Tag: horses

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

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

Frenchman called Christian Moullec who trained Geese to follow his microlite in order to fly South for the winter. Julia.

This is my big lump of a cat Smudge laid on my son’s knee. She loves him to bits.
Lynne.

Olden day Horse Drawn Bus advertising Morrisons. Morrisons started up their first shop in Bradford.
Shire horse displaying how they move the tree trunks in the forest. Elsie.

Evening Mr Farmer, Hope you are not too wet on the farm today, I attach (hopefully) a picture from last summer of a Hummingbird Hawk moth, it was fascinating watch it at the time, it was the first time I had ever seen one. Jan.

The area that you may have seen Lady and Willow in is the area we made for Gypsy and Willow when willow is weaned. It is about 35 feet long by fifteen feet wide, a good area for two youngsters to be together in. It is always best to let youngsters be together in the same enclosure. It teaches them to accept other Horses in confined areas, as well as sharing feed. A lot of Horses can be real mean a feeding times with both humans and other Horses. Youngsters being together learn that there is no risk to their feed from other Horses.

We have had to put Lady and Willow in the area for Gypsy and Willow as the fields are very wet, and are being poached. Other than Smuggler and Sonny all of the Horses are stabled or exercising in the corral in front of one of the stable blocks. It has meant moving Horses about during the day so that they all get time to exercise. By the middle of next week the stable that we are enlarging and the corral in front will be finished. All of the Horses will then be able to choose if they go into the stable or stay out. This is the first year that we have let them be free range in the corral in front of the stables. Even in the rain they choose to be outside. We are not complaining as the stables are easier to muck out.

I like you, enjoyed Lynne’s Squiggle story. It must have made me remember about a Jackdaw that my Cousin Desmond raised, for I woke up this morning with it on my mind. I don’t know how Desmond got the Jackdaw. Being a bit of a scaly, he could well had raided the nest that it came from. I was a school boy at the time and would visit Desmond’s Family in a small village not far from Didcot in Berkshire in the school summer holidays. Although I lived in the countryside at a very young age, my visits to my relations in Berkshire were my earliest memories of the freedom of the countryside. With living in London they were wonderful times. I should think that my memories of the visits stayed with me, and were the reason for me wanting to live in the countryside.

Desmond’s Jackdaw was meant to be kept outside in a ram shackled aviary that he had made, but he always left the aviary door open allowing the Jackdaw to get into the house. Many a morning we would be woken by the Jackdaw sitting at the end of our bed. Would Aunt Flo would let Desmond know what for. Nothing shiny could be left out in the house, for as soon as the Jackdaw caught a glance of it, it was gone, never to be seen again.

Where ever we went on our adventures, the Jackdaw would be on Desmond shoulder or flying above us. I went to a different type of school than my Cousins in Berkshire, that meant that I was still on holiday when they returned to school. The Jackdaw would always fly to school with Desmond, disappearing until home time, when he would be found waiting on the school gate to accompany Desmond home. Lynne’s story has helped to bring back very happy memories.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from the sixth one down. There only a few more left to show.

The first three are of the Griffon Vulture, that were sent to me by Simon, when he first approached us about a Griffon Vulture nest webcam, for our site.

The two others are from Sue. The description is on Mondays Diary.

Rose asked if Ewy is in Lamb. I shouldn’t think so as she has not been near the Ram. Since we have been letting Emmi and Gypsy out in the Horse field in the afternoons with Arnie, Ewy has been keeping close to Arnie. Tonight when we went to get the Horses in, Ewy came down to the gate with them. She did look sad, and ran up to the wood when we started to walk the Horses through the gate.

You must have thought that I had given up on the Duck. I haven’t done anything with it since before Christmas, as we have been so busy. A good part of the day is now taken up mucking the Horses out, and getting the stable ready for when they come in of a night. After a bit of trouble with the Duck I have managed to get the engine running. I just need to fix the steering and I will be able to try it out on the lake. That should go alright. I will then need to fix a wireless camera into it.

I mentioned a while back that we were looking seriously at trying to generate our own power and heating on the Farm. We intend to use Solar Panels on the Farm House roof to partly achieve this. We cannot start that until we get our roof re-tiled, that should be in the Summer. Over the past couple of days we have been looking at the option of using another resource that we have on the Farm, to heat our water for our heating and hot water. Over the years that we have been at Denbury we have noticed that the dung heaps from the mucking out of the animals, gives off a lot of heat. We have always said that we would look into capturing the heat, but talking is as far as it has got.

