June Monthly Update
June is well underway and we have a lot of things to tick off this month. Some things I can’t share but some I can, and so I will! Let’s get stuck in:
June Week 1:
Farmhouse
Dan recorded absolutely none of his activity this week, which leaves me super thin on the ground here for any meaningful update. I’ll list the activity this week and throw in a few photos instead, but just know that all of this is in the north side of the farmhouse (where the bathrooms, kitchen and Wet Dog Room are):
Boarded up the wall that has the doorway to the wet dog room
Boarded up the ceiling in the downstairs hallway
Boarded up the ceiling in the upstairs hallway
Plastered both downstairs doorways reveal off the hallway
Plastered the downstairs hallway ceiling
Plastered the upstairs hallway ceiling
Plastered the downstairs hallway wall
Filled in the chased electrical additions in the upstairs master bedroom
Boarded the understairs cupboard (in the middle section)
Added skirting to the hallway upstairs (in the middle section)
I also got some more storage boxes, which are needed, because Dan’s ‘tool room’ is a sea of items all over the floor for 16 square metres. There is organisation to the floordrobe of bits, but everything is so spread out now that it isn’t in cupboards and it's unmanageable. The boxes should help just give things a home, and then those homes can stack up for some order around here!
Here are some snaps of the areas mentioned - none of this has been tidied up (as you can see), I just stepped in, pointed and shot:
Fields
The other big job to do was to move some ponies about and start to get a handle on the weeds. We’d already had some areas sprayed back in April, and it did absolutely nothing. This week we had to manage horses and move things around to get Fat Camp 2 sprayed with Grazon Pro for docks, thistles and nettles (this is knapsack only) and then prep it for Polo (this is boom sprayed), which tackles buttercups.
Fat Camp 1, where Tuna and Connie currently are, this needs the same plants tackling, but it’s occupied so that’s not an option. I cut the nettles by hand so that Tuna and Connie could eat them once the sting had wilted away, and then I strimmed all the docks and thistles. This field doesn’t have a lot of buttercup in it (thank the lord), so it won’t get sprayed this year.
Buttercup is toxic to horses, but it’s so bitter that they don’t eat it unless there is nothing else to eat. It does take over fields though, and this year the UK has a massive buttercup problem. We think it’s because the spring was so cold and dry, so the grass didn’t get a good start to outgrow the yellow beasts. The only action now is to go with spraying and Polo protects the other species we want to try keep.
For the lower section, this has a lot of sheep sorrel coming up, probably thousands of docks, some nettles and thistles, buttercups, yarrow and a lot of rarer pasture plants. The biggest offenders were tackled by knapsack, but the buttercups still remain here. They’ll be added to the boom list.
I moved Velia down her larger field into a new strip, which means her old paddock can be tackled, but this section will be left alone this year on the whole.
The elephant in the giant field is the haylage. The docks in here were supposed to be sprayed but for whatever reason it hasn’t happened. The docks are going to seed, which is not good for us at all. I did go out and hand rogue a patch but it’s not worth the time I’m losing from work so we’ve admitted defeat, the docks will. be baled, the horses will spread them all over in winter and we’ll have to re-start spraying next year. Not ideal, but it is what it is. You can click to flick through the before and after here:
The buttercup here is ok to be left, as the plant isn’t toxic in hay/haylage. The seeds, however, will spread everywhere. Next year will be fun…
This is, however, well ready be cut and baled, which is great news! The next hot spell will be go-time, we think.
Asti
Asti’s 3 weeks old this week, and she had few different graduations. The first was the “Meet the Farrier” graduation, which Velia took part in as well. Asti was very confident and explored Mike whilst he trimmed Vel, and was happy to suckle from one side whilst Mike was trimming the opposite hind leg. Of course, Velia was 10/10, she was very, very good.
Asti also explored Mike’s tools, enjoying a scratch on his hoof stand thingy. This was the first time we’ve been able to watch what Asti does if she’s panicked, because she jumped at something from behind and ended up sort of on top of the stand. Instead of panicking, she carefully went backwards and re-organised her legs before walking calmly forwards. 10/10 Asti!
The second graduation was in yielding body parts, which is vital for a baby to learn. The aim is to move the hindquarters when asked, and the same with the front end (often harder for them). It took Asti 6 minutes to nail it with a finger nudge of pressure. We also did some work on full body touching, including leaning over (not touching her back!) and rubbing the opposite side, along with lots of play with ropes and lines.
This all helps immeasurably for handling them and starting them as 3yo’s, so it’s a no brainer to put the time in now! Asti also finally got a headcollar put on. This is quite a big deal for a baby horse, and our foal slips were enormous so only useful for the initial feeling around her head. I waited for a different headcollar to arrive and then Dan popped her into her rope loop and I popped the headcollar on. We repeated it a few times and then ended the session, letting her chill until the following day.
Sadly, there’s no evidence of this, because I didn’t bring a camera with me and Dan was very much occupied!
On her 3-week-old milestone day, we popped her new headcollar on and headed out to take some photos in the blazing sunshine. Here she is with her new accessory:
We do not leave foals in halters, mainly because none of our areas are snag-proof - it’s very easy for a foal to get hung up on something and break their neck, it’s just not worth it to us.
The final thing on Asti’s Graduation list was letting Dan pick up her feet. I’m not saying she holds them for 5 minutes and falls asleep, but it’s good when they’re this small to get them used to leg handling and holding the hoof off the ground without resistance. We’re just waiting for a pause and relax, then releasing the leg again. With me, she’s a lot more confident but with Dan she let him do all four willingly, albeit with a face that said she really wasn’t sure about it all:
That’s all for this week, catch up next time!