Daffodils are sprouting! Spring on its way?

 Well  my daughter mentioned yesterday that the daffoldils in the driveway are starting to show...yey I thought spring must be close by. Although winter hasn't been too horrendous ...but we do have a few official winter months still to come and they can be quite yuck.

Pony club only has a few unmounted rallies to go, which means I really need to get "Bubba" sorted out. Princess is still on loan to us and my daughter will be using her to finish off  her "C" certificate". But I really need to know if Bubba can take her further. If not then I may need to start looking for a lease pony/horse before the season gets going. We won't ever sell Bubba, so we may lease her as a beginner novice pony with restrictions on jumping.

In a few more years when my daughter is older and a bit more experienced, she can use my horse Holden, although he is a big strong boy, he is also a gentle giant. She should go far on him.

What winter again!

Well it certainly has been a while that I have updated my blog...and wow for a while there I thought I was never going to get back in again! All sorts of problems ...but.... persistence has paid off and finally I can edit my blog again....So with no more of a to do...lets get going.

Hmm where do I start, by the look of things my last blog was talking about how winter is at an end and summer is about to start. Hmm well its back to Winter again. Where has summer gone!!!!

The Dogs

Timmy..with flappy ears!

Such a good ball with fluff brains!

Odie looking handsome!

Timmy the puppy really has no brains. I am beginning to think he has fluff in there! He is a sweet loving dog, but has no sense at all! 
An example is that he hasn't really learnt that the fences we have here bite!  So getting zapped, once, twice...well ...you think he would learn not to take shorts cuts by now!  Alas no, so today he got zapped, yelped and came racing over to me and hid between my legs...daft dog! 

I also hate to say it.. but I ran him over with the quad bike last month.... I was mortified of course. The dogs normally run beside the bike, far enough that i can see them or they race ahead. This day, Timmy decided, for what ever reason I will never know, that it would be a good idea to zip right in front of the bike! I slammed on the brakes but then heard a sickening thud. I stopped and then realised, the bike and tyres were still on top of him...Arghh!  So I had to move it off him. It didn't help that we were on the limestone track. But he got away with just scratches and bruises. So no damage done.

Honestly one lucky dog. I did feel awful though and watched him like a hawk for a few days...I had these visions of major internal damage etc etc. But hes ok.....so has he learnt from this little experience...er...no. Had a few near misses the other day.


Ponies

Bubba back in work again...all be it bareback!

Pony club and this years show season didn't go to plan for my daughter and her pony Bubba. We were at a PC rally and she was practising for the Prince Philip games. They did a nice turn around the end flag then my daughters pony let lose 2 big bucks. Yeah I hear you, all horses can buck, but this wee girl is a sweet pony and never has done that before. So i thought that it was a bit odd but anyhow it was at the end of the rally so all good.

Well all wasn't good!  As we floated the pony home the float was moving an awful lot more than usual. Looking in the back Bubba seemd ok but long story short, she was going down when we turned right. Her left hip seemed to be out and she couldnt weight bear properly. So we turned her out for a while.

A decision was made to borrow a lovely old girl called "Princess" She is an RDA (Riding for the Disabled ) pony but plenty of life left in her. So my daughter took her to the PC camp, did dressage with her and did Pony club. Both had a ball.

As for Bubba, well she went for a little ride up the road the other day and seemed ok,so we will slowly bring her back into work and see how she is.

New Addition


We have a new addition to our family...a little kitten called "Missy" . We found her abandoned on the side of our rural road and she was near deaths door. She was skin and bone, to be honest im surprised she actually survived. But survived she did and she is thriving. I didnt have any intentions of keeping her, well i had 3 cats already , one a 16yr old going senile old boy. But things never turn out the way you expect and she has settled in at home rather nicely.



She is cheeky minx but so loving.

Pony club season is now upon us!

Hmmm its been a few months since ive updated this blog, how slack of me. Then again it has been winter..and speaking of winter it has been quite mild, we actually still have quite a bit of hay left. However we did have a couple of good snow dumps and that was cold ! I  felt sorry for my horses, but they got hot feeds and hay and nice barn to go into....not that they did though!

 
So kids winter sports have finished and now the pony club season is upon us again. So we have dragged the horses and ponies out of hibernation and tidied them up. Bit frisky and full of themselves but they will calm down with a bit of work.

My son isn't really a horses lad, more of a motorbike, getting dirty lad. But he surprised me the other day wanting to have a go. So maybe a may have the two of them gallivanting around on horseback. who knows??