Yesterday I experimented to see how hot the muck heap was generating. I put a jar of water a few inches into the muck heap, after a few hours I got the jar out. I didn’t have a thermometer, so I was unable to measure the temperature, but it had heated to a degree, that if it was in a bath, it would be to hot to bath in. The muck heap works the same as a compost heap. If you have ever taken the top of the heap down six inches or so, you will see for yourself the heat that is generated.

Our next step is to obtain a large container to be able to fill with muck, and other necessities, putting in a long pipe with water circulating in it. We will then be able to see how much hot water we can generate. It will work, but have I got the time to see it through?

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number one.

You can take a ride on the old tram if you fancy the experience.
Elsie.

This was in today’s Daily Mirror, a nice story.
Elsie.

The other are from Sue as last night descriptions.

Rose from Wincanton asked about Breeze and Ewy’s friendship, and does Ewy visit the Sheep pen. I think Ewy’s believes that she is now a Horse. Now that we are stabling the Horses of a night Ewy is be left on her own in the field. Every morning we watch her making her way to the field gate to wait for Breeze when we turn her out after her morning feed. When we call the Horses in of a night to stable them, Ewy comes down with them. Ewy get to the gate and is unsure to risk following the Horses to their stable. She gets so far and then panics, skidding to a stop, turns tail and has it away so fast the stones of the cottages car park fly every where. You would think that Ewy would go and lay by the Sheep pen of a night. Instead she disappears into the wood once the Horses go in to be stabled. The Horse field will soon have to be rested, so they wont be turned out. Ewy might then decide that she want to be a Sheep again.

When I went to feed the Badgers tonight, I heard the Fox starting their breeding. I am sure that many of you have heard the Urban Fox when they are due to mate. It is a chilling screechy screaming noise. I had never heard it until moved to Denbury. So I must admit I did wonder what the noise was. The noise is not part of the mating, they are calling to each other and call like it most of the year, it is just more pronounced during the mating season. As you must have noticed we have a lot of Fox here, so we the mating season goes on and off for nearly two
months.

I told you not to hold your breath waiting for the Portland Ewe to Lamb. I am surprised that she hasn’t, her udder is so large you would think it would burst.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page starting…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page, starting from number one.

The first is from Marie. A screen shot of our Peacock.

hi there at the farm just wondering if you could add this picture of this badger that i saw a few weeks ago. From Aaron on the message board.

Mr. Farmer, picture 1 is my three boys, Marley, Jagger and Rasta. They are long haired daschunds and kings of the household. Picture 2: is our Marley acting like a clown. I’ll send more butterfly pictures later. Karen, Florida, USA.

This cat used to visit a lot of us near where he belonged. He was a really big lad and we used to give him tit bits. One day he came and he had a note on his collar saying please don’t feed him as he is well fed at home. That told us didn’t it. Elsie

I spoke to Bliss and Misty’s Trainer yesterday. Both Horses are getting on well and are now cantering. Misty has caught up with Bliss on her progress, she is showing lots of potential, and is able to take any position when riding out in the training sessions. Bliss is on a growth spurt, her progress has slowed a little. The Trainer believes both Horses have a good chance to start racing May/June time.

We introduced Emmi and Gypsy to Arnie yesterday in the main Horse field. There was a little bit of squealing from Emmi. Both Arnie and Emmi made a few two barrel kicking threats at each other, but that was all the were. They settled down and got on well with each other. Gypsy tried to get Arnie’s attention, but he really wasn’t that interested. The three of them kept close to each other all of the time that they were in the field. We were confident that Arnie would be good with the two new comers. He has never been any trouble with any new Horses that we have introduced to him. We cant let Emmi and Gypsy out with Breeze and Lady, without first introducing them in the field, parted by an electric fence. Even then the could be a bit of kicking. I wont be risking it with Emmi being so near Foaling. I will try the introduction in the Spring. Today when I turned Emmi and Gypsy out with Arnie, it was as they had known each other for ever. Emmi was calling to Arnie when he was out with the other Horses.

