TCJpart 13 Home

WHERE TOM & HENRY LIVE:
...we love it here, it's like being on holiday every day x


They have thier own place, tucked away in Essex.  They live in the front garden on a few acres of land with all the amenities they need.  It's quiet around here and the horses feel and are completely safe.

We live in a tiny little cottage built around 1880, and can see the boys grazing in their fields from the house. It's such a comfort to be able to peer out of the window and see what they're up to.

We bought this cottage because of Tom & Henry, or should I say the planning of the future arrival of Tom & Henry, because I wanted a place of my own to keep my horses in, a place where no one could interfere or tell me what I could or couldn't do, where I could go out in the middle of the night in my pyjamas if I wanted to and see them, which I actually do quite often.

Number 1. Formerly a stud, our little property needed lots doing to it to turn it into somewhere beautiful for us the cats and the horses to live, it's now a home.

Just a walk down the garden path and I'm in their yard.  John has designed and built the perfect place for the boys.  Everything's done right, it's safe and tidy.  I really would rather be here than anywhere else on earth.

Tom & Henry grazing and wandering, it's what horses are designed to do. Make sure your fencing is sturdy, well built and properly maintained. I have electric tape all round the exterior perimeter just incase, and last winter we had hedgerow planted along all the interior boundaries too, including apple trees for the horses.  We are hoping the wildelife will make home in it, as it will provide them safe nesting space as well as food in the form of berries in the winter.  Tom and Henry will of course prune the hedge themselves, nipping all the tender young shoots and keep it in good order!  This sort of grazing is a brilliant natural form of grazing, a varied form of forraging including any herbs we sew in their paddocks when we reseed, try to buy pasture mix designed for horses and ponies, they contain different plants in them than those suitable for cattle.

Always wandering and munching.....rotate the fields to give the grass chance to grow, remember how often you have to mow the lawn, it's grows fast!  Keep the weeds down and get rid of all the ragwort, dig it up and burn it.

Look into my eyes.......open that bag of treats, I know you've got some........you are putty in my hooves.....

agree, I am, I love those boys!

Like lots of yards, ours has lots of cats, not only are they impressive catchers of mice, they are very entertaining too. This one: Boinger, was lounging in the back of the Landrover.

A frame to the view: it is a home for John and I as well as the creatures, so I have tried to make it as nice outdoors for us as it is for the horses.

David Austin roses. I love the old roses, I don't see the point in flowers that don't smell gorgeous.

Munching: horses eat for about 18 hours a day, I supliment Tom & Henry's grazing with additional forage: ad-lib haylage, fresh every day.  It works too, they are both in excellent condition as you can see from this photo.

munching some more, trickle feeding keeps thier guts in prime order, remember what horses are, and arrange for a natural diet.

Sleepy, it's hard work being a horse, all that wandering about, eating grass and galloping around in perfect synchronicity.  Tom & Henry lie down frequently, and nap intermittently.

When it's really hot, the boys like being able to get under a 'rain' of hosewater, they go crazy!!  they rub against eachothers hindquarters, paw the ground, roll and gallop off!  they enjoy it.  if you do the same for yours, remember to have a camera handy, you'll be suprised by the reaction you get.

Relaxed.

I will do anything I can to keep them safe and happy.  And of course I can never get tired of looking at those amazing bottoms!!