I would like to say that we have been and still are enjoying a lovely summer!

 

We had a great camp (pictured) and have had some really successful pony days and pony club events.  We have signed up to become a Riding Club linked centre and made some exiting plans for the Autumn.

 

Hopefully, these good times will help us get through this winter

Pony Club News!

Since my last post our pony club has really grown.  We now have over thirty members and run three regular sessions a month.

The Monday evening session still runs working towards various achievement badges and the Sunday session has been dedicated to forming a drill ride, hoping to be performed during this years summer camp.  We now have an exiting new Saturday session with TWEquestrian focusing on jumping and course building.  Members recently achieved their 'jump building' badge.
To find out more about the pony club visit www.pcuk.org.

Another age seems to have gone past since my last post!  I want to tell you about a follow up we had from Andrea from Dengie feeds.

This was a pony club event and Andrea returned this time with 'Harry the Gut'!  Harry is a life size replica of the horses digestive system.   As you can see from the photo it is quite colourful and user friendly.  (Being a bit squeamish myself I didn't want to upset our younger members.)  The length and size of it really makes you realize why horses have so many digestive issues and how a lot of the way we keep horses can cause difficulties.  Andrea gave another great talk as we followed the long and twisted path from mouth to bottom!  We all found it interesting  and informative.  Thanks Andrea!

Feed Clinic

I never know what my next blog is going to be about but something interesting always seems to come up!
On Sunday, we had a lovely lady, Andrea, from Dengies come to do a clinic for us.  It was arranged by Denes Country Stores and was really interesting.  Andrea bought with her a weighbridge and she also has a life size horses digestive system called "Harry the Gut".  We didn't meet "Harry" this time but hopefully Andrea will bring him to one of our pony club sessions.

Andrea looked at ten of our horses and each one went on the weighbridge, some a little more willingly than others! Regarding the use of a weigh tape it was interesting that on one horse the tape was quite accurate and on another it was 100kg out.  We decided the tape has it use to monitor weight gain or loss but is not necessarily accurate for exact weight.  She then did a visual condition test and gave us advice on which Dengie products would be suitable.  As an old fashioned horsey girl it is hard for me to move away from the traditional cereal feeding but the Dengie way makes a lot of sense and I am going to give it a go.  I will keep you posted on our results.

Many thanks to Andrea and we look forward to reporting on "harry the gut"!

Rug review

I don't usually get too exited about rugs.  I normally buy for necessity and cost or use gratefully recieved hand me downs.  I can often be seen, as the first cold weather comes in, rumaging in the rug room looking for that 5 foot stable rug that I'm sure I didn't throw away!

This year however, a few things have caught my eye and I thought I would share these with you.

The Weatherbeeta under rug combo full neck  is great.  One of my liveries had one and I was so impressed that I bought one for Bonnie.  She can never keep  her rugs straight but this under rug has stayed put and the neck part doesn't seem to be too restrictive which Bonnie would definitely object to.  I bought it for just over £50 and if it lasts a few years I am more than happy with that.  For great value I was tempted by the Evison Equine UK extra heavy weight turnout rug with detachable neck.  It is really warm and has really sensible buckles and clips and a velcro neck which comes off!  At £56.70 which included vat and next day delivery I am really impressed.

For pure indulgence, we all love the Horseware rambo fleece rugs. As you can see from the picture we all have one showing the range of colours, navy, chocolate, charcoal and of course, my favourite, the original gold.  They cost about £70 but we all feel as a special rug its a must!

Sometimes its the little things that help us through the winter.  Hopefully we are nearly there!

Intelligent Worming - part 2!

So, here is an update on our intelligent worming programme.  Three months have passed since our last test so I took samples from all nineteen (we have a couple of newbies) of our horses and delivered them to the vet.  I have to say I don't think the receptionist at the vets was that impressed with my carrier bag full of droppings!  The results are now in.  If you remember, last time we had two who came in with a very high count, (1200 and something) and I am pleased to announce that they came back this time at zero.  I had wormed them at the time with Equest Pramox.  My own mare, Bonnie, (pictured in the Dually halter) had a count this time of 65 and one of the school ponies was 55 so I have wormed them with Eqvalan and that's it.  Next time I may not test the ones that have had zero on both counts as there is a cost of £13.50 to do the test but it feels good to really know whats going on. It's worth noting that our team at Badshot Lea poo pick the fields religiously and I think our results show that this is  a real help. 

Teri Warner is back!

I'd like to let everyone know that Teri is back from her maternity leave.  She is back as our resident trainer and is working two full days for the riding school and is also available for private lessons and clinics.  You can hire a horse from the school or bring your own.  She is a sympathetic and confidence giving instructor and is happy to help any one, from beginners to competition training or working towards exams.  Her next jumping clinic is on Saturday 17th December at 5pm.