Pecking Order

'Little Sam' is back and is staying at 'Buttercup Farm' for a few days:

"Hey, you!  What does it say on this sign - I can't read it!"

'Little Sam' is probably fed up with being called 'sweet' and 'little' just because of his size. He is in fact perfectly able to stand his own grown among 'the crew'. Although generally he just stays out of the way and waits for the right opportunity to get what he wants.

With having 4 horses and one pony together in one field, studying the pecking order is interesting. In the mornings, I feed them in or near the field, it is quicker and works without troubles.

Before bringing the food, I go into the field and have a quick check up on them all. This way I get a hint in what mood they are all in and also to ensure all are OK.

I then leave the field to get the food and upon my return I place it out of sight. They of course know I have it with me, 80% of times my appearance is associated with food.

It has been quite warm again lately so they are not wearing their rugs.

Right at the front nearest the gate is 'Mr F' (yawning),  'Rose' opposite him  and right behind 'Mr F' is 'Madame'. 'Luke' is, as always, keeping himself right at the back, out of the way. And he doesn't like standing on graveled surface ...

Top of pecking order, as clearly shown above: 'Mr F' (this NEVER changes) 'Rose', 'Madame' and 'Luke' and then 'Little Sam'. He is in this field somewhere hiding in the fog.

'Mr F' will try and get at everyone's food.  He must be fed first or in a separate corner if there are several horses, or else there will be trouble. Although he is never nasty about his 'bossiness', they just 'know' and never argue or question it. He clearly has this presence of 'don't mess with me'. Although he does actually let 'Luke' share his food with him!

So, to let the girls eat in peace I keep him out the way and it also makes it easier for me to brush him.

'Mr F' with his breakfast outside the field. He rarely even put his head collar on nowadays. He much prefers to be able to move at free will. And this early in the morning there are no walkers or dogs around.

Next 'down' in pecking order is 'Rose'. Even if she already has a food bucket in front of her, she will always go for any of the other buckets that are put down only to eventually return back to her first bucket!

Hence why 'Rose' is tied up in one corner when eating so she can't  harass the rest who will leave her well alone (else I wouldn't tie her up as it would not be fair).

3rd down is 'Madame' who now only has to deal with 'Luke'.

'Luke' always remains in the background, looking very sorry for himself. He does get a small handful of food so he is not all left out.  'Lillian' does not want him to be fed like the others as quite clearly 'Luke' does not need feeding, looking at his well built figure.

Once he has finished his little bit of food (which takes him a looooong time) he then tries to sneak up on 'Madame' to get some of her food. Depending on which mood she is in, 'Luke' may sometimes get a special treat as 'Madame' lets him finish off the last bits in her bucket. Although that is rare and certainly not the case when it is cold and every corn of food counts!

'Luke' makes for very amusing watching with his attempts to sneak up on other horses' food. And no matter how many times the answer is 'NO!', he tries, again and again, pulling the funniest faces!

 

Luke:"I bet your food tastes better than what I had, let me try ..."     

'Madame': "NO! How many times do I have to tell you: leave me alone when I am eating!"

But there is a 5th creature awaiting to be fed, it has been hiding in the mist. It is 'Little Sam'. He is a very smart little pony and knows to stay away from the big guys when feeding. He knows his turn will come. When all others have finished and have been set up for the day I call 'little sam' who gratefully devoured his food. He knows that he is safe now as none of the 'big guys' will interfere. I would let them and they have learnt that by now, even bossy 'Mr F'.

'The crew' all well out the way ...

... and 'Sam' can eat in peace ....

.... but guess who turned up to clean up the left overs on the ground? ('Luke') ;)

'Mr F' - Hoof Rehab Week 1

Recommended by the 'Barefoot Lady', I am now applying 'artimud' and 'hoof-stuff' - to 'Mr F's feet to improve their condition.

I will one day remember to actually take photographs so one can see if progress has been made.

My first experience with the above products is that it does indeed stay in the cracks and crevices and protects them from mud entering. The mud just lays on top. It has to be replaced regularily, the directions on the tubs and website are detailed and easy to follow.

Overall improvements are already noticeable:

'Mr F' moves much better and is less stiff with his back leg. This may also be partly due to him slowly building up his muscles as he is being ridden every other day in the fields as part of his rehab program.

