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Last night when I walked around the lake to make…

Last night when I walked around the lake to make sure that all was well two Black Swans were flying above. I reckon that they must have taken off from the Lake just before I had arrived. With a bit of luck it maybe the breeding pair that flew off just over a week ago and are coming back to to nest in the Autumn.

The new Pen is settling in well and is now being accepted by the Cob although after the hard time the Cob gave her when she arrived she is a little wary to feed with him and we are having to throw her food out to her. It will get better over time.

We started to make our hay yesterday. This year is the latest that we have ever started to make it as the weather has been so dry the grass has not grown as it has in previous years. I kept putting off making it in the hope that we would get enough rain for the grass to grow a bit more, but it never happened so I am hoping that it now stays dry so that what grass we have got will make. Already there is a shortage of hay in this part of the country and is costing more than it has for many years. I should think that we will only make 60% of what we normally make. Fortunately we have some hay from last year so we may be in a position to be able to sell some.

I still have not found the time to change the Bees into their new hive. Mind you something maybe telling me in my head to put it off. I must try to do it this weekend.

I must admit I don’t like to see Horses tethered by the road side but if they were not there is a great danger of them straying and getting hit by cars or lorries. I like to see working horses as long as they are not over worked. You do find that most people who are on the road with horses drawn caravans do look after their horses. They have to or the horses would not be able to do their work. Not having ready water is wrong especially in hot weather. It is better to have some that could be knocked over than none at all.

About a month ago whilst I was away from the farm an RSPCA inspector trespassed on Denbury after a complaint that Branston was not being looked after. The inspector trespassed around the cottages and spoke to our holiday guests who assured the inspector that the report was wrong. I phoned the inspector and asked what knowledge she had of horses. Guess what she admitted none. She said that Branston was old. He is 5 years old. I am sure it was that Branston is a grey horse that she thought he was old. Our horses are very well looked after. With the holiday guests that we have at Denbury we would soon get complaints if they were not. The RSPCA do some very good work but they seem to be always looking for easy headlines to help bring in donations.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Getting really short of photograph’s.

Please check the adds.

ALL TOOK AT THE TROPICAL BUTTERFLY CENTRE NEAR WORKSOP. LYNNE.

Just took this capture shot thought you might like to put on the gallery. The adults are either side and the chick is the white blob in the middle. Elaine.

Two Badger Cubs have been out for the past couple of nights, one was helping to get new bedding for the Sett. They had a bounce about and left to what looked like a hunting trip with their Mother.

It does seem that two of the Adult Badgers are missing. The most that I have seen is nine and a few on the Forum have seen nine.

By a bit luck the Swallow webcam is positioned in a place where it can be turned onto a doves nest with a pair of Dove chicks in the nest. There is a large choice of nesting Doves to pick from. They don’t stop breeding and we have far to many on the Farm. We have a couple of young boys holidaying on the Farm this week and they have managed to catch a few for friend who wants them on their Farm. They may well come to regret it.

We have so many Dove that we will need to consider that we will need to cull some. I reckon that there must be well over a hundred. It wouldn’t be a problem if they were not so dirty, but their droppings are every where. You can guarantee that at least a few times a day we manage to put our hands on it. Another problems with the Doves is that they will go straight to the Horses feed bowls when we feed the Horses. Branston does try to stamp on them but they still keep trying to eat his feed. For a couple of days of the Dove seeing the nets that they are caught in, they avoid feeding with the Horses, within a couple of days they go back again.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

The Sulphur Tufts photograph that I took in Ash Wood while I was holidaying at Denbury. As you can see it is published in the February Edition of Countryfile Magazine with a small article. Vicky.

The original photograph of the Sulphur Tufts. Vicky.

Derby Cathedral. Vicky.

Kane and Abel my Driving Horses were originally purchased to do Pairs Competition Driving, but being stabled in the London Docklands there wasn’t a lot of places to train them. That was part of the reason for them being sent to Seven Oaks in Kent. The idea was to get them ready to compete in trails driving. That idea changed when one of my Carriages, a Hotel Omnibus was completed being renovated and we decided that we should enter a Showing Class at the British Driving Societies annual show at Smith Lawn, Windsor.

