had to test it.

And here he is, does it get the seal of approval? Is it the best of the best? I handed Murphy a piece over the fence, but was it good enough?

Well yes of course it was, so it was time to start dishing it out to the expectant equines, it has gone down very well they all love it so I am happy. Murphy can sometimes be a bit odd about haylage and doesn’t like some of it, but not this stuff he has been pigging out with all the others.

So I am hoping to see an improvement in weight, but I can see Murphy getting very fat very quickly, so I will have to watch him, but it won’t hurt any of them to put a bit more on, and with this new yummy haylage I am sure they will be doing just that.

Thank you all very much for your comments on my last post.

Sherri, no it’s not easy seeing them in a mess, but it was good of you to give your chickens some of your back yard, I hope we can get another paddock sorted out before winter that way we won’t have such a mud problem.

Juliette, I wouldn’t worry about them, if they are bad for your horses they won’t eat them, I hear that thistles are even used in some equine care products so I don’t think you have anything to worry about, you could just cut a small amount down and if they eat them go ahead and prepare them some more, I am sure they’ll enjoy something different.

allhorsestuff, its always nice to see horses trying out stuff just so long as it’s good for them, I was just wondering does your mare eat them uncut? Or do you cut some up for her?

Abby, yes I think we will have to discus it all with the farrier and see if he can get it done, he seems like a very patient farrier so it should be ok. Tipper was pretty good about having his front feet picked up today so that was quite encouraging, I hope he is the same tomorrow. Yep they do love them some prickly treats. I would really like to have a grey or maybe white horse one day, but just by looking after Pip I know how much trouble it would be keeping one clean, so you have my sympathies and good luck with keeping Spotty clean.

Thistles in My Paddock

Recently I have noticed that our equines have been enjoying eating the heads of thistles so I decided to try them on a meal of cut thistles. It went down pretty well and so I thought I would do I post about it and how to make them more appetizing.

As these thistles are not in the paddock I had to first of all cut them down, and obviously place them in something to transport them to the paddock, I made sure to try and get the thistles that had begun to bloom as the horses like the blooming heads, Then I cut the thistles up into lots of little more edible pieces.

If you do try this remember to try your equines on a small amount first, as thistles are very prickly and may not be to the taste of some equines, Tipper was not very keen on them, but Niko got stuck in.

After preparing the thistles I delivered them in the wheelbarrow, as you can see they are going down quite well, obviously these are just a treat of sorts, and they all had their normal feed of haylage after the thistles. Please excuse the muddy equines it’s very hard keeping them clean with all this mud.

So there you go just one more thing they will eat, and they really did enjoy them too, but I think I will stick to something less prickly next time, it wasn’t much fun preparing them for the horses and ponies.

Thank you all for your comments on my last post.

Autumn Mist, he will be all mended very soon, it hasn’t taken long to sort itself out, but it is just one more mark that we will need to get the fur back on.

Sherri, yes sorry about the nasty photos, but I wanted to show how it was all coming along, thanks for the comment.

Abby, sadly we don’t have a hose in a suitable place to use on the horses, so we just let it go down by itself. Yes I think you are almost defiantly right about the farrier, I don’t know if he has been shod on all four, but considering he is a racehorse I would think that he has been. It is very worrying because one of Tippers shoes has become lose, and we will need a farrier to sort it out, but Tipper isn’t ready to have the farrier yet as he is still not very well behaved about having his feet picked up, and I don’t know if any of our farriers are likely to lose their temper with him, if so it will set him back so much and we may never sort this problem out. I think one of our farriers should be able to get it done as he has been brilliant so far, but you never know, right. Sadly the weather here is rain on and off one second it is sunny the next it’s windy and raining, still hopefully it will help the grass to grow. I just go on and on don’t I sorry I just had to get that all out like I said it’s all very worrying.

Fix You up Good and Proper

WARNING this post contains blood and gore.


In my last post I mentioned Tipper being kicked and sent lame, well he isn’t lame any more so take that lameness and don’t come back. Anyway here is what’s going on with his injury, and how we are treating it.

