The wet weather seems to be a fixture at the moment and so, as mentioned last time, Diva (Melland Queen of Scots) and Mabel have been moved up to the winter field. This means I am saving on feeding hay again as when I requested my next delivery, the weather had been fine and the grass was still growing.
Although it will mean that my bank balance takes a hit, there is nothing nicer in the winter than to have a big store of hay ready for use. The girls have moved into a different barn at the yard this winter and are now sharing a large stable.
I was a little unsure about doing this to start with, because Diva can be a bossy little madam and Mabel is so placid, she could easily be bullied by the pint-sized pony. However, the doors are too high for Diva to look out of, so I thought being with Mabel would be nicer than being alone and not able to see anyone.
The stable also has a top door at the back which I keep open so the stable is nice and airy for the both of them and Mabel can look out at both sides.
I always ensure there is plenty of water for them and I have hung up two Himalayan rock salt blocks. Diva tends to be the one I see licking them rather than Mabel. In an ideal world I would feed the hay from the ground, but to prevent as much waste as possible I do put it in hay nets. I use the ones designed for haylage as they have smaller holes and make the hay last longer for them.
Despite my concerns, Diva does share nicely with her ‘granny’ and it is much nicer for her to have the company. Thankfully, both are lovely and clean in the stable, so having two in one large stable isn’t any worse to muck out than one in each of two smaller stables.
I find this one of the toughest topics in the horse world, as everyone does something different. There are thousands of products on the market – all claiming they can cure everything – and nutritionists are often affiliated with a feed company, making any advice potentially biased.
I can say I’ve been able to tick something off my bucket list now: I managed to mount and ride a camel – a brilliant experience. I had great fun grooming my one, named Baxter, and I think the people running it were happy they had people that were used to dealing with big animals and weren’t afraid to get stuck in.
I thought in this first blog post I ought to tell you a little bit about my horses and me, and give you an insight into what you might see from us going forwards. Firstly, my name is Emma. I’m 29 years old and I’ve been riding for as long as I can even remember.
I am currently lightly backing my three-year-old American Quarter Horse before turning him away for the winter. In my previous post, I explained the setbacks this year, and frustratingly I had to start the process much later in the year than I’d anticipated. But things were going well, too well…