Kane and Abel were taken out every day to get them ready for the Show. I had decided that the Coachman and his Wife who were training them should drive the Horses and Carriage in the Show. The Coachman was a big man, so it was decided that a friend of mine would make the Coachman’s outfits. New Collar Harness was purchased and every thing possible was done to give us a good chance of going to the Show to win the class we were entered in. But the Coachman’s outfit had not turned up on the day they were promised. The night before the Show my friend who was making the outfits turned up with two period Policeman’s Capes that he had hired as he had not had time to make the outfits. They were as much good as nothing and after frantic phone calls all over the Country we were eventually promised two outfits would be waiting at the Show Ground for us.

We arrived at the Show Ground. I just knew the day was going to be a disaster. The outfits were there as promised, trouble was they did not fit the Coachman. It was decided that I would have to Drive. I must admit the the Horses and Carriage when ready they were by far the best display in the whole Show. The only hat that I had was the Top Hat that I wore on Halloween. Then it was miles to big for me, if it hadn’t been for my ears being in the way the Top Hat would have fell all over my head.

I cant remember the year but it was a very long hot Summer and this day as no exception. With the Coachman’s Wife by my side we drove Kane and Abel to the Show Ring. The looks and comments that we got on the way made us more than confident that we had all but won our class. The Horses were sweating quite a lot not only from the heat but they had never pulled a carriage of this size before. We also realised that they had never been driven in Collar Harness, only ever driving in a Breast Harness, pulling from their breast rather than their neck, that they were now doing. Kane and Abel weren’t that put out and once in the Show Ring with the other Horses and Carriages they livened up. So much so that when we had to drive them to show what they were capable of they were a bit of a handful and quite hard to stop. Concentrating on stopping the Horses I allowed the driving whip to gently touch the rear end of Kane. It made him more than ready to bolt, but some how I managed to stop him, but he wasn’t forgiving and and double barreled kicked back hitting the board that our feet rested on. I heard the wood crack where Kane had kicked it so hard. We really should have left the ring in disgrace but the Coachman’s Wife insisted that we should continue. Needless to say we were last.

It didn’t help when the Class Judge who unbeknown to us had seen the Horses and Carriage before we went into the Show Ring whilst we were getting ready, he came as we were unharnessing the Horses, telling us that before we even had entered the Show Ring we had won the Class and it was only the kick that spoilt it. Just as bad my elder Son was to film the Show. He forgot to push the record button.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

The Sulphur Tufts photograph that I took in Ash Wood while I was holidaying at Denbury. As you can see it is published in the February Edition of Countryfile Magazine with a small article. Vicky.

The original photograph of the Sulphur Tufts. Vicky.

Derby Cathedral. Vicky.

Kane and Abel my Driving Horses were originally purchased to do Pairs Competition Driving, but being stabled in the London Docklands there wasn’t a lot of places to train them. That was part of the reason for them being sent to Seven Oaks in Kent. The idea was to get them ready to compete in trails driving. That idea changed when one of my Carriages, a Hotel Omnibus was completed being renovated and we decided that we should enter a Showing Class at the British Driving Societies annual show at Smith Lawn, Windsor.

Kane and Abel were taken out every day to get them ready for the Show. I had decided that the Coachman and his Wife who were training them should drive the Horses and Carriage in the Show. The Coachman was a big man, so it was decided that a friend of mine would make the Coachman’s outfits. New Collar Harness was purchased and every thing possible was done to give us a good chance of going to the Show to win the class we were entered in. But the Coachman’s outfit had not turned up on the day they were promised. The night before the Show my friend who was making the outfits turned up with two period Policeman’s Capes that he had hired as he had not had time to make the outfits. They were as much good as nothing and after frantic phone calls all over the Country we were eventually promised two outfits would be waiting at the Show Ground for us.

We arrived at the Show Ground. I just knew the day was going to be a disaster. The outfits were there as promised, trouble was they did not fit the Coachman. It was decided that I would have to Drive. I must admit the the Horses and Carriage when ready they were by far the best display in the whole Show. The only hat that I had was the Top Hat that I wore on Halloween. Then it was miles to big for me, if it hadn’t been for my ears being in the way the Top Hat would have fell all over my head.

