The Final Countdown

Today is Humphries final day in Dromiskin. His five months are up and he has to go back tomorrow. He has a winter of carriage driving to look forward to. I went over to say goodbye to him, the first time I have seen him in ages. He is looking really well. His winter coat is growing through, but he isn't too woolly and he is really soft. His mane has grown a lot and is beginning to look nice. Despite neglect (from me) he isn't that fat and looks great.
Michele hid apples in her pockets and let me give them to Humphries, so he was very glad to see me, as were the other animals who clustered around. Every time he finished an apple, Humphries went after Michele because he is clever enough to know she was the provider of the feast, and not me. I suppose he is much more used to seeing Michele than me anyway.

Humphries is a really lovely horse, very gentle and accommodating to people, and he has shown me that I can do things with horses - like leading and grooming and tacking up - and that they aren't evil. However, I felt really sad today saying goodbye to him. Goodbye's are always sad, but I keep on thinking about my plans for the summer and for doing things with him and comparing those plans to how things really turned out. I suppose that makes me feel sad and also very foolish.

I hope Humphries will have a good winter and remember fondly his time in Dromiskin. I know Chiana will greatly miss her friend - I would say he was her best friend. She won't like going back into the field with the other horses. I think Humphries gave her a lot of security as well as companionship. I think she will be the hardest hit by his leaving. I'm sure Harvey, Nellie and the goats will miss him too, as they seemed to get on well. He fitted in with everyone so calmly and even though he was nervous of the goats when he arrived, he is totally OK with them now. I hope he enjoyed his summer with his friends in Dromiskin, which is a lovely place for animals and I think they find it very relaxing and comfortable.

Relaxing Evening

Saw the horses this evening. It rained this morning but it dried up in the evening and turned out nice. I was tired and didn't want to groom or lunge. Michele locked Cheyanna in the garden so Rags wouldn't chase her and then took J.B in, tacked him up and started riding. I chilled out with Humphries, the donkeys and the goats in the barn. I sat down on an old log and they all clustered around me looking for treats. Oscar and Rags came over periodically to say hi. On one occasion Harvey moved away from Rags quite fearfully, so she started barking at him. I got up calmly and picked up an old piece of wood. I walked towards Rags and waved it at her. She got the message and stopped barking at Harvey and a few minutes later came running up looking for attention. However, Humphries was a bit shocked by this behaviour (even though I didn't feel cross or wave the stick at him) and he ran out of the barn. He walked back into the barn very slowly, his ears pricked and body tense for flight. I felt bad because he has never been nervous of me before. I waited and Humphries came back into the barn and the donkeys and goats came back too. Rags ran in to say hello and sat at my feet licking the equines' noses, which they didn't like very much. Harvey rolled in the barn and I could see that Rags really wanted to bark at him, but she didn't.

Then I went into the arena to see how Michele was doing. She had just finished doing some lovely canter work when I went in. She started doing some jumping. J.B went over the first couple of jumps a little lazily and then he started to focus and jumped beautifully, finishing up really nicely with a double.

When Michele was finished riding she untacked J.B and fed him in the field. I said hello to Cori and then we headed home.

Lunge lessons

...are what I need! In the sunny, dry spell between showers today, Michele, Rags and I headed over to the horses. Michele locked Cheyanna in the garden to remove temptation from Rags, and then took in J.B and tacked him up. The poor horses in the field were plagued with horse flies (or Cleggs, as the country folk call them). They were all standing in a line under the trees, tail to nose, sheltering from the sun and helping each other out against the flies with their tails. Humphries was getting his fair share of grief from the cleggs, but he didn't let them get in the way of his pursuit of food.

Michele closing the door to the garden

I had a couple of carrots with me when I arrived. Harvey and Nellie and the goats came over to say hello to me first, so Harvey got some carrot, and then Humphries wandered over, so he got some too. He followed me into the stable (it was nice and cool in there, so he liked being in it for a change) and Harvey hung around outside peeping in, hopeful for more carrot. It was nice to see him getting so brave, even if it is for food. I decided to lunge Humphries today so, while Michele tacked up J.B in the next stable, I put the bridle onto Humphries. He was really good and lowered his head to help me get the bridle on. He was much better than the last time I tacked him, which made it a lot easier for me. I got the lunge line and lunge whip and went to lead him out of the stable into the arena. He was a little hesitant and Michele had to give me a hand and likewise at the gate to the arena Michele needed to provide some gentle prodding, but once in the arena he followed me around very well.

Gerry has a good scratch

Michele did a little leading with J.B and then got on board and started to warm up. I led Humphries into the corner of the arena and started to lunge. In lunging, the horse is supposed to walk, trot or canter in a circle around you, while you keep the horse between your hand holding the lunge line and your hand holding the lunge whip. That is how it is supposed to go. I tried my best to keep the correct position but Humphries ambled in an irregular circle around me and, slowly, we moved laterally across the arena. When I asked for trot, nothing happened and then a pitiful jogging walk was produced. I know I was at fault, my signals weren't clear (I was tired and my body was all over the place) and Humphries was hot and bothered by flies, but I knew I could get him to trot, so I tried harder and he trotted around me (finally in a circle). With difficulty I changed rein (he kept on coming in to me and nuzzling my hands for treats) and trotted him on the other side and I left it at that because I thought it was better to quit while I was ahead. After lunging, I thought I would long rein him around the arena and, if that went well, I would walk him up and down the avenue. Long reining did not work, however. I gathered up the lunge line, held the whip in my hand and moved to his hind quarters, which would have been perfect, except Humphries moved to keep with me and it ended up with both of us running around in circles and neither of us getting anywhere! Leaving the long reining, I led him around the arena instead and, apart from getting the lunge line wrapped around his legs a couple of times and standing on the whip (all of which was my fault) he went well. Things weren't going well enough to tempt fate and lead him up and down the avenue flanked by long luscious grass, though, so I took him back into the yard and led him around there. He was confused by that, being used to walking free, but he went ok and then I led him back into the stable and took off the bridle.

