George takes a lorry in his stride

A while back I wrote about George's trailer training. For various complicated reasons I found myself faced with loading him into a lorry at 5am on Christmas Eve. I never believed we'd do it. I'd even pre-briefed the vet about coming to sedate him if necessary. Having assisted with a previous loading the vet didn't reckon we could do it either. But there he is, the big lad on the left in the CCTV picture.

For the trailer training, in the intial stages we had used a natural, no drugs, no drama, sedation technique. My first step for this natural sedation was to put a roller on him - comfy fit, not tight. This I think became a 'cue' because it now makes him calm even without the rest of the technique being invoked (long may this last).

Loading Madam, his best friend, into the lorry first was a huge mistake - she loaded beautifully, but in her excitement she made the lorry shake so much it wasn't safe to load anything else, let alone George.

So we unload Madam, I put George's roller on, and he walks straight in. I've never seen anything like it - not with a horse that has such a history of loading problems. I hope the 'cue' doesn't wear off while he is away. George is currently at Rockley Farm for some specialist foot rehabiliation.

Jack Frost

We had a severe frost last night. Caught me unawares and I didn't leave enough hay out for the posse. So when I turned up this morning I was met with an eager line of four legged, hungry 'penguins'. They were slightly less warm than usual, but after 15 minutes or so of stuffing hay they were back to their usual mobile boiler status.

We have the big bale hay. Each flake weighs about 24 pounds. I left them two flakes this morning, about 16 pounds each and there was still some left when I pitched up this afternoon. I have left them another two flakes for overnight. Plus I have sectioned out a bit more grass which, even though it was still frosted, they found more interesting than the hay.

During the day they have drunk about 5 gallons of water each. Currently I have to cart it about 120ft from the water trough, so I take a keen interest in how much they drink - every gallon burns off a few more calories and builds my biceps.

I would normally scatter the hay around the circuit to encourage more movement, but as the ground is so wet I am leaving it in piles to reduce poaching. So the posse stand and stuff instead of mooching. It takes about 45 minutes for them to reach capacity and then they stand around dozing, looking slightly sick, until they have digested enough to make room for more.

I was meant to exercise them all this afternoon and it was a brilliant, bright winter day, so it would have been ideal. But MOH has helped out a lot in the past week so as a treat we went out for the afternoon to see a castle (his favourite thing) instead.

To rug or not to rug that is the question

As a kid I never played with soft toys. Dressing up, dolls houses, all that stuff just left me cold. Instead I'd spend hours creating 'paddocks' with hearth rugs and buckets from toothpaste lids for my herd of tuppennybit plastic steeds.

Same thing for the real horses. I am not really into playing 'dress up' with them. But until recently I've always rugged. In fact two of my girls were regularly 'double' rugged because they always seemed to be cold. I don't have as many rugs as some people, but I have my fair share.

But 1st September this year I embraced the barefoot movement even more whole heartedly than before by renting some private grazing. The sole purpose being to attempt a circuit or poor man's Paddock Paradise for the benefit of the horses. I did a fair amount of research and a fair few people were advocating leaving rugs off too.

I admit I was a bit wary, if not completely horrified. In the past I have been one of those people that tut at 'naked' horses out in the rain and cold. To be honest I could still be persuaded to tut - because as well as being an ardent barefooter I am also a hypocrite!

My girls and boy are 'naked'! And have been all winter. I do however continue to reserve the right to fold under pressure and put rugs on them if I think they are required, or if I get too nervous of my very posh neighbours. Who can all tut much more loudly and effectively than me.

But I have learnt a lot - (please note all these 'learnings' apply to fully furred, perfectly healthy and not unduly old, unclipped horses).