I cant remember the year but it was a very long hot Summer and this day as no exception. With the Coachman’s Wife by my side we drove Kane and Abel to the Show Ring. The looks and comments that we got on the way made us more than confident that we had all but won our class. The Horses were sweating quite a lot not only from the heat but they had never pulled a carriage of this size before. We also realised that they had never been driven in Collar Harness, only ever driving in a Breast Harness, pulling from their breast rather than their neck, that they were now doing. Kane and Abel weren’t that put out and once in the Show Ring with the other Horses and Carriages they livened up. So much so that when we had to drive them to show what they were capable of they were a bit of a handful and quite hard to stop. Concentrating on stopping the Horses I allowed the driving whip to gently touch the rear end of Kane. It made him more than ready to bolt, but some how I managed to stop him, but he wasn’t forgiving and and double barreled kicked back hitting the board that our feet rested on. I heard the wood crack where Kane had kicked it so hard. We really should have left the ring in disgrace but the Coachman’s Wife insisted that we should continue. Needless to say we were last.

It didn’t help when the Class Judge who unbeknown to us had seen the Horses and Carriage before we went into the Show Ring whilst we were getting ready, he came as we were unharnessing the Horses, telling us that before we even had entered the Show Ring we had won the Class and it was only the kick that spoilt it. Just as bad my elder Son was to film the Show. He forgot to push the record button.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

View of Coombe Abbey. Bec

Close up of the moat. Bec.

The very long driveway up to the Abbey. Bec.

The entrance door to the hotel. Bec.

We spent the Saturday after Christmas at St. Augustine, Florida. At the Fountain of Youth, a wedding was going to take place. The bride and groom arrived in the carriage shaped like Cinderella’s pumpkin pulled by a pair of black horses. They were beautiful and so very gentle. The bride is in the red dress. Karen, Florida (USA)

Karen’s photograph of the Wedding Carriage brought back memories of when I had a small collection of Carriages myself. I got involved in them in a Carriage that I purchased in Somerset, whilst on Holiday at a Friends before we moved to Denbury. Knowing nothing about Carriages I paid at the time a lot to much for it, but it started my interest in Carriages and their history.

Although I was quite a reasonable Carriage Driver, I was always fearful that the Horses I was driving may get hurt in my care, for that reason I chose to let other Coachman drive for me.

There are some excellent Coachman to be found and I was lucky to have found two of them whilst I had Driving Horses. One in particular was a Coachman that had helped Prince Philip with his Team of Competition Horses. The Coachman had also worked driving the Harrods Horse Drawn delivery van around London.

Whilst two of my Driving Horses Kane and Abel were being trained, we had them in Livery with the Coachman in Seven Oak in Kent. They were there in the great gale when the Seven Oaks were blown down. That was not the only bad memory that I had of the area in that year, for there was a serious fire at the stables where many of the Horses died. Fortunately Kane and Abel were in a part of the barn that escaped the fire.

The fire was started deliberately by a Lad who was known to the owners of the Stables. He had a mental problem and was seeking attention. He believed that he would be a hero by saying that he had found the Stables on fire and had gone in and saved the Horses by letting them out. That was never going to happen. A Horses Stable is to a Horse a safe place. In a fire instead of running from the Stable to escape it will believe that it to be a safe place to be, and will stay until it is to late.

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Here is your awwwwwwwwwww for the day Marie/NJ

These are great pics!!!!!

A baby moose was in distress in a creek. A man got him out of the creek , tried to find the mother & send him on his way, but eventually the moose stumbled back into the creek & was rescued again. The baby moose followed the man home.

The man has only a small cabin so he took the moose to another neighbor, who took these photos. They took the moose the next day to a woman who looks after wild animals & she put it in a pen with a rescued fawn. Marie/NJ.

The two Female Reindeer from Pewnnywell Farm have settled in very well. We haven’t seen any arguments between them. At feed times they tend to hang back a little but once our Reindeer are eating they soon join in. The Reindeer Field is calm and looking a little fuller than before they arrived.

