Indoors school finished - Snow (again!)

The weather forecast did warn of snow but none of us wanted to believe it. It is April after all ... it is supposed to be spring. There was supposed to be warmish sunshine that would make the grass grow at last. Mind you, several here at 'Hill Farm' would be happy without much grass growth as all horses are on restricted grazing. The exception are the boys and the shire mare who can all eat as much as they want.

Easter Monday but I still get up at the usual time of about 4:30am. As I look outside while sipping my 1st cup of tea I find a layer of approximately 2 inches of snow that has been deposited over night. 'Well, perhaps I shouldn't buy winter tyres next year, since I bought them we had loads of snow ...'

This time however it is a heavy kind of snow, laying on a thick layer of slush, making it feel as though the car is a boat. There is hardly any grip at all. Still, I make it up to 'Hill Farm' OK. 'Jackie' and I have already agreed that we are going to leave the boys in for the day to protect the field most of all. The snowfall is going to turn into heavy rain any moment as it is warming up fast. There will be a lot of floods later this evening ...

Approaching the yard from the other end ... in the first wooden stable is 'Rookie', then 'Victor' and furthest away 'Slippers'. The boys are in the bigger building in the background. At least it was not windy so their stables are still dry.

I have my usual breakfast with 'Mr F' and set him up for his day in the stable. Before I leave for the day I take him for a quick leg stretch around the block. 

As I return later in the afternoon I spy on the boys through the Yorkshire Boarding. They haven't seen me arrive yet and are busy with their own little entertainment.

 'Mr F' is rather enjoying his grass block while 'Zac' is so very much hoping he'd share a little.

Sometimes 'Zac' tries and licks 'Mr F's tongue. I watch them for quite a while and am having a difficult time trying not to laugh out loud.

But there are noises, it must mean some humans are about to turn up, perhaps with food?

Are they coming from the left ... 

... or the right?

I cannot stop myself from giggling and 'Zac' of course hears me so they know I am here ... 

It is still raining and much of the snow has melted away, resulting in large pools of water on the roads. The fields will be a right muddy mess tomorrow .... 

But there are more news: The indoors school has been finished previous day!! Material for the floor had all been spread out and flattened. Time to go and introduce 'Mr F' to the School. 

Every time we walked past while they were working on emptying the barn, 'Mr F' wanted to go in a explore. Well he can now. 

He wasn't so sure at first but gingerly stepped (a large wooden 'doorstep' is preventing from the flooring to flood out into the yard) into the school. It is a fair size, it certainly has a good length. Main thing is: it is wind protected and allows us all to be in privacy, undisturbed and nobody watching on and in summer we can work with the horses away from the flies. The floor is lovely and soft. It is a sort of waxed sand mixed with new fibres. 

There are now 7 parties that will be wanting to use the school. Good thing is that we all have more or less different timings. Some will be evening only, others that no longer work will have time during the day and I am the mid afternoon 'crowd', usually on my own. So it naturally should work out well with spreading the use of the school equally. And we still have the menage, too.

Indoors school finished

The first time we entered the school 'Mr F' wasn't so sure about it. His heart-rate was up and he was quite fidgety for a while. We spent some time in there, exploring everything and sometimes just standing still until he was calm.

The 2nd time round he was much better and very quickly relaxed enough to pay attention.

'Mr F's and his 'I-am-not-quite-so-sure-about-this pose'

One excersise I often repeat with 'Mr F' is for him to stand still and wait while I walk around. This regardless of what is going on. 

Up at the menage at first there was some distraction in shape of other horses and green grass withing reach but he is mostly very willing to stand still and wait.

It took a little longer for him to stand still inside the school as he wasn't so sure yet about his surroundings. If 'Mr F' isn't sure about things he tends to stick to me like a shadow. 

'Mr F' is a fair sized horse, some 16+ hands (I think it's 16.2). Either way, his rear end / withers are taller than me (5 feet). This gives a fair idea of the width of the hall in comparison to the horse.

He can't quite contain himself and tries to follow me but I stop 'Mr F' with the usual hand signal.

It'll be most handy to have this indoors school. Mind you it will also be easy to get your horse to do things your way in here as it is not distracted. It is certainly safe as he can't away / jump out which leave room for further experimenting.