Improvements in 'Mr F's movement were particularly noticeable straight after the 'Barefoot Lady' trimmed his hooves for the first time. His hooves are very flared and they clearly hadn't been trimmed for some time.

So far so good.

Hey - Play With Me!

If I am not assisting my partner I work in my studio. It has a great view over the front fields. Every now and then I enjoy looking out the window to see what they crew is up to.

Being stationary for much of my work makes one feel the cold much more and I went up to get myself a warming cup of tea. Refusing to have the log burner on (only heating apart from some stupidly expensive electric radiators) as an extra layer will do for now.

When I returned and looked out the window I noticed that something was going on out there. I grabbed my camera with my zoom lense ... just in time!

'Madame' came suddenly charging around the corner. It is rare for her to move around in this manner and I was sure there was a reason for this. So I waited ...

'Madame' (approximately 16yrs) shown in the above picture - I can only guess that she was harassed by 'Luke' who wants to play a lot of the time but the girls are not really into playing, it seems to be a boy thing. You can just see 'Luke's red rug there behind the tree branches.

He tries to persuade 'Madame' a few more times in the hope she may be joining in for some fun time but she just wasn't having any of it.

Eventually 'Luke' gets the message and leaves her alone.  He then,  in a somewhat lethargic way, saunters up to what I call 'Luke's thinking tree. He likes that tree; for shelter, for scratching and ... for thinking. 'Luke' spends a lot of time next to that tree.

What follows now I was very glad to have been able to observe: a very amusing and impressive event of play. I had not seen anything like it before. I tried to capture it with my camera as good as possible but it's a tricky one to operate a zoom lense without tripod hence some photos will be a little blurred. 

The characters:  in red outfit: 'Luke' - in blue outfit: 'Mr F'.


'Pffft ... I'm bored! She doesn't want to play.          Hmmm ... what else could I do ....'

'Luke' spends a while under his thinking tree, wandering what to do next. The grass isn't great now and nothing else is happening ... somehow time has to pass ... 

'Maybe Senior wants to play. Now where is he ...  "Hey !..."

     "I'm bored!  Wanna play?"      "No, I am not interested. Go do something else."

Not being put off by 'Mr F's lack of enthusiasm, 'Luke's makes a loop around 'Mr F' and begins to roll in front of him. There is more to information passed on by rolling than just to rid of an itch I learnt, but that's for another topic. Here it seems to be another way of inviting for play time. 

 "You are booooring! .................... I bet you can't roll like this, look!"      "Sigh ..."

I like to add that my concern with 'Mr F' was that of a rather stiff hind quarter / back. Especially one leg. So I was even more surprised to see the unfolding of the following:

 "Mmmmm ... that felt good!"  'Mr F' slowly moves up to 'Luke'   "So, you really want to play?"     "Yes!"

"Alright, lets have it!!"  'Mr F' begins to gently nudge 'Luke'   "Oha ... what's going on now?"   You can just see 'Luke's little surprise buck.   "YOU asked for it - come on then!"

'"Great ... let us play!" 'Luke' makes a small loop and approaches 'Mr F' full of excitement:

Warm up round:

At this stage I watched aghast as at first as I thought that it now was serious. But quickly I realised that their ears and general facial expression do not show aggression. 

Well ... one forgets all about the stiff hind leg ... 

All the flailing legs never touch the other horses' body, nor do their pretend bites. It's like one big pantomime.

 "Is that all you've got young man?"  'Mr F' and his stiff upper lip while 'Luke' makes off to the top of the field where it is a little more flat and less muddy.

"No. But I prefer the ground further up ... right here. Ready?"           "Of course!"

Round two:

I can tell you that it was an amazing show and I forgot to take pictures half the time as I was so enthralled with what I saw. Their full power and agility, especially 'Mr F' who is 20 years of age, playing with 6 year old 'Luke'.

"Come on, more more .... "  - "No. This is quite enough for now." 

And so they both wander off ...

... for some after play near the thinking tree.

Tis The Time To Stay Warm

Autumn - a final burst of colours, before everything goes to rest during the winter months. But it is not only the leaves that turn red and golden, the morning skies in Autumn can be quite outstanding!

View from studio window

Before I became involved with 'the crew' - or more precisely with 'Mr F - I never paid much attention to the weather except for when we were snowed in. Now however its quite different. It has been a very cold night, unusually cold for this time of the year and I am glad that I managed to get 'Mr F' a decent 2nd hand rug and liner. It arrived just in time. The others were already equipped but 'Mr F's old rug has become too tight as his condition has improved over the past months and he is no longer as skinny.