Marie captured a screenshot of our Peacock sitting on the gate of the Sheep pen. He hatched on the Farm a good few years back. He is a bit of a wanderer. We really don’t know how he has managed to survive for as long as he has. He travels a fair distances from the Farm and can regularly be seen walking down the lanes. How a Fox hasn’t had him I don’t know. Of a night when he is on the Farm he roosts in an Acacia tree next to the Farm House, but can also be seen in the barn where the Sheep are when it is raining. None of the Peahens that we have got to keep him company have survived. We were only talking about trying to find him another mate a couple of days ago. I might have a look to see if there are any for sale.

When we first had Peafowl and the Peacock moulted, we collected all the feathers believing that people would like to have them. What a waste of time that was. Most of those that we asked told us that they were unlucky and that they would not have them in their house. That was from people far and wide who did not know each other. The main reason seemed to be the eye on the feathers was meant to be evil. The other was that in Asia the Peacock was a delicacy, and that there was a risk that the Peacocks would become extinct with the amount that were being killed for food. To stop the risk it was rumoured that eating peacocks was unlucky. We don’t have the feathers in the Farm House anymore.

Categories
webcams

There are five new photographs on the Photo page I…

There are five new photographs on the Photo page.
I have had a problem with my email, yesterday and today. If you sent any photographs in please resend them in case I did not get them.

The first is from Elaine.

The Horses from Elsie. It is near here where Max is taken for his walks. He does not like the horses though. Another one following of more horses in the same field. Elsie

The last two. Hello Mr. Farmer,
Here are some scans of my dogs. The four pictures together are of my last dog, Bud (as in Budweiser – well, we DID run pubs for twenty odd years!!) He was a real poser and would always look into the camera lens. The picture on the top right was taken just a few days after we collected him at 7 weeks old. I had taken a till upstairs to count and he sat under the table resting his chin on the wooden slat. This was a very endearing habit he retained throughout his life. If he wanted anything, he’d rest his chin and look you in the eyes, as if to say “resist me if you can”!! The photo of the handsome Bud was taken when he was about 10 months old. We went to Centerparcs for two weeks each year so we could have a relaxing holiday with our dog!! The last picture is of (l to r) Tynus and Guinness, the two GSDs we had when we lived in Cornwall. Unfortunately, they have rather “alien” looking eyes because of the flash, but they were gorgeous!!
I really miss having dogs so much, it’s just not possible at the moment. Still, I do have wonderful memories!! Hope you like them, Julia

This Government seems to have found a way of allowing a Badger Cull, believing that they will not be blamed for it. The article in the Sunday Independent.
http://environment.independent.co.uk/nature/article3293973.ece
The farming and animal health minister, Lord Rooker, is giving it his backing, and believes that Government has “no justification” to reject it. I cant remember Rooker doing anything of any good as an MP, so I wouldn’t expect any other answer from him. What these Minister keep forgetting is that they and their Government are put their by us, and the majority of us are against a Badger Cull. And they should and could stop any cull, if they were minded to it.

The National Farmers’ Union and the National Beef Association reckon that they have persuaded 70 per cent of the Farmers in the designated area, to take part in the first of three yearly culls. I think that they and the Farmers that they reckon that they have persuaded, to consider what action can be taken against them. Although I don’t believe that there is a 70 per cent of Farmers in the area who would participate. These figure are NFU bluster after being proved to be an insignificant body. Farmers are not people who need leaders, as was clearly shown in the recent call for a Deer Cull on Quantocks. You can do something about a Badger Cull.

Do not insure with the NFU Mutual Insurance. The NFU’s main source of income.

If Farmers do start to shoot Badgers.

Stop buying British Beef and Beef Products and where possible British Diary Products. There then wont be a reason to cull the Badgers. Even a small reduction in Beef and Beef products, will depress the Beef Market. Reducing Farmers income by more than the incidents of TB costs.

Farm Holidays make up a large part of Farmers income. Find Farm Holidays away from Beef and Diary Farms.

Lobby your local MP. email Hilary Benn, Jeff Rooker and the Prime Minister. There is also a petition on the governments e.petition
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/stop-badger-cull/
A new petition is maybe needed. Someone on the Forum might like to get one going on the Government site.

We were going to wean Willow off of Lady today, but there was so much to do today we are going to have to do it tomorrow.