Choke and a kick in the throat

Well having one mare and five geldings can cause problems. Actually its not the mares fault but one of my geldings. Harry is a lovely horse but can be very dominant and nasty to other horses.

I had heard that this can happen but had never actually come across it before. I have had horses in many paddocks with mares and geldings but this was an eye opener...and a pain in the butt!

Last year he attacked and yes that is the word i would use, attacked and hounded my youngster Holden. Now my young lad is such a gentle giant and wouldn't hurt a fly, always at the bottom of the pecking order and is Harrys best mate. But on this occasion Harry just turned on him. All horses were together, but in the paddock next to them were my two pony mares. Normally they are a few paddocks away. I wondered if one of the mare was in season. Anyway unfortunately for Harry, my youngster back kicked him in the knee. So vet visit and 12 stitches later ....all was ok. If the kick was just cm's lower he would have smashed his knee...phew!

Then things were calm for many months later ( so maybe not a seasonal mare thing???) even after we had introduced my daughters new mare into the herd. Then in spring I separated the Jock and my daughters mare and put them in the fatty paddock. After a while i combined the herd again. Things were fine for a number of days then, it happened. Mr Jeckle and Hide Harry switched and went after the mare. Boy did he hound her. I finally separated them and both were so wet with sweat it was pouring of their faces, and bodies! They were breathing so hard i thought one of them was going to have a heart attack! 


But before i separated them, the mare (who had shoes on) gave Harry a huge back kick right in the throat. It stopped him in his tracks and he backed off. Now I had been keeping an eye on him and he seemed ok.

That was about a month ago and now im feeding out hay and some hard feed. Harry chocked on the hay, tried again next day with very wet hay, same thing. He wasnt good. Then i gave him some hard feed and sure enough he chocked again.

I noticed on all occasions he developed a lump (which i presume was food) half way down his throat, where he got kicked . He also has a little permanent indent there as well. After i massaged his throat the "lump " went and he carried on eating grass as if nothing had happened.

So the vet is coming up to have a looksie. I am hoping its no permanent damage from the kick.

In the meantime the mare will not be grazed with Harry from now on. My youngster is still  best buddies with him again. But what a pain having to have 2 herds!

Im really not sure what was going on in Harrys brain but i still feel it has to do with the mares. It has only happened about 3 times in the 6 years I have had him.

Mr Goliath Rataphant pays us a visit!

My friends and I were all talking the other day about how its that time of the year again. Mice and rat presents being brought in by your loveable but annoying cats.

Well we have lately found deposited under the table, the odd whole mouse, decapitated mouse, or just a few guts or just a tail left. My cats im sure have a very warped sense of humor! Well the rat of all rats has just been presented. My bloody cat has just brought in a rat the size of an elephant, i kid you not!!!  deposited it in the hall and it took off into daughters bedroom (which just happened to be the most messiest house on the planet, well picked Mr rat!) 

So i armed myself with the washing basket as no other container would hold this rataphant ( yes the rat really was that big!) and then put my big girls pants on (cause hubby wasn't at home). I gingerly removed items from said messy floor and there it was! Mr Goliath rat..it looked dead so I thought..cool...but it was playing possum...I screamed like a little girl as it high tailed it off under daughters bed , over mountains of clothes and then out into the hallway again. Luckily i had closed all doors in the hallway. 

It really was a comedy act, two cats, a dog, a mad woman wielding a washing basket in hot pursuit of said rataphant and a daughter not knowing where to go. Well it got trapped in the corner with two cats & dog eyeing it up ready to pounce..so i swooped before they could...how the hell i got it i will never know.!! But then what the hell do i do with it now.!!  I yelled at daughter to get cats and dog out and then slowly slid the washing basket with rataphant in it, down the hall way. Thank god we have polished floors in the hallway.

The bloody thing then was trying to gnaw its way out..and trying to bite my fingers!! So quick haste daughter opened the front door and i did a great scoop the rat up and then throw rat and basket out of the door action, followed bya  swift slam of the door!

Phew, I then had to go and change my soiled big girls pants and pour myself  a whiskey or two or three. That cat had better not go and find Mr rataphant again or there will be consequences to rat and said cat!  You have been warned!

Honestly i have never seen a rat that big, being on a farm we do get the bigger varieties than out city cousins but boy oh boy that one was a mutant!

Proud Mum!

In the weekend we went to a show, nothing unusual about that, but this time it was the first time that my daughter would do some jumping.

