everyone round here that I know , are working farmers and are busy trying to keep their own things sorted . The family would help , but they live miles away , and have jobs, plus the horses are a real handful at feed time , not a good thing to have tots around, accidents waiting to happen type of thing .
The horses are fine with me , I have had them for ten years now , and we know each other well . But at feed time , they are all over the place ...
especially when they see me get the buckets for their rolled oats and barley . All hell can break loose then . I am used to it , and just limp around between them , swearing profusely at them for a minute or two , then all calms down while they have their noses buried in their feed .
Wellie and his mum Ollie , are little sods . They normally share a bucket till it is empty , then go for the other one and share that . But they have less feed than Josie , the big lump , so eat theirs before Josie has finished hers. So I have to take Josie out of the field and feed her in the lane, otherwise the other two would try to nick it !!.
Josie loses condition badly every year at the end of October beginning of November , she had a rough life before I got her... but we get through it and feed her up and all is well . This year she had a reaction to the wormer , it nearly killed her . Just as she was getting over that , some really helpful person ( who all but accused me of not feeding my animals), decided to give her loads of carrots , without telling me . Well she got colic ... I though that was it , she went down was rolling on the floor had the sweats everything . All through this, I thought it was something I had done . The only thing I could think of was to give her small amounts of oats (very high fibre and long lasting energy) linseed and some oil mixed in , to try and ease her system . Her tummy was silent , not a rumble or anything , not a good sign when a horse is blocked up .
Well , just as I thought sure she was going to die , she went to the loo ....Jesus .... half a wheelbarrow load of undigested carrot came out . She was instantly hungry and made for the haylage . She has, since then , continued to put on weight slowly, and to get back to her old self again . Even with this very cold spell she is gaining weight . She even went for a trot along the lane the other day , after she had had her feed. 15 minutes of me running up and down the track trying to get her back in the field .
While I was running back and forth ( remember the bad knee !! ) chasing Josie , Wellie decided to join in , and opened the gate and came along for some fun ...
I now have two horses in the lane , the gate has shut behind Wellie , and the dogs are now between the horses and the gate ... I eventually got the dogs out of the way , but everytime I tried to open the gate , the horses turned round and buggered off back up the lane... yet another 200 yard run to get passed them before they hit the road. Managed that 'again' , and now the dogs are back between the horses and the gate ....plus the gate has shut again . All this time Ollie is going ballistic because she is on her own in the top field ...not for long !!! Next time I opened the gate and Josie and Wellie turned and buggered off again , it stayed open as I legged it after J+W . FREEDOM cries Ollie...and she joins in the fun ? ...
Now, I am totally knackered ... and totally p*ssed off... so I kicked one of the feed buckets ... horses hear this and think ..." more food !!" and all 3 come trotting down the lane , ignoring the dogs, straight into the top field ....bas*ards !!!
I am now about to have another heart attack , and can only just about manage to put my left foot on the ground ...but they are in ... shut the gate ...put the chain on ... and then lean on the gate laughing , crying and still swearing profusely ... go to turn round to get ready for the walk home , but Steve the spaniel is sat right behind my legs ... a*se over t*t I go .... do I hit the snow ...nope I hit a 6" deep puddle of freezing water , head first .
.... Just another day feeding the horses ... but I still love them to bits ... and even Steve came and started licking the water off my head ... little sod ... love him too ... although the names I was calling him would have suggested otherwise..
cheers
Russ
