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

[Yorkshire Coop]

@TwoCrows

Thanks Leyla I have as you say been frazzled all day! I hate being late up and having to play catch up all day long. That stupid dream that seemed to go on forever with one horror after another sure did and has bothered me all day. Long time since I’ve woken in a panic like that. Obviously then my mind was on over drive until I eventually nodded off again!

So pleased to hear little Lollie is doing good now. I’m sure he feels so much better with the infection subsiding

Still quite humid here today. About 27c but cloudy so at least the sun wasn’t beating down. Just had a very light rain shower but nothing to mean anything. Cooler air is on the way though from tomorrow, about 19c is forecast. Nights are rally drawing in now so it’s certainly turning.

Big day for Charlie tomorrow, he collects his GCSE exam results. I really do hope he’s done enough to get on his gamekeeper course that he’s got his heart set on. His place on it is conditional so he needs the results

 

[TwoCrows]

@Yorkshire Coop

I sure hope you sleep better tonight Kim! I've had bad dreams like that in the past, usually I am pretty stressed out over all and it comes out in nightmares. LOL Thankfully I haven't dreamt anything so traumatic recently, but I know how bad it is! Gets your heart pounding so bad, there is NO getting back to sleep!

Sounds like fall is on it's way to the UK! I love the shorter days and we have lost quite a bit of light on both morning and evening. Our overnight temps are regularly in the mid 40's Fahrenheit, (around 7 Celsius) and our days are much cooler in the mid to lower 70's. (about 22 Celsius) It's been raining all day and its cold outside today, 50 F (11 C or so) something. Ive got double socks on and 2 shirts. It was flooding in town when I came through a bit ago, I mean streets were rivers, sidewalks gone, you had to pull over and stop driving, the rain was coming down so hard! Thankfully we didn't get it that bad here at the house. Would have washed out our dirt road completely!

Oh I DO hope Charlie gets good results back from his exams! Especially since he is so excited about something he wants to pursue in life. We don't always have a calling in life and if this is Charlies calling, he needs to follow his dream!! So I pray he gets to continue on this path and does his Gamekeeper course!!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

@rebrascora

I’m finally getting another flag out!

Got out early this morning at 6.30 with my friend before she headed off to work. Nice & quiet with no trauma involved. Hoping to go again tomorrow as well depending on the weather, it is looking pretty wet & chilly for tomorrow though! Hope all is well with your beasties & critter’s?

On other matters, Charlie got his results on Thursday and it wasn’t what he was expecting Not as good as he was hoping for and a total bust on math’s! He has got his place on the gamekeeper/environmental management course but he’s going to have to re-sit his Math’s again as he didn’t even close to passing it. It has been a stroke of luck for him really as not many other students have applied for the course he wants to do so they have let him on as long as he re-sits. Had the course been full already I’m not sure he would have got on. But it’s all sorted now and he goes to his enrolment next Thursday.

Well I best head off as Keeper needs to go to the vets again As I headed out early this morning he & Charlie were still in bed so I didn’t see him. When I’ve come home Charlie has noticed his eye is swollen & closing shut. Can’t see anything in there so I’m praying it’s not a grass seed stuck under the lid! We shall see...........

 

[rebrascora]

Oh no Kim.... Poor keeper and poor you.... another vet's bill, Yikes!

Sorry to hear Charlie didn't get the grades he needed but great that they have let him on the course anyway. I hope he finds a special teacher who can make it easier for him to understand the maths for his resit. So difficult to focus on a subject that doesn't spark your interest and especially so when it is a core subject that you really need to pass.

Great to hear that you got out for a bit of pleasant flag flying this morning. I brought my ggs back down from their summer grazing last night with my sister's help. The lads were bouncing from before we got their halters on. They both took a sideways dive as we were putting them on and we nearly got trampled. Once we were out of the gate (on the main road) they were jumping all over the place. My sister said.... " Remind me how old these boys are??" Not the behaviour you expect from 20 year olds that is for sure! We were just leading them so no flag for me, but we eventually got them home safely. Thankfully the girls were better behaved. The grass at home has not grown much but what there is, is lush. There is a fun ride on locally tomorrow which I would have loved to have done, but they are not fit enough, so I have arranged with my farmer friend for Lauren and I to go on Monday and play over the fun ride jumps that are on his stubble fields before they are taken down..... it is a mile hack to get there so should take a little edge off them and the weather forecast for Monday is better than tomorrow, so it should work out better. My lot get horribly excited in the company of other horses as well as there being a risk of them kicking so going up when there is no one there is a safer option all round..... and it means I don't have to wear one of those horrid body protectors like you do when you go to a x country course these days. I have promised to take Lauren to one for a day of schooling at some point so I am going to have to invest in one at some point soon but I can't help but feel that you must lose quite a bit of balance and mobility in them, especially if you are not used to them.
In the mean time I need to get MeMe's feet trimmed in order to take her jumping. I didn't get her shod because she is doing pretty well barefoot with the small amount of work she has been doing. I've spent the past few days doing work on Ian's horses feet which he had left far too long without attention and one had really bad thrush and the other his feet were completely over the shoes and whilst he is waiting for his blacksmith to get back to him to shoe, I could not leave him over the weekend without having his shoes off and feet trimmed up. Arthur's feet are to do again soon too but they will wait till next week. My poor back is starting to complain!
Anyway, I think that is all my news. Hopefully I will be updating on Monday to say that we had a great ride and all of us had fun jumping and no drama.

