Autumn has Arrived

This year September has been a disappointment.  There has not been much late summer sunshine, all we seem to have had is wind, wind and more wind.  Of course here in the UK we have been lucky other parts of the world have had hurricanes and flooding :(
 
We are desperate for rain here, the grass has hardly grown since June and I know I will be getting through a lot of hay this winter.  It is raining today and we have had some this week so fingers crossed the soil is still warm and we will have a late flush of grass.

This means WATCH OUT for Laminitis which could become a problem and I will be watching Tommy's weight carefully.  He and Basil have lost a bit since August and although they had some to spare I don't really want them (particularly Basil) to lose much more before the winter.  I have been slowly increasing Basil's hard feed over the last few weeks because he won't eat much more hay than he is having now.  

I have been lucky though that I have had enough grass that I have not had to start feeding hay in the field yet.  I have been saving half of the field and giving it extra attention this year with weed killing and trying to get rid of the buttercups to give the grass a chance.  Hopefully this rain will make it grow for a few weeks now. 

Over the last few weeks I have been clearing out the stables, removing the rubber mats, jet washing and disinfecting the floors, getting down cobwebs and bird's nests - the swallows finally left a couple of weeks ago.  I have cleared out the feed room and had a reorganise and have decided to store shavings and rugs in Chesney's old stable which will give me more space.    

I have had a hay delivery and filled up the store and have checked all Basil and Tommy's rugs so that I don't get one out in the dark one morning to find a hole or broken strap!!!  Basil's stable rugs have been washed and are all shiny and ready for when he needs them.

The horses have had their last worm egg count of the year and neither needed worming - which is great.  In a couple more weeks I will do a test for Tapeworm  this is a tapeworm saliva test which is a bit of a nuisance because the horses have to stand for half an hour with no food or water before I can do the test, but it is worth it to help prevent resistance building up.  Basil and Tommy are pretty good for this, Chesney was not keen on standing for that long!

The annual vaccinations are due next month and I usually get their teeth checked and rasped at the same time, to reduce vets fees!

I will be keeping an eye out for

·         Sycamore seeds and leaves -  Atypical Myopathy. 

·          Acorns too are poisonous, as are the leaves of the Oak trees.

I think we are ready for winter, although I hope it is a good few weeks away still.

 I have just uploaded a new video 'Stables Tour - Updated'  on my You Tube channel?  
Horse Life and Love.  Please check it out and SUBSCRIBE.

You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates on Basil, Tommy and Daisy.

Until next time!

Jo