Posy and Hanuman have been feeling poorly lately and both had temperatures. This meant that they had a Virus. I didn't have one so I had to eat all the haylage that they'd left because they were feeling off colour. It has also been windy and raining - like forever.
To cheer us all up, She decided that we could have our Christmas treats early. We each had a little tub of stuff to lick. Mummy and I were very keen.
I enjoy my 'cherry' flavour lick, while mummy has 'apple' flavour
Hanuman was very suspicious of his lick and didn't seem at all impressed with his gift.
Hanuman looks askance at the 'banana' flavour treat he has been given
Today a motorised box on wheels arrived, and I didn't take much notice of it. I didn't take much notice when mummy went out of the gate. Then the engine started and I heard mummy neigh. I suddenly realised that mummy was locked inside the metal box and it was going away with her inside!
I was really worried and called out in alarm for a few minutes. Funnily enough, Hanuman seemed quite unperturbed, so I waited in the corner of my stable to see what would happen next. After about ten minutes, the metal box on wheels returned and I was relieved to see that mummy had come back, safe and sound.
OMG! Mummy is trapped inside the lorry and it is going away!
Then the same thing happened again. Mummy went into the metal box, was driven off, and then later came back. Both mummy and Hanuman didn't seem to think there was anything odd about this, so I figured that perhaps I shouldn't be so worried after all.
Here the lorry comes back for a second time and I am not so worried
Then everyone was praised - me for being brave and not panicking when mummy left, Posy was praised for being patient going in and out of the lorry and being driven round the block a few times, and Hanuman was praised for being a Good Babysitter.
Mummy had a cunning plan to throw off one of her shoes the night before a dressage competition, thus saving her the trouble of competing. This has worked successfully before, but I note that She has measured mummy's feet and is planning to buy hoof boots, which would thwart any future attempts to avoid work by burying shoes in the mud.
Hanuman had a cunning plan to eat a hole in the hedge at the front so that he can watch all the comings and goings along the road.
I have gone one better and eaten a large hole where the hedge meets the fence. I am small and nimble enough to stand on the bank, and it won't be long before I can skip through the gap and munch all the yummy lawn grass on the other side. Tee hee!
I am learning that when vets come they invariably stab you with sharp needles. The excuse this time was that it was a vaccination which has to be officially recorded in my documents. I was very brave and got a carrot for being so well behaved.
I stand quietly, unsuspecting, while the vet readies to stab me with a needle
This morning my hind leg was really swollen after a mishap overnight. The human says that I have done very well to wait for over seven months before having my first accident. She says that mummy had been admitted to hospital by the time she was ten weeks old, and has been having regular accidents ever since.
She inspected my leg and thinks that I have sprained my fetlock since there are no wounds to be seen. The vet is coming on Wednesday and will attend to me if my leg is still swollen. Until then I shall have to be very brave. Hopefully I will be consoled with extra carrots.
My fetlock joint is very swollen but it hasn't put me off my haylage.
I got tangled up in my coat overnight and I had to struggle to escape, unfortunately, this resulted in a few rips and tears, so that it can't be fastened on any more. Now when it is wet and cold I have to shelter in the stables. I no longer look like the sophisticated foal-about-town, but am rocking the wild Dartmoor pony look.
In Hanuman's stable I found a pink ball on a string. It tastes salty, and licking it helps while away the time until the weather clears.
The fine weather has been replaced by storms barrelling in from the Atlantic so that we are all now wet and bedraggled.
Here I battle the elements in the yard
The weather is deemed too wet and windy for Hanuman, but I note that mummy has had to have Exercise. She even had to go out one day with her hair braided into bobbles to do Dressage, leaving Hanuman and I to hold the fort.
I have been developing a lovely warm, thick coat. She says it will be needed as there is an el nino this year and we will all be very cold. Never rely on amateur weather forecasters. The last few days have been boiling hot and we are all sweltering. Here I am pictured trying to cool myself down by the water bucket.
It is so warm that Posy and Hanuman have been allowed to go out without any clothes on - even though there is mud in the field.
We found primroses and roses in bloom - they are very confused.
Mummy went off to a Halloween party with our chums next door. I wasn't allowed to go because they said I was too young and would be scared. It's not fair. Judging from the photos, it didn't look the least bit scary, and they left before the inflatable bats came out.