It has been raining heavily on and off since Sunday and 'the crew' are quite fed up with it. 

The images below were taken from my studio window.

'Mr F', 'Luke' (lying down) and 'Madame' sheltering behind the wall from the strong winds and rain. 

A small rug study for me: standing up is 'Luke' (looking rather handsome) in an Amigo rug and 'Madame' in a Rambo Duo rug - same type as 'Mr F' (still lying down) is wearing now.

I am still not decided with which type of rug to settle for 'Mr F'. Even his 'new' 6'6" rug is just a tad too tight for 'Mr F', particularly when used with a liner. Although my guess is that the Amigo rug will be too wide at the front, the Rambo rugs are cut a bit more narrow. But I don't like how they seem to not allow for free movement of the shoulders. I quite like the idea of a side dart such as the Rambo 'Optimo' range. Perhaps a 6'6" rug of that range will fit better as they are slightly over-sized,  anyway. But it is really the wrong time of the year to hope for a good 2nd hand bargain because everyone is now hunting for rugs.

 

This rug will do for now, winter is upon us in not too short a time!

Breakfast - avoid if of a sensitive nature ...

An ordinary morning after last evening's heavy rain. The usual feeding brushing routine takes place, all is calm.

The 'Buttercup Farm' beast, the farm's mouse catcher (in other words a cat) usually queues up for breakfast too but to my surprise she was late this morning. 

When she eventually turned up, I noticed her very proudly walking down the drive, head up high but with something hanging out of her mouth. 

This 'something' turns out to be a dead bird, which she promptly dropped in front of my feet, looking at me very pleased with herself.  "Look what I've got!"

Alas, although I like birds and I have built a bird feeder, it is nature's way for a cat to hunt. Although I could do with her catching that mouse we all think lives on the farm. I like mice too, but it is a bit annoying when all the food in the storage area is being nibbled at.

Normally I enjoy listening to the gentle eating sound the crew makes during their breakfast but today it interupted by a quite unsettling 'crunch' and 'crack' sound in the background while the cat was devouring most of the bird. 

On this note: I wasn't expecting the cat to eat the feathers, too ... but she did.

She was kind enough to leave the cleaning up to me!

'Yum!'

Hard-wired to the Met Office ...

It is this time of the year when one moment it is a pleasant 16 degrees C and then, before you know it, the temperature plummets down to 11 degrees, accompanied by rain to make things more uncomfortable.

Where as most humans find this time very beautiful with the changing colours of the leaves, the misty mornings and the cosy times in front of crackling fires, for 'the crew' however, it is not so great.

I do attempt to plan my day in the early morning and part of this is to check with the met-office, again and again ... rugs on or rugs off ... 

For example: yesterday late afternoon I got caught out by the weather. When I left the Farm it was fairly warm still and dry but while I was out it began to rain.

When I finally got back I was expecting 'the crew' to be in the stables where they can shelter. Not so! I went to fetch them - well, there was not much fetching to be done as they all came running up to me with that look: 'Just WHERE have YOU been - look at us we are WET!'. Some where shivering even.

As the heavy rain was to stay overnight, it was time to get them in to dry them out and the put the rugs on.

Normally, there are two separate stables available, each in theory with room for 2 horses. However, with 'Kid' being on rehab, there is now only one stable available.

I though about which 2 horses would be fine put together for drying/feeding/cleaning. The stable can be split into 2 smaller sections, offering fairly confined space for 2 horses but only IF they get along.

'Rose' is the most difficult of the lot; not because she is difficult to handle but because she tries to bite  any horse nearby when in a confined area, she needed to be separated.

I put 'Madame' and 'Mr F' together but unfortunately had to leave 'Luke' outside. He also was the only one out of the four that was not shivering and seemed generally ok although hungry.

Eventually, after toweling/feeding/cleaning, all went back outside, with and without rug, depending on horse.

It is going to be more tricky over the next months - I will be hard-wired to the met office!

 

 Met Office App for Android Phones - FREE

 

'Shifty' has got the right idea ... 

Life is easy for some creatures ...

High Noon - Luke Van Cleef

'The tension was high, all was uncomfortably quiet. Every now and then, a tumbleweed slowly moved across the road as though it was pushed by an mischievousness, invisible hand. 

