'Sort it out please!'

It's a bit quiet lately, the wintery showers and equally wintery temparatures haven't been very inviting for riding. Although I don't mind riding in the rain or snow but I prefer to at least set off in dry conditions ... I guess I am a bit of a fair weather rider ...

Today was another day with plenty of cold showers but the sunshine in between was pleasantly warm.

I enjoy photography I was glad to finally see some sunshine.

With the intent to take some pictures of moss and lichen on the stonewalls, I went into the pasture with the boys, 'Luke' and 'Mr F'.

'Kitten' has gone back to her other home at 'Lillian's.

When entering the field I saw the boys hover in a corner, staring at the neighbouring barn as though there was a big monster hiding in there. The neighbour was working inside one of his barns and there was a fair amount of noises emerging from it, including loud male voices.

'Luke'': 'Not sure where the noise comes from. Sort it out please!'

It appears that I seem to mean some form of safety because both boys came trotting up to me, hearts pounding. We stood there for a while and let time go by.  'Mr F' is as usual less bothered by noise and made a point that we mustn't forget that it was now 'grooming' time.

'Luke' watched for a while and then decided it was after all safe to join in with us. While 'grooming time' is always a welcome back massage, today I wanted to go take some photographs so I left the boys to continue on their own.

I made my way accross the field when I suddenly heared heavy hooves behind me. The boys wouldn't leave me alone. 'You got to do something about this 'thing' that we can't see! Sort it out please.'

The do get spooked quite a lot by our neighbour. It is not at all his job and he is a pleasant guy. Depending on what he is doing I sometimes ask him if he could 'show himself' so that the boys know who is making the noise which in most cases is enough for them to settle down.

Taking photographs of the lichen and moss on the stonewall was quite tricky with either 'Luke's head casting shadows over what I wanted to photograph or with 'Mr F' nudging me all the time for some attention. I made one step, he made a step ... I tried to sneak off but there was no point.

'Mr F' - Quite OK with the noise by now. 

Lichen and moss - photographed on another day ...

Just Being

I am struggeling to keep up with the blog posts and there is already a pile of handwritten notes on the desk waiting to by typed up, at some point.

Meanwhile we enjoy the warm spring sunshine!

'Mr F' - its sometimes difficult to photograph because he does mostly come straight away to say hello.  If he doesn't, I know he's not feeling well or it is one of his moody days ... or I have done something wrong somewhere somehow ...

How could one look happier!  All the joys of the warm sunshine in one being.

A little day dreaming ... 

Forgive the 'label' ... I will dig out the original photograph over the weekend.

'Anything going on today?'  - 'Mr F'.

'Luke'

'Luke' likes to think ... A LOT ... about everything ...

  ... but sometimes ignorance is bliss! 

 

'Luke' too is starting to come and say hellow but mostly stays in safe distance to avoid being told to 'back off' by 'Mr F' - who always gets the best grazing spot, the best hay bag and the most attention ... anything he wants basically. But he does it with such authority that none of the other horses EVER even think to argue and 'Mr F' is always gentle with his authority - well, mostly.

'Kitten' too wanting to say hello, but 'Mr F' is in hot pursuit and she doesn't get into stroking distance.


There is a grooming routine going on with the horses who I deal handle regularly. It includes all four of us (me being the fourth). This began some weeks ago with just 'Kitten', 'Mr F' and 'I'.

But 'Luke' has observed us now for a while and has now also started to join in.

It begins by me scratching 'Mr F's neck, then 'Kitten' who is nibbling my shoulders, then 'Luke' who is joining in by scratching 'Mr F's neck ... and 'Mr F' in turn scratches 'Kittens' ... and so on.

'Luke' is also very good at 'hooking' you with his big head. It's a case of "right, YOU! Come here!"

It's great when you want to have a good back massage ... the amazing part is that these horses all understand that when there is bare human skin (after the jumper and other layers underneath have been moved!) not to use the teeth! The only one that tends to play rough is 'Mr F' but he'll learn.
.
And so, each day, I learn more and the communication becomes easier and easier.
 It is wonderfully pure, simple and honest way of communication.

A sleepy 'Kitten'.

Weighing it up

Today we went to face the truth: it was weighing in day!

'Lillian' and I took 'Mr F' and 'Luke' over to 'Calamity Jane's' home where a very friendly and competent representative from one of the big horse feed companies was supplying us with weighing scale for horses.

On the way over 'Lillian' and I were guessing how heavy the boys were. 'Lillian' guessed that 'Luke' was 608kg and I guessed that 'Mr F' was 548kg.

It turns out that 'Lillian' was 3kgs out and I was 1kg out ... 'Mr F' registered with 547kg and was classed as 16.1 hands (or something, I cannot remember).

We talked a fair amount about feeding etc and how it affects hoof growth and more.

The lady was certainly very knowledgable on matters as well as other feeds and what they contain.

The whole feeding thing is quite a labyrinth where one easily gets lost. I do want to know what is in the food that I give 'Mr F'. But that alone of course is not enough because it also depends how the ingredients react to each other and so on and so forth.

A horse's digestive system is a surprisingly delicate system that can easily become upset by stress, too much of this or too little of that, and also if they don't have regular food intake.

Perhaps I write a little more about my feeding observations at some other time. Its a minefield!

Field Studies

A beautiful sunny afternoon and it is time for the rugs to come off for a few hours.

This time I took my camera with me, its  has been some time since I took some 'proper' photographs of the crew.

Although this turned out more difficult than expected because 'Mr F' decided that he was enormously interested in anything I was doing and followed me all around the field like a shadow. Still, some of the photographs are quite ok.

 "Hello there ... "

... what are you doing?"

" ... so go on, just what are you up to then?"

At the top edge of the field is a set of old trees and I love sitting on their big root base. I found some bugs to photograph (I greatly enjoy macro photography) and was focused on one of the little creatures when 'Mr F' decided to lie down next to me, in fact right next to me at arms length, and have a good roll in a spot of earth and old beach nuts. I was too close to actually get a decent photograph but there are a few anyway.

 

 

He may be an advancing old gentleman but he is still very bendy, as he skillfully displays here. For once he does the job himself, its usually me that has to do the scratching ...

'Luke' still with rug on, I have to wait for a moment until 'Mr F' has had all he wants (fusses, scratches etc) because otherwise he will have a go at 'Luke' as soon as I go near 'Luke'.  Which is no good if I want to take 'Luke's rug off, obviously.

'Luke' is a great horse and I like him around. He also keeps 'Mr F' in young spirits while they hang out together. He is very different to 'Mr F' ... pretty much the opposite really. But very comunicative in his own often goofy way.

 Some kind of strange pointy-dance routine ...

'Luke' is a horse with many faces and he is mostly in a different universe. He is trying really hard to do this 'being a horse for humans thing'.