She has always been keen, but the pony has had her back out for a while so we couldnt really jump. Well after Tommy did the back thing, the pony is much better. So she wanted to do some jumping. I hadnt really seen her jump anything other than cavalleties so when she said she wanted to do the 60 cm I raised my eyebrow a bit. But I shouldnt have worried.

Now I love jumping always have, so it didn't surprise me that she loves jumping to. So off she went into the "Eyeopener 60 cm".  There were 10 jumps altogether I think...I think I was more nervous than she was...infact when i asked her afterwards she said she wasnt worried at all.

Anyway she did a clear round and got a well deserved clear round ribbon...she was beaming and so was I. She did it perfectly and to be honest seemed to easy for her, although there was one jump where her horse jumped too high and unseated her ...but she recovered beautifully.

I am such a proud mum!

Kia Kaha Christchurch

The whole of New Zealand is in shock. When i heard the news on Tuesday i was horrified but only when the stories and pictures came thru I realised the true devastation of what the earthquake did. We immediately thought of our family and friends who lived in Christchurch,...are they ok?. After many hours of worrying we slowly got the YES we are ok. My husbands two sisters and nephews and neices all ok. What a relief... We didnt hear about a friend till the next day but she has been helping at the square...

But my heart goes out to the families who havent heard of their loved ones or friends....what they must be going thru would be indescribable.And my heart goes out to families who have lost someone dear....

To the overeas team who have come to our aid a huge thank you....

All i really can say is

KIA KAHA CHRISTCHURCH....BE STRONG

Time will tell....

Well today we got my daughters pony seen by the bone cruncher man. The day didnt start off that well as i just couldnt get the float to connect properly with the towbar. I hitched up early so i wouldnt be rushed but as usual i ended up rushed....god i hate that!

Anyway my daughter really wanted to come and watch so she came too ..which was just as well as i really needed help with that blasted towbar! So off we went. I met up with some friends and we were having a yack at the yards when i heard this almighty "THWACK"! I just about jumped outta my skin!!  But it was Mr T with his hammers putting the pony in the next stall back into shape. I got such a fright. Then when the second hammer happened my eyes just about watered and i was only watching!!  But the horse didnt really seem to flinch.

Well then it was our ponys turn. I could see my daughter looking very nervous and worried, but she needed have been. It seems that our pony had 2 vertebra out. One near the front saddle area, which is why she tries to cow kick when doing up the girth...and I  just thought she was being a little tart. Then the big one which was a sacral vertebra or something. This is what is causing her short steps, reluctant to  move forward and her awkwardness in canter & jumping. Poor baby she had been so sore.  Well out came the little hammers and thwack, thwack. Then it was all over,  3 days turned out and then slowly back in the two days after that.

So all going well my daughter will be back in the saddle within a week back training for the Prince Philip games and jumping jumping jumpimg.....Hopefully it has worked...watch this space...

Here's the amazing pony who we love so much....

The Bone Clicker Man

Well tomorrow is D-Day and we are off to see the infamous or famous I guess, Tommy Behrns. I hadnt heard about him until just recently and i am very interested in what he will see and do and the outcome. Of course i am hoping for a great outcome and that my daughter can start jumping properly and get out and about again .

So I guess watch this space and fingers crossed.....

Still on an animal note, Odie our foxy corgi cross, is doing dog agility. What fun!   When we first arrived he behaved very badly and I thought great we will get kicked out. But they said in time he will calm down.

Butter wouldnt melt!!!!

 Sparky the cat is DA BOSS!

 Lets play mum!

Well 2nd week later and yes he has calmed down...a bit....But boy oh boy he is good. He is like a natural, nothing is a problem, tunnel, plank, wobbly board, ladder..  So we may have a champion on our hands...or not. There is one slight flaw in this masterplan. He has painted ears. What i mean by that is , if he sees something interesting he is off and no amount of calling will bring him back. So the problem is .....we do agility off the lead!!!

So a bit of work is need to get those painted ears to become real ears!!

Who would have thought.....

Hmm ok so if we have a dodgy back or feel out of place we go to a chiropractor to get crunched and then feel a lot better...so what if an animal is out of sorts....

To be honest it is something that never really crossed my mind...I mean....I just didn't think that a horse could be "out" so to speak. But apparently they do and why not, they have bones and muscles just like us. It can be caused my a roll or a kick or by playing in the paddock..

So what has brought this on, well my daughters pony has not been very forward and really just doesn't want to canter, its quite a battle. A number of people commented on how short stepped she is in the front in a trot as well. I had noticed that lately, but couldn't put my finger on what why.  After discussions etc we all put it down to the saddle not fitting correctly.I also noticed that her right shoulder muscle is much more defined that the left, too much in fact.

