Finally managed to get started on the pathio tiling despite setback caused by rampaging horses.

I guess I should have closed the gate when we moved the cows - but I was a bit distracted by the cow riot that started when I opened the gate resulting in all the cows running off in to the woods bucking and snorting with me in slow pursuit (fast pursuit just makes them run faster) 

We’ve had a lot of rain so been hard to find time for all the dry weather activities like tiling

 

Owen’s teeth

Poppy doing quality control on the hay

Owen is 23 now and for some months has had problems eating hay. The dentist was finally able to rasp his teeth so that he can eat somewhat, but apparently he has lost quite a few teeth - their teeth stop growing and this happens as they get older it seems.

He is eating better now, but we are feeding him hay granules as he has lost quite a bit of weight. We have to be careful what we feed him as many things cause problems for his hooves. 

It’s no fun getting older!

 

Horse Ride

 Not a long ride as Owen had a bit of a sore foot. But lovely to get out with them

Amazing weather for a ride

 There is plenty of snow in the resort, but the weather is so nice it is a shame not to enjoy it with the horses too…

Horse hair

 The horses have started moulting for spring. They are very itchy and rolling a lot. They really enjoy a good brushing. It feels like you are carving a horse out if a ball of fluff!

Snowy Animals

 It snowed a few days ago. Fortunately we had just got hay for the cows and horses so everyone has a full belly or warming hay. The sheep even accepted a little, generally if they have any grass at all they reject hay...

It’s melting off a lot now, but much colder than it has been here for years. The last two winters were very warm and even the few before that, though we had snow it didn’t freeze so hard.

The ducks don’t seem to mind the cold and go swimming as soon as I break the ice on their water. Nutters!

The chickens aren’t too bothered either. Apparently if it gets really really cold they can get frost bite on their combs, but not seen any sign of that

Buttercup always used to feel the cold, but the remaining ones don’t so much

The horses have their run in and plenty of hay as well as wooly winter coats

The sheep have plenty of wool, they only accept hay when they can’t get at the grass at all.

Hay day

Snow in slow mo. It was actually driving in quite fast. Brrr!

Perfect day to have arranged to get hay 😳

We normally get small bales as they are easy to move around, but he guy has run out so we had to roll it through the snow to the stables. Soooooo cold on our hands.

The ducks were having a nice bathin their mini pond watching us. Crazy!

First time brushing a hay bale!

The horses were please so that is what matters...

This should last them about a week. Between the cows and the horses they will get through 15 more of these 80 more small ones and 6 like this that the farmer delivers in the the field for the cows (he can’t spare more than that unfortunately)

First Frost and getting hay

 It is always hard to remember from one year to the next the different time if things like the first frost. It seems a little later than normal and the trees are getting quite bare.

We had one day of rain recently, but otherwise lovely and sunny. We made our second visit to the hay man to get 60 small bales. We are likely to need to go 3 or 4 times more. Horses eat a lot and cows get a bit of it too. It always a nice feeling to have a good supply in!

Horsenastics

 

Ride in Payolle

We went for a nice long ride at the old dairy in Payolle

We take some fence with us so they can graze while we have lunch

Sandwich and soup for lunch

grass for the horses

and a mini sandwich for Poppy - with cheese and ham, her favorite!

It’s a beautiful place

Owen trying the western saddle

It seems to fit him well too. Convenient to have two similar build horses.

Here you can see Daisy and poppy wobbling around unsteadily (camera person may not be a good career for me!)

Needs a slightly larger saddle pad under it. For some reason they always put thick pads under wastern saddles. We don’t want to be different! Don’t worry one is on order!!

‘New’ saddle

Maintaining the horses feet takes time, and involves a lot of reading and learning. Very happy with how much we have learnt!

Here we are trying out the ‘pre-loved’ western saddle we recently got - it needs a bigger saddle pad than we have, but apart from that was great!

Bit fuzzy! This is up through our woods above the house.

At the top of the land

The new saddle took a bit of working out what some bits are for, and even how to attach it as the tack is different to the english saddles we are used to.

I discovered this is for holding the end of the cinch when you are not using the saddle or if the cinch is longer than needed depending how you tied it. 

You can see similar here on the other side to hold the other side of the cinch when not in use.

The cinch is the girth on an English saddle ;) confusing!

You can see it is well work, but lovely leatherwork.

Hay!

We should have collected hay before the never ending rain, as we can’t drive up to where we store it when it is too muddy. We finally decided we had to do it regardless of the weather, before the horses started starving. Thankfully we were lucky with it being dry today.  We will need to get perhaps 4 more loads like this to see them through winter. They eat a lot - which turns in to a lot of poo that has to be shoveled! The horses are pleased though, so all worth it

Shady ride

Quick ride in the woods above our house. Feels like you are in a tropical rain forest!

Lunch!