Horse transporters r us

Yesterday we spent the day moving horses around! First we had to take Soso up to the stables where he'll be at livery all summer. He didn't want to load. We spent nearly an hour getting him in the trailer, he eventually went in but as soon as the ramp went up he panicked big time and we were worried he'd do himself an injury so I fetched Seraphina and loaded her next to him, which calmed him down.

So off we went, unloaded them at the other end, Soso was a bit stressed so Seraphina had to go with him and check out the stable block.....

She had to stay with him until another horse was fetched so he wouldn't be on his own. Then she went back in the trailer, calm as you like!

We went back and fetched Chester then took the two of them to the new field I've rented.

The new field has a LOT of grass so I've cordoned off a small bit to start with, before they went in there we let then have a hooley around in my friend's big field next to it

then they went down to the new bit, they are as happy as the proverbial pigs in poo!!

The dentist came.....

...and everyone was pretty well behaved, really. The dentist is a lovely chap, very calm and unworried and the horses sensed this and were at ease with him.

Chester was his usual laid back self, even had a bit of nose wobbling going on which he usually does when he's getting a scratch so he must have been feeling good about it!

I brought Seraphina over whilst he was being done so she could have a look at what was going on and when it was her turn she was as good as gold.

He said she has excellent teeth, which is usual for Fjords apparently, and needed very little doing.
Even Sorcier was OK with it, a little apprehensive at first but he soon settled down.

After that we went up to see the boys and Maverick decided he wasn't having any of this strange metal stuff anywhere near him at first, he even did a couple of little rears......

But Ian persevered and got there in the end. He doesn't tie them up, if they start moving around he just goes with them and they soon realise it doesn't hurt and that moving away doesn't make it stop so they let him get on with it. Bit of a change from the French vet who came to do it last time and sedated them all as a matter of course......

Gandalf was a star as usual although he apparently kept trying to chew on the rasp......

....and it was hard work because he has very tough teeth!

Haras du Pin

On the way back from a little trip to Normandy yesterday, we took a detour to the Haras du Pin. Another impressive building just to keep a bunch of horses in, like at Chantilly.......

It's full of breeding stallions, lots of lovely Percherons:

Cob Normands

Anglo Arabs

Selle francais

even a rather gorgeous Barb

Well worth a visit.......

Visiting the girls

Went down to Sarah's today to visit Sky and Kinna. Lovely sunny day. Kinna was still in bed when we arrived.....

...but she soon got up and came out to play:

We practised ponying her from Sarah's horse Isba, did a bit of jumping, went for a walk with Sky and washed her tail. there's a little video here

Both girls are very good, getting fatter and losing their winter coat finally. Miss them though......

The Label Loisir tests

Just got back, both the boys did really well and are now qualified for the Label Loisir! There are 3 levels, qualifié, Selectionné and Élite. Unfortunately for us it seems that half the marks go for the looks and movement of the horse and only half on doing the course of obstacles so it was a bit disheartening to see people on pretty fully papered horses who spooked at all sorts of things getting a higher mark than our two hairy fat unpapered cobs.

Never mind, we had fun and I was really proud of Ches (and Tanya) who did better than Gandalf on the course, G was difficult about going into the lorry and going over the tarp, neither of which is a problem at home, he was having a bit of an off day I think.

Tanya even got him to jump!

Gave my camera to Ali and she managed to miss us doing our stuff so good job Jo and Stewart were there, Stewart videoed everything thankfully.......

Our OHs turned up with a fabulous picnic lunch, including home made curry pies and sausages rolls from Tanya's Gary, and lashings of wine, which the boys proceeded to sit and quaff whilst we did our stuff As usual at these things there was a lot of hanging around before any action so they got absolutely sh*t faced

Jo's Socianda was a star too, and got Selectionné

More pics here and a (rather long) video here

Sorry about some of them being grainy, less than sober OH pressed the wrong setting I'm sure Stewart's will be much better!

Nice hacking this time of year.....

As we've got the Label Loisir coming up, I've taken both the boys out for long hacks this week. First Ches, with the other half jogging with us (!)

 we saw a few things along the way that may come up in the tests:

Then Gandalf's turn, at one point we came across a tree across the path, had to get off and jump up and down on it til it was low enough to step over.....

Lovely day for it!

....and the girls go on holiday

Took Sky and Kinna down to their summer pasture at my friend Sarah's place yesterday. They travelled really well, took a while to get Kinna in the trailer, but some carrots did the trick.

They were introduced to Sarah's two, Isba, an Anglo arab and Maverick, the mini mule. Didn't take them long to settle down and get on with the serious business of eating all that nice grass......

Here's a little video
I think they'll be fine, although we miss them!

The Nordic Princess arrives......

Been a bit of a busy week. Went to fetch Seraphina on Monday, she travelled really well and we put her in with Tanya's boys. She went in all guns blazing and initially got them on the run, got some video of that! Then Soso decided she needed putting in her place, you can see that here

They soon sorted it out, however, and she and Chester are firm friends now

So today I thought I'd bring her in on Chester's lesson, and I think they they had fun together
Here's another video