Anyway,  on a pony camp the other week it was pointed out that the pony may have her hip out. My daughter did a lot of riding and when she cantered and jumped the pony looked terrible.The more riding she did the more awkward the pony looked, just not right.  But she didn't complain being a lovely sweet pony she is, but we turned her out for a bit anyway after that.

So we are booked for the pony to see a crunch man, not sure what his official name is but he sorts out hips backs etc for horses. I have since heard a lot about this guy from various people who are raving about him. However the jury is still out until i have seen his work . But i really hope it works and my daughter can again have fun on her pony.....

New year...new beginning

Well 2010 is a year i would rather not repeat...it can close its doors forever. Just a recap of 2010 good and bad:-

1. Holden recovering from hoof problem very touch and go if he would get thru it...good news we are riding again!
2. RIP little Tazzie dog....I still miss that little fat doggie
3. RIP Smurf my gorgeous wee pony...so shy and timid but a gem and very loyal
4. RIP Sophie who battled hard but went with her best friend Smurf, they are together without pain
5. Welcome Odie a little clown with a big heart....fearless but a wuss. Great dog with lots of years of fun with us.
6. Sold the land, although what a saga...wont ever do that again but nice people who bought it.

The list goes on but they were my main points of the year...

So 2011.. what will this year hold I wonder. No resolutions so to speak, i think they really are a waste of time but i am endeavoring to lose weight get fit and get riding again. I'm more involved with the horsey scene again after many years of being absent. Due mainly to children, then my back and then my horse being crook. But as my daughter is more involved with pony club, shows and that, my love of riding is coming back. So this year will be a horse year. Few modifications to my horse float so my big lad can go in it and we are away!!  watch this space is all i can say.

What a sunset!

Today was the lunar eclipse, so at 8.30pm, myself and my daughter decided to go to the top of our hill to have a look. Unfortunalety we didnt get to see the eclipse as the clouds weren't being nice to us. But we still got a show. We have the most awesome sunset that words and photos just couldnt capture. But I did however manage some photos on my little camera that showed some part of the magic. My horses as usual wouldn't cooperate with the camera, they are so camera shy...grrr.. Got a few shots of Harry but Holden just kept on annoying me, breathing down my neck and generally being a pest. So no photos of the big boof head. But really, the photos just don't show the true colour and redness of the sky, it really was stunning..

I hate playing God

I hate playing God!  Ok so everyone says your doing the best thing for them, best they dont suffer, they will be in rainbow bridge waiting , etc etc But to be honest it doesnt help one bit, its just crap. Ok so am i selfish, maybe but still, I dont like playing God.

I have done  it too many times now and it does not get easier. It is getting to the stage maybe I shouldnt have animals.  Why the comments of playing God? Well its time again.

I don't think it matters what type of animal it is you are putting down, but I do think the hardest are horses. I have been putting of this task, for want of a better word, for a while now. But as my wee pony had trouble walking and is getting skinny by the day, I guess its time I put my God shoes on. But what makes this double hard is that it wont be one pony but two.

My 2 georgeous wee ponies who i love to bits. Sophie has been with me for 11 years now but her battle with her hooves has been hard. Talking to the farrier, there isnt much he can do. Smurf was my daughters first pony and we have had this shy timid lovely girl for 6 years. Smurfs knee held out for so long but this particulary hard wet boggy winter didnt do her any favours. So I made the decision that they would go together, as they are inseparable anyway.

So I am feeling miserable....why cant they pass away in their sleep?? I do not like playing God and never will!

Glady Sports

Well daughter went to her 2nd show in the weekend. Wasn't sure how she would go as there was no training ring just the 10-12yr old group, which had some good ponies and riders in it.

Each class she did involved cantering, which is a pace we are still working on. Its the brakes department that need a bit of work as daughter and pony havent got that sussed yet.

 One thing that really annoyed me was that the circle they used was very small in ratio to how many ponies there were. So they all got bunched up. Daughters pony has a fast trot and canter so kept getting stuck behind slow pokes!  So a number of riders went wide so you ended up with 2 circles one inside one outside. So the judge didnt really get a good view of the outa circle ponies. Apparently in other classes who has same bunched up problems, the riders who went wide got disqualified!!

But they did very well and im very proud of them. She only got one ribbon a 3rd in best rider which I thought was awesome. When they get the cantering sorted out then im sure we will have more ribbons to come.

