Day 25

Me and Humphries on Monday

Went over to Dromiskin to see Humphries yesterday afternoon. Things looked very peaceful in the field as I drove up. Megan, Cheyanna and Cori were walking quietly down to the lower field and Sky was walking over to Humphries. He seemed a little wary of her, but she was very affectionate towards him. Michele was riding J.B in the arena, so I popped in to say hello to her and watch her riding. J.B was very fresh from all the box rest, but he looked really smart in his lovely new black saddle and black bridle. He was giving Michele a lot of trouble, pulling on the rein and holding his head crooked. Humphries came up to the gate and looked over at the arena, so I went into the field and said hello to him and gave him some carrots. Harry was over in the yard as well. Eithne had left her over for her lesson, but she didn't have a riding lesson this morning and she hadn't collected her. I put up some cross poles for Michele and she got J.B going beautifully over the jumps. Then I helped her fix up the stable for J.B and held him while she saw to his cuts and then we went home. Ruffles, the peacock, was displaying to the goats in the yard and it was beautiful to see his magnificent tail in full display, and to hear the rustling sound that his feathers make when he vibrates them. It is a pity he doesn't have a peahen to see all the display. I forgot to take my camera over today, which was a shame. After the horses, Michele and I went into Horseware and she bought me a lovely bag for my grooming kit and a really cool buff scarf, which is very versatile, as well as a cool green rain jacket for herself and some nifty leather cleaning goodies.

Day 19

I couldn't get out to the horses any day this week so, even though I was really tired today, I made sure that I went over this afternoon to say hello to Humphries. J.B is still on box rest because of his hurt foot (he is allowed out into the yard during the day) so, when we arrived at the yard, he came over to the gate whickering softly. I think he is very bored, so he followed us around, nosing in our pockets and generally seeing what we were up to. It was a lovely warm afternoon and Tom and Gerry were stretched out against the stables, chewing the cud. They looked so cute. We collected the head collar and lead rope and headed out to the field to get Humphries. Things are tense in the field now that J.B is no longer there to keep the herd together. Cori, Sky and Megan were grazing in the upper field while Humphries and Cheyanna were grazing in the lower field. It was more than Humphries life was worth to walk up to the top gate, so Michele and I headed down to the bottom gate. He was watching us as we walked, but by the time we got to the gate, he was lying down! I don't know if this was to encourage me to hop on his back or an evasion tactic to prevent from being taken in, but he seemed totally relaxed and at home lying down in the field grazing. I put on his head collar and and gave him a carrot and he just lay there placidly. Then Sky came down from the top field to investigate, so we got Humphries up and led him out of the field. I got a bit spooked because of the tension in the herd and asked Michele to lead him for me. Cori and Megan trotted along the other side of the fence, intimidating poor Humphries. Michele put J.B into the arena when we got to the yard and I held Humphries at the gate, waiting for her. He was tense and I was afraid he would try to get away from me to run back to the field with his pal Cheyanna, but I think it was my nervousness that was unnerving him. Michele led him into the stable for me. I gave him a thorough groom and he was OK, although he barged a bit towards the door. Michele lunged J.B in the arena while I groomed. My nerves settled a bit while I worked with Humphries. When I had finished grooming him, I started to wash his tail. It was the first time I've washed a horse's tail, so it was quite exciting.

My very first tail washing!

Rags finds tail washing boring

Humphries fidgets while his tail is washed

His tail wasn't too bad, because Michele washed it last week, but it was still quite dirty. When Michele was finished with J.B she came back into the stable and gave me a hand. She was invaluable with advice and refilled the buckets of water for me. Humphries stood very well until Fiona and a hoard of kids and dogs came into the yard and then he started to fidget and stepped back, almost upsetting the bucket. After washing his tail, Michele took him into the arena and lunged him for about 12 minutes.

Michele lunging Humphries...
...in trot...
...and halt...
...then canter...

...and then changes rein

He was good, and worked nicely, but he is very unfit and found it hard to canter. It also took him a few minutes to tune into Michele, but he was eager to work. After lunging, Michele hopped on his back and rode him around for a few minutes.

Some bareback riding......trotting...
... around the arena

We left him back into the field at the top gate. Keeping a wide berth of Cori, Sky and Megan, he walked slowly to collect his pal Cheyanna.

Humphries went to collect Cheyanna

Cori keeps a close eye on Cheyanna, while Harvey rolls

Cori waited until he was in the corner of the field and then he went tearing off after Humphries. Humphries, loosened up from his lunging, galloped away with Cori barely cantering behind him, his teeth locked onto Humphries' haunches. Once he had chased him out of the upper field, Cori gave up and went back grazing, but Humphries sneaked back and Cori chased him down to the lower field.

The chase begins...

... and continues...

