THIRD FOAL AND HYDROTHERAPY

A break from the incessant rain of the last week thank goodness. The house is no longer filled with dripping coats and I don't have to leave the house looking like M. C. Hammer with my waterproof trousers billowing in the high wind. Trigger has been in a medium weight rug thanks to a shivering incident with a lightweight one which may dry out by June if I'm lucky. The wild ponies look miserable out there when it's so relentless. Betty was agitated yesterday and I can't find her today. Am wondering if there might be a foal in the offing. This little one looks a couple of days old. Amazing how similar its markings are to its mother. 

Two peas in a pod

Yesterday I had my first hydrotherapy session in the hope that it will help my back.  was worried I would be standing, freezing in a luke warm pool but, as it turned out, it was tropical in there and really amazing. Strange exercises including holding floats under water with one foot whilst trying to balance on the other; very embarrassing when the float pops out and shoots into the air.....silence from my  fellow class-mates. I bought my swim suit a week before my accident and, as it turns out, it serves as a perfect frame for the VERY long scar down my spine. I might have gone for something more Edwardian in style had I known what was going to happen. Bit self conscious to start with but I got over it. Nuthatches have fledged so I'm hoping for a second brood being less camera shy.......we'll see.

SECOND FOAL AND DUCKLINGS FOR LUNCH

A quick post to say that another of Betty's herd has given birth to the sweetest foal. More shy than the last one but that's generally a good thing. On the way out, I spotted a duck with her brood of ducklings off down to the stream. Thank goodness I had Snippet on his lead or he would have had them for lunch. Much whining and straining to get at them. 

Mother and foal

Just woken up

Potential Snippet snacks

Trigger is beginning to look better thanks to lots of feeding. Still in a rug this week thanks to incessant rain and sleet showers. The nuthatches have eluded me all week. I am close to defeat!

Trigger

Betty today

EASTER HOLIDAYS ARE OVER & THE FIRST SWALLOW

Two weeks of being my son's social secretary with a throat infection thrown in are over, and today Snippet and I went for our first proper walk. A beautiful day with the skylarks singing and a heat haze, despite it still being pretty cold. I saw the first swallow up here yesterday but, despite numerous sessions sitting with the camera outside the nest box,  still no pictures of Nuthatches. I can hear the babies and their parents shouting close by, but they're refusing to allow photography; I was wearing a leafy twig on my head today too. 

Trigger is looking very thin after winter so I'm trying to feed him up. Today I found he has mastered ducking under the non-electric electric fence to alternate between friends. Last week he had his feet trimmed and there is a tiny bit of separation in the walls unfortunately. It's been ages since he's had any problems. He is barefoot; never been shod, so his hooves are lovely and hard. However, when he arrived, he had never had anything done to his feet other than having the toes clipped off, so it took some time and work with Anna's help, ropes gently lifting his legs, to get him used to them being handled for any length of time. It took over a year for all the infection and separation he had to grow out and to reshape his pointy toes, but now he is fine. Pretty soon my back will be up to taking him out on my walks with Snippet which will be lovely. I do miss riding very much, but the potential consequences of coming off now don't bear thinking about!

Hungry Trigger

Snippet doing what he does best

A few weeks ago my son and his friend rescued lots of tadpoles from a rapidly drying out puddle on the moor. We put a few of them in a tiny pond in the garden and they are doing really well. There were hundreds and hundreds of them when we did it and the puddle was gone two days later. He and my partner saw a great crested newt out there last week too. No adders recently though. 

I saw Betty today. I had only spotted her from a distance in the last few days so it was nice to see her looking so good close up. No sign of giving birth yet; neither her nor any of the others. I've had no chance to draw at all for such a long time so I must get down to it this week. My paper samples have arrived at last so I can get organised printing and getting them advertised on ETSY. 

Betty today

The Easter holidays were lovely but I'm quite glad to get back to normality. Off for another session outside the nest box with some new camouflage....

