Winter woolies

Winter weather is finally starting to arrive here and I am seeing lots of  horses bundled up in rugs and shut in stables. My horses are still out on their windswept hillside and they might look a mess but their coats keep them warm and dry.

Yes, dry.  This may look like a soggy mess......

...but if you part the hair you can see that the water doesn't actually get as far as the skin, you can see it more clearly on Gandalf's lighter coat:

The white bit is dry. The coat clumps together and the water just runs off  the end of the pointy bits. You can see it all beading on their manes too

It doesn't seem to bother them when it's windy either, we've had some pretty wild weather in the last couple of days and I was expecting to find them huddling along the treeline, but they're just out on the side of the hill grazing, as usual.....

....in their full winter plumage ;-)

They're like the opposite of Arctic foxes, only white in the summer!

Kilometrage

So far this year we are doing quite well on the distances, 130km for Gandalf, pretty much all on the roads as it's so wet, so his hooves are getting a good workout. He's very footy on gravel and stones as his feet are softer than usual thanks to the lake in the field, but he's fine on the tarmac.

Have started using a new app to track rides, it gives you all sorts of interesting data but the calories burned bit seems to be wildly inaccurate (unless of course it means calories burned by the horse)!

You can check it out here.

This time last year we had only done about 30kms......

The girls are doing well too, Sky's done less than Kinna with 45kms....

 

....and the big eared one has clocked up 70 odd kms.

Yesterday she went off lead rein for the first time and was quite happy to bog off into the distance, she can move a lot faster than Gandalf!

So we're doing pretty well at keeping everone exercised in spite of the weather. I actually managed to ride six days out of seven last week, unusual for me.....

 

Not doing so well at keeping everyone clean, but they clearly don't want to be white horses, do they? ;-)

 

 

Rain, rain, go away......

It's been fairly wet here since we got back from the UK, but today it hasn't stopped raining hard all day. By four o'clock Ali and I had had enough of being cooped up so we got kitted out and took the girls for a walk.

They didn't seem to mind, especially as there was something to eat en route!

Sky had a bit of an issue with running water though, she was highly suspicious of the noise at first and did a fair bit of snorting

Fina just tried to drink it.......

Then we headed home down the road, where Sky decided she didn't like the noise the cars made going past in the wet, we stopped by the road for a while so she could eat the verge and after a while she stopped flinching every time a car went by.

Their field is half lake at the moment, still, at least the ducks are happy......

We were supposed to go and do a SJ comp with the kids tomorrow, but as we don't fancy getting towed out of the "car park" (waterlogged field) by a tractor, we're going to give it a miss......

Soggy day!

Too Ali up to Beaumont yesterday for the day, one of the great things about Isabelle is that she doesn't cancel if it's wet unlike many of the stables we've been to, the French seem to generally hold the belief that they'll dissolve in the rain.......

So she did some jumping practise, with a ready made water jump!

She rode one of the smaller horses, Mikado, who was a bit opinionated to begin with.....

....but he soon settled and they did some nice jumping

....although he did get a  bit carried away!

She loved her day, we aim to go back once a fortnight, it's about an hour's drive away but worth it as they are great up there, here's their site. We're going to do a Christmas TREC there next month, really looking forward to it.....

Soggy Kinna.......

I don't know what the girls got up to last night in my neighbour's field in the snow, but poor Kinna was soaking wet this morning and actually shivering, she obviously didn't spend the night in the field shelter......Sky was a bit wet but absolutely fine.So I brought them both back to my place, much to Chester's delight, and dug out the cooler and rainsheet I'd bought for her when she first arrived.......

She looks very cute

and they're only a little bit too big for her now, not like when she first arrived!

A very soggy Sunday.....

Went to feed the troops this morning and they were looking decidedly sorry for themselves.....
They soon cheered up when the hay arrived though!

Poo picking was a bit of a challenge, but Ali did a good job!

Chester seemed to think he needed more food though.....

...and Kinna was happy to wear hers.

You can lead a horse to water......

Taking advantage of the girls living near the river at the moment, I decided to see whether they'd be prepared to go for a paddle -  Gandalf isn't too keen on walking through water, in fact the first time we came across a big puddle in the woods, he jumped it from a standstill rather that get his feet wet, took me by surprise!

Last week I look Kinna down to the river, she followed me straight in and started splashing with a foreleg - and I stupidly took a step back to avoid the splashing and got water in over the top of my boots......

She was quite happy to be in the water, and did indeed have a drink......

Such a good girl, as usual.....

Today it was Sky's turn. We didn't have so far to go to get to the river, given the amount of rain we've had in the last few days! She wasn't quite so keen, spent a while sniffing and checking it out before taking the plunge....

....but she went in eventually

and I didn't get water in me wellies this time!