Snow Problem!

Well the moment I had been dreading arrived today.  I woke up to a blizzard and about half an inch of snow!

Faith just isn't great at putting her feet on strange things, and although she had encountered snow in abundance last year, given some of the traumas we have had about stepping on to wet concrete, I dreaded the prospect of a snowy, slippy yard.

Anyway, I gave the beds brekkie and hay, and Faith's startled reaction to a snowy bucket kind of confirmed my worst fears.

So I spent the next hour sweeping every scrap of snow off the stable side of the yard with my trusty besom broom, and gritted every last inch of it, thus making a snow free path to the yard gate.

I put large piles of hay in the front paddock, and prepared to let the neds out.  Tommy went out first as usual, and started tucking into the hay.  Then I opened Faith's door, and she stepped out gingerly, changed her mind and went back in.  Then she spotted the pile of snow I had banked up on the opposite side of the yard, marched over to it, climbed on top of it, took a big mouthful then proceeded to stroll down the snowy side of the yard and out into the field!  I was gobsmacked and delighted in equal measure!

Tilly followed her out, and they are all three currently naked and frolicking in the snowy sunshine!  Happy days!

All Faith wants for Christmas.......

Is her two front teeth! On Saturday morning, after giving the horses breakfast, then doing the poo picking, I was greeted by an Arab filly who appeared to be wearing lipstick. On closer inspection it turned out to be blood, and immediately I thought she had fallen over in the stable, or bumped herself somehow. I encouraged her to lift her top lip up, and lo and behold her two front teeth had come out, and her gums were bleeding a little.

I was very relieved that not only had she not hurt herself, but she has had one wobbly tooth for what seems like ages now, and I was beginning to wonder if giving her some Highland Toffee might do the trick (that’s what worked for me as a kid!). However, nature seems to have taken it’s course, and she now has two grown up teeth poking through the gums. It’s a shame in a way that horses can’t breathe through their mouths as it would have been the coolest thing ever to teach her how to whistle!

As for training, well frankly we haven’t really been doing any. I am struggling with the fact that it now appears to be pitch dark at about half past four in the afternoon, which makes poo picking in the long foggage, a bit of an ‘against the clock’ event! After doing that, I’m a bit knackered, particularly as I am now really fat. So I have resigned myself to not getting stressed about doing very little with Faith over the next few months. We will just use this time to consolidate the basics, as she is just so chilled out with rugs, grooming etc. So the main event each evening is really just cuddles, and the quest to find new itchy spots to scratch. Apparently, I’m getting quite good at it!