Arena Awakenings

A yard friend was at the arena at the same time as me last night and agreed to snap some photos & videos of myself and Kika as we played in the arena. She has been a dream to work with, I sat on her for the first time in three weeks last Thursday after her Cinderella theatrics in losing her shoe on week 5 of our 6 week shoeing cycle - for the second time in a row. One would be forgiven for thinking she does it on purpose, ;-)

Apologies all slightly blurry & my hands and heels are awful!
This is why I wanted the pictures & videos to see exactly what I am doing and hopefully attempt to fix it!

She was wonderful on Thursday evening, straight back to work in the arena after her summer strolling in the woods and three week prolonged vacay as Cinderella, ;) I was so happy with her I smiles all evening and indeed most of the next day.

Eurgh not sure what my upper body is doing here,
but I LOVE her floppy concentration ears.

I rode again on Friday, I didn't think it was going to go very well as before I sat up she hollered in my ear as she tried to call out to her field-buddies, who couldn't possibly hear her - but the poor sod was obviously lonely & heartbroken and my presence did nothing to assuage the feeling of abandonment...perhaps I am projecting slightly here. Anyways my worries about bad behaviour couldn't have been anymore unfounded as again she worked like a dream!

The vet came to see Nancy on Friday (before I rode Kika), I think I forgot to mention that N had a bit of a growth on the underside of her jaw during the summer, I thought it was a fly bite so kept an eye on it and tried to keep it clean - but when it hadn't gotten any better after our holiday at the beach (I really must get those photos from my friend!) I had the vet out to her in August, she thought it might be an infection from her teeth that was after coming out the underside of her jaw, cue mortified me that she must have been suffering something awful - but she never displayed any unease about her head or mouth or dislike towards being bridled or ridden! Vet prescribed antibiotics which N received twice a day for 4 days and had me go to chemist for a cream that would draw out the infection. This was two weekends before we made our return to the yard. The growth was after decreasing slightly in size, but as it hadn't disappeared completely I asked the vet to come to check on it again last Friday.

Brief pause as someone else joined us in the arena - hence Kika's interest & pointy ears.

Vet & I had a proper look in her mouth, Nancy had to be sedated as the flies (now dying) bite and aggravate the horses something awful when they are inside. Even with the sedation she was a bit of a pill and kept tossing her head & making a general nuisance of herself when we tried to examine her mouth - the stubborn Friesian side made an appearance, she decided she didn't want the vet examining her gob so she made it work for us to make it so. Gargh!
Thankfully the thorough examination was good, and after an initial scare that one of the back teeth might be fractured, once cleaned and examined more closely verdict was no infection in mouth and all teeth looked good, however Nancy did get three milk teeth removed at the front of her mouth as her new teeth were starting to come through behind them - so I now have three of Nancy's teeth which I must clean up and find somewhere for safekeeping.  
Any of you wonderful creative & artsy blog-readers have any tips as to what I might be able to do with them?

Following this, I decided to give Nancy the weekend off to chillax after her "ordeal" - or she'd have had me believe it was an ordeal for her with her carry-on.

Nice soft Kika - gargh my heels!

Plans for a hack in the woods with the Guru & her dogs were scrapped as the day was miserable and wet, so ponies got checked over in the field and two buckets of carrots just cos they are spoiled!

Not quite so soft Kika, she had an eek spell where it took me a good 5 minutes to convince her the arena-monsters weren't going to eat her.

Sunday the girls two field buddies went away to a rally (kind of like huge off-site hack we did in May LINK but instead of foody-pitstops there were games & challenges for horse & rider...think pony club games like walking on overturned buckets while leading your horse etc).
I did feel kind of bad leaving Nancy all alone in the field, but she got used to it before and I didn't want to leave tied up to be devoured by the flies while I rode. So she got a bucket of carrots all to herself to assuage the feelings of abandonment, however judging from the dried sweat when I returned Kika to the field after riding, my guess is she exercised herself on my behalf.

