Tag: horses

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Tomorrow is the last day that I can register Bliss…

Tomorrow is the last day that I can register Bliss and Misty for the October Bloodstock Sales in Doncaster. It is going to be a very tough decision to make to register them for the sale. I have been putting it off for months, hoping that I could get people to go into a syndicate or partnership to race the pair of them with ownaleg.com, a website that I started some years back offering Horse Racing and Breeding Partnerships. But there has been very little response. They are the best two Horses that I have bred, I would like to race them myself, but as they are both quality Horses, but I have other projects that I should spend the money on.

Bliss being a three quarter sister to a Group two winner will fetch a substantial price at Auction, Misty because of Woody’s breeding and her conformation, should also get a good price. The trouble is that we are very attached to both Horses. Being literally at the very start of their lives, makes it even worse to part with them.

Being that I have been undecided about selling them, they are not prepared for the sale, that is about a month away. If I decide to sell them we will need to do a lot of work on them to get them ready for sale. They will need to walk well on head collars. Both have had them on, but neither walks to good on them. We will also need to prepare them by getting them fit, by walking out and a little lunging on long reins. This will tighten them up and hopefully show the best of their conformation and quality of their breeding. So there will be a lot of work over the coming weeks.

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Woody died this afternoon It was a very difficult decision…

Woody died this afternoon. It was a very difficult decision to have to make and one that I really did not want to make. Even up to the last minute I nearly stopped it from happening, but I knew that I would be stopping it for my feelings and not for Woody’s suffering. I just had to remember when we found her laying flat out in her stable unable to move with the pain she was having, or when she was pawing at the floor with her front feet or lifting her back legs up to her belly in pain.

Woody was collected from Denbury at 2.30pm and taken just a few miles to where her life was ended. I followed her and was with her until the very end at 3.pm. It was a very quick end and I promise she did not know what was going to happen to her, or did she feel any pain what so ever.

I knew last night that I needed to make a decision today. Once that decision was made it was important for the end to come immediately, or we may have changed our mind, leaving Woody to suffer for longer than she needed to.

It did not help that Woody seemed to be having a good day. To save Woody any stress by bringing her in on her own, all the Horses were brought in together. Although slowly she did actually trot in with the other Horses, who were all standing on the top of the hill in a group, fanning each other with their tails to keep the flies away. There was no fuss getting Woody into the horse box, she was spoilt with her favorites, apple, carrot and Herby Balls, even at the very end Woody was eating an apple.

I know that Lady is going to miss Woody, they have been together for about six years, always being stabled next to each other. Woody was the boss and she would let Lady know it. When we stable the Horses, we will put Breeze next to Lady to keep her company, although Branston is always next to Lady’s and Woody’s stable when they are in.

We know that we made the correct decision to end Woody’s suffering.

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The Veterinary came out today to scan Lady to check…

The Veterinary came out today to scan Lady to check if she is in Foal, blood test Willow and do her markings for her passport. Breeze was also examined, and he also had to look at Blisse foot.

As we expected Lady scanned in Foal. I was confident that she was, but we needed to make sure that she was not having twins. It is not good for a Horse to be in Foal with twins. If they are it would be more than likely that they would abort within nine months of the pregnancy. If Lady had of been in Foal with twins, one of fetuses could have been aborted.

Willow had to be blood tested to confirm her parentage and also have her markings taken for her passport. The Veterinary marks on a printed pictures of a Horse, both sides and a front picture of a head. all the different marks such as socks on their legs, stars or blazes on their head and whirls on their coats. It is a little difficult to explain, but every Horse will have a different marks that are unique to the Horse. All thoroughbred Horses have had passports for many years, so that they cannot be passed off as another Horse on the race track. Probably a better word would be nobbled. Now all Horses have to have passport, an EU directive, partly for identifying for theft, but also for the European Horse meat market to identify any drugs that Horses may have had for illness.

Fortunately Breeze is not in Foal, we were very worried that she might have been with the extra weight she was carrying. The Veterinary gave her an internal examination that confirmed that she was not pregnant. If she were pregnant the Foal would have been born in October, I really could not think of a worse month for any horse to have a foal in the northern hemisphere. The Foal would have very little, probably no time in the fields in the first important time of growing. Breeze would not have had any enjoyment of her first Foal. I will seriously think about letting her go to a Stallion March next year.