It is very mild for this time of the year but the leaves on the trees are changing into their Autumn colours. We need for it to stay dry so that we are able to leave the Horses out in their Field. With the rain that we have had over the Summer the grass didn’t stop growing so there there is still a lot of to be grazed off. If I had realised that the weather was going to be as good as it was last week I would have taken a cut of grass off of the Valley Field. There would have been little chance of it making hay as we were getting heavy dews in the mornings and the grass would not have dried completely but we could have made haylage.

Haylage is made by wrapping the bales just before the grass is completely dry. As it is wrapped it is a lot more expensive to make than hay. It take a few weeks to mature in the plastic wrap. Make it right, when the bales are opened it sends out a sweet smelling aroma that Horses cant get enough of. Make it wrong and you could well finish up with bales of mouldy feed that could well cause Horses problems if eaten, so we always wary about making it.

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Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page from Judy. There is only one photograph left to put on the Photo page.

Some more Norfolk photos;

Three Views of Hunstanton Esplanade Gardens

Sandringham Estate Woodlands

Bircham Windmill From Judy.

The Sheep seemed to have settled themselves into the main Horse Field for the past few weeks. A good chance for Ewy to join them. But she hasn’t been near them, she only wants to be with the Horses. When we feed Willow and Gypsy in the Field Ewy eats with Gypsy out her bucket, but if any of the other Sheep try to eat with the Horses they get a sharp kick. They have learnt their lesson and keep well away. Watching the webcam whist I am writing tonights diary Ewy is grazing with the Horses. A little earlier on when Ewy realised that Willow and Gypsy had gone to the gate she ran rather quickly to join them. Most time when we let the Hoses back out in to the Field Ewy is waiting by the gate for Breeze.

Next week we will need to wean the Lambs off of the Ewes. They are still feeding from the Ewes when the really don’t need the milk. When we take the Lambs to Market we will look for a Ram. We want a Jacob Ram but when I use to go to Market it was not very often that we saw any. Jacobs are not a commercial Sheep although we had a number of Jacob Ewes some years back and we crossed them with a Texel Ram and the Lambs were top grade. As most of the six Ewes that we now have are Texel the Jacob cross should be good.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page from…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page from number six.

Two more photographs of Hurricane Katrina from Elsie.

Clematis from Karen.

Puffin from. Jill.

Another photograph from Australia. Rose.

This afternoon the sun was shining and it looked as if the day was going to finish well, when from nowhere, without any warning by darkening in the sky came an almighty crack of lightening, immediately followed by the blackening of the sky, thunder and rain immediately over head of the Farm House. The rain was so heavy that we were unable to see more than a few feet in front of us.. The electricity went straight down that caused the webcams to go off. I went to put them back on until another strike of lightening followed. It only lasted a few minutes but a lot of rain fell in that short time.

I was tempted to tell Mary that we had eaten the Sheep, but I thought better of it. They have been out for a while. We had been meaning to let them out of the pen for a few months, but had not managed to find the time to make a secure area for them. The only reason that we had them penned in was because they were free range and wandering onto other Farms as our fencing is not really suitable for Sheep. As they are very friendly Sheep we have fenced off an area around the Farm House and Cottages and have let them be free range there. They keep returning to the penned area. The wire that we use for the webcam that the Sheep are on, is also used for relaying the webcams to the Cottages, when we have Holiday Guests, so I am not sure if the Sheep use the pen of a night. We have to try to shut them in the pen when we are feed the Horses as the Sheep try to eat the Horses feed. They are so determined that that are very hard to keep away from the feed. The other day I had made up all of the Horses feed in their buckets when Dolly turned up. What ever, she was going to eat. In the end I had to resort to putting a paper feed bag over her head for a few moments so that I could get out of the barn with the feed before she had eaten it all. It worked, she didn’t move until I removed the bag.

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There are five new photographs on the Photo page from…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page from number six that are all from Vicky.

Goldfinch taken in my garden. Vicky.

A pair of black swans and there signets taken at Cricket St Thomas. Vicky.

A coot feeding her babies taken at Mapperly in ilkeston. Vicky.

