Breakfast Time

SPECIAL TREATMENT:
Tom this morning....

Barbara Watkiss asked me to take a photo of T&H having their dinners lying down, of course I don't always have a camera or my phone with me, but managed to snap this one this morning.

  
...just too gorgeous to get up xxx

just in case you were wondering, Tom wasn't shut in his stable, they don't go in until the very bad weather.  Their stable doors are always left open.  They go in to get out of the sun, to munch hay, to nap or have a lie-down.

...meantime Henry was outside eating his, he doesn't like standing still for long so he fidgets about!!

TCJpart64 Hot in the City

AN AMUSING TALE:
John just couldn't resist taking this photo on his way walking to work this week in the City of London.

Police Officers giving a road user a traffic violation ticket.  Not in itself unusual, but this time it is....

The Officers are mounted, and the road user was a cyclist!

Oh, how I giggled!  Never underestimate the effect and power of the Mounted section of the Police Force - good job!

And how well behaved thos horses are in all that traffic, and beautiful too.

TJCpart63 June issue:

IT'S FASHION DARLING...
Skinny and gorgeous, a supermodels' life is full of fabulous opportunity and excitement.

This piece has been written for the next issue of Trakehners UK Magazine a 4 times a year publication.

As you can see from the June cover of 'Vague' magazine, horses are the newest fashion iconography.  It wont have escaped your attention that imagery of equines are appearing on fashion items from handbags to jewellery and womenswear....and this is the story of how two 'ordinary' boys from Biggleswade have made it into high fashion.

Check inside this new issue too:

...born with star quality, Tom & Henry have been on a detox since January.  Their bodies are temples of sveltness and they are glossy with health.

They are sleeping well, eating healthily: Tom & Henry are both strict vegetarians, having regular cardio-vascular work-outs around their field...a personal trainer is so last season.

It is no coincidence then that they were selected at a casting out of all the horses in the world to become icons of fashion for M&S in the form of front print t'shirts.

The models themselves T&H, who don't get out of bed for less than a bowl of dinner with carrots julienne, expertly chopped by their personal assistant (me), remain very down-to-earth...well they do like to roll!

Fame has yet to take it's toll on them.

So cowgirls...listen to what happened next.

Naturally, as I work in a design room I was able to provide the teams with the perfect subjects for these tops, namely the most gorgeous and charismatic Trakeners of them all...Tom & Henry!!

Images were poured over by the teams and a few made the cut...this was a very nervy time for me I can tell you, I'd have to be the one to break the news to the boys themselves if they'd been unsuccessful in their attempt to go from 'pets' to superstars.

Luckily the creative teams found just the images they were looking for on this blog, and the T&H images were put into work to become a permanent part of M&S fashion.

The first top to appear is the 'Tom' top for Indigo Collection, modelled here next to Tom himself by his PA (me), a modern style for every summer wardrobe and easier to look after than a real horse!

Tom & Henry are trying to keep things 'real', they don't want fame to change them, they just want to be treated like....I was going to say normal horses...but they have never been treated like normal horses...because they are not normal..they are T&H!  They have breakfast in bed some mornings when they're just too famous to get up on their feet to eat which my neighbours find hilarious.  I just slide their bowls under their noses and they eat lying down.

Tom & Henry may be the first Trakehners to make the transition from dressage potentials to fashion models, but they'll never forget where they came from though:  New york, London, Milan, Paris and Biggleswade!

little note...just before you go straight off to the newsagent to try to buy 'Vague' magazine...it's an amusing invention of my own..sorry to disappoint!

Horse Sense

John Wayne Quotes:

Horse Sense

TCJpart62: Supplimentary Feeding

HERBS & WEEDS:

Just because we might not want them in our lawns, there are some herbs and weeds that are beneficial to our horses, and in some cases just plain tasty and good for them too!!

This is Henry, grazing the flowers of the White Clover, very tasty.

White Clover

John buys a specially blended Horse Paddock Mix with a mixture of herbs and grasses to emulate the diversity found on the wild planes (where horses rarely suffer from obesity or laminitis).  This broad species mix is not only very palatable to our horses but they are also beneficial to their health.  Anyone who recognises the need to duplicate as near to wild conditions for their horses as possible can find a wide selection of grass seed mix on the market.  But first you'll need to get out into your own paddock to ascertain what grasses and herbs are already present.

He selects a blend each year to suit our own land, some years' grass blend only when the herbs seem to have done very well from a previous sewing.