Emmi and Gypsy have settled in well. Gypsy is still a bit wary, but she is coming up to us and allowing little touches. She is eating very well and has grown in the short time she has been here. We were a little concerned about Emmi, she was not eating all of her feed. After trying different ways of introducing the feed to her, we have managed to get her eating, what we hoped is sufficient, always putting more out than she is eating. She really enjoys our hay, she will eat all that we put in front of her.

Neither Emmi or Gypsy have shown any signs of being ill, so today we introduced Arnie to them. We stable both Emmi and Gypsy and let Arnie walk freely in the corral in front of the stables. Initially he ignored them both making his way to his stable hoping for hay. After getting him out he put his head quickly into both of the stables, going back to Emmi, where he stayed for a good hour. There were a few squeals, but a lot less than I had imagined that there would have been. Emmi seems to be a very kind laid back Horse.

Arnie completely ignored Gypsy, so we let her out of her stable. By this time Arnie had found some hay, as gypsy got close to him, he put his ears back, flicking his head in Gypsy’s direction. Arnie was a bit to large, so with a squeal she ran off. We had one fright when Gypsy went into a stable, we didn’t notice that Arnie went in with her. We didn’t give Arnie any chances of hurting her and got him out. He will get use to Gypsy, This morning you may have seen him playing with Willow in the Horses main field.

Categories
webcams

Five new photographs have been put on the Photo page…

Five new photographs have been put on the Photo page, starting from number eleven.

These are the latest pictures of Blossom age 4 weeks. Alex..

Taken at Golden Acre Park. Nr Leeds. Elsie.

As requested, herewith three photos of my front garden, two summer and one winter. Pat.

I checked of the Ewe’s today to see if there were any signs that they were due to Lamb. None of their udders showed any signs of producing milk. As I let the Ram run with the Ewe’s all year, it is difficult for me to tell when they will Lamb. Sheep Farmer would know within a day or two when their Ewes were due to Lamb. Most Farmers will only introduce the Rams to the Ewes from October on. With a gestation period of 148 days, giving a day or so either way, they would know nearly to the day when their Ewes would Lamb.

When the Rams are introduced to the Ewes, called Tupping, most will have fitted a harness, with a crayon type marker attached under their chest. When the Ewes come into season, the crayon marker will leave a coloured mark on the Ewes back after the Ram has covered them. You have probally seen Ewes with the marks. 148 days from then is about when the Lambs should drop. Pity I wasn’t so organised. The ideal time to lamb is in the spring when the new grass is growing. Some Farmers lamb early. One not far from Denbury, Lamb around Christmas time. I will keep checking the Ewes and let you know if there are any signs of them Lambing. I have an Electrician coming on Monday to tidy up the barns wiring, and to put a couple of new points in. When he has finished I will put the infra red lamp in the barn.

We have been looking at the options of a Stallion to use on the Maiden Filly that we purchased when we bought Emmi and Gypsy a month ago. We have left the Filly in Ireland as we were going to use the Stallion Generous on her. It is what Lady is now in Foal to. Generous was last year at Stud only an hour away from Denbury. It seems that the Stud wasn’t making any money, and has closed. The Stallions including Generous being taken to Ireland.

Every year we receive a Stallion Book from Weatherby’s, giving all the details of all the Stallions available, with all their statistics. You can access it on line. I liked the look of a Stallion called Clodovil, when I phoned the Stud he was fully booked, with a waiting list of over forty. Yesterday I received the paperwork for Emmi, by chance she had belonged to the Stud that Clodovil is standing. As there was a piece of the paperwork missing, I phoned the Stud and was fortunate to have spoken to the Owner. I enquired of what chance I had of a covering of Clodovil. As long as it was an early covering he would be able to arrange it. The Filly will be prepared and hopefully be covered in the middle of February. Looking at the fillies Pedigree it will be a good match.

I looked at the BBC weather forecast on the television this afternoon, about 2.30pm, to make a decision if I was turning the Horses out after their evening feed. The forecast with animation, so I didn’t get it wrong, was dry with a chance of a little rain. Since 4.15pm it has poured down. I was going to turn the Horses out at 4.pm but I could see that it was liable to rain, so the Horses were bedded down in their stables. Both yesterday and today the forecast has been seriously wrong within a couple of hours of it being given. Even with rugs on, the wet with cold is not good for Thoroughbred Horses to be out in.

Categories
webcams

font color red We wish you all a very Merry…

We wish you all a very Merry and Peaceful Christmas.

