Has Spring Sprung?
Well, if I’m not very much mistaken, spring is finally making an appearance and dark, cold, dreary winter is being shown the door (good riddance). There are a number of things that make me think that pretty soon the image below could be a distant memory:
1) I was feeding the horses last week and I heard the unmistakable sound of lambs baaing. Then, on the way home I spotted a whole field of them leaping around like bouncy balls of cotton. The very sight of them made me feel that little bit cheerier!
2) There are buds on all the trees. Funny how one day the branches are brown and barren and the next day they’re all putting green shoots out. It seems to happen almost overnight.
3) The weanlings are starting to moult. I’m particularly nervous about Jazz shedding as she looks like a walking rug at the moment. There is going to be hair everywhere.....
4) I have even heard reports of foals being born!
My two are doing really well at the moment. They are now both nine months old and are currently going through the typical mouthy baby phase. This is when they have to explore everything with their mouth and give it a good chew. A bit like human babies really. This is perfectly normal behaviour for youngsters and is just one of their ways of finding out about the world. Just make sure that you keep fingers and pony tails out of the way of that curious muzzle!
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After feeding, mouthy babies quickly move onto their leadropes!
At the moment both Jazz and Katie are disgracefully muddy 99% of the time but beneath the dirt two lovely horses are developing. They are looking more grown up every day. Katie in particular is already starting to show quite a strong resemblance to her sire, part bred Arab, Aloha Desert Prince. Comparing the photos below, you can see just how much she has changed within the space of just a few months:
Katie at four days old
Katie at nine months old (albeit rather hairy and muddy!)
Apart from guzzling feed, hay and grass, I haven’t been doing an awful lot with Jazz and Katie. They are being allowed to grow up and have fun being babies.
In the meantime, I have been keeping an eye on the horse and showing scene, both here and back in my homeland (the UK). Some interesting bits of news from both countries:
• The British government is planning on introducing an annual tax on all farm animals, possibly to include horses. If it goes ahead, the scheme would start in 2012 and, if horses are included, it is estimated each animal would cost about £10.50 per year.
• The UK showing world is in shock amidst allegations that NINETY horses were measured short by a vet in Essex. Nigel Hollings has dubbed it the ‘biggest scandal to hit showing in twenty years.’ The vet denies all wrongdoing. Will be interesting to see what happens with this one!
• The Show Riding Horse class is being picked up by several shows across NZ for next season, including Hawkes Bay A&P
• Anne Hjorth is currently selling 2009/10 showing calendars to help fund her trip across the ditch to represent New Zealand at the Werribee Showing Champs on her lovely saddle hunter, Saville Row. She can be contacted by emailing anne.hjorth@gmail.com if you are interested.
• There’s a new NZ horsey mag (print) in the pipelines. Shhh.....!
I am now counting down the days to when the clocks go forward...I am looking forward to being able to look after my horses by daylight again (although, my tip of the day is to invest in a good LED headlamp- I picked mine up from Mitre 10 and it has been an absolute lifesaver!) Happy riding and I’ll update again soon