Bliss came in Thursday night, slightly lame. She wasn’t to bad when she went out that night. The next morning she came in crippled. I got the Veterinary to confirm what I had found. She must have pricked the frog of her foot on a sharp stone. It is a little soft and pussy under the hoof, and is very painful for her to walk on. Mind you this is the first time she has ever experienced pain, she sure doesn’t like it. Although it looks like she is in severe pain by the way she is walking, it is exaggerated being her first pain experience. If the puss hasn’t found its way out by the morning we will poultice it to draw the poison out.

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That s a bit of a worry out of the…

That’s a bit of a worry out of the way, as some of you saw, we baled the hay this afternoon. A couple of weeks back I was getting very concerned that the bad weather would stop us from making any fodder at all, let alone hay. With the hot sun this morning it had made by lunchtime. Just as well as the forecast is showers tonight. It was a bit of a gamble to try to make hay with the forecast for in the middle of the week being wet, but I did not have an option. Mind you I have never not made hay in all the time that I have been at Denbury.

We made 141 bales, that is with out cutting a small paddock at the end of the valley, that we would normally cut, up about 19 more bales from last year, although the contractor reckons that the bales are tighter than last year. I will try to sell 50 of then. Last winter we used 109, about four a week I would guess. Some people would say tat we feed more hay than we should, but I would rather have fat warm Horses in the winter months.

All going well the bales will be taken from the fields and stacked in the barn tomorrow. So that the bales can be put into the barn we have had to let the Sheep out of the pen, that they have been in for a six weeks or more. The Portlands should have been taken to market this morning for the Rare Breeds Sale, but the restricted movement of Cattle, Sheep and Pigs because of the Foot and Mouth outbreak, the sale was cancelled. I had intended to keep the friendly Texels, so we have put up netting and gates around the lake to hopefully keep them in. All the Lambs have now been weaned off of the Ewes, so we should not get them breaking out of the area we have put them in.

Although the distance from the barn to the lake is only about fifteen metres, it was a bit of a problem getting them to their new area. The first thing that they wanted to do as the passed out the gate was to graze, and they wouldn’t move. Tass and Kye were deliberately put where the sheep could see them, which blocked off one area, just in case they decided that they wanted to go in the direction that I didn’t want them to, I stood on the other escape route. After about ten to fifteen minute, with a little coaxing they went into the lake area. Hopefully that is where they will stay.

It is possible we could soon be looking for a live in Groom to help with the Horses, and other odd jobs on the farm. The person would need to have experience with Horses. If you think that it may interest you, please email me at info@denburyfarm.co.uk telling a little about yourself.

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The Badgers may be slow coming out tonight as the…

The Badgers may be slow coming out tonight as the Farmer in the field adjacent to the Badger field is mowing the grass.

After telling you about the Colt Foal that was a kicker, it reminded me of a Cow that we once had. The Cow was a Charolais breed, you would know them if you saw them in a field as they are all white and originated from France. I must admit I have made very few business mistakes in my life, but top of my list was getting Cows. When I first moved into Denbury all that I had as far as livestock was concerned was two Friesian Horses. The window of the farm house kitchen looks over to what now is the main horse field. It is about an 8 acre field and looked pretty empty with only two Horses in it. I will get some Cows I decided. I knew of a man in Yorkshire, who like me was playing at farming and had cattle including Charolais. He was also a collector of Horse Drawn Carriages, again like myself. I had about ten carriages, all of a hundred year or more in age. I must admit I really did like the Carriages, all had been restored to a very high standard. One was a Horse Drawn Hearse that we did funerals for undertakers with, all around the UK. That is where the Friesian Horses came into it. They come from Friesland in Holland and are jet black, being the traditional funeral Horses. Both the Horses and Hearse are regularly on the telly, when there have been Horse Drawn Funerals shown. The Horses Jack and Sargent would be over twenty now.

