TCJp30 Snow part2

IN THE SNOW:
Day 2, and I'm not complaining. Warmbloods in cold weather.

Today is the second day at home, Tuesday 7th February 2012.

I get to pop outside into the yard and see my boys anytime I want, it's great.  I took the camera out the last few days too and caught some great shots of my horses being themselves in the snow.

Horses LOVE snow, they don't feel the cold like we do, so to them it's just fun.

Henry babes.

Tom babe.

Don't you find that your horses always want to 'help' at feeding time, Tom & Henry are very polite, they usually don't snatch a mouthful until I'm finished. 

They don't grab their dinners until I lay their buckets on the ground.  I like manners.  My boys are too big to not have great manners.

Tom & Henry's ears.

Lemmy, this cat always likes to help around the yard.

The horses are naked during the day today, as it's sunny now and feels warmer, although the thermometer in the feed room says otherwise.  I rug them at night because the temperature drops to below zero and I don't want them wet and cold (they love to roll in the white stuff!).

Tom wears the usual protective boots.

Henry trials the NEW airflow's.

They have protective boots on their back legs in the field, something I have noticed is they make their legs very hot.  This is not good.  So I have recently bought NEW Equine wear 'airflow' brushing boots for Henry (who has to wear boots a lot), and they seem to be doing a brilliant job.  They are hard though, I don't imagine they are very comfortable to wear all day...but we'll see.

Henry is chasing Lemmy out of 'his' field.

Here is the puddle Henry dug

through the snow to drink from. He pawed

snow to dig it out, melting the ice with his breath.

The grass is growing, and the boys are digging through the snow to get to it. 

I am very glad am I that the snow happened this weekend, I am flying next Sunday on a work trip, and not being able to get to Heathrow or the flights still leaving notwithstanding, I am much happier when extreme things happen, and I am here.  Edie helps...and gets in the way too.

Edie in the snow, it's almost as deep as she is tall.

Tom

Salt & grit

John and I spent the morning shovelling snow yesterday, the cats helped, we cleared the yard completely and salt & gritted it thoroughly. 

The boys now have a clean non slip surface to walk on which is much safer plus I can now sweep, which as you know makes me very happy because I LOVE a clean swept yard. 

The Horses have zero respect for a clean swept yard, their preferred activity is pulling huge leaves of hay out of their Haybars and dropping it all over the yard.  Walking in it, kicking it about...but, they do it because they know I love to sweep, it keeps me fit!

Tom & Henry napping in the sunshine.

Tom and Henry have been playing with their field ball.  it has a rubber handle at the top which makes a great grab point for Tom who likes to pick up everything by his teeth, including me.  and Henry likes to push things about with his feet.

  

In my next post...getting fit will be the topic.  Both Tom & Henry and I have a plan...



TCJpart14 'The Trek' the story of the Trakehner

THE STORY OF THE TRAKEHNER:
...an insight as to the amazing character that is the Trakehner



This handsome Stallion is Tom's father: Holme Grove Solomon:  Horses of this quality are why the story below is so incredible.


Have tissues at the ready. Warmbloods in cold weather:



The story of 'THE TREK':

The Trakehner is the most highly bred of all the warmblood horse breeds. The Royal stud Trakehnen in East Prussia was founded in 1732 by  King Friedrik Wilhelm 1.  Today's only pure bred riding horse was created  from the native breed with strong influence from the Arabian and Thoroughbred.

The Trakehner horse evolved because the King recognized the need for a new type of cavalry mount. He wanted horses his officers could ride that were attractive enough to make them proud, solid enough to stay sound and with a comfortable ground-covering trot that would enable them to travel quickly and efficiently.

He selected the best horses from seven of his royal breeding farms and, in 1732, moved them to the new royal stud at Trakehnen, where selective breeding began. The Trakehner breed evolved and it has been selectively bred since that time, with a closed stud book.

Before unification in 1871, Germany was made up of a number of different states and locally-organised breeding areas. As a result, horses bred in the area of Hanover became known as Hanoverians and those bred in Westphalia as Wesphalians, etc. The exception to this rule, Trakehners are known by that name wherever they are born and the stud book is governed solely by bloodlines.

In October 1944, as World War II was in its final stages, and the Soviets were closing in on the lush area around Trakehnen, orders came to evacuate the horses from the Trakehnen Stud. About 800 of the best horses were hastily transferred but, unfortunately, they did not go far enough west and most of them fell into the hands of the Russian occupation forces, and were shipped to Russia.

However, the private breeders were determined to save their valuable horses. What followed was a horror story that went down in history as ‘The Trek’.

Hitching their precious breeding stock to wagons laden with personal possessions and all the feed they could carry, the East Prussians fled. In the dead of winter, with snow deep on the ground, the broodmares, heavily in foal, headed west, literally running for their lives, unable to stop when either mares lost foals or horses went lame or became ill.

When their feed ran out they lived on whatever they could scavenge. The nightmare continued for 600 miles, the refugees being pursued by Soviet troops.

The Soviets had them surrounded on the shores of the Baltic Sea, it seemed they had reached the end. Their only escape was to cross the treacherous expanse of ice. So across they went, at times knee deep in the freezing water, galloping to stay ahead of the ice breaking behind them. If any dared stop or attempt to dodge the firing of the Russian planes ahead, they were doomed to sink helplessly into the freezing water and, tragically, many did not make it. The survivors limped into West Germany, the once proud and beautiful herd of 800 horses reduced to less than 100 pitiful shrapnel-wounded skeletons. Only the hardiest survived and the next decade was spent re-establishing the breed.

In 1947, the Trakehner Verband - was formed, replacing the East Prussian Studbook.

 

In 1960 the first Trakehners were imported into the UK by the Mushcamp Stud and, since that time, they have steadily gained in popularity, winning the hearts of many enthusiasts.

The Trakehner Breeders Fraternity (TBF) is the controlling body for Trakehners in the UK. They are licensed by Trakehner Verband GmbH to register, grade and brand horses with the distinctive double Elk horn brand with the inverted ‘V’ beneath to denote ‘British Breed’.

By the end of 1999 there were, in excess of 750 approved pure bred and 700 part bred Trakehners registered, 22 graded stallions and 250 graded mares in the UK. The TBF registers an average of 60 pure bred Trakehner foals each year.


This stunning Stallion is Henry's father: Holme Grove Prokofiev. 

Tom & Henry are members of that noble breed the Trakehner. They move with a grace and lightness you don't see anywhere else. But just as important, Trakehners are very nice 'people'.

The Elk horns symbolise a pure breed and the upside down 'v' with a dot above means British bred.

Tom & Henry both have the mark of the Trakehner on their rumps, I suspect this type of 'identification' will be banned soon, since it's done with a hot iron. This is Tom's, Henry's is barely visible unless it's cold and his hair is standing or in certain lights.