This is his injury on day one, it is quite easy to see how bad it is, its not too bad just a nasty flesh wound, but obviously its pretty painful, you should be able to see a flap of skin, now the vet would probably cut this off but we haven’t got anything suitable for the job so it stayed.

Here is day two, as you can see the injury has become infected and has swollen despite us using Cut and Graze, Chestfields product. I am not surprised a nasty wound normally gets infected, but it is nothing too bad just a bit of puss.

Day three, you can see it is draining well from the mess down his leg all that bad stuff coming out, so that’s good.

Day three still, we used Hibiscrub to clean out the wound making sure to get all of the puss out and giving the wound a good soaking in Hibiscrub to help kill off any infection.

Day four, as you can see it is looking pretty good now after having been cleaned again, and the swelling has gone down a lot to so that is great, so like I said at the start of this post he is no longer lame, and is well on his way to full recovery. Sorry to any of you that are squeamish, I hope it wasn’t too bad and I will understand if you skip this post.

Thanks for the comments on my last post.

Sherri, yep it does take quite sometime giving them all a rub down, but it is fun and the photos are sweet, of course it also stops them losing weight from getting cold. And as for Tippers’ wound I hope this post has shown you that he is well on his way to recovery.

Abby, our horses don’t have hind shoes, Niko’s got the fronts on, and so has Tipper, but the rest of them are unshod, probably for the best considering how much damage they do to one another with no shoes. Poor Spotty getting kicked all the time that’s just not fair. Tipper is young and clumsy, but I am sure he will grow out of his clumsiness, hopefully sooner rather then later.

Debi, hmm maybe I am a horse collector, but only two of them are mine, Niko and Tipper, the others all belong to my family, but yes we do have quite a lot of them. Yes it’s most likely they are still sorting out who’s who but I hope this won’t happen again. How old is Ace I was just wondering?

allhorsestuff, feel free to call Tipper or Bold Hawk what you like, but please stick to one so I know who you mean, I will still call him Tipper but that doesn’t mean you have to I don’t mind if you call him Bold or Tipperhawk. Yep I am looking forward to seeing him without his scars. You said about an ill fitted saddle but you also said you have got rid of all the white hairs so no harm done, I am sure she appreciates what you are doing for her now. Yes I was wondering if it might hurt him to pick his feet up.

Caught in the Cold

We have had yet more rain here, when we arrived at the paddock yesterday everyone was very wet, too wet to put a rug on so we set about drying them off. Here is Niko being dried off, then we put his rug on so then it was on to Tipper.

And here he is looking very sweet in that blanket, but bad news he has been kicked by one of the others and is now lame, he can still hobble around but obviously I won’t be doing any work with him an till he is better.

We did dry Madeline off as well but I don’t seem to have any photos of it, I must have got carried away with photographing the ponies, so here is Murphy I felt mean not drying off the ponies even if I wasn’t going to put rugs on them.

Pip looking a bit like he is wondering way I am bothering to dry him, he wasn’t cold, despite being soaked on his top layer of fur, his coat is so thick he was nice and snug, but he too was dried. Anyway that is all really but I just wanted to use these photos as I think they are quite sweet.

Thank you all very much for your comments on my last post, and hello to my new followers I hope you enjoy my blog.

Abby, thanks it’s great to see him looking quite good, I had hoped to start doing a bit of work under saddle with him soon but now he is lame that will have to go on hold, poor chap.

Sherri, well he is all ready happier let’s hope he will turn out to be the lucky part as well.

Vitzy, Welcome to my blog, and thanks for following me.

Shirley, yep I do live in England, and thanks for the tip I have quite the assortment of tips from helpful bloggers such as yourself and it is much appreciated, thanks.

Autumn Mist, yes I do think doing lots of work with your horses helps them in so many ways like as you say their confidence, and as for love I have never found a horse that I haven’t grown to love and Tipper is no exception.

