Who Even Am I

Two posts in one week after months of barely having any updates? Often when the weeks disappear it's because I'm stressed and overcommitted. That has not been the case recently. As always, I have way too much on my plate. Unlike always, I've just been saying no to doing a lot of it (and even delegating some things to others!) 

Beneficial 'me' time is currently taking priority and the list of quantitative accomplishments is at an all time low. Would you believe I even took up golf this summer? Talk about a waste of an afternoon (but yeah ok no time is wasted if you're having fun). It's enjoyable being terrible at entirely new thing that I have a very minimal emotional stake in. The time out has been refreshing but I'm getting a bit itchy to get back in the saddle. I mean, lets be real, an intervention would be required if I hadn't been secretly eyeing up that golf course as a potential cross country course all summer.

Good news is I have two baby horses almost at riding age so things should return to quasi normal soon-ish. Also, it's been a while since I tried to get nice blog pictures - here are some quick ones from the weekend.

It's maybe too soon to know if this revised outlook is a lasting change but I think it will stick in some way. 2024/2025 has been a time. I'm a bit stuck where in my world it all feels very Big Deal and it would feel a bit like a lie of omission not saying anything at all, but equally I don't think this is the place for it. There would need to be so many trigger warnings and it's really freaking dark and sad. For the purposes of the blog, while I feel different and the horses have maybe been a little back burnered temporarily, nothing I normally write about has changed - the horses are all well, G is still here being his usual wonderful self, our little backyard horse place is coming along, golf as a hobby is probably not sticking around. Riding and regular posting should recommence sooner rather than later.

How lucky am I to have ponies playing in my backyard

I want to say the ponies have been a little neglected the last few months, but anyone with horses at home knows that's really not possible. I didn't do quite a much this summer as I might have originally planned, but they are not lacking in attention. Just the logistics of putting them over in their summer fields means they are getting haltered and led through the neighbourhood twice daily. They have a big local fan club so obviously they need to be groomed and looking their best too :)

Not enough words for how nice this guy is, I think he came installed with all the manners at birth. When I open this gate to their bigger paddock he stands and waits and makes triple sure I actually say it's ok to go out. Then 90% of the time he comes back in right away and checks in, like he needs to make extra sure I'm ok with him being outside his designated area <3

The cob boys are doing really well. I have them separated in adjacent paddocks at night while the weather is still nice. Buck has a tendency towards being a little clingy and insecure. I'm all about them having friends, but it's a little tricky with such a small group. Having only three horses on site means that the fair thing to do is let them remember to be ok in their own skin before there's some bigger reason they can't all be joined at the hip 24/7. Everyone gets turned out together in the day regardless and they spend all night talking over the fence, so I don't think they're lacking too badly in the socialization department.

You might even argue they'd prefer not to be turned out together. Yellow pony very pleased with herself, but is a nuisance as always :)

"Help!"

The boys got re-measured this past weekend. They're pretty much exactly 2.5 years old, and we're close to the two year anniversary of their arrival here on the coast. Both felt like valid reasons for a height and weight check in.

Admittedly looking a bit porky after a summer at pasture, but he's also gradually losing the gangly baby look

Is appropriate weight and still the biggest boy

They're both just a tiny bit over 14.2hh. The weight tape says 950 for Buck, 880 for Reggie. I hear cobs can be late developers, so I'm interested to see where they end up. Hopefully not too much bigger! Ginger, the cob that started the blog, was 15.3 and felt like WAY too much horse for my short legs. 14.3-15hh, 1000ish pounds is kind of where I'm hoping they end up.  For context Sophie is 14.1 1/2, and ideally 800-850 ish and I feel like she's a bit on the small side. I have hopes the boys will both be that happy medium. 

Is round but fierce. Measuring 912lbs at the moment and the vet had to have "that" conversation with me.

