Harry horse & Charlie adventures! Horse chat & much more! Everyone welcome!

[TwoCrows]

Beautiful pictures Kim!! Charlie looks quite smart in his suit, very handsome young man!

I remember cutting and baling hay when I was younger. Not a fun job but its a good job done. Nice to have a stash up for winter.

Keeper looks fabulous, he is such a pretty dog!!

Glad you are feeling better and thanks for sharing these pics!!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Thanks Leyla We just have the big trailer to unload of the hay and that’s it done! It’s all well & good getting it done for yourself and doing the work but it makes you appreciate how easy it is to ring up and have it delivered! But as this weather is so odd at the moment the farmer said there may not be a second cut this year so I can imagine there will be a shortage during the summer.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

A Yorkshire crow!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-44713074

 

[TwoCrows]

Thanks Leyla We just have the big trailer to unload of the hay and that’s it done! It’s all well & good getting it done for yourself and doing the work but it makes you appreciate how easy it is to ring up and have it delivered! But as this weather is so odd at the moment the farmer said there may not be a second cut this year so I can imagine there will be a shortage during the summer.

Glad you got some hay up. Hay doesn't like hot humid but dry seasons. So hopefully your weather changes and you can get a second cutting!

A Yorkshire crow!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-44713074

Aww.....what a cutie! I hope he's ok out there without his Mum.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Kim

Charlie looks so suave in his suit. Really pleased he had a good time even if he was a bit overheated. Beautiful photo of Keeper. You are right, that face is angelic and I bet he knows how to use it!

Yes I had a wonderful visit to my brother. To be able to give and receive some great big bear hugs was just the best. We managed to completely surprise him. Rang him up from my sister's mobile when we got right outside his house "to wish him a happy birthday" and then his wife let us onto the property, whilst we chatted to him on the phone and we managed to get right to the hall where he was standing facing the wall with the phone in his hand talking to us before he realised there was some sort of echo on the phone and turned around to see us and then kept looking at us and looking at the phone like it was some sort of genii and lamp scenario. The first hug crushed my 32year old favourite sunglasses but it was worth every fragment!

Well done for getting hay in. It is hard but rewarding work but this heat is a killer. I don't know how anyone manages to work in it. I'm finding things to do in the house in the middle of the day.... well most of the day actually. I was really naughty yesterday and went to a matinee cinema performance with my friend who is on holiday this week. We both agreed that an A/C cinema in the middle of the day was preferable to being out in this heat. We saw Book Club which was laugh out loud funny and uplifting and saw 2 trailers for other films we now really want to see too. Had a nice salad at Frankie and Benny's and then headed home where it was starting to get cool enough to be bearable.

My horses have always had the option to come into the stables and stand in during the day and the only time I get a break from mucking out is when they go up to the other field that I rent for a few weeks 2 or 3 times a year. I took them up there the week before I went to Tenerife but had to bring them back because they were being eaten alive by flies and were demented. So I have grass long enough to make hay with up there but the terrain prevents it and horses at home that are now on almost bare ground but happy to be able to get out of the heat and flies when they want to. They are carrying more weight than they have in a long time so a bit of lean grazing will not do them any harm and I still have a bit more field that I can open up, but desperately need rain now and yet forecast says we will be lucky to see any in the next 10 days.
Your foraging in the harvested pea field made me smile..... that is desperation!! I know you love peas and it is very honourable that you waited until they had been harvested before you helped yourself, but it is quite funny!

Really, really impressed that you are flying flags at the weekend still. We have not ridden or driven since I came back from Tenerife although we are toying with maybe taking them out tonight if it cools a bit. Our driving club meets have been cancelled due to the heat. I would quite happily go for a midnight ride and enjoy the adventure of it but my horses would probably scream the place down and disturb half the village which wouldn't make me very popular and Ian definitely would not be up for it. I am much more of a night time person than a morning one. I love the quietness of night time and the feeling of having the world to yourself and seeing the sky and stars extending right back to infinity.

