Homeless Horse..

At last Spring seems to have arrived. Helped along by the clocks being put forward last weekend. The extra hour of light in the evening makes the gloomiest of days brighter. Although today the wind has turned and is blowing from the North, there is talk of snow showers. Generally the weather has been warmer, with a definate smell of Spring. Indeed during the week at dusk bats were out and the first swallows arrived at the yard yesterday. They looked tired perched on a wire, it still constantly amazes me how far such frail birds migrate.
Heather no longer has a stable! This is the latest challenge which has been put upon me.. Someone bought a pony and so with Heather out most of the time...we've lost our stable, it was the only one available. I do feel that we've been evicted and I got just a few hours notice. I've been told it will only be a temporary measure till a better stable can be found for the new pony. With that in mind I've left my metal cupboard, as moving it may prove too much for its rusty bottom. Obviously the big problem is that I've had to move its contents into the car..or bring it home. Most of it has just been dumped in buckets for now. I need to put some shelves up in the garage really. As usual, not enough time. I have washed her stable rugs and fleeces, plus her lightweight turnout, in my washing machine at home. Something of a risk probably, and I'll be finding horse hair in all my laundry for a while, I'm sure.
As for looking after Heather...hopefully the worst weather is behind us. It has been good to bring her in on stormy nights and to let her have a full haynet to herself once in a while. There is still little growth in the grass, but at least she can keep herself amused nibbling at what's there. My feeding regime seems to be going okay. Combined with the one haynet that I spread out in the field feeder each evening, she so far hasn't lost much weight. It is quite amusing entering the field with a full haynet. I put it over my left shoulder and have a doubled up lead rope for protection in my right. I call Heather over and enter under her protection! I walk along the boundary with the golf course on my left and H on my right. She sees off any horses or ponies eager to get a snatch at the hay. Then I make a dash across to the feeder, she slots in behind me and keeps then away till I can climb up and ditch the load. Like circling sharks they come...!! She has a very good strategy and parks herself broadside on to one side, whilst the others have to argue for places on the other. However, she obviously doesn't get anywhere near a full net to herself. I have found her once or twice hanging suspiciously around the hay lorry.
Her injury still seems to be improving. I've seen her cantering and trotting with the others, though still quite lame. She walks quite well now and for the first time the warmth in her injured knee seems to have all but gone. With this in mind, I encourage her to trot, to and from the field at feeding time.
The downside to the warmer weather is an increase in flies. There are plenty of the little annoying black flies around. I hurriedly had to find some fly spray..lurking at the back of the cupboard since the Summer. I even found one horsefly stupidly trying to pierce through her rug! All in all I feel there is progress and I'm sure she prefers living out. Now that I have knowhere to store anything, it's just making sure I bring what I need each day. If she continues to make progress at the same rate, I'm guessing she might be sound by June. Hopefully...