Luckily needs no incentive to burn those calories

When the boys arrived they were about 12hh and 450lbs. It's hard to believe that was 2 years ago already or that they were ever so tiny. I'm very excited to watch them continue maturing, it's been the best journey so far. After this I'd definitely be tempted to buy or breed more baby horses, but then my entire existence would be consumed by ponies :D Luckily for everyone the real estate situation forces responsibility.

Buck is so wide already. So far he's been kind of hilarious in that he just magically stays proportionate and grows in all directions equally, so lets hope that holds true and he doesn't fill out to the point where I end up with a giant tank.

His 2024 yearling photo for reference. I need to recreate this, because I think there would be no visible change between then and now, despite him being a few inches taller

Reggie is still in the awkward growing cob phase, but he's starting to look more mature and it's suiting him - his legs and head are a lot more proportionate now ;).

Still looks better in motion than standing still, poor guy. Fingers crossed, maybe we start under saddle next summer, but if he needs to wait until he's 4 that's fine too. 

Awkward photos all day long, I have no shame

Buck is already bigger than everyone. I had wondered if that might mean he might test the waters with Sophie, but she still pushes him around all day. Reggie and him go back and forth on who's the boss daily, it's still more a game than anything serious they actually care about.

Please stop posing and start watching where you are going, we don't need more broken heads! I had said she was going to have this winter off, but the vet thinks she will be good to go back to work. I agree a job might be a good thing. I'll share more on that when I've finished pondering options.

I swear they all pose for the camera though

Looking very golden. I switched back to the less trendy (and cheaper) bulk vitamin/mineral supplement about a year ago and I think it's suiting them. As with all things horse, it could be any number of variables, but Buck and Reggie also kept nice shiny coats that didn't fade this summer. So we're 3/3 for them looking good. They all get pretty much unlimited local and timothy hay, with a bit of alfalfa at dinner. Plus the vit/min mix. And that's it. I used to really go down the rabbit hole on supplements and weighing everything but keeping it very simple seems to be working.

Pony vs Tree Update

 Apologies for leaving the blog hanging for almost a month. 2025 has been a year, that's for sure.

When I last checked in, Sophie had run into a tree a few weeks prior and her head was starting to look a lot worse for wear. Luckily, no other 'call the vet!' effects were ever apparent.

Actual pony, actual tree

Yellow pony being the banana she is, simply ran head first into the tree, fell down, then immediately got back up and kept on galloping. She had a scratch on her forehead and an off and on very minor nosebleed for a few days but otherwise was very much herself. (If I had a do over, knowing what I know now, I should have tried to keep her quiet for a few days, but being realistic - quiet is not something this pony would have done well.)

I have so many pictures like this, Sophie is surprisingly unlikely to be actually looking in her direction of travel at any given time

By the time her head was starting to look interestingly shaped and I was starting to worry she'd actually done damage to herself, I unfortunately had just missed the monthly mobile vet visit day. So we were working with pictures and texts until they could get back here in person to do a check up.  

Xrays finally happened this week. Bad news is, she did fracture her skull in two separate places. Good news is that neither one is intruding on anything and both are growing new bone and healing themselves (which is what we figured due to the lack of any other symptoms).

Rough outline of the 'interesting' areas

 It's absolutely wild to me how much of their heads are taken up by sinus cavities and nasal passageways and how well protected everything really important actually is. We got lucky nothing broke through into those (or her orbital bone) because that could have added a lot of complication. 

The long term is that she should be fine, continued non intervention is the way forward, and she could actually come back to work over winter if I was so inclined. 

I've included the xrays, so you can see what a horse with a broken head and two types of fractures looks like.

Right side. This is just me highlighting, and I am obviously not a vet. You can see the fracture that goes straight across her face is already laying bone over top. The 'dent" was harder to get an image of because the nature of it is that it's sitting below the rest of her skull and on most of the images it's in behind other things, but I think I have it outlined here.

From the left side

This is maybe showing the 'dent' a little better, but she moved last minute ;)