Click to enlarge
Hate me in this,
but had to share as Kika lost a foreleg - LOL!

Horse-Hugging!

Again Kika was a rockstar under saddle on Sunday where we worked in the big arena, just the two of us - she made me giggle as when walking she called out a couple of times, presumably to answer Nancy and probably drive her batty running around the field - but Kika didn't put a foot wrong while being ridden. In fact the friend who took the photos and videos in this post (from yesterday) passed as we were working and commented on how well Kika was looking & riding - she said she has never seen her going so well and wouldn't recognise her as the same horse!

K watching the horse below in the mirror,
but makes for fun snap.

Checking I let the girth out right.

Monday & Tuesday were miserable wet days, where the poor girls were too wet to even attempt to do anything bar checking legs in field on Monday evening and make a vain attempt to dry them off on Tuesday by popping them in the walker in the hopes that I might get their Amigo Hero Lite's on them from my Horseware Ho shopping splurge in the summer - however another friend whose horse is also on 24/7 turnout said she'd lunged her girl for a good 30mins and not made a dent in drying her off, so after a spin in each direction for N & about 30mins for Kika I caved and turned them back out in the rain. Boy did I feel bad about that! *bad-horse-mommy-conscience*

Don't know why - but there is just something I love about this shot

It was Nancy's third time ever on the walker and while she wasn't bad, she didn't relax into it like Kika does. In fact if Kika could she would fall asleep in the walker and regularly walks so slowly that the back bar rests on her backside so she can slow the whole thing down! However Nancy stays up near the front bar and sways back and forth looking for a way to get by it, I don't know if she will settle better with more walker exposure - but i don't think I am going to test the theory and potentially scare & scar her (mentally) as she doesn't need to go in the walker - she can be pulled out of her stable and ridden straight away, unlike Kika who used to need the time on walker as warm up time to get her head in the game before riding - we shall see if this will still be the case this winter or if she has mellowed enough in herself to also be able to be ridden from the stable - although this point may be moot as hopefully we will still have the winter turnout & this year the three (my two + the Guru's O) will go out together every afternoon!

Prob my fav photo of the night!

Sorry, went off on another tangent there! I guess I should just update the blog more regularly and then I wouldn't have so much to say! Although I feel bad updating without pictures, hence the overload today!
Anyway all of this waffle brings us right back to square one and my spins last night, the photographic & video evidence documents Kika and my spin last night in our least favourite arena hence the tension - she has been riding a lot more relaxed than this of late - but our preferred arenas were too busy.

Mirror shot from arena

Close up after work, as always Nancy wanted to snuggle

After the quick Kika spin & photo/video-shoot, I managed to have the time to toss her out and haul in Nancy for her first spin since coming back to the yard last Wednesday. We were alone in the main arena (photo from mirror above), it is the largest arena and although I turned on the radio for some background noise, N was still on edge and antsy. So we stuck to walk & trot down the lower half of the arena to ease ourselves back into "working" mindset after our summer of forestry hacking. While far from perfect and nowhere near relaxed - we both survived and I managed to not stress her out any further like I had been doing prior to our summer of hacking - fingers crossed I can keep our happy hacking attitude when we play in the arenas and our fantastically fun summer in the sun & woods will have totally paid off if i can transfer our relaxed work out there to an arena setting! :D

Videos now - posted in the order they were filmed, as always apologies for sound - I have never figured out how to edit videos and7or remove things like sound & background noise.

