No sooner had I written about hoping for a dry period up to Christmas then the heavens opened! Cue copious amounts of mud and a champion Shetland pony looking like she had never seen a brush let alone a show ring.
Luckily, I had not grazed one of my fields to ensure there was a good length of grass on it for the winter months. The long grass obviously gets eaten down, but it also prevents the field from getting churned up compared to one that is grazed to the roots.
I do like Diva (Melland Queen of Scots) to live as natural a life as she can, so during the winter she is unrugged and I try to keep her out in all but the worst weather. She generally comes in if I am restricting grass intake – protecting the field from being too badly poached – or if her field companion, Mabel, needs to come in if the rain is relentless. As Mabel is 25 years old, she needs a little more pampering but is happier and less creaky when she is out in the field.
I had to chuckle when I had them in the stable on a day of extremely heavy rain. Despite several hay nets stuffed to capacity, Diva insisted on eating the bits of hay that dropped to the floor from the net Mabel was eating out of. A consequence of which can be seen in the photo where the soggy Shetland was covered in hay.
I said soggy, but in reality, Diva is properly roughed off and even heavy rain doesn’t get through her long coat and natural grease to her skin. Winter on Shetland itself can be very windy and wet and the native ponies have evolved to thrive in such conditions. Generally, it is us as owners that feel the need to rug and pamper them. Of course, the elderly or ill need to be looked after and if they are ridden and clipped, they will need to be rugged, but most are quite happy without.
After a long dry summer, getting into the winter routine seems harder than usual this year, but we will soon be back in the swing of it.
Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.