I have put on five new photographs on the photo page. Scroll down to number eleven. The first three are from Elsie and the last two were emailed to me from Julia.

This was taken at Tor Cross Devon. Duck on it’s nest. at Golden Acre Park. Some kind of Eagle taken at The Great Yorkshire Show. It is from a Bird of Prey Sanctuary.
Elsie

Hello Mr. Farmer,
We were driving Mum to visit some relatives on Thursday afternoon and when I saw these trees I just had to stop to get some pictures! I had to use my phone, not my camera, but I’m quite pleased at how well they turned out! The frost on the trees was amazing!! Julia.

We are getting to the end of the photographs that have been emailed to me. Surely some others of you have some good photographs, that we could use.

The Computer was reinstalled at the Lock of the Lowe’s this morning, but unfortunately although the webcams were streaming at the Lock, they were not connecting to the Servers. Although it is not a major problem and I know that attempts are being made to get the webcams going before Christmas, we may be unlucky. They will be going as soon as poss.

After hours of messing about with our Aga I finally got it going late last night, so we are able to cook our Turkey in one piece. Although I can cook reasonably well I very rarely do any. The exception is the Christmas meat, that I have been doing for as long as I can remember. Mind you if I say so myself, it is always good. It would have been a good idea if we had some of the ways that you all cook your Christmas Dinners. Every year I hear a lot of people say that they have had a dry Turkey. We never have. No secret, and I should think that many of you do the same as us. We always cook out Turkey breast down. We firstly cover the bottom of the roasting dish with very fatty bacon covered in butter to lay the Turkey upside down on. We then cover the top of the bird with the bacon and butter. If we use stuffing in the bird, it is very little. We then cover it in foil to cook.

We usually have three meats for Christmas, Turkey, Beef and Pork. We cook three so that it will last the week, not needing to do any major cooking. The Butcher hangs our beef for a couple of weeks, and it is then traditionally roasted. The Pork we get is milk fed and is very tender. Most family Butchers can source it. If you have never had any, give it a try. I first had it before I moved to Denbury, a Farmer friend introduced it to us. He got it from a Farmer in Devon, who produced Pigs close to the Ambrosia Rice Manufacturers, from where he was able to get the surplus milk, cream and whey to feed his pigs with. That pork was even better tasting and tenderer than what we get now. We stuff our pork with home made stuffing with crushed hot red and black peppers and bay leafs. Depending on the size of the leg. we score slots in it about half way in and three inched long quite close to each other. We then smother it in salt, tightly wrap in foil and cook at a very low temperature, ours normally takes from six to eight hours.

Breeze has made a new friend. Not that she initiated the friendship, it was imposed on her, initially to her irritation. But the friendship matured to what now could well be lasting. Breezes new friend is the Ewe that we have been unable to catch, way back since the beginning of the Summer, when the Sheep were shorn. Since we managed to catch the Ewes two lambs a few months back. Over time she has been getting nearer to the Horses. Ewy as she has been named, has been hanging about in the Horses field getting closer by the day, until now she eats the hay with the Horses, that we put out every night in their field. When ever Breeze has been going off on her own, Ewy has been following her, she has recently been trying to come in from the field with the Horses, when they come in for their feed morning and evening time. She sometimes manages to get to the stables. Being not very trusting, as soon as there is any noise she has it away so fast that a Greyhound would have trouble catching her. More often than not she wont even pass the fields gate. Today the friendship between Breeze and Ewy was made official. This afternoon Breeze attempted as she often does, to get Arnie, Lady and Willow to follow her. They were having none of it. Breeze then went up to Ewy, who was laying down and nudged her bottom, Ewy obediently got up and followed her. The idea was to catch Ewy and send her off to Market. It looks as if she has now got a home for life.

We recently watched a television programme about a flock of Geese being herded. It has started a conversation that maybe we should keep some on the Farm. We have thought about it before but haven’t taken it any further. What we have got to think about is that would we be able to send them off for slaughter Christmas time. We haven’t managed to be able to send much else off, once they have been ready. When we keep a type animals, we are unable to eat the same species. One of my favorite foods is Lamb Kleftiko, but we have been unable to eat it since we got the Sheep. A Greek Restaurateur fiend gave me the recipe when I lived in London. If you remind me I will give you the recipe in the New Year. Even if you have eaten Kleftiko before, this will be the best. If we do decide to try to keep Geese next year, we will have a small amount, maybe twenty, with a couple of Turkeys. Another thing that we have got to consider is the Fox, just one forgetful moment, leaving them out of a night could cause loosing them all. I will let you know what we decide.

