Saturday 16 May 2020

Surviving Lockdown!

In my last blog entry I had talked about getting back on Star in the weeks that followed. Unfortunately that didn't happen due to the lockdown. Helen and I followed BHS advice and chose not to ride during lockdown in order to help protect the NHS. If one of us fell off and needed an ambulance then it would have meant us using an ambulance and taking up a hospital bed that may have been needed by a COVID 19 patient. Helen and I both have friends and family who work on the front line in the NHS  so it was pretty important to us to do our bit in protecting the NHS as much as we could. That said the choice to ride or not during lockdown was a completely personal choice and there are some owners who would have had no choice but to ride given the impact it would have had on their horses and ponies if they had not. Some horses and ponies need the stimulation and physical exercise of being ridden. Plus I am sure those who chose to ride will have done so as safely as possible. Now the lockdown has been eased a little the BHS advice has changed their advice accordingly, meaning we are now ok to ride. With this in mind if the lockdown continues to ease and infection rates fall we will look to start riding again very soon. I have recently started lunging Star again to try to ease her back into some very light exercise. The first time she was very excited and wouldn't stop!. Below are some pictures of her being lunged for the first time in a very long time!



During the lockdown Helen and I have been taking it in turns to do the ponies-using an every other day system-she does them one day and I do them the next. This has worked well given we are now BOTH mothers!!! Helen gave birth to a gorgeous healthy baby boy shortly before lockdown called Kian!

Since Spring hit during lockdown we have re-introduced the starvation paddock and all three are wearing grazing muzzles-we use them on a alternative basis. Sometimes they might be in the starvation paddock without muzzles on and sometimes they may be in the main field with muzzles on. This system gives them a break from wearing the muzzles to prevent any sores occurring from rubbing as a result of over wearing. It also means they aren't penned in all the time either, as to start with Star and Fella were enjoying just jumping out of the paddock and Barbara was just steamrollering her way through the middle of the fence! Once we added two fence energisers this thankfully stopped! We have started our laminitis prevention early this year to hopefully avoid any of them going down with it. Below are some pictures of the ponies in their starvation paddock and modelling their muzzles!

   

During lockdown we had some very unwelcome visitors in the form of rats!!! Thankfully with the help of Rentokil we have managed to get rid of them. This has meant us having a big clear out of out of the stable we use as our feed and storage room. Some things have had to be binned due to damage from the rats and everything has had to be thoroughly washed and disinfected, including the stable itself. It does mean we now have a lovely, organised and clean storage space as shown in the picture below.
A big downside to the lockdown up at the field has been the amount of people that have illegally fly-tipped their rubbish along the road the field is located on. To date I have had to report six separate cases of fly-tipping on the lay-by opposite our field. Pretty poor behaviour from people. Not only has it meant at times we haven't been able to park up in the lay-by when we go and check on the ponies, but when it has been windy bits of rubbish have been ending up in our field. Not only does flying debris spook the horses, it could also cause them injury. Thankfully the refuse sites are open again here now so hopefully there won't be any more. Below is a picture of the worst load I had to report.

During lockdown we welcomed a new neighbour next door in the form of the gorgeous little foal pictured below with it's mother. 

Our ponies have loved having the herd next door back. They certainly have not been adhering to social distancing with the neighbours that is for sure! Star has fallen in love with one of them much to Fella's disgust, and Barbara has acquired herself her very own crew!!! I will leave you with the pictures below. Hopefully by the time I post the next blog entry Helen and I will have begun getting Star and Fella back into work! 
    


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Surviving Lockdown!

In my last blog entry I had talked about getting back on Star in the weeks that followed. Unfortunately that didn't happen due to the lo...