... and continues

Determined to get Cheyanna, Humprhies trotted back up to the upper field, collected his friend and the two of them walked down to the lower field without further hassle. It was very sweet.

The young lovers reunited

After that, Michele washed J.B's tail. He wasn't as good as normal and fidgeted a lot.

Michele wets J.B's tail...

... goes to get the shampoo...

... and then rinses

I think it was because there were a lot of flies annoying him and he is bored. Then we brushed out the stable, gave hay to J.B and some feed, settled him down for the night and went home.

Day Nine

It was a beautiful morning this morning, but as I headed over to the horses with Michele, it started to pour with rain. I was feeling really nervous going over to the stables. It was my first visit after my unsuccessful attempt at mounting, and my stomach was like an angry wasp nest. Eithne and Fiona had both had riding lessons in the morning, so Eithne's horse - Harry - was in the yard when we arrived.

Harry says hello to Humphries

I took Humphries in. He was down in the far end of the field on his own, and it was a long walk there and back to get him, but he led very well. He was too wet to groom, so I picked out his hooves and then sat with him in the stable for a while. Harry came over and nibbled him and squealed for a little while. Tom and Gerry, the goats, kept running into the stable to shelter from the rain, and also for some company. They are very curious, friendly animals and I think they are lonely now that the donkeys are out in the field with the horses, rather than in the yard with them. Harvey used to let Tom scratch his horns against his head, which is rather sweet.

Tom decides to eat some plastic

Rags shelters from the rain

After sitting with Humphries for a little while, I started to clean the tack in the stable. I cleaned two leather head collars, two bridles, one pair of half chaps, the saddle and girth and both my boots and Michele's.

Nice shiny clean bridles

While I cleaned the tack, Michele tackled Humphries' tail. It was in a terrible state, really filthy and all chopped up by the people who had hired him last.

Michele washing Humphries' tail

When Michele had finished with his tail (she did a fantastic job, it looks great now) I led Humphries back out to the field and helped Michele bring in Cori and JB. Cori was hesitant to come in at first (all the horses were sheltering from the rain under the trees at the far end of the field) but with Michele's gentle coaxing and me leading JB, we got them both safely into the stables. JB kept on walking after Michele rather than following me. It was very sweet. I'm not surprised that he preferred to follow her, as he knows her a lot better than he does me.

JB potters about the yard

Michele wormed and fed JB and then wormed Cori. Cori put up a big fight about the worming. It was not so much that he objected to the wormer or the easy wormer bit, it was more a matter of principle to him that he couldn't do it easily, so of course it took three times longer than it should have. It was funny, because he would spin away from Michele and then come over to me and lick my hand. Then Michele would come up to him and he would spin away again. We also noticed that he had a swelling between his front legs.

Lumpy Cori

Close up of the swelling

Michele fed Cori and then we led Cori and JB back to the field. Humphries was grazing with the mares and the two boys went racing down to chase him off. Cori stopped before he even reached Humphries, and started grazing, while JB chased Humphries away from Cheyanna and then started to graze. His chasing was half hearted and not at all hostile.

Practising my riding position on a barrel

Day Four

Humphries and Sky

Things seemed to have settled down in the herd today. There was no objection from the other horses when I took Humphries in from the field. I took him into the stable and gave him a perfunctory groom, and he was very good. Then I wormed him and he couldn't have been better. Finally I tacked him up. I was rather inept, as it has been a long time since I tacked up, but he tolerated me and with some help with Michele I got the job done.

The mounting block

I put on my hard hat and gloves and led Humphries out to the mounting block. Michele held him while I tried to get on. It was a little low, so we improvised one out of chopped wood near the arena. With Michele's patience and eventually Madeline and my mother's help, I tried for two hours but, disappointingly, didn't succeed.

Me, tired and disappointed

I untacked Humphries and led him back to the field where, once again, he wandered off without any hassle from the horses. Then I led Cori from one stable into the other with the intention of grooming him and tacking him up for Michele, who was going to ride him. However, he played up a lot and wouldn't lead into the stable. He was preoccupied with getting back to the horses in the field and he was wound up. In the past I would have got scared and angry, but I realised that Cori was anxious, so I kept my cool and got him into the stable. Michele took him into the arena then to do some work with him to calm him down and it was going well, until it started to rain heavily, so she left him back out to the field (not with the horses) and we cleaned out the stables and went home.

Ruffles the peacock

Day Three

Cori and Megan chased Humphries out of the field last night. To try and help things settle down, Humphries has been put back into the field and Cori has been left out of it. It is clear that Humphries is trying to keep the peace by staying as far away from the mares as possible. I took him in today and gave him a thorough groom - he got hoof oil put on and everything. He looked really lovely when I was finished and he behaved perfectly.