Some seed mixes that we look out for include the following herbs, grasses and wild flowers, if you wander your own land you'll undoubtedly find some of these herbs and 'weed' exist there already, and that perhaps, like me, you assumed wrongly they were unwelcome.  Just a little investigation and research can help you identify these plants.  If anything, it'll prepare you for the skill you'll need to weed the good from the bad,

Here are the good:

Meadow Fescue

Smooth Stalk Meadow Grass

Timothy Grass

Kentucky Blue Grass

Cocksfoot

Creeping Red Fescue

Rough Stalk Meadow Fescue

Sheep's Fescue

Chewing Fescue

Sheep's Parsley

Yarrow

Sheep's Burnet

Ribgrass

Chicory Herb

Salad Burnet

Dandelion

Ladies bed straw

Tom & Henry's fields are a mixture of several

species of grass, herbs or meadow wild

flowers.

Tom & Henry also have access to their very own hedgerow, and planted in there are several tasty and beneficial plants and trees.

Here you will see Tom pruning the hedgerow, he is quite horticultural, he is particularly fond of the new leaves of the hawthorn, the wild rose leaves and the apple too, with a sprinkling of field maple.

...you can see from the photos how John has had to put a protective tape around the newly planted hedgerow to save it from equine pruning, but they seem always to find a sneaky place where the tape doesn't stretch both sides of the fence.  A hedgerow is very good varied mix of forage.

Not quite so harmless the oak, but it's the acorns that our horses mustn't eat, so Henry's few mouths full of leaves won't do him any harm.

 

A few things they probably shouldn't eat however, the handle of the poo-picker....or your husband!!!

Oh, Tom & Henry, you do like a varied diet!!!

TCJpart61 ...Feet

FOR WANT OF A SHOE,
THE BATTLE WAS LOST:

Keeping your horses' feet in tip-top condition means a careful combination of management techniques, the right feed with the correct nutrients in it, a great farrier, and a keen eye to notice any changes in the hoof, however subtle.

This time of year, when the ground has gone from totally wet and saturated to rock solid hard and dry back to soggy again in a matter of weeks, it's the time we need to be vigilant with our horses' feet.  As the hoof repeatedly becomes saturated then dries out it can crack causing problems due to the expansion and contraction of the hoof wall.  All this movement in the horn causes clenches to become loose, and shoes start coming off as a consequence...as Henry's is about to do. 

Keep you farrier on speed-dial, and keep your eye out for any signs of change.

There are of course topical treatments you can apply to your horses' hoof wall to moisturise, but Steve contests that an animal with the correct diet and management shouldn't need any of these things....having said that I buy a very costly hoof-supplement and I don't tell him, because I know he wouldn't approve, but it makes me feel better as I have an insurance against nutrition-based hoof problems.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

 


My obsession with my horses’ feet began with my pony Brandy, he was old and developed Cushings disease.  In itself not a problem, but it meant my poor Brandy suffered prolonged and almost continuous laminitis.  



I learned a lot about feet over that time and developed a greater respect for my farrier, who’s job it was ultimately to help Brandy live a pain-free life.

 

Tom & Henry have never had laminitis.  I am very careful with what I feed them and make sure their fields aren’t too lush, by grazing them appropriately and cutting them when necessary.  But, just because they don't suffer with Laminitis, that doesn't mean I don't buy products that are suitable for horses that do. 

Look for the Hoof Kind stamp and the Laminitis Trust stamp of approval on feeds.  if like me you buy these, you can guarantee you're doing all you can to keep the sugar they consume to the bare minimum.

 

Horses are designed to roam free over hundreds of acres of scrubby land, with little nutritious tufts of grass available, but a greater selection of edible herbs and grasses than they get now.  The bulk of their natural diet should be low-calorie forage.

So I keep my land well and truly grazed on, short and never over fertilised – once every three years only.

 
Their dinner is simple and forage based BUT I do buy a costly hoof supplement to top up any possible gap in the nutrition where hooves are concerned. It is my thing.

I deliberately buy hoof-kind products – those with  laminitis approved stamp.

Tom & Henry get shod every 5 weeks, on the front only.  I would prefer to have them barefoot but they have quite shallow feet, meaning their frogs are shallow, and with all the stones and gravel around our village, they would be foot-sore all the time and I just couldn’t bear it. 

It's difficult to decide what to do with so much contradictory advice, I wouldn't consider any changes to Tom & Henry's management without first discussing it with Steve.  Your own farrier knows your horses' feet, he will be able to give you a steer if you have any questions.

Of course, one day Steve will retire, then Tom & Henry might go barefoot...that'll give me a few years to get used to the idea!