Like a fool I decided to exchange the Horses and carriages for cattle. I was a very poor cattle farmer, as I am a sheep farmer, I should have stayed with what I knew best and really enjoyed being around, as I am now with the Horses. To make matters worse, just after I got the cattle the BSE scare started. The cattle that I had exchanged for my Horses and carriages, worth many tens of thousands of pounds were virtually worthless. To make matters worse I hated being a cattle farmer, or trying to be one I should say. Easy to look after in the summer, but a horrible, nasty, smelly hard job in the winter. It is hard getting up at all hours of the night with the Horses when they are foaling. When you have twenty five cattle that are due to calve, it is believe me a lot, lot worse. It didn’t matter how many times that I checked on the cows that were due to calve, all through the night, I missed the births more than I witnessed. Quite a few that I had last seen only an hour before I returned an hour later, had calved, with me finding the calves in the birth sack and had died not being able to breath.

The Cow that I originally going to tell you about, was if I remember about twelve years old. She was a moody, mean old so and so and kicked like a Horse, instead of the normal cow kick from the side. At any opportunity she would kick at any thing that moved. When she calved, she was a nightmare. The person that I got the cattle from never told me about her, until I had experienced her antics the first time that she calved at Denbury. I would pen those due to calve in a separate area from those cattle with calves or who were due to calve, This made it easy to find them in the night. On checking her one night, I had found her laying flat out on her side, with the calves head showing at the beginning of the birth. With the help of a calving aid I managed to pull the calf off. Feeling quite pleased with my achievement of a live calf, I proceeded to move the calf in front of the cow, so that the mother and calf could bond. Well no sooner than I started to move the calf, this moody ungrateful maniac got to her feet, quicker than a 100m olympic champion could get out of the starting blocks, with head down she charged at me like a Bull. The pen that the Cow was in was only a little bigger than one of our stables. Being made up of gates, I would normally have climbed over, as I would a ladder. I didn’t have time for that, I dived over the gate head first, still getting hit in my side by the Cows head, finishing up spreadeagled, face down in the cows messy straw bedding. She never got the opportunity again to attack me when I helped her calf on other occasions, I didn’t hang around moving the calf, I was out of the pen quicker than she thought about getting up.

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I have been trying to get a fixed camera positioned…

I have been trying to get a fixed camera positioned on to the branch that we put into the lake to try to get the Kingfisher to fish from. It has landed onto the branch a few times, not so frequently that it would warrants leaving the main lake camera that has a bird feeder on it during the day, permanently on the branch. As we haven’t managed as of yet to find another Birds nest, we will alternate the nest camera with the new Kingfisher camera, that way we should see a little more of the Kingfisher. There is still a good chance that there will be another Swallow nest to show. It is not to late for some of the Swallow to nest again. The picture we have got with the new camera is not to great. I will try another camera tomorrow, and hopefully put it on.

A few week ago after Kye initially trying to be friendly with the sheep in the pen, started to chase the lambs, who were still free range. She was only trying to play with them. Unfortunately unless dogs are stopped they will eventually harm the sheep. Kye had to be stopped and it wasn’t easy. If you don’t stop them they will chase any sheep they see, if they don’t attack the sheep they will chase them to exhaustion. At that stage they are liable to kill them. We had to be very hard with Kye, she seems now to have stopped the chasing.

The hay is close to the Sheep pen. Where Kye would normally go to the pen to watch the sheep through the bars, she now wants nothing to do with them. In fact she really pretends that she cant see them at all, and will lay completely out of site of the sheep. It did start off as play with the sheep, as she did with the Horses. The Horses are able to look after themselves. All of our dogs have always walked behind the Horses pushing them on, when the are taking them in and out of the fields at feed times, and other necessary movements. On more than one occasion Tass has had a kick from one or another Horse. Tass nips at the feather on the Horses feet, she will get away with it most of the time, but every now and then the Horse will throw out one of their rear legs, when Tass hasn’t moved away quickly enough she gets a wallop. Kye is doing the same, it wont be long before she get one to.

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We are trying a few Google adds on Swallow horse…

We are trying a few Google adds on Swallow, horse, dog page. You will need to scroll down the page to see the image until tomorrow when I will get the adds put on the side of the image. The idea with the adds, are that when any person clicks on the to the site we get a payment, not sure how much, but it is going to be something like 1p for so many clicks. We want to see how it goes on a couple of pages, before we make a decision if this is the way we will be going. We have also signed up to another agency, who we will also be trying. The site needs to make some money to pay for the bandwidth that is used when you watch the web cams. Let me know how you feel about them.

