Two Mares

Settling

Posted on 9 March 2010 | 3 responses

So Emma settled down, finally, after Belle left. I hear from M that Belle is doing well down there, so that is good.

In a way, it’s good to only have one horse on the property. The work load has halved, as had the feed bill. That’s really beside the point and I’m missing Belle just a little.

I suppose the question is, where does Two Mares go from here?

I’m not entirely sure. My gut feeling is to keep it going, even though we’re down to only one mare. It might end up morphing into a hobby farm blog as we get things sorted out around here, or it might go silent for weeks. I’m just not sure yet.

I’m not going to close it down, I know that for sure. In our future are more animals, ducks and chooks definitely, a goat maybe – I am opposed to a goat, but my other half is dead set on a goat. I’d like to get a small, pleasant Nanny Goat for milking and try my hand at goats cheese to be honest. That could be an interesting endeavour.

Anyway. If I’m not here you can likely find me here or here or here.

A new home.

Posted on 1 March 2010 | 6 responses

A month or so later, Belle has gone to a new home.

Which is a little sad, but it’s also good. I know it’s a good home, with 8 acres of pasture for her to roam about.

Emma however is Not Impressed.

Over an hour later she is still trotting backwards and forwards, calling at the top of her lungs, despite it being dinner time. I think she’s calming down a little, but she is rather unhappy with Belle being loaded into a float and driven away.

For that matter, if the kicking and calling are anything to go by, Belle wasn’t happy at being separated from Emma either.

Sigh.

Neglect

Posted on 13 February 2010 | 4 responses

Mine, of this blog. Not neglect of the horses.

No, the mares are getting fat, eating lucerne hay morning and night. Only the cleanest (dam) water and the container scrubbed every day. No one is asking them to do anything except hang around in a paddock and eat and man, are they good at that.

Also, pooing. Let’s not forget the pooing. Horses? They turn money into crap. True.

Belle was meant to leave for a new home the other week. Nothing happened. M didn’t show up to collect her. I found out later that evening that there had been an issue with a broken float ramp. So Belle is still living it up in the paddock, following me around like I’ve got apples in my pockets. For the record, I don’t. Not since she tried to nip me after the carrot pieces ran out. Nippy horses don’t get treated.

Anyway.

Let’s talk about escaping.

SOMEONE. I’m not naming any names (EMMA)(WHOOPS) is escaping from the back paddock. I’ve divided my large paddock up into 3, using hot tape, in order to let the 2 smaller bits grow out for a while before letting the horses back in. The hot tape isn’t electrified and Emma has realised.

Somehow, she learned that if she puts her head underneath the very bottom strand of hot tape, she can barge her way under everything.

She does it like a pro now, despite us running extra strands and tightening things and ohmygod. Nightmare.

She’s tricky that one. She’s also going to be the horse we have trouble rehoming no doubt.

Sigh.

Oh and the cats? They’re still loving the hay. Nothing can bother them on top of the hay, not Amy, not the puppy, nothing. It’s peaceful. Apparently.

Tomorrow

Posted on 3 February 2010 | 4 responses

Tomorrow, Belle goes to a new home. A riding home, down south where no doubt she will be loved and adored.

I’m a little sad.

I would have liked to rehome Emma and see how Belle went after a week or so alone. My guess is she would have been sweet as pie and rideable, but sometimes, the universe doesn’t work like that.

So after tomorrow morning, I will only have one horse.

It remains to be seen how Emma does alone. I suspect she’ll fret. A lot.

Smokey

Posted on 1 February 2010 | 2 responses

It was smokey last night. There is a bushfire about 35km away and the wind was blowing the smoke straight towards us. Rather unpleasant.

Unfortunately, as unpleasant as I found it, I had to spend a lot of time standing outside, talking to the mares, who could smell the smoke and had gotten stressed.

No chance of the fire making it towards us, but they didn’t know that.

Today it’s cleared a lot and it’s just mildly hazy. The temperatures have dropped too, along with the wind dying down.

This is what it looked like last night. That photo is straight-out-of-the-camera with nothing done to it except a resize.

What hay is really meant for.

Posted on 27 January 2010 | 6 responses

This is what hay is really meant for, says Lucy.

Also – We added to our family today. Meet Susie, our new Springer Spaniel pup. Mum was springer spaniel x border collie and her dad was a purebred springer spaniel. Isn’t she gorgeous?

Yes, I’m trying to get back into the habit of posting here regularly again.

older posts »