Bit of this and that

I have had quiet couple of weeks on the work front, so I have had more than plenty of time to spend with my horse. I am still not really allowed to do heavy mucking out, but I have to, so I am trying to do it as sensibly and calmly as possible. The job has been made easier by a new wheelbarrow, which I got for a Christmas present from Tim (he's a clever boy; doesn't lavish me with jewellery but buys me something useful!). Will post a picture of it soon! I know how you all are gagging to see it. ;)

Carting about

Last Saturday I was taken for a drive by a chap from our yard who drives his horse. It was fun and I was given the reins for a bit too, so that was a first for me! I am now seriously considering training Rainbow for driving too. It might be a good thing to do, a bit of variety for both of us, and as I have someone at the yard who'd be willing to break her in and teach me too, it might be too good a chance to let go by.

Here a little taster from our drive:

Beau (I hope I've spelled her name correctly!) is a lovely mare, well behaved and ever so fit; we literally trotted around most of the way. And I have just checked, using an online tool, how long our loop was and it tells me it's around 6.5 miles. And, at the end, on the home straight, we let her go as fast as she wanted – and we went like the clappers. Some people on the pavement stopped to look as don't think they were sure if we were just having fun or a bit out of control...!

Beau's owner is a seasoned horseman who has been with horses most of his life, owning and racing them. In fact, having spent the hour carting about with him and his horse, I felt quite confident as a result and took Rainbow for a hack around the village – on our own! (A rare occurrence) Assimilating myself with Beau's owner's way of dealing with his horse, e.g. keeping a vocal contact with the horse – obviously more important in driving than riding, as don't have body aids so much – which pretty much stops any silliness. If the horse as much as looked at anything, he would just say 'Get on!' and the horse would. I did the same with Rainbow and not a single silly glance, spook or hesitation. It was Such. A. Nice. Hack. 

Other events this week

Rainbow got shod this week. She has fairly slow growing hooves, so she only really needs doing every 8 weeks (suits me!). However, due to the holidays and her farrier being off sick last week, it ended up being 9 weeks since the last shoeing, so I was getting a little desperate/worried.

I've decided to try Rainbow shoeless for a while. The reasons are three-fold: a) Cost – new set every 8 weeks costs £65.00. I am already forgoing a ski holiday this year for this horse... So any savings I can make I will... b) Due to the ground being quite soft in the winter and realistically Rainbow doesn't do hard work – a bit of schooling and happy hacking – she doesn't really need to be shod all the time. c) She has really good feet.

So all I can do is see how it goes and go from there. It may be I will shoe her for the summer if the ground is hard and we want to do lots of stuff... Anyway, when I bought her, she only had front shoes as she doesn't really need a full set. I only got a bit scared in August when, after a hack, noticed some little dents in her back hooves as a result of walking in rocky terrain. It actually wasn't anything to worry about and they quickly 'filed' themselves off when I put R in the field for a couple of days.

The long and short of it is: we have taken back shoes off and left fronts on for now. If she's coping well, then, next time, will remove front shoes too. This was the farrier's recommendation, take them off in two goes, not at once, and to avoid any chance of infections in the hooves, etc. Not exactly sure about the rhetoric, but doing this way as know she's fine on front hooves shod and hinds without. I have 8 weeks to plan the next move.

First time I was at the yard when R got shod – she behaved impeccably.

I know this is a horsey blog but I couldn't resist adding these two snaps of our girls, which I took in our garden this afternoon. Finally managed to capture them all in one shot!

In this one, Aili the chicken, has wandered into the picture of Percy the cat.