Everyday Stuff

Just a quick post to let you all know how everyday stuff with the horses is going, if you couldn't care less about this please do feel free to skip it. Well as you can see we've got all the Thoroughbred Horses rugged up and they are getting their fluffy winter coats now, the ponies winter coats are so thick they don't need rugs and most likely won't all winter. 

Above is a photo of our field or one side of it anyway, with all the rain we've been having it had left the fields quite muddy, then we had all the wind that dried the fields out and here you have it one big dirt field, it does have some grass down one end but they won't eat that so I guess they can't be hungry, just as well with all the haylage they munch through.

Of course haylage isn't the only thing our beloved equines are eating, we've still got our portable fencing and although it is a little run down, it's plastic after all, it still does the job. This is a shot to show some of the grazing they get, it's not great and does have rather a lot of weeds but at least they can still get some grass.

Here's what else they can reach, yummy apples, some of our herd are a little too fond of the apples, but we do keep an eye on them to make sure they don't over do it and make themselves feel ill.None of our equines have to worry about getting a shock from the portable electric fence because we don't turn it on, with them in, this does sound a bit silly but they are remarkably well behaved so they're is no real need to turn it on.

  

Coming to the end of the post now with a photo of the wonderful Niko, he is looking over to see when we are done putting up the portable fence. All the equines are well and happy, the farrier is coming tomorrow to trim their hooves, so let's hope that all goes well. 

That's it from me I hope you are all having a great time with your equines or whatever it is you happen to be up to. 

A Yard of Sorts

  
As the horses and ponies have now been moved over to where we had the stables put up I thought I would sort of show you all around. So here are the stables they still have attachments that need putting on like door latches and most still need haynet rings.

  
All the doors except the one on the ponies box have large metal chew strips to help protect the doors, especially from this chap who just loves to have a good crib on the top of his door.

  
Here is the inside of Niko’s box he has the kick boards right the way up the wall to prevent him from cribbing on the wall and causing them to splinter. 

  
When we ordered the stables we asked for skylights and here they are, they’ve proven to be very helpful with so few daylight hours, it’s good to have that bit of extra light before it gets dark in the stables.

  
And here is something we did not ask for but were pleased that it was done, rather than the front wall reaching right to the roof a gap was left at the top, this was probably just a way to use less wood but we like it because it helps the stables with air flow.

  
Now enough about the stables. Here is the turn out area it’s far from ideal but it is not that muddy at the moment so it will do, as you can see we’re using portable electric fencing, it works very well and is quite easy to use.

  
The horses are in at night and go out during the day which gives them time to stretch their legs, have a roll, and socialise.

And finally the muck heap it is quite close to the stables which makes mucking out a lot easier, well that’s just about it, we don’t have a tack room as we keep it all at home.

And that is our yard of sorts.

Enough is Enough!

Normally I don’t have a problem with cribbers and I think it best to let them get on with it, but recently Niko has been very lazy about foraging, can’t say that I blame him as there is very little to forage, but it has been causing him to build up weight more towards his front and with his already poor top line he quite simply looks a mess also he hurt his shoulder. So we have stopped him hopefully for good.

We tried the Cribox and sadly it didn’t work for long as every time it rained the Cribox was diluted and stopped working, so that was just no good as we ended up buying all the Cribox from the tack shop and it still wasn’t enough.

So we tried chilli sauce as we had heard it worked sadly Niko seemed to quite like it and was very happy cribbing on his nice chilli flavour posts, so again no success.

Then one could turn to a cribbing collar or a muzzle, but cribbing collars don’t really work unless you do them up so tight that they are nearly choking the horse, so despite what some may say they aren’t a humane way of stopping a cribber. A muzzle is also a bad way to go about stopping a cribber as it can make them head shy.

So we finally got around to crib proofing one section of the paddock by running a strand of electric wire along the top of the fence posts where Niko would normally crib, this has worked brilliantly and he now doesn’t even try to get a quick crib in, he hasn’t shocked himself once as he is well aware of what the wire is.

I really am quite happy about this and I do think this will work I know that Niko will never really stop being a cribber and if he gets the chances to crib he most likely will, but he is looking better already for not cribbing.

Tomorrow I’ll be posting my review of the saddle pad now I have had time to give it a fair crack at the whip so to speak.

Here's The Plan

As you all know we aren't very pleased with the yard owners and so I have decided to try and move sooner then later. So here's what we are up too, at the moment we are trying to get the fence up and running, we decided to go with electric fencing because it is a lot cheaper then post and rail and we really don't like barbed wire.






We need to sort out the stables as well, but I think that if we can get the paddock fenced all our horses and pones will be fine living out until the stables are ready, as they are all quite used to living out, and we have some great weather here too.



I would really like to hear what you all think of it, if you think it is a stupid idea please just say so I won't be offended.

The Project - Clearing the Land

After some very disappointing livery yards (I might tell you some tales sometime) we finally got the chance to have our own yard in a derelict orchard. This has become "The Project" and I'll be blogging about our progress.

First we had to get a digger in to take out some of the trees which were burnt and then we had fence posts put in using the digger.

Cost: £1,420

How Not to Fence Your Paddock

Here is a picture of the sort of fence used at the private yard where Niko, Madeline and Murphy have been over wintering. As you can probably guess it doesn't keep the horses in. Luckily for us Madeline doesn't jump and Niko is too polite to jump out of his paddock. But Murphy is a different story, and will quite happily pop over a pallet to visit the other horses. It is a good job that he is a fine jumper as horses can easily injure themselves on poor fencing.


You can't make suitable fencing for horses from pallets, orange baling twine and tree stakes!

We will be moving as soon as possible.

(More on the move to come)