Saddles Saddles Saddles

I hate saddles.....trying to fit one for my daughters pony is a nightmare!!!  Ok so she's only 14.2 , the pony that is, but...she is a wide gullet with not much wither and wide shoulders. Painful...very painful. We or should I say I have tried about 6 saddles so far with no luck. I have a wintec wide at the moment 16.5" that I'm trying and that i think it may be a fit. But im not a big fan of Wintec Wides, having one myself for my big clydiex. But I prefer a deep seeted saddle and as I dont have lots of dosh to spend, that has to do.

I may have to make a trip to Palmy or the coast to check out saddles. May not be a bad thing as i could have a spend yeahaaaa

Anyway, we have a pony club rally tomorrow and a show in a week or so...so the race is on. I have told daughter that if she has to go bareback to the rally then so be it. I dont think she minds as long as she is on her horse. It certainly wont do her any harm to ride bareback, in fact i always feel it puts you in a good position and makes you ride properly. If you dont...you fall off!

I am also gutted that my new horse float is to small for my big clydie. I swear that boy is 17hh or not far off!!  I haven't officially measured him but he is was bigger that my other 16.2 and 16.1 horses!  Didnt quite want a horse that big ...but.... You dont actually notice he is tall when you riding, just when your trying to get on LOL  Thank god for logs, gates hills etc

Daughters First Show

Well this was it, my daughters first show. To be honest I don't know who was more nervous me or her!! Anyway it was mad rush on Friday to get pony ready all spruced up and tack all cleaned. I wasn't sure if I could plait her mane as she only had half...the other bit in the middle had been cover rubbed ...and the tail...well it had been cow chewed. Not by our cows but previous owners calf. Never mind the show must go on as they say, so i made the descion on Saturday morning not to plait up. Oh natural was the style of the day.

First class was at 8.30 so we should have left at 7am but us being us we didn't leave till 7.30. So as usual it was rush rush rush. But we managed to get sorted and dressed and ready to go...just 10 mins late..oops. Luckily for us it hadn't started yet. One day I will be on time....

Such Concentration

Anyway my daughter had a ball, they ended up with one 1st, three 3rds and two 4ths. Not bad for a first show. Pony behaved very well although she got a bit lazy in the flat classes . We need to work on that I think.

First Ribbon of the day

And another...

The last class was the jumping. Pony knows how to jump, daughter doesn't really but thinks she does. So I was biting my nails as she really wanted to do the jumping. This is the girl who crawled for ..oh...3 days..then walked! So it didn't surprise me that she wanted to do it.

Off we go...

The pony apparently loves to jump, so you need a strong hand and know what to do. It was apparent that jumping over one warmup jump wasn't the same as entering a ring full of jumps. Pony had an instant transformation from lazy to lets go. They weren't high and was told to trot over them...this was the training class after all. So off she trotted but then pony cantered over the jump. Lovely jump couldn't fault it but it unseat daughter a few steps after and she fell off. Not so much fell off but jumped off and landed on her feet. But the good thing about that was that daughter realised that it wasn't that easy. They completed the course trotting except for the last jump again a canter but all ok.

Well done

Pony wasn't keen on standing still after the jumping, so was fidgeting, that meant I couldn't get a good photo with all her ribbons...

All 6 ribbons

So she is keen to do another show...upwards and onwards.

We have joined Pony Club which she also enjoys. And has lessons once a week. Now to sort myself out LOL But Im worried that the float we bought , just isnt big enough for The Tank aka Holden. I was hoping to have lessons as well but time will tell. Will need to do a test run.

Is Summer just around the corner?

Well I still miss my darling Taz but life goes on as they say...so ...let me introduce to you...ODIE. He is a corgi x Foxy. His dad was a corgi and mum a foxy. He is sooo dam cute and everyone loves him.

He does however loves rolling in the most smelliest pongy stuff he can find. So baths are a common occurrence in this household!

Also my daughter is getting into her pony stuff. She was meant to do Solway RDA gymkhana but was sick and pony was lame...However we are entered into the Spring Show in Carterton. Yehaa. She is off to Pony club tomorrow as well so we have a happy camper...

Holden is coming on fine and i am thinking of hunting maybe next year. That boy can certainly jump! Also the endurance thing is still on ...just need to get myself and him fit. He is looking a trim mean machine...its just me that isnt lol

R.I.P little Tazzie

"TAZZIE"

If tears could build a stairway,
And memories could build a lane,
I'd walk right up to heaven
And bring you home again....