Watching this first video on my computer screen has me questioning her soundness at the start, is it just me or is she head-bobbing at the very beginning of the clip? She didn't feel uneven last night - but now I'm worried as I'm not always the most perceptive! *another-bad-mommy-moment*

The second video is the longest at 3mins, features left-rein cantering. Watching it enlarged on my computer screen I can no see why the Guru is always telling me to sit into the saddle when cantering, I swear when riding I don't feel as loose as I appear in these videos - another thing to add to hands & heels on the laundry list for working on - am loving watching these videos as I need them to see where I am going wrong, i honestly don't know the last time I saw a video of myself riding - I'm sure it's on this blog & prob back in December when my sis was home for Christmas!
Coming up to the 1m30 mark, when we change rein, Kika decided that the arena going in this direction was scary and had monsters lurking & hiding down one side - hence more walking then trotting or cantering to get her to settle again. 3m20 mark is where someone asked to join us in the arena - worked to my advantage as K (like any horse) is happier when there is another equine in the vicinity, herd animals, eh? ;-)

Right rein cantering - our more difficult side -although this was a lovely soft canter to ride. Much more relaxed then her previous left-rein canter from previous video.

Final video, my poor attempt at walk to canter transition, there are a couple of trot strides - but on the positive side we have a  correct lead! At the end of this video, my friend turned the camera to finish video, however we can't really flip our computer screens so either tilt your head or stop watching lol - don't want to give anyone motion sickness!

My initial take-aways after watching these videos for the second time are:
- HEELS (as always), I absolutely have to stop lifting them and niggling her with them, it is tipping me forward and looks awful. I really need to strengthen my legs and work on squeezing with my calves & not niggling with my heels. Gosh talk about CRINGE - i didn't know I was this bad!
- HANDS (again as always), I am carrying my hands too low and again niggling at her with them, eurgh! I need to make more of a 90º angle at my elbow and carry my hands, they are practically sitting on the pommel of the saddle. I also need to shorten my reins - Lord, where am I going with them at that length!
- SEAT, I need to sit my ar$e into the saddle, i have been told this before in lessons with the Guru when working on canter, but i honestly didn't feel like I came out of the saddle like this videos are showing me - methinks if i can get a handle on my heels and stop lifting them, I'll stop compensating and gripping with my knees which will hopefully help me keep my bum in the saddle.

I am sure there is much much more for me to work on that is obvious to others that I am failing to see, so please CONSTRUCTIVE criticism welcome - and of course for longtime followers of Kika & my story any improvements will be welcomed...if there is any!

Again sorry for blurry/grainy videos & photos - I forgot to tell my friend that if she taped the screen the camera would focus again. All images taken with my camera phone - so again quality not super - but shows me what i wanted to see - namely what we need to work on!

Missing Motivation

Apologies for the prolonged silence, as the title suggests I have been lacking in motivation to ride the last few weeks.
Well that's not entirely true, I have wanted to ride just not hacking in the woods - reading about the progress people I follow in the blogosphere have been making, has me itching to get back into an arena and get back to work with my girlies again.

Apologies for the poor photo quality! But I can't post an update without some sort of photos!

Kika pulled a front shoe a few weeks back, week 5 of her current cycle to be truthful. That's two shoeing cycles in a  row that she has managed to loose one shoe on the monday of week 5. There are 4 horses in total on this shoeing cycle with this blacksmith and we'd have to get the horses back to the yard for the farrier - so I decided to let Cinderella stew for a while - aka downtime, so probably a party for Kika as she hasn't had to do anything bar eat & poop while wandering around the field for nearly 3 weeks - spoiled or what?!
The Disney Princesses have nothing on her! At least they all had to overcome some sort of strife before Prince Charming showed up & Happily Ever After happened!
K honestly doesn't know how good she has it *sniggers*

Work & weather also conspired against me, that combined with the shorter evenings severely encouraged my lack of motivation towards forestry hacking, although i did get out a couple of time son Nancy who as per usual was an absolute doll! LOVE her so much! *Hearts&Kisses*

Farrier was contacted and said he could come today, the decision was left to me by the two girls I share the field with as to whether we'd go back to the wilderness after shoeing for another week of hacking or if we'd keep the horses at the yard and make use another field & the arenas + forestry hacking there. I selfishly decided to stay at the yard, as the evenings are getting too dark for me to hack safely in the woods where we were. I could never get to the field much before 7pm, which meant I was lucky to be onboard by 7.30 and then it got dark under the trees by 8.15-8.30. Which then meant feeding, hay giving & turning back out in the pitch black. Not the best fun nor particularly motivational when combined with the nasty rain we've had this week.

Again sorry so dark - problem with hacking in woods in the rain, but i wanted a commemorative photo - even if it is fuzzy & dark!

So despite terrible downpours last night the three of us (myself & the two girls who I went to the beach with) braved the downpour last night to meanly tack up wet ponies to hack back to the yard. I rode Nancy & I led Kika for the first time, previously L had always led her from O - but I was a big brave girl and brought both my girls back to the yard myself. Lets also keep in mind that my lack of motivation recently had meant that Nancy hadn't been ridden since last Thursday and that had been the first time I sat on her in almost 2 weeks - did I mention I have a saint horse! *halo-for-Nancy*

I was so happy when we arrived back  to the yard, and despite the lashing rain as we tacked up we managed not to get drowned as we rode back. Thankfully, my brain had actually functioned for a change and I had thought to dig out my rain gear so even if it had rained on us I'd have stayed as dry as I could!

Tous ensemble! Apologies, best photo I could get while we were moving...

We even did some trotting which was great fun as Kika & Nancy kept trying to race - the scamps! So hopefully all went well with the blacksmith this morning, I have asked that he look at N's feet and leave off the front shoes if they are good enough. I had only put the shoes on as I knew we were spending the summer hacking in the woods, now that we are back at the yard and will only be forestry hacking at the weekends, meaning twice at most - I am hoping she can go back to being barefoot & save me some pennies. ;-)
Miss Kika will hopefully have two front shoes put back on as despite being barefoot all around for nearly a year last year, she wore her front feet down too much with her stamping when tied in cross ties, feeding time, hay time & general digging in her stable - she is her own worst enemy the goon!

All going well the three of us will make our returns to arena work this evening and I cannot wait!

Splish Splash

A colleague of mine from work brought her daughter for a spin on Nancy last week, she joined us on her mountain bike as we had a leisurely stroll through the woods in all our fly gear - thankfully we weren't harassed by flies...I have finally learnt the best routes to avoid them.
My colleague snapped the following shots of us on her phone, as there are so rarely any photos of me on horseback I had to share them.
Apologies for the state of me...I'm not usually camera friendly and was really hoping I wouldn't be in these shots!
Argh the state of me!

Water crossing at the start of our hack

 The rest of the photos taken on our way home @ the same water crossing

Kika bravely leading the way in, she is such a water horse - loves splashing about as much as I do! Match made in water-loving heaven we are!

If it wasn't for me looking like a sack, I like the horses in this one!

Also before I forget, please check out these wonderful posts from Lorna @ EquestrianReality and vote for your favourite post of the three (or all three over the coming days if like me you like them all!) LINK
She is one of my favourite bloggers and has had three of her posts nominated for the Irish Blogger Awards - I always get a good laugh out of her posts, she has a unique outlook on life & a wonderful turn of phrase. Hopefully you agree and will vote for her posts to help hopefully win her an award. And who knows, if you like her writing style as much as I do - she may even get a few more followers from this plug! :)
I hope so - as she really is fantastic & inspirational!
Like all the bloggers I stalk *ahem* follow!

Playing Catch Up

Sky as I walked to the field + some instagrammin'

Apologies to those awaiting the promised beach photos, unfortunately the friend who has them on her camera put her back out the evening we got home and is laid up at home - so please send her virtual healing vibes!
 

Nancy coming to meet me

 In the mean time, I have been checking the ponies who are having an easy week after their adventurous fortnight at the seaside - they did nothing Saturday, then the Mammy and I took Nancy & Kika for a stroll in the woods on Sunday and they have been chillaxing in the field since then. I do go to check on them every evening and pick out their hooves, give them treats, love on them and replace any and all removed fly mask...yes O & Kika I do mean you guys! The parentals and I have a mini-routine in the works, whereby I walk to the field and one of them comes to meet me in the car and I drive back!

Girls coming for cuddles

 YES - you read that right! I passed my driver's test on my second attempt just before we left for the beach. I am not quite confident enough to drive on my own yet so we have this little routine going. Unfortunately there will be no set of wheels for me as all my monies are being put aside for my apartment that is being built and into the horsies!

As you will see from the pics I am sharing Kika has also managed to rip her FM & poke a whole in the eye part...whether it will still keep the flies out I am not sure, but until it resembles L Williams Ramone's destruction attempt Kika shall continue to wear it...yes I am an evil Mammy!

It's so rare to catch Nancy making faces

So I am delighted I caught these candid moments!

Speaking of pictures, I must blame Laura @ the Roany Pony, for my getting over my technophobia and joining instagram yesterday.





 It has become an overnight addiction fueled by my pre-existing photo loving condition! It's dangerous guys! Prepare for a photo overload if you decide to follow me - if you think I overload the blog, bear in mind that i only select my fav photos every time for sharing on the blog - the mountains of photos on my phone & laptop will attest to my addiction.

Consider this your warning! :p

Lastly, for this post I have to parting shots from last night which I am only sorry I wasn't closer. A Bambi/Deer visited the neighbouring field last night and I tried to snap a pic + the horses' reaction to it - but I was a bit too far away for my camera phone!

Click to enlarge, although still fuzzy

 I am trying to play catch up on all the blogs I follow, so please bear with me if I haven't commented for a while! 

I will get caught up soon I hope, although we have another short week in work (today is my Friday - woop wopp!) and as that is where i cheekily do most of my blog reading I may fall behind again!

Beach Ball

I am having a ball here in the Netherlands on holidays with my ponies and friends with their ponies. We're one big happy family ;-)

Two Happy Horsies

Daily routine has us up between 7.30 & 7.45 to be at the stables harassing the horses for 8am to have our fun on the beach by 10am when we then ride back to the stables via the local bakery. Taking it in turns to dismount and go in to order breakfast of fresh bread and pastries.
Most mornings I've been taking Nancy as she is such a cool cucumber, but a combination of Kika needing a change of scenery from the arena/field and Little Nancy having been ridden everyday since we got here last monday (29th); had me bite the bullet and try Kika again on the beach. Bless her she tried to be good and mostly suceeded, we had a funny dynamic whereby when she was fine and relaxed I was nervous and worrying about what might set her off and when she was antsy about something I felt weirdly relaxed as wound up Kika I can preemptively deal with - but whatever. I'm an oddball and we've a weird symbiotic relationship which works for us most of the time. I think if you asked my mother she'd tell you we're too similar. I guess the sayings about animals being like their owners aren't all made up...poor Kika!
Anyway she was a great girl despite there being a "lot" of activity for her over stimulated brain. I used quotation marks as this morning was a quiet day on the beach as it was rather overcast but it was still a bit much for Kika to absorb 100% calmly.  However she didn't loose the run of herself and managed to maintain her head and stay polite and rideable - a vast improvement on our previous beach outing.
Yay for making happy memories!

Daily routine continues with our return yo the barn after our pit stop at the bakery where we untack and turn our horses out for their 4hour timeslot window. While the 4 ponies hang out we eat a leisurely brunch on the terrace in lovely sunshine. Then clean our stables and if the mood takes us our tack. We bring the horses back in at 2pm then either go chillax on the beach or head to a neighbouring town/island for some shopping/sightseeing.
Today we snuck off to a tackshop where one of the girls had to buy a new pair of reins after hers broke Sunday evening in a scary incident where herself anf the Guru went for an evening beach hack while I decided to stay home and read. They were walking along the water's edge when they hit a bad patch and the horses sank in the sand! They came back destroyed but thankfully none the worse for weat. Phew!

I think that's me pretty much all caught up, we're heading back across the border to Belgium tomorrow to a lovely town called Brugge which is about half an hour from here for a nosy. I think plan is to skip morning spin  on the beach and pop the horses out a little earlier so that we can bring them in earlier before heading off.
My own plans are to give Kika the day off as she also hasn't had a break sunce we arrived and hack Nancy on the beach in the evening - although if we wake up on our own early myself and the Guru may head for a morning spin on the beach...besides the roadtrip we have no set plan of action gor tomorrow!

I can't believe we heaf home on friday!  :-(
Time flies when you're having fun!

PS: there will be beach photos when I get back yo Lux and get the photos from my friends camera!

Bad Books

Miss Kika is most definitely in the dog house after her carry on yesterday evening. We started out on the beach without any problems,  splashing right into the sea like the fish out of water she is. All was going well till for no reason it wasn't,  she wound herself up into an almighty state and coiled up like a spring.

I hopped off and walked for a while to calm her down, she then made an awful song and dance about my getting back up. One of the other girls had to get off her horse to hold her so that I could get back up then she kindly walked alongside me on the ground till silly Kika settled further. We even went for a little trot (when my kindly helper was back on board her own horse) without issue, yet Kika still wouldn't stay settled. She started jigging and trotting in the spot, being really obnoxious. I sat it out and tried to weather the storm but it just got too much for me as I couldn't find a way to difuse the timebomb I was sitting on. So I hopped off again and walked her home.

Back at the yard we went straight into the arena for some propper ridden work, where low and behold she didn't put a toe out of line. She has never felt so good under me, it felt like we were floating/flying along lovely.
The Guru kindly offered to ride Nancy for me as I was so mad at Kika, I didn't want my mood to affect easy going N. So the pair of them joined us in the arena gor a quick school. Once done we decided to go for a walk around the outdoor 'arena' (huge field) to cool out as indoor was quite warm so both girls and us riders were quite sweatty.

Kika led the way into the field like the good girl she was pretending to be, but the further we got from the gate the more obnoxious she became again, she was predictably worse when the other horses that had been there proceeded to leave the arena. We kept walking till she calmed down, but as soon as she'd settle her pea brain she'd endeavour to find something else to set her off - cow.
So more schooling insued after she finally made good on her threats to rear, she took advantage of my being distracted trying to stop her walking on a man's dog who was near the exit when she snuck up on me. Thankfully she didn't scare me, just fuelled my anger which had dissipated after the good arena work but then came back with a vengeance afterher carry on when we got outside. Gargh, some days I just despair for us as she works herself into such a state. Needless to say she was soaked with sweat again once I'd managed to convince her to calm down enough to walk by the entrance a couple of times. Poor old Nancy stood there good as gold watching Kika's silly carry on, she really is a model young horse - almost inflapable...bar initial introduction to the sea.

Speaking of Nancy, she continues to impress. We made a return to the beach this morning and had no issues with going into the sea or indeed walking along in it. We even went for a trot and a canter, she is such a godsend when Kika pulls these tricks out of her repertoire of annoying habits.

My plan for this evening is to ride Kika in the arena and make our way back outdoors over the weekend. Our return to the beach is behaviour dependent and weather dependent as if the beach is going to be super crowded I am not going near it with Kika.
Also I am on my holidays and don't want to be stressing and getting into arguments with her potentially undoing all the good work we've done over the last 12-18months. If she's not yet zen enough for the beach and/or never is I don't care so long as I can still enjoy riding & working with her elsewhere.

Apologies for lack of photos with this post, but I had to get something up to docunent the ups and downs while on hols.