FIRST FOAL, AN ADDER AND A PAIR OF NUTHATCHES

Didn't expect to be posting so soon but, while out looking for Betty this afternoon, I found one of her herd has had the first foal in this area. There are two small herd's around here this year. I saw this mare three days ago so the foal is pretty new and it was a still bit wobbly today.

Also came across a dead adder. Looks like it may have been trodden on by a pony. We have a pair of Nuthatches breeding in the nest box in the garden which is very exciting. I will try and get a picture but it's a bit tricky without a telephoto lens; they're a little shy.

INTRODUCTIONS

I am new to blogging so please forgive any mistakes I may make, technical or otherwise. I live on Dartmoor with my partner, son and dog Snippet. My pony, Trigger, lives about a mile away as the crow flies and last August 22^nd, after over a year of working with him to resolve a lot of behavioural issues, a freak accident out on the moors resulted in me breaking my neck, my back in three places and nearly all my ribs. Amazingly, I had a mobile signal and was able to phone for help; I had no feeling from the waist down at that stage. To cut a long story short, I was air ambulanced out and operated on the following day. The feeling in my legs had come back after half an hour or so, which was miraculous and after twelve days in hospital, I was sent home to begin the recovery which is still ongoing. Trigger was fine and galloped home but is not going to be ridden by me again. After seven months of doing very little, a lot of his behaviour has reverted to when he first arrived so, once I’m able, I want to get back doing groundwork with him, and train him to carry panniers of gorse for our kindling if possible. The fantastic Anna Bonnage helped me get to the stage we were at before the accident and I would love to get her to help me again. Her web site is really worth a visit (see the link below) and I can’t recommend her highly enough. She has made me look at all aspects of horsemanship in a totally new and inspiring way. I need money to pay for it so I thought I would at last get round to selling my drawings if I can. I’ve meant to do so for twenty years but there has always been a reason not to; usually time. So, now is the moment and I was advised that writing a blog would be helpful. 

As well as general observations, I want to follow Trigger’s progress and also a Dartmoor mare who I think will give birth nearby. I’ve called her Betty and she is utterly gorgeous. She will allow me to get pretty close to photograph her at the moment and is never further than about a mile from here. She runs with a small herd and I try and check on her every day if I can find her. I will start drawing her soon and I just hope I can catch her beauty on paper. I think we live in the most beautiful place on earth but obviously I’m heavily biased. I love it so much I am always pleased to get back from holiday. I’m hoping to share a little of its magic through photography and drawing.

Betty

Grazing on a hazy early morning at the beginning of March

Trigger

Trigger is 13 years old by a show pony stallion out of a Welsh section C mare. He is 13.3hh and most adults wouldn’t be seen dead on him. I, however, didn’t mind looking ridiculous at 5’9”. He is not a suitable ride for a child, being very unpredictable and flighty. He goes like a bomb which was very appealing until I found what coming off at that speed can do to your bones! Something went wrong and he came out looking a bit like a chestnut seahorse. His head is too small and he was considered ‘wild’ and un-trainable as a youngster. Details are sketchy but it is clear something bad happened to him at some point. He is very nervous, particularly around his hind legs, which he picks up before asking. He was backed at the age of 7 and used in a riding school environment. He was rescued from this life by the very kind friend who, after having him for a couple of years, gave him to me after the breadth of his problems transpired during my having him for a trial period. Despite what happened last year, I adore him and am looking forward to having a large equine dog to exercise with our dog Snippet, along with training him to carry panniers. He does need to work for his keep.

Trigger

 

Snippet

Snippet will be three at the end of August and is a Lakeland/Patterdale terrier cross. We thought he was going to be short haired but every winter when the snow comes, his coat seems to gain an inch in length. He is lovely but does tend to get very over-excited with humans. He is very obedient generally but refuses to stop jumping up at people, particularly when they encourage it!

Snippet

Sitting on his favourite rock