Honey Houdini

Little Honey is an escapologist and is managing to get through the electric fencing.  To be fair, it's not all that difficult to get through and I am a little spoiled having Buttons who respects any fence lines and electric fencing.  He has only came out of the field twice and both times he obviously thought I was late catching him in and he just wandered down from the field into his stable where I found him waiting for his tea.  The strong winds are slackening the tape on the fence and the battery pack is really not strong enough to power the length of tape that is running.  She actually only does go through at around 3.30pm, when the horses come in for the night.  She just wanders under the fence and waits at the main gate to get out of the field.  It's not too bad just now, but I need her to respect the fence and stay where she is put as come spring her grazing will be restricted and I don't want her wandering onto luscious spring grass.  I need to look at getting a better power supply.  We will be moving them onto their summer grazing in the next few weeks.  Their grazing will be restricted but they should be on the grass before there is any considerable growth in it.

Honey continues to do well.  everything is very new to her, the daily goings on at the yard, which are routine to most horses, Honey obviously hasn't experienced before.  The hose, wheelbarrows, tools, she doesn't like you mucking out or sweeping around her.  She is scared by new noises, she's very scared of the sound of velcro or the rustling of waterproofs.  Yesterday, I placed her haynet on the floor for a minute whilst I untied the other one.  To Honey, her haynet tied up with hay in it is fine, the empty haynet on the floor was most certainly not fine.  She is getting better day by day though.  If she is frightened she will try and run.  I like the horses to be able to have the opportunity to investigate and touch objects that they are unfamiliar with or warey of.  It's one of the ways in which they can process  and work things out for themselves.  Buttons can't pass anything without sticking his head in it to check there is no food or just have a good old rake through it.  He also likes to tip wheelbarrows over wherever he goes, he's like a little demolition man.  Honey has never wanted to come any closer, to even just look at what she is scared of, her only reaction so far has been flight.  We've been working on the velcro issues, as her rug has velcro on it at the front.  I just use the velcro on the cuff of my jacket, yesterday I was able to open and close the velcro with her standing next to me.  I stroked her neck and spoke to her and she visibly relaxed and lowered her head, her eye softened and she started licking and chewing.  When Buttons finishes his feed, he tosses the bucket away and it normally hits off the wall and makes a noise (he throws it quite violently).  He's always done this.  Since Honey arrived, she has jumped and ran to the back of the stable every time the bucket makes a noise.  However, last night when he threw the bucket, she lifted her head for a second and then carried on eating so she's obviously now desensitised to Buttons bucket throwing.  She's still very unpredictable when faced with sudden noises or new situations, but she is making very good progress and I am already very fond of her.  All of her pain and suffering has been caused by humans but she is showing that she is willing to try and trust again.

We are family

Whilst Wolfie is distracted talking to Honey, Buttons uses the opportunity to steal his hay

I'm going to start walking the ponies out through the fields, as long as the ground is soft, Honey will be comfortable on her feet and we will start slowly and build up gradually.  They need to exercise, especially as part of their laminitis management.  I want to get a little roller and long rein Buttons, he needs a job to do to keep him out of mischief.  Hopefully this year too, he will get his saddle back on.  Anyone who is getting fit in the New Year and wants to take a Shetland pony for a walk, you're welcome any time.