Humphries waiting to be groomed

He stood happily in the stable (with open door, no breast bar and not being tied up) while I groomed him and brushed his face. He was very intrigued by the smell of the face brush. He wandered out to the barn to peer through the door at Cheyanna while I was combing his mane, so I followed after him with mane comb and hoof pick and finished off grooming him there. He followed me back to the stable, so I cleaned out his eyes, nostril and dock with a couple of damp sponges. I took some photos, but it was hard because he kept on following me and coming right up to me (which doesn't make for great photography). I was about to take some pictures of Michele on J.B when my battery died, so I put away my camera and went into the arena to watch Michele jumping without it. J.B was spooky and tense, so Michele was working on relaxing him and getting him working. She popped him over a few jumps. They were low to boost his confidence. His jumping was nice and he really relaxed and got into it after a few jumps.

Humphries just loves the camera!

When Michele was finished riding, she fed J.B. While he was busy eating, and Michele and I were standing outside the stable chatting, Humphries, Harvey, Nellie and the two goats came over to us and surrounded us looking for food. While Harvey nibbled at Michele, I put my arm over Nellie (who stood between me and Harvey) and scratched Harvey's face and neck. He didn't move away or seem to mind, which is the first time I have ever been able to do that. Humphries was on my other side looking for carrot (which was all gone). When J.B was finished, Michele led him back to the field (leading Rags too) and I opened the door to the garden to let Humphries back in with his field. I thought Cheyanna might rush out to see him, as she had been calling for him the whole time (without reply), but she stayed in the garden and Humphries stood at the door peering out. He had tried to muscle his way out of the yard after J.B when Michele was leading J.B out and he looked very disappointed that he wasn't going out to the field with 'the big horses'. I said my goodbyes to him and Harvey and went out the front where Michele and Rags were waiting by the jeep and we headed home.

Hungry Humphries

It rained all day today but cleared up this evening so Michele and I were able to go over to the horses. It actually turned out quite nice - warmish, sunny and dry. Who could ask for anything more? (I feel a song coming on). Humphries and Cheyanna were waiting in the yard when we arrived. Michele took J.B in, put him in the stable, groomed him, tacked him up and took him into the arena to ride. I got a handful of nuts from the feed room. Humphries, Cheyanna, Harvey, Nellie, Tom and Gerry all gathered around for some food. Humphries got some nuts, which he ate greedily - unlike his usual gentle self - and Harvey got some too, because he came up really close to me and he usually doesn't do that. Humphries followed me around the yard, all the time nudging me for treats and being quite bossy about it. Now, I know I give him food, but not enough to encourage this sort of behaviour. Harvey came up to me again and I gave him some nuts and Humphries put his ears back and drove him away, which is very unlike him. All of this led me to believe that Humphries was VERY hungry. However, it wasn't until I was sitting on the oil barrels, the goats nibbling me, Humphries demanding food and Cheyanna sniffing my boots that I realised the door into the garden was shut. No wonder Humphries was so hungry! I had forgotten to secure it open on Tuesday, and the wind probably blew it closed, so they had all been locked out of their grazing for almost two days. The poor things. I opened the door and Cheyanna and the donkeys hurried happily in. Humphries stayed inside with me. He followed me around the yard and into the stable, where he licked up the crumbs from J.B's apple. I got him some hay, but he wasn't interested, and eventually he wandered off into the garden. I sat on the barrels again for a while with Oscar and Bilbo (a hairier, chubbier, friendlier version of Rocky) giving them some attention. Oscar jumped up and smeared me with his big muddy paws. He is such a big heavy dog. He made Janna look tiny and delicate when I got home. They are lovely dogs though. Then I went into the garden to see what the horses were up to. Oscar and Bilbo came with me and started to play with Rocky, who was hiding in the garden. Tommy and Gerry, who had been in the barn, followed me into the garden as well. The next thing I heard thundering hooves and Humphries, Harvey and Cheyanna were racing towards me. A few minutes later, Nelly joined the gang. I went for a walk around the garden, and Humphries followed me for a while and then started grazing again. As I made my way back to the door, Humphries walked over to meet me and then Cheyanna and the goats. I said goodbye to them and went over to Harvey. I didn't want Humphries to chase Harvey away while I gave him some treats, so I had to wait til Humphries wasn't following me. Harvey is usually so nervous, but today he was being really friendly and confident (I don't think it was just because of the food either). I gave him some nuts and made my way to the door. I realised someone was following me and I turned around (thinking it was Humphries) and it was Harvey! So he got my last few nuts (which had been saved for Cori) and I got an extra nuzzle from his lovely velvety nose. I looked back at them in the doorway out of the garden and Humphries started to walk towards me, but I left the garden and went into the arena to watch Michele riding J.B. She was almost finished riding. Today was flat work. J.B had mouthed up nicely and he seemed more accepting of the bit. I watched Michele finish up, then she took J.B back to the stable and untacked him. She led him out to the field and gave him something to eat, and I grabbed a few nuts for Cori, so he got his treat from me in the end. Then we went home.

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

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.