1. Horses do not dissolve in the rain - they don't even go a bit soft round the edges
2. Horses are smart enough to seek suitable shelter if they want/need it (we just need to make it available)
3. Horses that move stay warmer than those trapped in a small area like a stable
4. Horses with a continuous supply of suitable long forage (hay, haylage or grass) tend to stay warm even in quite miserable conditions (so long as they can continue to move)
5. Thick hedge + good supply of suitable long forage + movement = warm horse
6. Add a rug to this equation and you can end up with a cold horse (or one that is too hot)
7. Rugs really do destroy the horse's ability to maintain a suitable body temperature
8. It can take a previously rugged horse a while to adjust to being unrugged, but it can literally be just a few days
9. A cold, rugged horse can be toasty warm in less than 15 minutes (even in frost) if you take his rug off, turn him out and give him a big pile of nice hay (thank you George)

I have clipped my horses out for winter in the past. My reasoning being they were working hard, would get sweaty and then get chilled. I have changed my mind.

All of our lot regularly get very sweaty - because they charge up and down the hill enmasse, or (George) chase cyclists along the fence line (cows in the summer), chase the errant dogs that enter the property unbidden (Madam) or just scoot about because they can (The Grey). And so far they have been just fine. Even when soaked they don't take long to dry themselves off, although they do tend to stink of old carpet or wet dog at times.

So I think I will live with the wet carpet pong rather than subject them to the inexpert science of clipping and rugging or even just rugging. At least until I change my mind again.

The Grey - Princess Pickles

So named because she is outwardly glamorous, but as a youngster was famous for getting herself into trouble.

PP is sugar sensitive, but we keep her on a no sugar diet. Her feet have been barefoot for years and she has always done well. In the past some experts have suggested that she would go better in shoes, but this has proven not to be the case.

PP's feet are a reflection of the 'Exercise' and 'Environment' elements of DEET. Because of her lifetime of injuries (see bottom of post) she has not used the back of her feet for years. This has caused her heels to contract and her frogs to become skinny with a very deep central sulcus. Despite lots of traditional exercise we have not been able to improve this.

We are hoping that by improving her environment we can stimulate the back of the foot to encourage decontraction of the heel and stimulation of the frog. PP has been on a circuit system for turnout since 1st September 2008. This has helped a little. Her feet have hardened and are growing faster than ever. But the heels have stayed contracted. So now we have put large chopped bark in the field shelter in the hope that this will provide more stimulation.

PP will be 16 in May 2009. Despite her multiple, serious injuries, she is still with us and in her own way is still sound. I say in her own way because she moves like a hyper active spider on speed and is not brilliant at circles in front, but is ok in a straight line. The physio says this is not because she is lame as such but because she has learned compensatory behaviours for all her old injuries. Her suspensory injuries are also on the inside branches so they are under greater strain on a circle.

Each leg has had at least one major trauma, the fronts have had several. Her hips suffered when she had an altercation with a car. She damaged her neck when she landed on her head (brake failure when in the field). She has a broken tooth thanks to an unpleasant vet and once completely skinned the underside of her tail.

Despite many long and painful treatments she has remained a doddle to handle and a real joy to ride. She is a beta horse, prone to being bullied by the other horses she nevertheless manages to stay cheerful.

PP has one major vice - sweets or edible treats of any kind. Even one will turn her into a brat, in the same way one drop of water turned Gizmo from a fluffy adorable creature into a toothy scaled monster.

The more serious injuries include:

1. Tearing of all major muscles for left fore limb including upper arm, chest and shoulder (brake malfunction in field) this limb is now slightly shorter than it should be
2. Cut through to both hock capsules and badly skinned tail - backing through a post and rail fence to get at a 3 month old colt. Hocks now a bit clicky at times
3. Damaged neck when landed on head (brake malfunction again)
4. 3 serious sets of suspensory ligament damage to both fore legs (one leg lost 50%)
5. Damaged pelvis during some sort of incident with car (not sure what happened as I was knocked out briefly and they drove off)
6. Damaged left hind leg (and back) when hung upside down by polo fencing (didn't quite clear the top strand and being elastic it snared her foot)