Life After Betty

Since we lost Betty the herd has slowly gotten used to her passing. It has been nearly a month since she left us and I can say we are missing her greatly. Although she was a very small pony she had a BIG personality that is definitely missed. We are taking comfort in the fact however she is at peace now and we have her grave to visit in the field whenever we want some time to sit and remember her.
The dynamics of the herd have changed slightly in that Barbara is definitely becoming more confident. She did tend to hide behind Betty a lot, so now she is unable to do that she has had to find her own place in the herd. Just after Betty's death she was alone a lot, she wasn't really ever standing with Star and Fella, but as the days and weeks have passed she has become very much part of the new herd of three; as exemplified in the picture below.

Feeding time is clearly the ponies favourite time, especially Barbara's. As it is winter and there is very little grass left in the field now the ponies get carrots in the morning and a tea consisting of fast fibre, apple chaff and carrots at night, as well as hay. Due to Fella's breed he gets lots of carrots and a huge tea as we have to work to keep weight on him. In contrast we have the opposite problem with Barbara and Star, so they get a couple of carrots and a very small tea each. The morning feeding time ritual goes as follows; Fella gets his carrots first, then Star and then Barbara. They eat their own piles and go back to grazing. Below is a picture of a typical morning feeding time.

At teatime the feeding order is the same as Fella is head of the herd, then Star and then Barbara. Barbara usually finishes first and then stands in wait to try to get to Fella's bucket once he has finished. Star finishes next and goes straight over to her her hay net and starts munching away. Fella then finishes and makes his way over to the feed room where he gets a horse treat called a 'Stud Muffin'. They are a small molasses based treat that look a little bit like a small Christmas pudding. They are his favourite and help to keep his weight up. Whilst he is getting his treat Barbara will make her way over to his near empty feed bucket to see what left overs she can help herself to until I come along and ruin her feasting by collecting the buckets in to be washed; much to her annoyance! Below is a picture of an average teatime feeding. 

I have also tried my hand at doing a bit of filming recently so below is my first ever YouTube video of the horses feeding at teatime in the snow! Watch this space for more videos as Mother bought me a head cam for Christmas!!!!

                                  

As you will see from the video we have had some wintry weather hit recently. Thankfully it didn't last long, but we were fully prepared for it thanks to our forward planning with the bulk hay delivery we took in September. We haven't actually had much snow so far this winter. I do hope I haven't just tempted fate by saying that! As you will see from the video and the pictures the herd have recovered from losing Betty and Barbara who was our biggest concern has coped well. Betty's memory will most certainly live on with us and our herd. I will leave you with a wonderfully wintry snap of our steeds.