A photo of my first passion flower this year. Vicky.

A Lime Hawk Moth that i took last year in my garden. Vicky.

We noticed that Gypsy had quite a large lump and a cut on her offside rear leg. It thought that it was probably a kick from one of the other Horses when they were having a run about. This evening when we let the Horses in for their feed Emmi had a kick on one of her rear leg. When we let the Horses out Gypsy was by the gate and she has got a kick mark on her nearside rear leg. Gypsy must have got the injury this afternoon as she was sitting on her own when I put the Horses on the webcams this afternoon.

Thinking back over the last couple of days I remembered that I had caught a quick glimpse of the Horses running around in what looked like a fun session that they sometimes have. When they stopped Breeze backed in to the group in what looked like a half hearted threat, or was it. I haven’t taken the chance. Breeze is being kept in for the night as she may be up to her old tricks again, trying to be the boss again. Trouble is when she decides that all is not going as she wants she starts to Herd all of the Horses up. That alright as long as she is not being a bully. Horses instinctively have leaders and they will give threats to show that they are.

As last year before we let Breeze out in the Field with the other Horses, we sectioned her off behind an electric fenced area so that she got use to the Mares with their Foals and Willow and Gypsy. As every year we let the battery on the electric loose its charge, eventually Breeze goes through the fence and joins the other Horse. This year she was the best that she had been. No running around it was just a nice herd,. It doesn’t seem to have lasted going by the minor injuries that Emmi and Gypsy have. We will section Breeze off behind an electric fenced area again tomorrow. Hopefully it will calm he down.

We cant take the chance with the Foals if there are arguments between the Horses. I should think that it is Emmi that Breeze disapproves of. When Willow and Gypsy play with the Foals they naturally will get close to the Mares, Breeze will then try to keep them away from Emmi and that is when the running around and kicking starts. Mind you I could well be wrong and it is not Breeze. Though the Horse field is calm tonight.

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Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo page all from Elsie.

Sky – before Katrina struck- awesome & terrifying

These pictures were made by a man in Magee , MS where the eye of the storm

passed thru – what an experience.

Magee is 150 miles North of Waveland , Mississippi where the Hurricane made land fall.
Worth passing On!!!
The dance with Katrina, part of her beauty as she left destruction on her exit. They are remarkably dramatic.

I don’t know if you managed to see Kye swimming in the Lake yesterday. The reason that I have mentioned it is that the Geese don’t seem to be worried about her being close to them when she is swimming. It makes you wonder if the Geese are worried about any Fox that are on the prowl. Kye is the only German Sheppard that we have had that likes water. Tass and her Mother Cass never swam, although when kye is swimming Tass does try to be brave by putting a foot in the water.

Breaking Smuggler is going well. He seems to be enjoying the work he is getting in the breaking procedure. We do take our time in breaking Horses, only going at a pace that the Horse is comfortable with, that is of course that the Horse wants to be broken. As long as the Horse has always been treated well, or at least has been well treated by those breaking them, it is an enjoyable experience for both those breaking and the Horse. We have broken many Horses at Denbury, and have never had any Horses that we have had problems breaking. At the moment Smuggler is being long reined. That is when he has a bridle and bit on, with long lung lines fitted to the bit in place of reins, you then walk behind the Horse steering the Horse with the lunge lines. This is done to teach the Horse to turn, steer and stop before the Horse is mounted. There is little point in sitting on a Horse that doesn’t want to turn or stop when you want it to, especially stopping. Later in the week we will show Smuggler being long reined in the sand school.

It was an opportune time for the Buzzard to show itself on the pole today, as we are hoping to put the new Valley up next week. Because it needs to be controlled from a computer different wiring had to be put up over a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile, it also had to have an untried piece computer equipment put on to get it working. We think that we have now managed to get it going now and as long as we get a free day next week we start to install it. It should be a vast improvement on the camera that is installed now. Being auto focus as most of the camera that we use, so instead of having to focus the camera manually on a subject it will focus immediately. It is also capable of seeing completely up into the sky, this will give us the chance of seeing the Bird flying high and hopefully the Buzzards hunting.