There! Heavy steps, steadily approaching.  The ground trembles!  Everyone raises their heads, knowing that something is out there ... approaching ... slowly ... heavily ... 

The footsteps are near now, very near! A shadowy figure can be made out through the gaps in the wooden saloon door ... it is not moving.

Could it be him? Could it really be HIM??

Suddenly, the saloon door is forcefully pushed open, smashing with a loud bang against the outside wall. 

Everyone holds their breath ... !

Standing there, in his usual purposeful pose, HE looks around the Saloon, gazing at all present; nothing escapes his attention!

Slowly, HE turns his head and looking at the bar he utters with his deep, coarse voice: 

"I told you I would be back."  '

'Luke' aka 'Luke Van Cleef'

I know, silly, but I can't help it! :)

Each morning and evening during feeding / cleaning routine the crew make me smile; they have different moods, different ideas, different motivations and different means of communicating; no gathering is ever the same. I greatly respect these creatures and enjoy being around them.

(It wasn't actually High Noon, it was early morning)

'Luke in particular can take on the weirdest poses and can pull the strangest faces! Just like here ... where he wasn't getting any feed (because he has to loose weight) and had to watch the others. But being at the bottom of the pecking order, he doesn't dare to enter the stable ... 

The New Kid On The Block

Here is 'Kid', a new arrival at 'Buttercup Farm'. He is here for rehab and is bound to the stable for some weeks. He has an infection on one of his hooves and has to keep his feet dry. Apart from the odd neighing and trying to push the door open (hence the wooden plank to stop him from rattling the door which in turn loosens the lock bolts), 'Kid' is fairly calm about it all.

He belongs to 'Lilian', or 'Lilian's daughter, not sure which. A lively and talkative creature. When he arrived he was in the field with 'the crew'. 'Kid' already knows 'Madame' and 'Luke'. He likes to play a rough game, particularly with 'Luke'!

Pedicure and Rehab

The same barefoot trimmer that had been recommended to 'Jane' and had already treated 'Rose' cam to see 'Mr F'. It was sure most informative.

'Mr F' had been barefoot for the past years and I want him to remain barefoot. However, his hooves need to be worked on, especially the frog area. This will include regular trimming as well as a rehab program consisting of exercises that aim to stimulate frog growth/development.

By exercise I am talking about the 'cloud walking' ... I wrote about this in an earlier post on here. It's basically working with 'sole mates' pads attached to his hooves. They are quite thick pads, about 3cm thick. With the pressure of the weight, they will adapt to the frog shape over time.

Ideally, the duration of these exercises ought to be around 30 minutes at a time, no longer yet. For the time being, abrasive ground is to be avoided.

Luckily, we have access to large fields at the back of 'Buttercup Farm' where I ride with 'Mr F'. Soft ground is fine as it will stimulate the growth of the frog without causing damage as hard ground would.

All this hoof talk is yet another minefield and there is so much to take in!

The central cleft on two of his frogs is rather deep which is an ideal playground for bacteria. Bacteria lead to infection and then the problems start. Therefore the frogs need to be cleaned and checked regularly.. To assist the healing of the central cleft, the barefoot trimmer lady recommended to use 'Arti mud' and also 'Hoof-stuff' by the 'Red Horse Company'.

As 'Mr F' should only do 'off-road' work, we cannot yet go out with others for a ride. A solution to this will eventually be to use hoof boots, of which there is quite a selection out there. The 'Barefoot Lady' kindly showed me how to measure the hooves.

I did show her our carpet slippers which made her smile and of course explained to her my findings with regards to increased comfort when he wears those slippers.

Measuring hooves for boots should be done when the hooves have been freshly trimmed.

I have spent much time researching all the different hoof boots on the market. So far I am tempted by the 'Old Mac G2' trail boots.

And then food, oh glorious food! Yet another minefield which I may address here later at some point, when I get my head around it a little.

After all, if one is healthy and well on the inside it should have a positive effect on the 'outside'.

What they eat can improve or worsen the condition of their hooves. Too much surgery feed for example is very bad for hooves. And it may be good to make notes of what you feed and when, if you are inconsistent because it takes approximately 8 months for dietary changes to show in the hoof.

 

The central cleft being rather too deep ...

 

The depth of the crack in the hoof wall which will need careful attention  ...

 

Nicely trimmed ...