A Fine Horse in New Country

Finlay - an update

This is the little guy who had such a hard job getting born (see April News)! I'm pleased to report that he is none the worse for his ordeal and is growing up strong and healthy. As the other foals are currently back at the stud with their dams, he has lost his playmates. Instead he has fallen in love with a yearling filly and follows her everywhere: I often see them playing together or curled up sleeping in the field with his head resting on her belly. Now and again he'll dance back to Mum for a drink, before rejoining his new best friend for more fun. The other foals are due back in the next few days - it will be interesting to see what he does then.

Sleeping Out

I suspect you either love this or you don't! As the weather improves, I feel more and more of a longing to be out there overnight. Things I love about it include:
A perfect view from the "front door"; the sense of freedom; the chance to see all kinds of wildlife; the feeling of being close to nature; easing into my comfortable little tent at the day's end, after a long day's march and mulling over the events of the day.
I don't like midges; hedgehogs (how can one little creature snuffling around sound like an advancing herd of bison?); or sandpipers (noisy neighbours from hell).
My tent is a Vango Spirit - an excellent, tough, lightweight tent weighing about 2.5 kgs. If I were purchasing again though, I'd go up a size, just to have more room to stash gear overnight. One with a porch to cook in in rainy weather would be good too.

The Gingernuts

I have written quite a lot about my beloved Highlands, but we also have four at the other end of the equine spectrum: Bill's chestnut thoroughbreds, or the 'Gingernuts' as I call them. Bred to race, it is very interesting to compare them with the Highlands...much faster and more athletic (obviously!) but also very different in temperament and outlook. It shows what generations of selective breeding will do. Whereas the TBs are bred for speed, in the Highlands we are looking for different characteristics: a good temperament and a reasonably laid-back attitude, lots of bone and stamina, and good weight-carrying conformation.

Watching them in the field, I often see other differences in their general attitude to life. Whereas the Highlands spend most of their time sleeping or grazing, the TBs quite often will gallop around, bucking and kicking for no other reason than they're bred to move at speed. Entertaining to watch (but I wouldn't care to ride one round Scotland, really...)

There's one thing the Gingernuts are agreed on though - and that is that Doogs is king. The four mares follow him everywhere, surrounding him, squabbling over who gets to be next to him and sucking up to him like a giggling harem. Heaven knows what they're going to do when he's on his travels! Doogs accepts the attention as his perfect right, naturally.

We are getting prepared for our open evening about the ride on the 6th of June, 6 - 9 pm at South Bottymyre Farm, Inverarity, by Forfar (by very kind permission of the Angus group of Riding for the Disabled) where there will be a demonstration of the ponies and their gear and a short talk about the planned trip, as well as slideshows by Jim and Kevin Balfour (farriers) and John 'Cider' Perrin (master saddler) about their work for World Horse Welfare abroad. Jim and Cider are currently in Soweto, so there will be up to date news of how the project is going there.

All have a great deal of experience in different countries and many tales to tell - Cider has been working with World Horse Welfare since the 80s I believe, and has been all over the world - the Gambia, South America, Pakistan and Mexico (though not recently, you're quite safe!)

Ian Hunter MRCVS from Parkside Vet Group has very kindly agreed to chair the proceedings. We would love to have you join us, though the crack catering team would be really pleased to know if you're coming. Please drop me an email here, or phone me on 01828 632463 - I can also give you directions to the venue if you're not sure.

Gear talk

A couple of people have emailed to ask about using cruppers. These are a much underused piece of equipment, rarely seen in the UK except on fat Shetlands or the driving fraternity. For a distance rider, they are really helpful if your saddle tends to move forward going down steep hills as can be the case with low-withered horses - and for a pack horse they are absolutely essential.

Most horses adapt to them easily - the biggest mistake is to put them on too tightly. You should be able to easily get a fist under the strap which leads to the back of the saddle, which means that the horse doesn't feel any pressure when you're going along normally - the crupper only 'kicks in' going down steep hills if the saddle starts to move. They will also (to a degree) help stop the sadddle if it starts to shift sideways.

Traditionally they are stuffed with linseed for a smooth soft feel - beware of any crupper which feels lumpy. They also need to be kept scrupulously clean - any dried dung will make your horse sore VERY quickly!

On the right is a picture of a breastplate - another essential piece of equipment for a packhorse (and really, a riding horse too.) I am investing in broader ones than this for the long ride, but they haven't arrived yet...

Further fittening

An aspect of fittening which is sometimes overlooked is that of packs or saddlebags. Doogs is familiar with this job (although he can do with some reminders about how wide he's suddenly become again). However, without a hardening off period getting used to carrying pack weights again, he is likely to get sore once the trip begins. Loaded packs are unforgiving dead weight for a horse - they don't shift about as a rider would to compensate for hills or deep going, and they certainly don't get off and walk up the steep bits.

So for the next few weeks, Doogs will spend some time carrying inceasingly loaded packs on our morning training sessions, which is also a good opportunity for me to get my load balanced and sorted - one of the more demanding aspects of 'hippocamping'. A weight difference of just a very few pounds is enough to be plagued with perpetually slipping loads and a sore horse. Some people advocate hardening off the skin with salt water or some such - I've never done that myself, finding that frequent exposure to packs and saddlebags seems to do the job naturally - as well as careful packing of heavy or sharp objects of course.

With a horse which has not done the job before, I would spend a lot of time with familiarising them with manouevring through gateways (great way to rip your packs). The packs can be loaded up with old duvets or pillows or something for this - it's not about the weight so much, but about them recognising their new 'wide load' status! The ol' timers used to fasten a beam of wood across the horse and turn them loose where there were trees and other obstacles, reckoning that once they'd been knocked off balance a few times they'd soon learn about manouevring round obstacles. I haven't done that either - bit of a risk of injury, panic or damage I'd have thought, but I suppose in the days when people had less time for training, they had to get the horses working quickly.

The other challenge is to get a novice horse used to the sound of twigs and small branches rattling against the packs - and indeed rattling noises coming from the packs themselves - milk cartons with a few pebbles inside are a good place to start.


For earlier News, click here.