Anyway, just thought I would catch up whilst I have breakfast. I look forward to your next update. Hope we get some rain soon

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Kim

Hope all well. Just checking in to

for yesterday morning. Had a lovely ride out on Rebel and Rascal with my young friend Lauren. I thought they might be flat with it being hot and not much grass left but they were both up for it. I got quite a few bucks from Rasc (but nothing I couldn't cope with) every time I asked for canter and even when I pushed him through it he would do a rocking horse movement that gradually covered less and less ground until he was no longer moving forward but bucking on the spot again. At least he does it mostly in straight lines, unlike Reb who will often take a sideways dive and buck. Anyway, we were able to do some relaxed buckle end walk and trot as well as a bit of daft Yee ha and nobody hit the deck! Planning to go out again tomorrow morning if weather allows...... rain is forecast..... YAY!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hope everyone is doing well? Not been getting alerts for this thread!

@TwoCrows How are you all over there? I’m understanding your parched weather that you have over there!



Barbara! On you getting a flag out! Do you have another to go with it for today?
Me, I’m letting the side down not been for two weeks now as I missed last weekend out. By the time I’d got everything done and got to the farm it was way too warm! I’m seriously thinking about doing some kind of ritual/rain dance to get us some here! I know I’m never happy with the weather As I’m poo picking the field clumps of dead grass are now coming up with it. The field is now going bald so even if it does rain there may not be any grass to grow back. I have a small beach though in the gate hole
Can’t find my bucket & spade!

I’m hoping to get out tomorrow though and have set my alarm already so I’m up for at least 5 and down the farm for 6. Because I want to get up early it’s highly likely I will have a bad nights sleep and stay in bed in the morning if i have not got it set!



Harry has been eaten to death by the flies & bugs so I’ve treated him to a new fly rug The Aqua & Orange is meant to repel the flies and it has permethrin inpregnated to kill/ward them off. My previous one I think the permethrin had worn off from washing & rain plus the neck cover was not long enough. I’m impressed this new style one though. Better fit all round & longer neck. I’ve also got fly gel this time which you can cake on plus garlic in his feed. It’s war!

It’s also war with mites in one of my coops Had it to bits today and I was crawling! Resorted to creosote in the end. Stinks a bit but better than those blasted mites! Wouldn’t mind but I’m religious on cleaning out and mite kill spraying! But once the roof was off it revealed the blighters! If this does not work I’m going to go for a new one. What I’ve spent on mite spray I could have bought a new one


In the other coop I’ve been battling a broody frizzle polish hen She’s nearly 5 years old so why she’s decided now to have a go I will never know! Lost count of the times I’ve chucked her out of the nest box. She’s not a happy bunny! Fluffed up and for a small hen she has a pretty loud growl! Yesterday she sat in protest in the run like a pancake when I lifted her out. The others were not sure how to take her. But as soon as another had laid she was back in there to sit on that egg! Egg out and hen back out!
Will se how it goes and if she persists much more she’s going in the dog cage!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Oh and finally my Harlequin quail have started laying

They are tiny little eggs and so cute! I now have the full array of egg sizes

 

[TwoCrows]

Hi Kim!

Ahhh.....now you have a tiny taste of what a drought is like! Now, go another 4 months without a drop of rain and get 2 inches very fast, then get a 1/2 inch of snow in the winter, then wait until July to see 1 inch of rain, and then do this over and over for a decade...you will then know what its like in New Mexico! We've actually been getting spit on every day this past week with rain. Not enough to do much of anything. Its humid and cloudy though and the temps are down right cool, I love that! Our summer rains are trying to start and hopefully soon! Ooh, I just heard a big crack of thunder!

Flies and mites are ferocious in dry weather. Especially the flies, they bite really hard when they need water! I've got some leg scale mites in my coop this year. They come out in droves during droughty weather. Hopefully once you start getting your rains back, these biting annoyances scram for you!

 

[TwoCrows]

I was typing when you posted the quail eggs photo. Congats on those eggies!