|
Since the last time I did a diary update things haven't all been quiet on the Deno front - would anyone expect anything different. Posh is getting very, very, very wide - with a bit of patience you can feel the foal "kicking" quite easily. Ooops I'm jumping ahead of myself. As you are probably aware we brought the terrible two from across the road during April and gave them the freedom of the orchard at the bottom of the garden - they have both settled in well and seem very happy with their current surroundings. They have had their feet regularly tended to and amazing as it might sound our Deno has actually become very good at standing on three legs. However everything as not all been plain sailing - during June we turned Posh and Deno out into the clover field following their grooming as a small reward for behaving themselves - however the luscious clover grass was enough for Deno so whilst we were back at the house having a coffee he decided to break into the feed store. When we returned to the field we found him with his head in the bin of pony nuts - we quickly led him back into the orchard and kept an eye on him for the next few hours. Inevitably having gorged himself he started to show signs of colic, pawing the ground with his front hooves and occassionally lying down. When he started to show signs of real discomfort, raising his rear legs to his stomach, we called the vet who promised he would be with us within about half an hour. In the meantime I quietly led Deno round the paddock on a lead rein. About 5 minutes before the vet was due Deno let off the most God Almighty fart and one of the biggest poops you've ever seen - he immediately brightened up and looked quite comfortable in himself - of course it was at this time the vet arrived, he examined the great lummox and declared that the only thing wrong with him was a little overactivity in the gut, hardly surprising, but other than that he was fine - he gave him an injection to quiet the gut and told us to keep an eye on him. We watched him for the next hour or so, kept him fenced in an area without food but plenty of water, and retired for the night. The next morning he appeared fine and we let him back into the orchard - he is now completely recovered - never a dull moment. Our main worry at the moment is the lack of rain, the field has gone quite brown and the amount of grazing available in the orchard is nothing like we would normally expect at this time of the year. If things continue as they are we will have to start supplemental feeds for the pair of them. The field across the road was a complete mud bath when we brought them over here so we got the local farmer to disc harrow and then chain harrow it. Coralie and I spread 4cwt of grass seed in one long day over the field and the farmer came back and rolled it. This was the weekend before last since when the only rain we have had was a small amount last night - the birds have probably eaten most of the seed by now. The idea was that we would keep the horses on this side of the road this winter and not put them back across the road until late autumn 2011 - that way the grass would have had a chance to establish and the foal will be the best part of a year old, more able to survive a winter outside. Fingers crossed we will still be able to do this without reseeding the field. On the weekend of the 18th June we had a number of very willing Deno Defenders visit and the converted the workshop along-side the existing field shelter into a new stable and feed store. This was accomplished by building a wall to divide up the workshop, laying a new concrete floor, cutting an opening in the outside wall to form a doorway and cutting a window between the field shelter and the new stable - All this was accomplished over the weekend. Many thanks to all those who contributed their efforts. I have not got many new photos to post but will take some over the next few days so that you can see what things are like down here and how the terrible two are progressing. In the meantime I have got a web can set up outside the stable block which uploads a new picture every 10 minutes to an FTP site - if anyone is interested then you can access this site on:- ftp://ftp.red33gef.myzen.co.uk/ The user name is:- camera@red33gef.myzen.co.uk Password:- karrits
 Posh's foal is born.
|
