...mud...

...the snow has melted into a sloppy, slippy bath of mud...
...not to mention the heavens opening up for a great cosmic drenching shower that soaks everything including horses, and those of us with leaks in our wellies!

...the trick is to not be disheartened, I desperately want to harrow and reseed my top two fields, but it's far to mushy out there, and T&H have been using those fields that I would normally shut during winter, because they are the highest ground.  And to avoid them standing all day fetlock-deep in slush, I have had to allow the trashing of my best fields...BUT no mud fever!

The Lady in Black

...the dancing horse...
With a new pedicure for each adversary in the dance-off.


 
The black mare is a thoroughbred trained by Mario Luraschi, the equestrian stunt-master to the music of DJC2C's Down the Road.

 

..and here's how they did it...

THE DANCING HORSE:

The Black mare known as Lady in Black who stars in this ad for OPI nail polish, is clearly a very talented dressage horse.

I've not been able to find out anything about the horse only she seems to have a quite long back so possibly not a Trakehner.

 

 

 

 

 Any criticism about the ad and how it was filmed, just shows how little people understand about horses. And if they just stopped for a second, and watched some horses playing in their fields, free and naturally, they would see them doing all these moves without any human involvement at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

like dressage itself, the mounted type i mean, the clever bit is learning how to ask the horse to do these things on command.

You can see from the few behind-the-scenes shots I was able to find that the trainer, as i was trying to explain at work today, is likely just out of shot, asking the horse to perform certain moves.

 

This could be a new horse discipline, free-dressage?

 

 

 

 

...have you seen this...?

LADY IN BLACK:
Have you seen this incredible video?

...saw this....

...AND THOUGHT OF YOU...

Snowfall at WW

...AND TALES OF THE TOTALLY EXPECTED...

 

 

I am writing this post, because without exception, when it snows, someone always asks me 'how are your horses in the snow?', to which I reply to surprised faces 'they love it!'

 

...and so does Min!

 

 

 

 

It's snowing again, the boys spent the night indoors of course, because we're not going through mud-fever again...seriously.

 

This snow time last year was when the abrasive nature of snow rubbed Henry's pastern and he got mud fever, remember this, snow can be fun, but it can cause problems too.

 

 

They were living out too, that didn't help, this year, they're indoors at night, their feet and legs can dry, we are MF free.

Snuggled up in their clean beds with lots of haylage, their drinkers didn't freeze because john has cleverly wound greenhouse heating wires around the pipes.

 

 

 

The yard is clear and danger free, the yard buckets are filled and snow is building up in the surface.

Tom & Henry would always rather be rug-free, but since its their nature to play and roll, and more snow is due, i put their outfits on suitable for the nippy weather and let them out.

 

 

Tom & Henry are gorgeous trakehners, but this does not mean they tip-toe around the snow because they are too posh to dip a toe in...NO! they love to play in it, eat it, lick it, roll in it.

boys!!!

 

Here Tom & Henry are looking gorgeous.

preparation, preparation, preparation...

SNOW:

Preparation is key to surviving the weather in the yard.

 

Last night, knowing it would snow all night, I prepared my yard with a sprinkling of salt&grit. 
 

 

 Not terribly romantic but John bought me a palette last autumn and it's very handy indeed.
 

I emptied the outdoor haybars ready for a new bale the next morning.

 

This morning then, when everywhere was covered in 5cm of snow, my yard, where I'd treated it, was clear and slip-free for the boys, and there was no fiddling with hay covered in snow, i just topped it up.
 

 

 

I put their medium weight rugs on, since they do like to play and roll in the snow, and out they went for a munch leaving me with an easy to sweep yard.

 

Once I have swept I sprinkle more grit on.

 

RECOMMENDED: Salt&Grit.

 

 

Also, we stocked up on horse feed too so we don't have to make any mad dashes to the farm shop for emergency supplies.

 

it's the Brownie Motto but 'be prepared' is the key.




 

 

 

Horse Lovers

UNSPEAKABLE TESCO:

Now regular visitors to TCJ blog will be well aware of the usual issues we discuss. 

Issues raised in a lighthearted fashion, mildly amusing but nothing too serious.

 
...but something happened this week which forced me to get political and put mouse to screen and write a post, apologies if this disturbs the usual TCJ vibe for you, I'll be back to normal once my rant is out, and Tom & Henry tales will prevail once more.

Unless you've been riding in outer space the last 2 days, you'll know that horse meat has been found in several of Tesco's foods.

...as unspeakable as this obviously is, for us as horse lovers, and me as a vegetarian, if they put horses in lasagne's, who's to assure me there aren't any in the veggie version too?

I just don't trust them anymore and have moved my alliance straightaway to Waitrose, and judging by the speed of the site, I'm guessing most of the nation did too.  

Now of course Tom & Henry will let me know if the carrots and apples are acceptable, but I'm guessing they've got nothing to worry about.

Interestingly however, in the middle of a crisis in the horse world, with rescue centres filled to bursting, indiscriminate breeding and record breaking abandonment's, is this just an albeit extreme reaction to the state of our world of horses?

The burgers etc. were found to come from the UK, however disgusted you might be , as I am myself naturally, at least the poor animals haven't had to endure live transport for several days across Europe to be slaughtered.

 

...could we have predicted this? or even helped prevent this as an industry?

 
Right now I'm gazing at my own boys grazing in the frosty sunshine, thinking 'over my dead body', but, my message, if your interested, keep your own side of the street clean, do everything you can for your own horse, support horse charities, eat veggie.

Redwings need old rugs and equipment as well as donations, so you can support whatever your level of income.

...vegetarian Cannelloni anyone...? 

UPDATE: 

Waitrose carrots are top-notch, T&H approved x 

Horse Sense

New Year's Promise

NOW'S THE TIME TO MAKE PLANS:
After a winter of idleness we need to try to get back on-board and get ourselves and our horses fit.

to get from this:

 ...to this...

i will attempt to plot my progress during the on-coming months, job one: get shoes back on the boys so i can ride.

lets do it!

Wednesday's Whimsy

How cute is this for a special occasion dinner?

Have a great New Year everyone xxx