Mummy bashed herself in the eye overnight and came in for breakfast looking like this:
The vet was summoned and since I have seen it all before, I just snuggled down in my stable and slept through mummy's treatment. Apparently she had dye put in her eye making it green, followed by eye drops and the inevitable injection. Mummy says that it is best to look really pathetic while this goes on because it elicits lots of sympathy and at the end you get an apple for being such a good patient without any sedation.
Thanks to the wonders of modern veterinary medicine, mummy is feeling quite sparky now. It has been left to Her to continue the eye drops which is very funny to watch now that mummy is feeling fine, and it is not at all clear whose eye has got the most drops in. Tee hee!
We have seen a lot of our chum Ariel lately. His owner had an ambitious plan to show off his talent by appearing in a Music Extravaganza riding without a bridle and demonstrating his liberty skills. These are best practised in a confined space - our arena- and She has been advising and helping with the choreography.
We have watched, bemused, while Ariel performs lots of different routines to exactly the same music - over and over. We don't want to hear 'Les Chemins de l'Amour' ever again.
Everyone was agreed that Ariel could perform a spectacular, and moving, finale by synchronised twirling with his owner. Sadly, on the night, when it came to the synchronised twirling grand finale, Ariel was seized by an irresistible urge to pick up some stray pieces of hay he'd spotted on the floor.
Fortunately for Ariel, his owner still loves him.
We weren't invited to the Music Extravaganza, and have had to content ourselves with watching the 'Highlights' video, which was subject to some tactful editing...
The vet has come to visit us again. Mummy had bad tummy ache and was rolling about so the vet was summoned to make her better. I assisted for a while, but then I was banished to my stable for chewing the vet's trousers. Posy had injections and a tube put up her nose but she does seem to feel better now. I have been helping with her recovery.
My foot really hurt, so I marched up to the human and waved my foreleg in the air to draw attention to the pain. She poked my foot and squirted it with stuff but that didn't help, so the vet was summoned. He did much the same but to no avail, so I have to wear a poultice until it gets better. Then I had an injection, but I was very brave as She distracted me with an apple at the vital moment.
I make a pathetic picture with my poorly made duck tape boot
She now has to change my poultice twice a day. I am very good and offer my foreleg for attention. Then, just as She is taping my foot with sticky stuff, I wriggle about so that the sticky tape sticks to itself and Her and She starts cussing. It is such fun, tee hee!
I was banned from the arena and had to watch from the gate when mummy started jumping again after her maternity leave. I have to say that, from where I was standing, both horse and rider looked very rusty!
To be fair, they did seem to be getting the hang of it after a few goes. Mummy said afterwards that if you are going to jump things you must remember that you need some impulsion, even if the jumps are small.
I seem to be paying the price for my Facebook fame, as now I can't have a little post-breakfast nap in peace without paparazzi taking covert videos of me!
Oh the shame of being caught sleeping with your head in your food bucket!
Once more I have appeared on 'Facebook' and collected more admiring 'Likes'. Just a few more appearances and I shall be the most 'Liked' filly in the universe!
In spite of the fact that all my relatives are Dutch immigrants (apart from mummy whose parents were both Dutch immigrants) I have been given a British passport. I can now become the international mare of mystery, travelling the world and being able to call upon British consular assistance where necessary. There may be some parts of the world where I would be better going in disguise, but perhaps I'll avoid those.
Mummy is being given medication in her breakfast, which I am not allowed to eat, so I have been given my very own stable for use at breakfast time. I found it very much to my liking and quickly made myself at home.
I can see my best friend Hanuman on one side, and on the other side there is mummy's stable. I can look through the grille and watch her tip her breakfast on the floor and hide the medicated food under her bed.
As a modern, sophisticated filly-about-town, I have to have a passport. As I couldn't get to a photo booth for my passport photo, the vet had to make an artist's impression. Here, the vet tries to lure me into the open so that she could make a drawing of me.
After the drawing was done I had to go back into the stable with mummy. There I was offered a 'Bravery Carrot' and while I was taking it I saw the vet advancing in my direction with a big needle then mummy tried to snatch my carrot and I felt a stab in my neck. With great determination I managed to wrestle my carrot away from mummy and ate it all myself. Apparently I now have a microchip which means that I am important.