The Herd

The horses live in a stable herd of five - two geldings and three mares. At the moment, there are also two donkeys out in the field with them.

J.B

Although he is the second youngest horse in the herd, J.B is a natural leader with his calm, authoritative air and his suave good looks. The mares love him. He has managed to control Cori's aggressive behaviour and he generally keeps things running in a friendly, orderly fashion.

Cori

Cori is second in command (although Sky as lead mare out ranks him) and J.B's right hand horse, as well as his best friend. If there is any heavy duty work to be done - like chasing, kicking, and generally running around madly - Cori will do it for J.B. His natural tendencies are to fight, but J.B has given him the strong leadership that he needs so he can relax and let someone else take care of things.

Sky

Sky is the lead mare of the herd and responsible for keeping the other mares in order. She is top over all the other horses, except J.B. She was used to being in charge of things before the geldings arrived, but she gladly let J.B take charge and is more relaxed now that she doesn't have to lead the whole herd.

Megan

Megan is Sky's best friend. She is low down in the herd, but because of Sky, she is allowed privileges above her station. She often operates as Sky's right hand horse, doing any heavy work that needs to be done. She also sneaks in and takes food from all the horses when they are being fed.

Cheyanna

The youngest member of the herd, Cheyanna has a lot to learn about horse etiquette. She doesn't have a pair bond and is often out on her own. Every few months she plays up and challenges the other horses, running madly around and having fun.

Day Two

Humphries went out to the field today with the rest of the horses. First of all Michele took Cori and J.B in and put them in the arena, and then put Humphries out with the mares. They chased him about for a bit, but then settled down. Then Michele put the two boys out in the field with the rest of the herd. J.B drove Humphries around the field, letting him know that he is boss, but he protected him from the others chasing him and he wasn't aggressive.

Cori grazing peacefully in the field

I visited the horses in the evening. Everything was peaceful when I arrived and Humphries was grazing with Sky (lead mare) and J.B. After a while, Cori and Cheyanna came up and ran to chase Humphries away, but J.B stepped in and protected him. Then they came running over to Michele and me, but when I went to say hello to Humphries, J.B drove him away. While J.B was busy talking to us, Cheyanna came up and stole Humphries away to the other side of the field.

Cheyanna steals Humphries away for herself

Michele and I tramped all the way down to the other end of the field to say hello to Humphries, but by that stage, J.B had realised what was going on and raced down to chase Humphries away from his mare.

Humphries and Cheyanna watch the rest of the herd

J.B and his ladies

After several more unsuccessful attempts to approach Humphries (J.B kept on driving him away just as we arrived at him!), we called it quits for the night. I hope the herd will settle down over the night and things will be more peaceful tomorrow.

Humphries Arrives

Michele and I went to collect Humphries today. It was the first trip of Michele's lovely brand new horse box and Humphries was the first horse to get into it. It was a beautiful sunny day. Humphries was in a loose box when we arrived. I couldn't believe how good he looked (apart from the hogged mane). He also seemed much bigger than I remembered! He didn't know us, so he was a little nervous, but he behaved well when I led him out of the loose box. Michele helped me get him into the box because he was a little hesitant.

Humphries first meal in his new home

Humphries was quite wound up when we arrived in Dromiskin. Tom and Gerry (the goats) came up to the horse box to say hello, and Humphries was very nervous of them because he had never seen a goat before. Michele led him out of the box and put him in the stable, but he still behaved very well. We put the bar across the stable and immediately he slipped underneath and went for a potter around the yard. After exploring for a few minutes, he came back to us and I put him in the stable (with the door closed this time) and gave him a little bit of food to make him feel at home.

Cori talks to me and the goats while J.B chats to Humphries in the stable

We brought Cori and J.B in to the yard to meet Humphries. They all sniffed noses over the stable door, but Cori got bored after a little while and came to chat to me, while J.B stayed to chat with Humphries. Things were going well, so Michele put Cori into the stable with some food and let Humphries out to meet J.B properly.

J.B and Humphries explore the yard together...

Then have a friendly sniff...

and do some more exploring

J.B and Humphries got on really well together, and it was a joy to watch them wandering around together, mirroring each other and matching pace. J.B kept on nuzzling Humphries and rubbing his head against him. It was very sweet. We decided to let Cori say hello, so J.B went into the stable and Cori came out. He ignored Humphries at first, and then went over to say hello. He was not quite as welcoming as J.B to begin with.

Cori says hello

Humphries didn't react aggressively to Cori, and soon things settled down.

Gerry the goat watches as Cori and Humphries wander around the yard

It was very encouraging how well the two boys got on with the newcomer, so in light of such a good introduction, we're going to try him out in the field with the mares tomorrow. But for tonight, Humphries is staying in the yard with the goats.