Muddy Buddies

This week things are quiet here at the stables, we horses and ponies are enjoying a well-earned holiday. We have spent lots of time gossiping, playing, giving each other a lovely scratch and of course enjoying some winter sunshine in the fields.

The fields are a bit muddy now but horses and ponies love mud! 

A rather muddy Teddy enjoying some lunch!

I particularly like to have a good roll in the mud when I am put out in the field.  It is very satisfying and I love to see the look on the faces of the stables staff when they see the mud plastered all over me! 

Bertie makes all us horses smile; he waits until he hears the stables staff coming to check us all in the field and then rolls right in front of them to get as dirty as he can!

Yummy Christmas Dinner

Today we have had our Christmas treats!  Very nice they were too.  We had apples and carrots each in a little surprise pile with our hay. I had mine in my stable when I came in from the field. 

Yummy!

All the other horses and ponies had theirs with their usual hay in the field.  They always gallop down to the feeding area when they hear the wheelbarrow which brings the hay; they were all very impressed with the extra treats today! 

The Dinner Queue

Bertie enjoying his Christmas Dinner

We certainly all enjoyed them very much. Thank you to all our lovely friends who have generously given us nice things to eat for Christmas; we all had a lovely time munching!

Spring Cleaning already?!?

The staff here in the stables have been very busy.  Each year they pressure wash all the stables and the stable mats we have to lay on, do some painting and have a big clean up around the yard.

The stables looking sparkly and clean

I heard them saying they were spring cleaning.  Now I have heard of being organised but that can’t be right; it’s only December!

They do all this work at this time of year because there are no guests here and it's holiday time for us horses, which means that we are out in the fields and our stables are empty for the cleaning to be done. Of course I am still able to come in every night to go to bed! 

A busy day with the R.D.A.

I haven't had a chance to tell you before, but this time last week we had a really busy day here in the stables.

First thing in the morning I knew something special must be happening because there were lots of people here. As well as Nicky, Abi and Kerri our two new members of staff Richard and Alice were here too. Oli, who is an activity instructor, was also in the stables with Amy, one of our regular volunteers.

After we horses were brought in and given breakfast the two carriages were set out on the back yard. I thought we must be expecting a group of guests from the Centre.  Then Nicky went off to reception and came back with four people I had not seen before.

I heard all the humans talking and they discussed the carriages and the two driving horses Hendrix and Duchess. I kept hearing R.D.A.  being mentioned and thought I should ask Teddy what on earth was going on! He said he thought the people had all come to assess the carriages, horses and drivers.

The R.D.A. (Riding for the Disabled Association), is an organisation which provides riding and carriage driving for people with disabilities; as you all know that is what we do here at Calvert Trust Exmoor too. 

The staff here all think it will be great to be part of the R.D.A. I heard this morning that Nicky and Richard are now R.D.A. whips (this means they passed their assessments). Duchess and Hendrix also passed their assessments as R.D.A. driving horses. Abi was also assessed as an R.D.A. whip and hopes to be able to help at an R.D.A. group near to her new job. 

Christmas fun and games

A lot of our regular local riders have had great fun here over the past two weekends.  As it is nearly Christmas it was time to play games on horses.

Christmas fun and games

We horses and ponies love playing games as much as people do, so the whole thing was enjoyed by everyone who took part.  My buddy Brin gets quite competitive when the games start but he only likes racing in one direction in the arena! 

They played musical statues to warm humans and horses up then they had a go at weaving through some cones.  They also played dress the snowman –each person had to put gloves, a hat or scarf onto the snowman.

Playing dress the snowman

Then they played a bucket in a ball game;Teddy and Henry thought the balls might be apples.  They had a little taste and said they weren’t very nice to eat! Teddy had a very tiny rider for some games which he loved!

Jack was being very serious and carefully looking after his little rider.  He didn’t show his competitive side. Bertie and his little rider Bethan were the quickest to begin with but both got a bit tired and decided not to have a trot. 

Who was that man in the red suit?

I've heard that most humans decorate a tree for Christmas;

for the last two weekends the staff in the stables have put decorations all over Hendrix’s carriage instead!

Every year at Calvert Trust Exmoor there are several Christmas Special Weekends. For these weekends Hendrix has a very important job to do, he has to pull his carriage with a very special passenger travelling in it. He also gets dressed up with tinsel too!

Hendrix looking great in his tinsel

The passenger has lots of white hair on his face and he wears a very cosy looking red coat and trousers which have furry trimming on them.  He also wears boots and a hat too which matches his outfit.  I don’t know quite what his job is but the humans here call him Father Christmas so I guess he is very well known.  

He always carries a very full looking sack with him but I don’t think it is full of horse feed because he doesn’t give any food to us! I hope someone has remembered that we would love a Christmas dinner too. Some carrots, apples and special horse treats are what I am hoping for this year!

Feeling Sketchy...

We are really busy right now getting ready for Christmas (yes, we horses celebrate it too!), but I thought you might like to see these drawings.

A lovely family called the Ostler's stated with us couple of weeks ago, and Sheri has sent us a couple of sketches she did of Brin and Rooster.

Brin By Sheri

Rooster by Sheri

Brin and Rooster both love their pictures; I was a but surprised she didn't draw me too, I'm definitely the best looking!

If you have any drawings or photos you would like to share with us (especially if they are of me!) you can send them to me on pilgrim@calvert-trust.org.uk.

