New arrivals!

Two new arrivals yesterday, the part bred Quarter Horse mare, Midnite Harmony, who is by Rexy's Midnight Runner and her foal Crioch Kestrel (pending) who is by Adohr Tawny Owl. We have weaned them this morning and the foal will be available for sale as soon as he has had a bit more handling... now who could resist that wee face?

Chamfron By Dand -Backed.

Chamfron By Dand being lightly backed, photo thanks to Rebecca, who says absolutely nothing bothers this horse!

Chamfron Aguacero away!

On Friday we delivered Chamfron Aguacero to his new home with vet Jo, he joins the Arrayan Numa filly, Chamfron Viscacha, as Jo finds out even these part bred Criollo's are addictive!!! He had got a bit warm on the wagon but decided to show off his paces and balance before settling down to the hay. If Viscacha is made out of sugar and spice then he is definitely snails and puppy dogs tails, bright, athletic and with more character than you can shake a stick at! A cracking gelding and what a nice pair of "pink ponies" to have!

Lizzie of Larchmont.

The problem with keeping old horses is that simply they do not go on forever and we are very sad to have lost Liz to colic yesterday, aged 26. A cracking mare, dam and granddam to so many good horses. Liz was absolutely my idea of the perfect appaloosa - tough, hardy, athletic and beautifully marked. A kind old girl who shall be missed.

Scafell Pike.

Well, as previously mentioned, there has been some (silly) talk (not even involving alcohol) of doing the Three Peaks Challenge later in the summer. I have long since convinced myself that going uphill is not in my nature so thought I better have a few practice runs to find out if I should be the one volunteering myself to be the driver and to not bother with the hills. (However Mark had already suggested this and been given "the look" so the pressure was on not to be the dead weight on the hillside!)

We decided to climb Scarfell Pike today and got a fabulous day for it. Foggy when driving over but beautiful blue skies the whole way up. We were treated to an air display by the RAF and Mountain rescue were out and about, and giving us a cheery wave! The climb up was ideal in that it was all uphill, none of the silly going down just to come back up, it also meant the downhill was genuinely that, all downhill - yay!!

I only had one wee wobble when we got to the last 600ft and I was faced with a patch of compacted snow, slipped down 20ft on my backside and Mark got out the ice axe... errr did I sign up for climbing with an ice axe? I thought this was a tourist route, with sign posts and coffee shops, oh and a loo? However Mark got me over the slippy bit and soon we were at the top, two lads climbing up after us thanked Mark for the path as it saved them getting out their crampons (crampons??? I thought the wooly hat was being organised!!) I felt quite good on the top of the hill as everyone else looked like rather serious hill climbers, though yes, some I was giving thirty years to... but still! You can also see from the photos that I may well have had a small advantage in that I carried the camera and nothing else and Mark carried my warm clothing (I don't like to be cold), chocolate (lots) and all the water.

Cobs Can

This is the front cover for Omar's book "Cobs Can!" I took photos for the book back in the summer. The book is published by J. A. Allen and will be available in May 2011. Should include some great photos of Ketchup doing Piafe, Passage and Spanish Walk!

Furry feet and lycra!

This lad last featured on the blog in June 2009 as a new born foal of our neighbours. Since then he has been growing up on the hill and is now offered for sale, so with a bright blue sky we legged it up to take some photos of him.

Then as the driveway was free of ice, I donned my Christmas lycra and started jogging again. There has been mutterings of three peaks challenges and other lunacy so I think more movement is needed!

Wanda Sold.

Deposit now taken on Wanda (Chamfron Wakizashi) who will be going to Tessa Scott from Cumbria in the spring (yay!)

Photo of Wanda is from the summer as it is unbelievably grim out there today, lots of rain, mud and gale force winds. Ruby is in to dry out after wearing her rug as a necklace, Bugsy has a foot abscess, everything else is depressed (myself included)! Forecast is better for next week at least.

Iron free horse...

Blurghhhhh, I can't believe I typed that, I hate the hippy phrases that have sprung up as people somehow think they invented riding a horse bareback in a halter (did we not all do that with our sharp little ponies when we were eight?) and that its only possible with "Natural Horsemanship" and long distance learning courses.

There is nothing "Natural Horsemanship" in the way this little mare was broken, schooled and trained (she says there may be in the way you leave me to forage for food in the snowy wilderness...) and yet you can leap on her and round up the herd in a halter. She's not brain dead, far from it, she's a proper little athlete (yes, under the fur!) and Mark did say as she bounced in the gateway he thought "best not give her a kick in the ribs, or I'm going to be making snow angels"!!

I don't give a rats-ass if she's left brain introvert (or whatever the phrase of the week is) I just know she's a damn good horse who knows her job and was raised and trained by real horsemen! The problem in this country (apart from the obvious that horses are no longer used for work in the majority) is that somehow we have become a nation that expects horses (dogs/children) to be naughty and its a self fufilling prophesy. Don't let the rot set in, be proud if you've got a good 'un!

Oh and yes the look on Pitufa's face is - I have counted them through the gate, they are all on, get off me and let me eat haylage!!

Best Laid Plans...

As the ground was covered with snow this morning we decided to change tack and to put three bales of haylage out in the winter field and run the horses back into it. Chris put the bales out and the horses watched with interest...! The gate opened and over they charged, Hector, Ned and Muley turning themselves inside out with excitement (well for mule it was mostly the ears that got turned inside out!). A brief moment of disbelief... "It looks like haylage, but its been so long I could be mistaken" then eighteen happy horses settled down to eat. No kicking, no fuss, no stress. We certainly don't feel we have left them to get hungry as an hour later there are six horses at the bales and the rest away picking at the grass, it is beautiful haylage, may not have been a huge crop but its the nicest round bale stuff Mark and I have ever seen.