Diary

Paddock Paradise 6RSS feed

Posted: Monday 11 October, 2010

by Rosemary at 12:16pm in Equines 2 comments Comments closed

My chum, Claire, sent me a few photographs of Sheepfold on the day we turned out the ponies. It highlighted how much the field has changed. The track is now very bare. However, it's not cutting up too badly yet.

Paddock Paradise from asmallholder on Vimeo.

We've put a line of electric rope along the south boundary - Smokey and Sheba lean over it to graze and browse, and they are destroying the top rail. Smokey also rubs his bum on it, which is even worse. We've bought some rails to carry out repairs. The wettest bit is, not surprisingly, at the gate. A man with a digger is coming week after next to dig it out , put in a drain pipe or two and fill it with some kind of stone. This will make it safer to walk on but will also help to condition the ponies hooves. The ponies are allowed into the centre of the field for a couple of hours in the morning, then they come out for their breakfast and spend the day on the track. This weekend, we've bought the plywood for the hay boxes, so John's going to build them this week. I'm not concerned about the ponies' condition - all three have dropped a bit but certainly aren't thin. They will be dropping a bit more before the winter is over!!

Bugsy, our Shetland Pony from asmallholder on Vimeo.

Bugsy continues to win friends - and it's easy to see why! He was a little star at the demo last week, and he's been out a couple of times this week.

Comments

claire

Tuesday 12 October, 2010 at 8:54pm

barefoot ponies will not cut up the ground like shod ones would.

Rosemary

Tuesday 12 October, 2010 at 9:45pm

You're right - away from the gate, it's not bad at all. One bit is a bit churned so I'm wondering what was going on there!

Comments are now closed for this post.

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS