Lone Stag

I've been determined to get a photo of one of these boys..... not very good, but my best shot so far!

With rutting pretty well over, the acorns all cleared up and the clocks going back we don't see much of the deer during the day. They start coming out into the fields now just as it starts getting dark in the evenings.

The woods behind show just how green the trees still are for mid-November.

Horses' Holiday Schedule

Waiting For Breakfast

Breakfast for the horses consists of a healthy mix of mollassed chaff, bran, a small portion of pasture mix, additives, a spoonful of garlic powder and some vegetable oil, all mixed with a little water and garnished with a sliced carrot each and maybe a juicy apple between them!

For 'afters' they each receive about 3lbs of hay briefly soaked in water to remove the dust.Meanwhile yesterday's pooh is collected and removed from the pasture.

Mid afternoon the horses receive the bulk of their hay ration of 8lbs each put out in small heaps on their grazing area. This means that the horses will be inspected at least twice every day all through their holiday period.

Between meals they are free to 'hang out' or browse all day along the full length of their narrow paddock on the edge of the woods and marshes, with plenty of gentle exercise at their own pace.

Once a week they will be brought up to take their breakfast in the stables. This will allow a closer inspection, a change of scenery, and a gentle brushing to free them of any mud and gorse.

Vet Visit

Twin Oaks Field by the stables this morning.

The recent drop in temperature has rewarded us with some fabulous frosty mornings with clear skies, magical sunrise and sunsets, and sharpened the appetites of our equine friends.

Today a visit by the Vet was scheduled for Marmite to have his 'flu booster jab. This is a good time for all the horses to receive a general health check as we prepare for winter.
The vet was full of praise for their condition, and confirmed Wally's opinion that they are all in fine fettle, which must be reassuring for all trustees of the Group, and for the owners of the three horses on loan, Maggie, Charlie Brown and Felix.

Horses' Holiday Time

The horses enjoying their evening ration of hay at the start of their annual holiday for the next 2 months. They all had their shoes removed and feet trimmed yesterday by the farrier.

November started with a dramatic drop in temperature, albeit a beautiful sunny day, but they all have their woolly winter coats and are unaffected unlike us human mortals!

Today a contractor arrived to start fencing off an area of the top paddock for the free range hens, so Charlie Brown and Felix have joined Marmite and Maggie in the Mead.

If the weather turns foul Charlie Brown (the old man), and Felix will come back up into the school at night to have access to the field shelters. Grazing in the Mead is plentiful thanks to a kindly month of October, and is wonderfully sheltered all alongside the woods, with its undulations and outcrops of gorse.