Breakthrough

Kath has succeeded in finding a foster mare and, after some negotiation, getting her to accept Olly. What a relief! Chris and I went to visit and see how they were getting on.

We also sneaked in for a cuddle of the Labrador pups who currently reside in one of the loose boxes. Thankfully they are all sold! That's right you two. They're not for sale.

I know they're cute Chris but no.

Kath, put down the pup!

Cross Country Dog

Fox thinks he could give those horses a run for their money!

Hutton-in-the-Forest

By the end of day two we were absolutely shattered. Poor Kath had been feeding Olly round the clock but doing a great job of it. However, Hutton-in-the-Forest Horse Trials was a fantastic event this year and the first CIC* in the UK a great success.

http://www.edenonline.net/pages/huttontrials08.htm

Little Gnu!

Oliver is alive and kicking! He has now taken well to his bottle and will simply suck from it over the stable door, which makes life much easier. You have to be so careful not to humanise foals as they can be at best a pain in the neck or at worst dangerous if they don't respect people. He looks rather like a little gnu!

It's a huge relief that Olly is feeding so well since Hutton-in-the-Forest Horse Trials, for which Kath is the Secretary (and I'm now the Media Contact) starts tomorrow! We'll all be taking a turn at sprinting up to the stables to feed.

Olly is very like his dad, Quem Foi, Kath's Luso Stallion. Quem Foi looked very pleased with himself looking out over his stable door at his first son being led to a new loose box.

Bitter sweet day

Today was long, challenging and harrowing. Kath called this morning to tell me the exciting news that Fizz had foaled a week early and that the new arrival was well and on his feet. Then she sent me a text half an hour later which simply said "Just lost her. She's gone." Fizz had prolapsed and died.

Apart from the grief for poor Kath in loosing a mare who she had reared from a foal, there was now also a very hungry little orphan to look after. I whizzed off to the vet for replacement milk. Luckily Fizz, bless her, had struggled to her feet four times to feed the foal with the essential colostrum that he needed. The last time she got up and nuzzled him as he took his last feed from her. Kath said that she could see it in Fizz's eyes that she knew and was saying goodbye.

Oliver, as he soon became known, was not a natural at taking to a bottle. After hand-feeding a good variety of little orphans over the years however, I knew that he needed to be in a natural position in order to stimulate him to feed. One of the girls from the next yard was a brilliant help in advising that we press against the top of his nose as he would put his head under his mother. This didn't work very well but sowed the seed for what did. The hallelujah moment came when Oliver put his nose under my arm pit; Carol quickly slipped the teat of the bottle into his mouth and after a moment or two we heard the welcome sound of enthusiastic suckling and saw the level of the bottle dropping dramatically.

Stage one complete but a hell of a long way to go. While Carol and I wrestled with Olly, Kath was on the phone calling the Foal Bank and every breeder in the area in an attempt to find a foster mum. The next 24 hours would be critical.

Stone Skimming

Today was... the first leg of the National Stone Skimming Championships! It just happened to be organised by my friend and colleague Ben, so we thought that we'd get the gang out and go to try our hand at this eccentric English pastime. In the video Ruth makes a valiant attempt, but it was Kate who was the star of the day with the longest skim in the ladies competition.

Making a splash!

Yesterday, in great contrast to today, was really quite hot.
Fox cooled off in the shallow part of the river known as the "Water Splash" because it is used as a crossing during Lowther Horse Driving Trials.