Debi, yes I to like his colour it’s a very nice colour, he’s a good looking horse it is just a shame about all of his scars, but they will hopefully soon be covered in nice new fur, well so long as we can stop him getting himself kicked.

New Horse New Name

We have finally decided on a stable name for Bold Hawk, his stable name is now Tipper, we took a long time trying out different names for him we tried such names as Roo, Wesker, and Ozzie, but in the end we came up with Tipper, he seems to take more notice of Tipper then the other names, so it has stuck.

Anyway now on to how Tipper is doing. We are still working on his feet, it’s taking a long time but I am just going to try and get him to pick his fore legs up twice a day. I am not trying to pick his feet out unless they have a stone or something like that in them, I just want him to get used to me picking his feet up, then I will start picking them out.

See here, this is a photo of Tipper’s withers, he used to have a bald strip there, but as you can see the fur has mostly grown back, it is quite hard to even see where the mark used to be, we haven’t even used any products on him yet just a healthy diet. Thanks for the tip Abby, check out Abby’s Blog, My spotty pony. I will be trying out my other followers suggestions on the marks that won’t grow back with healthy eating. Anyway that is about all for now.

Thanks for the comments on my last post.

Sherri, yep I nearly always have no idea what the cats are doing and asking, dogs not so bad but our newest dog is always asking for something and is not very clear about what he wants, but I think horses are probably the easiest to tell what they want.

Abby, yes it is a very funny face and that naughty older horse is Tipper he is a bit bossy with Pip, and just today he has been telling off Murphy too, so he seems to be working his way up in the herd. I do wonder if Pip will go up in the pecking order. That is sweet of Spotty I think he was probably being affectionate or had an itch, but like you said they have so many ways of telling us what they want.

Looking At Your Horse in a New Light

Aren’t horses such expressive animals, always twitching those ears or flicking that tail, and most of it means something so I thought I would do a post about horse body language. This photo is of Pip he has just been bitten by a larger, older horse, see how he is opening his mouth he isn’t threatening to bite he is being submissive, gesturing to the older more dominant horse he means no harm.

And see here why are his ears pined back, well most of you will know Murphy is doing this in a threatening gesture, but it can mean lots of different things, like if a horse is in a fast gallop they will often put their ears back, and some times the ears are back so that the horse can hear more easily behind itself, but equines have so many ways of showing things.

You should be able to see a difference between threatening and listening in the horses face, the nostrils are a good place to start if the nostrils are narrowed and wrinkled at the top, he is being aggressive or showing a dislike to something or it could even be that the horse is in pain, and relaxed nostrils obviously show a relaxed horse.

Flared nostrils show excitement, or they can show that the horse is scared or distressed, and of course they can also be flared because of the horse is breathing hard from work.

And the tail can also be used in horse body language, the horses tail can swish in irritation often at fly or other insects, or be used to display anger. Horses will also use their legs to show discomfort by stamping or kicking out in irritation, but they may also stamp to show pain or impatience.

The horse’s body language can be a good way of finding out if they are in pain, if a horse is in pain they may turn to look at where they are in pain and sometimes even snap at it, or they may just turn their eyes and ears in the direction of the pain.

Horses can show us so much with their muzzles as well, they might nudge a feed bucket to show a want for more feed, they will also nudge water containers if empty, or they may show you an itch that they would like you to scratch for them. But in the end it is down to putting the horse’s expressions together, to see just what they are really saying to you. Anyway there is no way I could put all the horse’s body language in just one post so that will have to do for now.

Thank you all for your comments on my last post.

Abby, yes Madeline does look very much like a toddler with all that food up her face, she was going really nicely in work today she is quite a responsive horse, anyway I am rambling but I thought I would let you know we have decided that Bold Hawk’s stable name is Tipper I will be doing a post about it soon.

Sherri, yes I like the bottom photo as well, it is just a shame the camera ran out, Pip and Murphy were running around like loons it would have been nice to have some with Murphy in, those two ponies are a funny bunch.