Hope they can fix Keeper up easily and it is just a minor irritation. Please update us when you can.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Pleased to report that Keeper’s eye/s is just irritation Once we managed to pin him down (rather excited in the vets) the vet looked under the lids and there was nothing to see. Popped some drops in to check for ulcers too but all clear. Just red & irritated eyes. Got some drops to put in twice per day for a week and all should be good. Only £43 so not too bad a hit on the pocket! But H had his vaccinations this week too so the vets have had nearly £100 out of me this week! H needs the dentist again soon so that’s going to be a few more quid. And he’s having the farrier on Monday so another pocket hit! He’s also booked in for some theraplate massage when she next comes to the yard and he could do with a rub down from the back lady really! All seems to come at once....... beans on toast for us I’m thinking
Keeper is enjoying the attention though & milking it to the hilt!

 

[TwoCrows]

@Yorkshire Coop

Aww... Poor Keeper! But I am glad to hear his eye is ok. It is so worrisome when they turn up with issues. I'ts always something! Boy, the stuff our dogs get into! Lollie got bit by an ant a week ago, hopefully not a Fire Ant, but all our ants are large and bite very hard, ant bite's itch 10 times worse than any mosquito bite. Anyway, he had licked the spot until it was red, raw and oozing! It was on his belly and tucked under his leg, hard to see. Thankfully he was still on antibiotics and any infection cleared up and now it's all healed.

I am happy to hear Charlie will still get into his Gamekeepers class! Even if he has to work harder on the math. Math is a tough subject for many people, it's not something you can memorize as in other subjects. You have to actually understand formulas and if you don't, you just can't do it! I once had to take classes on calculus for a job I had, OMG, I passed the course but at my job I had to keep an entire journal with formulas written down and such. I understood some of it, but other stuff would fly right over my head! Thank the Lord for my formulas book, if I had lost that journal, I would have lost my job!!

Love the pictures of Charlie and Keeper. Just priceless!!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Kim

So pleased it was nothing serious and Keeper is on the mend again. Photos of him and Charlie are lovely.
Did you manage to ride over the weekend? Pleased to

and report that we got back reasonably safely although poor Lauren did not have the best day. Reb stood on her foot whilst we were grooming up (most unlike him but I suspect Rascal was at least partially involved/to blame). I was busy trimming MeMe's hooves at the time as they needed tidying up before we went out, so didn't know anything until Lauren was howling and Reb was standing on her. Thankfully Lauren was OK after she got over the shock and initial pain. Pleased to report MeMe managed very well completely barefoot and only showed discomfort a few times on a very rough stony track. We did about 3-4 miles at a very steady pace before we got to the stubble field where the jumps were and my friend came along to take some photos, as she is a semi professional photographer. Unfortunately Rebel took great exception to her pointing a huge lens at him which then of course made clicking sounds. He got very upset and started bucking as soon as he landed. Poor Lauren did her best and tried a couple of little logs before we figured out it was the camera and unfortunately she smacked her nose off his neck. She did really well to stay on and thankfully it didn't bleed but it must have really hurt and it knocked her confidence a bit again. We had a ride around the field after that at a walk and when we got to the far side I asked her if she wanted to trot or canter. I let her set the pace and she trotted for a bit and then let him canter. We pulled up and swapped horses (do I get a 2nd

for that??) and rode round the field again. I jumped a few logs with Rebel (he was still bucking on landing) and one of the smaller jumps a few times and Lauren went over it once on MeMe and then we had a canter up the field again. We went back down for a third run up the hill and this time I told Lauren just to let her go and Rebel, who loves to gallop, was off like a little race horse. Despite being 20 and carrying a fat lass, he's still got it!! After that we headed home and he jogged most of the way, so clearly not feeling his age just yet. About 1/4 mile from home he stepped on a glass bottle in the undergrowth on the verge. I had been looking out for any such debris but had to duck under a tree branch at that point and didn't see it but we both heard the crash..... anyway, we were hugely lucky to get away with it without any injury. Lauren did enjoy most of the ride, I'm just kicking myself that I set her up for a fail. I thought she was ready for that but clearly she wasn't. Might need to hire an arena somewhere and go have a bit of a play in a confined area with knock down jumps before she is ready to tackle a cross country course.