The day i dreaded finally came.... my beloved companion of 11 years went to the rainbow bridge. She was going down fast over the last few days but I hoped that she would bounce back again, as she has done in the past. But a phone call from the vet with her blood results confirmed a complete shut down of her liver....she had a day or two if that. So i made the decision there and then that she wouldn't suffer.

I knew that "that" day would come, but i had hoped we had a least till xmas and another summer with her. The kids spent a few hrs with her after school as did I. Then i took her to the vet. I have had animals put down in the past but this was the hardest....

Taz was a great little dog with a passion for tennis balls. Right from an early age she would want to play ball. You would throw the ball and she would bring it back for you to throw again ...and again...and again...she never wanted you to stop. It got to the stage that at times we would hide the balls. At first we threw it into bushes thinking she wouldn't get it...but then she would appear with it...she had a great nose for sniffing. So then the kids started putting them in trees. Sometimes she would jump up and get them but we did have lots of trees around the garden with balls in them LOL.

Some saying will always be tazzie sayings...

"Go find...go find the ball...wheres the ball.."

"Wheres they go...Wheres they go"

" Tazzie wazzie woo"

I do feel lost without my sidekick with me....who will come and check the post with me....who will keep me company when i go for a walk ....who will go to the river with me... I had a good 11yrs with her and we had fun, one day we will be together again im sure..


RIP my best friend

Taz is getting some bounce back

Well my little dog Taz seems to have had a wee spark ignited. She wants to go for walks (all be it small ones) and is playing with her tennis ball! She is eating better, not coughing or getting up in the night for wees!

So maybe these tablets are reducing her liver better than we thought! Shes still blind as a bat but her heart is strong...

We have decided that we will take her in the caravan with us in summer rather than leave her in the kennels. I dont think she would cope there any more.

So I'm happy at the moment....

Another pony to add to the collection!

Oh my what have I done.... bought Zara a pony that's what....It has been long overdue though. I have been looking for a while, sometimes seriously sometimes not.

Its very hard to find the right pony. When you buy a horse for yourself you can take certain risks because you know your limits and capabilities. But my daughter is still learning and I am so protective of her when she rides, as a mum I think of all the bad things that could go wrong. I know I have to let those strings loosen a bit but its hard. I mean she is turning in to a very good little rider!

If i cast my mind back to when I was 11yrs old and the things I used to do then (oh to be fearless and silly ay), well its just as well my mum wasn't horsey and had no interest in them. She would certainly have either banned me from riding altogether or had multiple kittens..over and over again... lol!

I delayed the inevitable a bit, by telling my daughter that we wont get a pony until I have a horse float. This was quoted back to me however, straight after I bought my float home...oh dear...she didn't forget!

But now we have a lovely chestnut 14.2hh pony in the paddock, I haven't yet regretted it. She is a sweet thing and Im certain my daughter will have many years of fun with her. Actually a dream of mine when my daughter was born, was to go riding with her and now it will be a reality. I can see lots of days where we take the horses off to the beach, forest, wherever and ride together. That does mean a lot to me. The fact that the pony seems so far, a safe and sensible thing, means i can concentrate on my boy Holden, rather than worrying about what my daughter is doing.

So the collection grows..... I do have to many 4 legged friends but I feel this dynamic will change in the near distance future.

PAT: My lovely old 16.1 retired gentleman, 26ish. He is on a day to day watch as he has arthritis in his back and spine, but he seems to be coping really well at the moment.

SMURF: My daughters 1st pony, must be about 24ish , 11.2hh welsh mare. Lovely wee pony but was retired a number of years back due to her knee starting to collapse. At the moment it has calcified and a bit bow legged but is causing no pain. So we keep a close eye on her and walk her around. As with Pat, she is on a day by day watch.

SOPHIE: Timor Cross ornament and is Smurfs best friend, forever home here as well. She must be about 18 yrs old now..

HOLDEN: My beautiful big softie, a forever home with me is assured. Lots of years of fun with my boy.

JOCK: 14.2 standardbred. Was hoping this would have been my daughters pony but he is a little to advanced for her. We don't own Jock so he may go back to his owners.

HARRY: 16.1 gelding. He is not doing much at the moment and I think I will have to sell him. He is a great horse for someone who has lacked confidence or getting back to riding. Will never be a top show horse but knows all the basics and great to trek around the place.

So we have 6, no..make that 7.. pony/horses on the place, which may be reduced to 3 in the near future. But hey we have 30 acres here so its not like we don't have the space.