It turns out that my new outfit has a matching headdress with ear and neck covers. She says that it is the very latest in bug busting technology and that all the best dressed foals about town are wearing one. I am not so sure about this and fear it may be a step too far.
Today I was deemed grown up enough to wear my own clothes. Here I am modelling the outfit in a fashionable pale beige colour...
She, the Human, had to make some tucks round the neck to make it fit snugly...
It is slightly long at the back and got even longer when Hanuman pulled the tail piece with his teeth. She says not to worry because I will soon grow into it. Here I am striding confidently out in my brand spanking new outfit - so 'on trend' - no more hand-me-downs for me!
I have learned that there is a phenomenon called a 'lesson'. This is where another human arrives and mummy trots round in circles while the two humans gossip. It looked very dull, so I thought I'd enliven proceedings. Then I got banned and they shut the gate so that I couldn't join in, which was no fun at all.
Normally I don't bother to go into the arena when mummy is trotting round, trying to get her figure back. I just go and chat to Hanuman, who is in his stable. Then I could hear that music was being played, so, of course, I had to go and investigate. My dancing efforts weren't as much appreciated as I'd hoped and I was told that I was getting in the way. Huh!
Not that long ago I wasn't able to reach the top of the stable door. I couldn't see what was going on and the best I could do was put my nose near the top of the door and sniff what was happening. Now I have grown so much that I can put my whole head over the door and look out for interesting events.
I haven't quite figured out where I should be looking yet...
Mummy says we are now in summer. This means that it is hot, and horrid biting flies come out to attack us. We have to hang round the stables to avoid them. To make matters worse, pollen levels are very high. Mummy is wheezing, Hanuman is coughing and I have the sniffles.
The Human appeared and we hoped that She would bring us food, but, no, She thought it would be a good time to jet wash Hanuman's stable. We were quite fascinated by all the spray and the water leaking all over the yard.
Mummy and I watch all the spraying from the safety of the stable next door
It did, at least, scare off the flies for a while.
A hole has appeared in the bucket I have my breakfast in.
Now I have to be very careful that the cubes don't fall out. The Human is perplexed as to why the bucket appears to have been chewed, but seems to believe that Hanuman must be responsible.
I have been given my own special food bucket at breakfast time. It contains some tasty cubes which I enjoy, especially when it is served to me while I am still in bed!
Unfortunately, mummy has now discovered that there are tasty cubes in there and comes along to eat my food before finishing her own. No fair! At least she can't now complain when I raid her haylage.
Mummy managed to unlatch the entrance gate this morning, while we were waiting for our breakfast to arrive, so we ventured out onto the driveway. This alarmed the Human, who come sprinting out of the house. Mummy was quickly rounded up and put back in the yard, but I thought it would be more fun to go in the opposite direction and explore the lawn. The cctv captured my adventure.
The cctv also captured the efforts of the panicked Human trying to round me up and get me back into the yard. Tee hee hee!
Here is a picture of me hanging out with my friend, Hanuman. He is very tall and handsome.
A noisy lawn tractor with a rattling thing came down the field and I was quite worried, but Hanuman advanced towards it and planted himself between me and the noisy, rattling thing. It was forced to turn away and I was saved! He is so brave.
Yesterday I went down to the bottom of the field to meet the boys next door. Mummy came along to make sure that there was no hanky panky. I didn't realise it at the time, but my photo was taken by the next door neighbour. Now I discover that I feature on Facebook!
I am clearly a hit on social media as there were comments like 'lovely', 'cute', 'adorable', etc,. etc.
I had my first bravery test today. The Human led mummy out of the gate and left me behind! I saw mummy ambling round the drive while I was left in the yard, but I was very brave and didn't cry.
Looking slightly worried as mummy is led away
I tried to look nonchalant and mummy quickly returned and I was praised for being so good.
My coat has felt very itchy lately and I have spent a lot of time rubbing myself on trees and posts. This is very satisfying but has left me with a lot of bald bits. The Human says that I look like I have mange.
Apparently, I have inherited mummy's allergy to midge bites, but at the moment I am too small to wear a protective suit like hers. Instead, the Human has been trying to smear me with various creams and gels, but I have shown just how nimble I can be, sprinting round the stable, ducking and diving to avoid the fingerfuls of smelly gloop.
Then, while I was resting after these activities, the Human sneakily fastened a hat onto my head. You have to watch them.
