The Not-So-Secret Diary of Diva the Shetland Pony - Floof!
18/04/2024Diva (Melland Queen of Scots) usually gets her summer coat quite early compared to other horses and ponies, but this year she has been holding onto hers for a lot longer.
Unfortunately, as the festive season approaches, I have been struck down with a chest infection and so have not been able to plan Diva’s Christmas photo shoot as I wanted.
I am sure she is quite relieved at this turn of events if her Halloween witch’s hat photos were anything to go by.
Everyone is under pressure at this time of year, and the perpetual wet weather certainly isn’t helping morale. The horses are staying in more due to the wet land and so it is important to ensure that they get some carrots or soaked sugar beet etc to keep them regular and help prevent colic.
I feed more hay when they are in and give them carrots, parsnips or swede to eat and play with. Diva is convinced parsnips are the food of the devil and will not touch them, but after a day or two of kicking a swede around her stable she has decided that she likes them.
The horse walker is getting lots of use at the moment and it does make me chuckle to see Diva marching on there with the big horses. She absolutely loves going on it. I’m not entirely sure why since she is so tiny, she can’t see out over the kickboards.
I also give them turnout in the lunge pen all together to get some social time if they have stayed in. Florence, bless her, always loose lunges herself when she first goes in, as she obviously must remember being worked in there as a youngster.
Mabel tends to just wait for her to finish before they enjoy a mutual grooming session and Diva runs about in the middle squeaking!
As mentioned last time, the field gateway is getting rather muddy, and so to Diva’s delight I have been letting her go onto the good side of the paddock as her little feet won’t churn the ground up like the big girls would and she really dislikes walking through the deep mud.
The big girls are not impressed, and I am certain I have seen Diva gloating as she munches on the grass.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Diva, myself and her friends, and I hope you continue to read of Diva’s adventures in 2020. We have lots planned together and so it should be fun.
