Week 6 pics

Benhorse is in full moult, and after looking at him today I'm thinking I might hop on in a few weeks. So will start out leading him off Oscar for a bit. Of course that means I have to ride Oscar which could be interesting given our last sproing at the forest.

Ellie's boys are up here now so there's been a wee reshuffle of paddocks - Tai and Spyke are in the driveway paddock (Benhorse's old paddock), and Benhorse is in a taped off part of one of the cow paddocks with Bert who is having a sleepover for 2 weeks until his new grazing is ready. Everyone seems ok with the new arrangements except that I have to separate Bert and Benhorse otherwise Bert pushes Benhorse away from his feed and Benhorse doesn't even attempt to assert himself over Bert. So Benhorse is currently eating his dinner while Bert gazes at it longingly over the hot tape.

Onto the pics!

He's looking a bit like a broodmare right now with his flabby belly but once we start some work he should tone up a bit. Not that I'm complaining about him having a flabby belly!

Week 5 pony pics

Benhorse has been here for over a month now and is looking more and more like a normal-ish horse that is just a bit light and out of work. Yahooo!!!!


His coat is coming out in huuuge amounts so his summer coat is definitely coming through. He still looks a bit rough in places and has a few baldy patches, hopefully that is just his body changing. Will have a chat to the vet anyway - has two palm sized bald patches between his front legs and is a little bald either side of his tail, but doesn't seem to have pinworms.

Took Oscar for a ride at the forest last week, first time in ages and he clearly found it quite exciting. Although to be fair, Oscar's idea of acting naughty is best behaviour for some horses. He just wanted to go for a hoon although he's so unfit that halfway through the ride he went into plod mode and was sweated up heaps when I took his saddle off. Big unfit fatty boy!

Ben is just outside planting more vegs - he got some peas, tomatoes, brussels sprouts, and beetroot. The pigs are about a month off being ready to go as well so soon we should have some yummy bacon in the freezer again :-)

Georgia seems to have grown up heaps in the last two weeks, seems more settled. She got a new bed today (thanks Aunty Ellie!) and just thinks it is fantastic. It's one you fill with beans from a bean bag and she loves snuggling down into it. Best of all it is huge so even when she is fully grown she'll still fit it.

More horse pics

For some reason the back end pics of Benhorse are all in the wrong places... can't figure out why so here is a special sequence of bum shots!

Benhorse update

He's been here 4 weeks now, here's a new lot of photos:



Definite big improvements since day 1!! I did his teeth on Friday, they were fairly awful especially on the offside and I think I'll do them again in 6 months as I couldn't get rid of as many problems in there as I wanted to. He was just like Oscar too - sucked up the drugs big time. At least Choc is a cheap drunk. It was a bit of a makeover day for Benhorse on Friday - teeth, tetanus shot, feet trimmed, and sheath cleaned (it was very YUCK).

Georgia had her first sleepover at a kennel on Saturday night, which she LOVED. I was up north working and Ben was working too so she went to K9 Heaven - Country Club for dogs. Talk about spoilt... she fitted in really well apparently, just as well, as she's off there this Saturday too as I'm away working up north again.

The goats headed off on Friday to their new home, Rosie and Caramel loaded onto the trailer fine but Basil was a bit thick about it and needed some encouragement. Rosie and Caramel just saw the hay there and got stuck into that.

Still very soggy here right now - we are all a bit over the rain! The driveway is a mess and paddocks are fairly wet too. Oscar will be ridden this week for the first time this season so hopefully that goes ok. He had his feet done on Friday too so is all good to go now :-)

Introducing Benhorse

The new horse I mentioned in the last post has been here for 4 weeks today and is starting to look a little less like an SPCA case.

He was fairly wormy when he arrived too, so almost looks worse a week after arriving here as his pot belly has gone. He's really starting to get cover over his ribs now and even filling out around his backside.

I have been taking weekly pics on Sundays, here's some pics - which actually flatter him a bit :-(

He is coming on really well, much better than I thought he'd be after only 4 weeks here. He's in a paddock on his own so he doesn't burn off too much energy running around with the others. They hang out together by the fence though and are all getting on ok over the fence. The first week or so that Benhorse was here he hardly showed any interest in the others - it was all about food!!

Did a short session of groundwork with him on Friday, first time I had a bridle on him and he was all good. Very easy to work with and interested in what was happening too.

Georgia is over 4 months old now and was speyed a couple of weeks ago - not that you'd know it, she bounced back extremely well and you can barely see her scar now. She is not too popular around here right now though as she mortally wounded a chicken on Friday night which was pretty awful. So she has now been introduced to her new friend - the chain. She seems happy enough being chained up to her kennel - it is long enough that she can get into her bed, get outside and have a wander and go to the toilet.

The goats are heading off to new pastures soon as well - they are going up to Waipu in a couple of weeks. They have been escaping a lot and it's time for them to move on. Am a bit sad - especially about Rosie and Basil.

I have planted my garlic to be harvested in summer - planted around 35 segments and looks like most of them have come through. The rocket I planted about 6 weeks ago has come to a standstill although I managed to scrounge enough to have with dinner last night. We are going to try and grow some spuds for the first time too - I think now is about the right time to plant so will have to hunt out some seed potatoes. And onions next month too I think.