I'm going to head up to the yard very soon and take Rebel out for a little, gentle leg stretch around the block, so hopefully I will be back later to claim another flag.
Lauren is coming out to ride again on Thursday, so we will be concentrating on building her confidence back up.... again! She might be riding MeMe whilst I try to square Rebel up a bit.

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

@Yorkshire Coop

Aww... Poor Keeper! But I am glad to hear his eye is ok. It is so worrisome when they turn up with issues. I'ts always something! Boy, the stuff our dogs get into! Lollie got bit by an ant a week ago, hopefully not a Fire Ant, but all our ants are large and bite very hard, ant bite's itch 10 times worse than any mosquito bite. Anyway, he had licked the spot until it was red, raw and oozing! It was on his belly and tucked under his leg, hard to see. Thankfully he was still on antibiotics and any infection cleared up and now it's all healed.

I am happy to hear Charlie will still get into his Gamekeepers class! Even if he has to work harder on the math. Math is a tough subject for many people, it's not something you can memorize as in other subjects. You have to actually understand formulas and if you don't, you just can't do it! I once had to take classes on calculus for a job I had, OMG, I passed the course but at my job I had to keep an entire journal with formulas written down and such. I understood some of it, but other stuff would fly right over my head! Thank the Lord for my formulas book, if I had lost that journal, I would have lost my job!!

Love the pictures of Charlie and Keeper. Just priceless!!

@TwoCrows

Hi Leyla,

Is Little Lollie’s ant bite all ok now? It’s seems all your critters over there are vicious! I don’t know how you cope with big ants, bears and the rest of the scary stuff! I’d be a constant nervous wreck

I totally get it with the math’s! Never my strong point either! Some of the stuff Charlie was doing was way over my head. Half of it never to be used in real life. Schools would do much better teaching kids real life skills that would actually be useful. It would probably keep the kids that don’t get it more engaged in school life too. Me, I’m just glad Google came along and that it can pretty much answer all my math questions! Oh and that we have a good accountant who can sort my not so good bookkeeping out!

Hi Kim

So pleased it was nothing serious and Keeper is on the mend again. Photos of him and Charlie are lovely.
Did you manage to ride over the weekend? Pleased to View attachment 1517811 and report that we got back reasonably safely although poor Lauren did not have the best day. Reb stood on her foot whilst we were grooming up (most unlike him but I suspect Rascal was at least partially involved/to blame). I was busy trimming MeMe's hooves at the time as they needed tidying up before we went out, so didn't know anything until Lauren was howling and Reb was standing on her. Thankfully Lauren was OK after she got over the shock and initial pain. Pleased to report MeMe managed very well completely barefoot and only showed discomfort a few times on a very rough stony track. We did about 3-4 miles at a very steady pace before we got to the stubble field where the jumps were and my friend came along to take some photos, as she is a semi professional photographer. Unfortunately Rebel took great exception to her pointing a huge lens at him which then of course made clicking sounds. He got very upset and started bucking as soon as he landed. Poor Lauren did her best and tried a couple of little logs before we figured out it was the camera and unfortunately she smacked her nose off his neck. She did really well to stay on and thankfully it didn't bleed but it must have really hurt and it knocked her confidence a bit again. We had a ride around the field after that at a walk and when we got to the far side I asked her if she wanted to trot or canter. I let her set the pace and she trotted for a bit and then let him canter. We pulled up and swapped horses (do I get a 2nd View attachment 1517811 for that??) and rode round the field again. I jumped a few logs with Rebel (he was still bucking on landing) and one of the smaller jumps a few times and Lauren went over it once on MeMe and then we had a canter up the field again. We went back down for a third run up the hill and this time I told Lauren just to let her go and Rebel, who loves to gallop, was off like a little race horse. Despite being 20 and carrying a fat lass, he's still got it!! After that we headed home and he jogged most of the way, so clearly not feeling his age just yet. About 1/4 mile from home he stepped on a glass bottle in the undergrowth on the verge. I had been looking out for any such debris but had to duck under a tree branch at that point and didn't see it but we both heard the crash..... anyway, we were hugely lucky to get away with it without any injury. Lauren did enjoy most of the ride, I'm just kicking myself that I set her up for a fail. I thought she was ready for that but clearly she wasn't. Might need to hire an arena somewhere and go have a bit of a play in a confined area with knock down jumps before she is ready to tackle a cross country course.