Our Springer Spaniel Jade who is now fourteen years old, has had a problem with her breathing for some while. Her Epiglottis that separates the windpipe from the food pipe is inflamed/enlarged that makes her at times choke quite severely. It sound like a human with a horrable cough, you can bet you life she will do it when I am on the phone. There is an operation that she could have had, but the Veterinary advised that because of her age, the operation could well kill her, and that it was not recommended. It was always going to get worse, over the past week it has, to the extent that she is now choking more than not, when she is awake, that now is getting less every week. She has other problems and is finding it difficult to walk to far. Mind you she still manages to be the guts she has always been at meal times. She is now starting to suffer with the problems that she has, we need to make a decision when the suffering is to much for her.

Surely we have got to get a bit of a summer soon. Maybe not, with it raining last Sunday, Saint Swithin Sunday. Can you imagine another forty day, of what we have had in the last forty. The ground is so wet at Denbury I have given up to making any hay this year. The first sign of a few days sunshine we will mow the grass and try to make haylage. the difference between hay and haylage is that hay is completely dry grass, that is baled without being wrapped in plastic. Haylage is grass that is dried with a little moisture left in the grass, it is then baled and wrapped in a plastic film or bag. With the ground being very wet, so wet that your feet leave a deep imprint in it, the sun will have to be very warm to dry the ground, or when you turn the grass to dry it for hay the moisture in the ground will stop it drying completely. Haylage is a hit and miss procedure, if it is not made properly, it will go mildewy in the bag, making it unsuitable for horses. If you get it right most Horses prefer it to hay. the other feed we may be unlucky to have to make is silage, that is grass baled within a day of it being cut. As long as that does not go mildewy Horses will eat it with molasses poured over it. This will be the first year ever that we have not been able to make hay, it is causing concern.

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Rye Harbour Update apologies for the failure of the tern…

Rye Harbour Update: apologies for the failure of the tern and gull web cam, but I am still trying to determine the elusive fault. Anyway the weather has shown some improvement and some of the tern chicks have survived the attacks of the Kestrel and some of the failed terns and gulls have re-nested. So, if I can get the web cam up and running again there should be more close ups of these seabirds. Barry, Rye Harbour

We have spent a good amount of the day getting the Horses tidied for to get some photographs to put on Ownaleg.com website. I have decided to advertise four of the Race Horses in one of the racing newspapers on Saturday, for Syndication and Partnerships or for sale, to see what the response will be. I have managed to get the text for the web site finished. I will also need photographs of the Horses to show on the site. I have spent about four hours. Nearly until it was time to feed the Badgers, trying to get decent pictures with the right pose. I still haven’t got them and I will have to try again tomorrow. Trying to get any Horse to stand as you want for photographs is a challenge, but young stock is a nightmare. You don’t really want the Horses photographed on a lead rope, although I even tried that.

When we were first going to try to Syndicate some Horses I had an advertisement made. It was going to be shown on a Horse Racing television channel. When I negotiated the term the channel was freeview and had a large audience, with very little waning it went to a subscription channel. The audience sharply dropped, making the advertising not viable. I have a copy of the add on DVD and hope that it can be shown on the Ownaleg website.

The Swallows in the first nest that we have been showing looks like the nestling will fledge very soon. I saw five chicks in the nest yesterday. It is a bit crowded, but a least they look like they are going to make it. The nest at the top of the roof, in the barn had four chicks yesterday. I could be wrong, but I have only counted three this evening. One may be hiding itself behind another of the chicks. I got that wrong I have just seen five when I changed the camera over to IR mode. It is the first time that I have seen the five in the nest. They should be leaving the nest very soon, a little later than the other nest. It is still not to late for other Swallows to be nesting. I will look over the weekend. The way both of the camera are situated we should be able to see them in the barns when they return for a week or so after they have fledged.