I cant believe how dry the weather has been. This is the first year that we have still been able to leave the Horses out until this late in the year. We are hoping for it to stay dry through the Holiday, to save us a lot of work and be able to have a rest. We will still have about four hours of essential work to do a day through the Holiday period. If we have to muck out the stables it will be six hours, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

I wont be doing a Diary on Christmas or Boxing Day. Here’s wishing you all a very Merry and Peaceful Christmas. And thank you all those who kindly sent us Christmas Cards.

Categories
webcams

There are four new photographs that have been put on…

There are four new photographs that have been put on today. Sorry they are a bit all over the page, but it takes to long to change them over so that they are new from the top. I will get it changed in the New Year.

I enlarged this photo of the Seagulls on a branch, and framed it as I thought it was so funny. Elsie

There are two photographs of Robins, that were sent by Julia, her description is on last night Diary.

Hello Mr Farmer, I hope you get the photo I am trying to send you, it’s one my sister-in-law emailed to me of the puppy we are going to have, she’s a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and this photo was taken last week when she was 2 weeks old, we’re going to call her Blossom, my granddaughter would love a puppy but she hasn’t a clue that we’re getting one. Alex

Once I have written today’s Diary I will put today completely out of my mind. It started at midnight last night, Kye when she went out before we tuned in, decided she was going on walk abouts, Tass returning on her own. For nearly an hour I looked for Kye with Tass by my side, hoping that she would come to us once she heard me with Tass. In the end I was not prepared to look any longer, turning in at well gone 1.am. At 5.am Kye decided that she wanted to come in. Both Tass and Kye are able to open the Farm House door by jumping up at the handle and pulling it down whilst pushing on the door. Being locked the door would not open as normal so she kept on jumping up at the handle, making it rattle, with the rattle and scrapping that her claws made on the door, even in our Farm House with the thick walls and heavy doors she soon managed to woke us up. Where she had been for over four hours we will never know except at 1.am Jan made an entry on the forum that she had seen her near the Badger Sett on Camera one. For sure that was not the only place she had been, as her legs were covered in mud. Believe me I am not to impressed with Kye.

And it got worse. As Emmi and Gypsy are stabled in the row of stables that Breeze and Arnie’s are normally stabled, we are using the row of stables where Lady goes temporarily for Breeze and Arnie. The usual procedure in the mornings is to open the field gate and the Horses make their own way to their stables. Our Holiday Guests and Friends who have never seen them make their own way in, are amazed when they witness it. It is not such a big deal, they are going in for a feed, for sure they will make sure that they will get to their feed before any other of the other Horses. With Arnie and Breeze going to different stables, we need to bring them in on head collars. An easy procedure normally, not this morning. Lady and Willow were going to their normal stable, they didn’t need head collars and off they went. As I was putting Arnie’s on, Breeze decided she wasn’t going to wait, barging past me, knocking me over before I had Arnie’s head collar on, and off he went.

When I got to the gate where all of the Horses were waiting, Gypsy was with them, the gate on the corral was open. That caused more of a rumpus, and off they all went again, except Gypsy who didn’t know what way to go. Fortunately she went back to her stable with out a lot of fuss. As some of you saw on the webcams the rest finished up the Valley, after first running all over the Holiday Cottages lawn and around the lake area where the Sheep had been kept. Four Horses running over the two areas have made the lawns look like the Aintree Racecourse after the Grand National, on a filthy wet day. There are hoof impression all over the areas, up to 5 inches deep, skid marks and divots.

I followed the Horses down the Valley hoping to get a head collar on one of them,. As soon as I got near one of them Breeze had it on her toes again, taking all the other Horses with her, all the way down to the other end of the valley into the next field, out of sight. I went and got the Quad Bike to follow them. When i got back to the beginning of the Valley they were starting to make their way back. As I got near Breeze she decided to have it away again. This time I was able to get behind on the Quad and chased her back to the yard, knowing the other Horses would follow. I put them back into the field, so they missed this mornings feed. Breeze is not in my good book either.