I'm going to head up to the yard very soon and take Rebel out for a little, gentle leg stretch around the block, so hopefully I will be back later to claim another flag.
Lauren is coming out to ride again on Thursday, so we will be concentrating on building her confidence back up.... again! She might be riding MeMe whilst I try to square Rebel up a bit.

@rebrascora

Hi Barbara,

So did you claim a third flag? Wow poor Lauren I do hope she takes it all as character building and the fact she stayed on board is a real plus point! I really wouldn’t be kicking yourself for setting her up for a fall at all. I’m sure she knows just what he can be like by now. All part of the territory with nags and nothing is ever straight forward. Unfortunate though that she got a whack in the nose and a trodden on foot! Rebel sure does live up to his name Now now saying you are a fat lass! I’m more than sure with all you do, dashing here there & everwhere that you are not! Rebel certainly sounds like he isn’t feeling age at all with blasting around like a racehorse! Did you get a back protector in the end? Not something I wear either. Think last time I did was when doing my NVQ ridden assessment so many moons ago just after I left school After having Harry for 15 years and not ever falling off him I’m thinking I should be ok. Touching a big bit of wood here though so I don’t jinx myself!
Lucky escape there with the glass! We had to avoid a bottle smashed on the road on Saturday. Much easier to spot though than your verge.

No more flags for me I’m afraid barring Saturday’s. Weather was awful on Sunday then back to office jobs Monday. Plus they have gone to a CHAPS show down in Grantham so I’m back on yard duties for those that haven’t gone. Also trying to get Charlie’s room decorated so in between jobs today I’ve painted his ceiling then in my infinite wisdom did the bathroom one too. Paying for it now with neck and shoulder ache. Especially that one that I trapped the nerve in last year.

Hope all goes well with the ride tomorrow & that Lauren gets on ok

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Neighbourhood watch!

 

[TwoCrows]

@Yorkshire Coop

You forgot to mention our Tarantula's and Rattle Snakes.

Speaking of snakes, I had a horrific scare this morning, I was sitting with Hilda in the coop, she was on my lap. All of a sudden I hear this scratching on the outside of the run on the hardware cloth, I peek around the corner and there I see a lizard running across the floor with a snake in hot pursuit!!! (the hardware cloth is 1/2 inch, keeps pretty much everything out except baby mice, baby lizards and small snakes.)

So I leaped up as fast as I could and shut the doors to the run from the coop to keep Hilda safe, meanwhile I am panicking, "What am I going to do!!" If this is a rattle snake, we have BIG trouble!! So I calmed myself down as best I could, and went outside to look into the run and saw him sneaking around looking for this lizard. THANKFULLY I was able to ID him as NOT being a Rattler but rather some sort of young Bull Snake. Adult Bull Snakes grow to over 6 foot in length, 2 inches in diameter! This one however was about a 1/2 inch in diameter and about 2 foot long. Big enough to still scare the heebie jeebies out of me! (All these snakes carry venom, only rattlers carry venom to kill or mame you.)

So, since this was not a killer snake, I had no choice but to go back in, lock Hilda in the coop and go into the run to chase this thing out! I sneaked in very slowly to the run and there he was. I shooed him out and boy did he slither fast!! But wow, I was still shaking like a leaf!! I quickly got to work on adding 1/4 inch hardware cloth along the entire bottom of the run, of COURSE I did not have enough, so there are spots he could still get in, but hopefully he won't come back.

A few weeks ago we had a 4 foot Prairie Rattler out in the front yard, thick fat thing, curled up by the wild bird water dish, tagging birds that came for water. These Rattlers are nearly INVISIBLE and blend in SO well you can't see them! I nearly reached down to move the bird's water and could have been bitten!!! You don't want to mess with Rattlers, they do not get out of your way and if they get annoyed enough, will bite, if they don't kill you, it ruins the rest of your life with internal issues and pain.

I almost stepped on a Rock Rattler years ago that got into the Quail aviary, if it werent for the quail circling the thing, I would have never seen him and stepped on him. Praise the quail!!

Beautiful picture of Keeper!! Very majestic and handsome too.