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When we let the Horses in for their feed in…

When we let the Horses in for their feed in the morning and evening, we give Bliss and Misty their bowls in the field. The youngsters have larger helpings as they are growing. We could let them in with Arnie and Breeze, but Arnie being the escape artist that he is, would soon get out of his stable when he has eaten his small portion, and would start on the youngster’s food. It doesn’t go down to well for Bliss being left in the field with Misty when all of the other Horses are in. She has over the past couple of weeks decided that she would prefer to be in. She doesn’t quite make it. She gets out of the field leaving Misty on her own, calling for Bliss, that how we know that Bliss is out again, and wanders from one place to another, where the other Horses are behind gates. For the first few days we could not see how she is getting out of the field. We were left scratching our heads trying to work it out. To be quite honest we have never seen her getting out, we are only guessing with the little evidence that we have, that being a pretty high fencing rail being slightly out of place. Going by that we can only assume that she is jumping the fence. To jump it she would have to run very quickly, tightly against another fence. After jumping she would have very little space to stop herself, before crashing into the opposite hedge. She clearly hasn’t, or are there any marks on the drive, were she had landed.

Taking Bliss back to the field is normally achieved by getting her to follow Arnie, who we lead on a head collar. This evening she got out and we decided that we would try to take her back to the field on a head collar. The only time we have tried Bliss and Misty in head collars before, was when they were put in a fenced off area in one of the barns, last Autumn. Neither of them liked the head collars, and it was a case of them leading us, rather than the other way. Of course we won in the end, but it would not have been the best introduction to head collars that they could have had. We had expected a tantrum from Bliss as we tried to lead her. On the contrary, after her letting us put the head collar on, it could not have been easier, one of us led Arnie, and Bliss followed as if she had been led on a Head collar every day of her life. We will try Misty tomorrow.

Unfortunately the time has come when we have to make up our minds what is going to happen to a few of the Horses at Denbury. We cannot keep on not selling them. There are two Colts that have to be sold one way or the other, and then their is Bliss and Misty. Both are very special to us, and are both very well bred and put together. The decision is, do we sell them in the Autumn Yearling Sales or try to start up a racing syndication with them. Without any hesitation I know they are the best Fillies that we have bred. With the right Trainer I believe that they will win races. Whatever, the decision has got to be made this week.

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Sorry that the Denbury Farm Web cams have been on…

Sorry that the Denbury Farm Web cams have been on and off today. We are just finishing off tidying the system up, to make some workspace available in the kitchen.

There are five Swallow chicks in the nest. With that many mouths to feed, with this wet weather it could be that the chicks are not having all of the feed that they need. I should think that was the main reason that the chicks in the first nest that we showed, did not survive. The weather is still not looking good and there will be little for the Adults to catch on the wing.

I caught sight of the Ducklings today, they were swimming in between the reeds so I was unable to count how many there were.

This weather is making more work on the farm than we normally do in the summer. Most of the time the Horses are out in the field during the summer. With the weather as it is, it is not fair to leave them out in continuous rain, when they are use to being stabled. For the past two night we have let Bliss and Misty come in for shelter. We let the Horses bring themselves in at feed time. The two fillies could not believe their luck following all the other Horses in. But when they are in we have to muck out the stable. The flood went into all of the stables, that made it necessary to clear the whole lot of the bedding out of every one.

We have still got Breeze fenced off on her own, as we really do not trust her not to be bossy with the other Horses. One of the other Horses has knocking down the electric fence. I didn’t realise that there was a bad on connection on the fencer. Bliss , Misty and Willow have been walking across the wire when it is on the ground, and going in with Breeze. Breeze although the fence is down will not cross the wire, she has probably had a little sting from a fencer in the past. The youngsters, although they have had a little sting have not experienced electric fencer for very long and forget about the consequences of touching the wire. When the youngsters are in with Breeze she is really good with them, but I know she will start her old tricks if I let her in with all the Horses. Lady and Woody will not go any where near an electric fence.

Woody is still loosing a lot of weight. She did look as if she was putting a little weight on, but it was only for a week or so. Although she looks unwell, she is not in any pain. The idea was to let her have a nice summer before we made a final decisions. Having a nice bit of heat on her back would have made her feel a lot better, it is not working out like that with this continuous rain.