Firsts

Apologies in advance for lack of photos,  I haven't actually taken any of us on the beach yet! *Le Shame*
However I can share photos of the three girls getting to know S, who will continue to be their field buddy when we all get back to Lux. He was supposed to be with my girls since May 1st but had an operation to remove a growth from his leg in April,  so sadly he wasn't ready to go out with the others on the first of May.

I am writing this on my phone so hope this works, yay for wifi in house we're staying in! Everyone loaded up & travelled really well on Monday morning. Had travelling boots on both my girls for the first time, am I sadistic that I find it funny when horses walk with the back boots on initially - bless them!

Anyways 4hours later we arrived in the Netherlands at the seaside, unloaded the girls into their temporary accommodation for the fortnight and settled ourselves into our little house. This place is cool, it's a riding school with little houses attached and space for people to bring their horses with on holidays.

We settled in and headed to the restaurant on the beachfront for a slap up meal. Come 6 o'clock we were tacking up to head for my first ever spin on the beach. A first for both my hirls and myself. Going off past form, I opted to take Nancy first as she hasn't been frightened of much while hacking.
The firsts kept coming, I had my first spin on the beach and my first fall from Nancy in very quick succession :-D
Thankfully it was a lovely soft landing in the sand and neither of us hurt ourselves, otherwise it would have been a long 2 weeks!
Turns out Nancy isn't a fan of the waves, lesson learned it was a bit of a steep learning curve for us both, but no one was hurt en route.  I led her along beach till she calmed down even walking into the sea with her, she really is a good trusting girl. I hoped back up we rode back to the yard. We then rode around a field for a bit till we all calmed down,  or at least that haf been the plan but my mind was playing games with me and the nerves got the better of me which then transferred to poor Nancy and we both wound ourselves into a bit of a state.

No harm no foul,  tacked Kika up afterwards and went for a quick spin in the arena. She was an angel and behaved as if she was at home. Dare I say my opinionated Madam is finally growing up into a fine young lady.

Tuesday morning dawned grey so we knew the beach would be quieter. I put on my girl pants and tacked Kika up to tackle our first beach ride ensemble. She was a bit looky, but her love of water won out and we had a great time splashing in the sea. :-D
Came back to the yard and let my two girls out together for two hours then S & O went out together for two hours while we went to do some food shopping.  When we came back L & I decided to brave the grey clouds and try Nancy again on yhe beach when ot was guaranteed to be quieter. Nothing like the threat of rain to keep seaside deserted. It was great, N is still not overly fond of the sea but through a process of elimination we know she doesn't have a problem with water or the sound of the sea/waves. It is just the foam that she takes offence to - we can work with/around that.

Next first to tackle was turning the four horses out together - this had been causing us some worry as Miss Kika hasn't always been the most welcoming or open to sharing, meaning O & Nancy who K perceives as 'hers'. As you can see from photos, firstly we put O & K in one sand paddock and N & S in the neighbouring paddock as N and S had travelled together in the box. Nancy wasn't exactly hostile but she wasn't welcoming S into the inner circle either.

We figured what the hell, best get it over with and tossed tge 4 of them out together for our alloted 4 hour turnout window. We figured we could turn them each out one day at a time with S but the end reaction would still be whatever it would be once all 4 would be turned out together.  The new herd order would still have to be established.
We needn't have worried,  Kika has been very welcoming.  Perhaps too muvh for S' liking, she is almost like his shadow, real curious to get to know him. O hasn't really been allowed to mix with him yet despite them being olf pals, Kika is the self appointed boss of this little herd. Nancy has surprisingly been the least welcoming/accommodating to new-boy S. I reckon she's tired of being at the bottom of the herd pecking order and hoped this was her chance to have a minion below her - sorry Nanc, S has man-bits (he is gelded) and as such is simply more interesting to Aunty Kika - slag and all that she is. LOL!

What can I say the pair of them like to make a bit of a fool of me and do the opposite to what I have come to expect of them - horses eh? ;-)