And there was more. Last night I put the Telescope on. When I got back to the Farm House I had no remote access through the computers. In the end I gave up and turned it off. This morning I still had the same problem. Got no idea what the problem is. I am going to phone the Manufacturers in the USA later tonight. If they cannot tell me what the trouble is, the Telescope will need to go back to the suppliers.

And more. I went to collect my emails after I had finished chasing after Horses around. The server went crazy and I finished up with over 700 emails that I had previously had. An hour wasted checking and deleting them. So today never happened.

Categories
webcams

There are three new photographs on the photo page Pat…

There are three new photographs on the photo page. Pat sent in the Heron taken at Kew. Love the photo, I also like the Bird. But no where near my lake. Elsies Deer photograph was taken at Fountains Abbey. The Swan and Signets sent in by Vicky from Derby.

Sorry, we didn’t manage to get finish setting the camera up to watch the Sheep. Just been megger busy running about picking up posts and rails for the corral, that we are putting up in front of Lady’s stable. I forgot to order the ballast to make the concrete to put the posts in, so that had to be collected. That was another couple of hours of wasted time.

We need to get the stable area for Willow and the new Foal ready by the end of the week. Finishing the corral really need finishing as well. As we are going to need to juggle the Horses around so that we can keep the new Broodmare and Foal away from the other Horses for a week to ten days, just to make sure that the new arrivals are not bringing in any unwanted bugs. You can never know what new Horses may be bringing with them. Not necessarily from where they had been kept. But also from where they have been whilst travelling from one location to another. I cant be sure what route from Ireland to Denbury the Horses that are coming will take. The Horse Box that they are being collected by will no stop off at other premises to collect and deliver other people’s Horses.

I not a big fan of Bloodstock Auctions for the same reasons. Some of the larger auction have in excess two thousand + Horses for sale over a week. Four hundred + a day coming from here there and everywhere. Bringing in who knows what. This year the Bloodstock industry, including Horse Racing came to a virtual stop in Australia, through Equine Influenza. There are many problems that new Horses can bring in to a yard, so it is very important to be vigilant and isolate them for a period.

Categories
webcams

Thank you Elsie and Vicky for the photographs that you…

Thank you Elsie and Vicky for the photographs that you emailed me. I will try to put them up tonight, but I should think that it will be tomorrow, as I have had an extremely busy day. Tonight’s Diary will explain.

We managed to buy three Horses today. I had been offered two on Friday, After checking their pedigrees I was not over impressed. It made me phone the person from Ireland that had bid on a few Horses at the Tattersall’s Sales in Newmarket last week. I am pleased that I didn’t buy any Horses last week as the three that I purchased today were a little over half the price that I was prepared to pay for one at the Auction.

The three Horses that I purchased are now all living in Ireland. Two will be coming to Denbury this Saturday or Sunday. The other one is being left in Ireland until she goes to the Stallion, very early in February.

We have purchased one Filly Foal by a French Sire called Hellissio. Hellissio is a multiple three and four year old Group winning Horse, including five Group 1. over ten to twelve furlongs. In 1996 it won the French Premier Flat Race, The Prix de l’Arc Triomphe. I haven’t seen the Filly. She was got to keep Willow company, but when we see her we will soon know if she is going to be alright to race. Nothing will be lost if she is not.

The next one that we have purchased, I know very little about, she will be here over the coming weekend. She is about eight years old. She has had three previous Foals, and is now carrying a Colt Foal by Trans Island, that is due in the middle of March. Trans Island was a multiple Group winning Horse over 6 to 8.1/2 furlongs as two, three, four and five year old. The Mare was purchased to keep Lady’s Foal, due in April company.

The third Horse is named Hearthstead Dancer a 2003 Filly by Royal Academy, another multiple Group winning Sire including two Group 1 at two and three, over six furlong to a mile. The Filly has won one race and two places as a two year old. She has also been placed over Hurdles. She is the type of Filly that I was looking to buy last week, but in Foal. She is the right age to be putting into Foal next year. The Filly will be kept in Ireland and will go to the Stallion very early in February. With a Mares gestation period of eleven months, we will be looking for a Foal to be born in January 2009. A soon as The Filly has been successfully mated she will be bring her back to the Farm, I should think late February. I will let you know more about the two that will arriving at Denbury at the weekend.