See you soon!

Rooster's Showing Off!

A couple of weeks ago Rooster had a visit from Angela, who is a McTimoney chiropractic practitioner. After she had given him some treatment Rooster said he felt much better. He is 20, which is equivalent to about 60 in horse years (don't tell him I told you!); I think he looks great for an old chap! 

Here is a great photo of him showing off a bit; cantering round on the lunge. I hope to be bouncing around myself at that age!

Rooster Showing Off!

I think we must be due to start our Winter break fairly soon. All us horses and ponies get a few weeks off while the centre is closed.  This a great time for us to be out in the fields catching up with all the other horses and ponies who we don’t get turned out with normally. We do all get on and it’s great to get play time together. I will still need to come into my stable at night though because I get cold as I am closer to the ground than most!

Comings and Goings...

Two of the staff are moving onto new green pastures to go and look after other horses, Abi and Louise are both leaving before Christmas.

I am sure that wherever they go next the equines will appreciate the work that I and the other horses here at Calvert Trust Exmoor have put into them; we've got them both very well trained now!

Me telling Abi how to do it

Safari training Louise to use a bareback pad

Because of this there have been a number of new faces coming through the stables recently, and they all come to see yours truly of course! 

I am sure that whoever comes to join us here in the stables will think I am gorgeous; how could they not?!? 

I will soon teach them who the most important pony is, and exactly how we equines like things to be done. There's no point in having humans to care for you if they don’t do things how you like them to be done!

I will make sure I introduce you to the new staff when they arrive.

Cheeky Henry!

Last week we had another visit from our friendly local farriers,you may remember last time I introduced you to Dusty the Farrier? This time we were visited by Clive, who is the boss farrier.

Clive has been a farrier for a long time so he probably knows all there is to know about horses and ponies feet!  It was Clive who came up with the idea of my little plastic shoes, or as the stables staff call them, my 'trainers'!

I am very glad Clive thought of this because they feel great for my tiny feet. Clive is probably very glad too, as they take only a few minutes to put on.

Normal horse shoes take a long time and the farrier has to bend down all the time. This is hard enough with a regular sized horse or pony but imagine how hard it would be to shoe a miniature like me!

Cheeky Henry!

This photo is of Henry having his feet attended to by Clive. As you can see he's very laid back about the whole thing, and likes to rest his chin on the Clive's back while his shoes are being put on! What a lazy, cheeky horse Henry is!

Learning to Drive

Abi has been teaching Kerri how to drive our carriages.

They started with Kerri learning how to hold the reins for carriage driving (which is very different to riding). Bob was chosen to be her first driving pony as he is so patient!

Kerri 'driving' with Bob

 Once she had the reins figured out it was time to hold a long driving whip as well.  This is necessary to help steer a driving horse.

Next Abi radioed Oli to ask if he could come to hold a horse as she was planning to take Kerri out driving with Hendrix.  Oil arrived very quickly and went to hold Bob!  As you can see Bob wasn’t likely to move very far!

Oli 'holding' Bob while Kerri drives!

Once Kerri had the hang of it with Bob she moved on to real horses, Hendrix was very patient with Kerri practicing in the indoor school. 

Driving with Hendrix

things went so well in the indoor arena that they decided to try driving outside in the big arena. 

A 'driver's eye view' of driving with Hendrix!

Kerri held one set of reins and Abi was holding the other set in case she started steering towards the fence! they were still talking to each other when they had finished so I guess it all went very well. 

Hendrix tells me Kerri said she is looking forward to having another go! 

Jack's Feeling Sprightly

Jack has had a haircut!

He's been clipped; Teddy tells me this happens to keep the horses which get ridden and driven a bit more comfortable. They don’t sweat as much and they cool down and dry off quicker when they have finished work.

Jack said he had not been clipped before so it was a new experience for him. Kerri did a lovely job with the clippers though and Jack looks very smart.  However he is now full of beans and bouncing around the place! 

Jack enjoying his haircut

This morning Jack made all the other horses in his field go for a gallop with him. I think he is very proud of himself and how great he looks!  I guess it feels really nice to have a good haircut.  Nicky says I don’t get clipped because apparently I don’t work hard enough. Huh! how dare she!

This week we have had some lovely young people staying here from Petroc, which is the local college. We met some of them yesterday and this afternoon we will meet the rest. 

Yesterday’s groups did really well with their riding and also groomed Bertie, Duchess and Jack.  I then had a great time with them doing my agility course.  I was feeling great yesterday and even showed them how I can jump onto one of my obstacles. They all seemed to agree that I was terrific!

Dressage Test

Our guests did lots of riding and carriage driving this weekend, and on Sunday they had a go at a dressage test. 

Henry, Teddy and Brin were chosen to take part and they were made to look very smart, having their manes and tails plaited and muddy bits washed. Two of our lovely volunteers also tried the dressage test. Everyone got judged on their riding skills by Nicky who sat up in the gallery to watch what was happening. At the end of the day everyone had a rosette and certificate to take home with them. 

Brin having a little snack before his big moment!

One of our guests this weekend used to work with race horses. He rode Brin this weekend; I think Brin was a bit worried he might ask him to gallop round the arena! Brin is not too keen on going fast, luckily for him the dressage test only involved walking and trotting! I would not have been the only one amazed if Brin had suddenly decided to show a burst of energy, he's definitely built for comfort not for speed!

The weather is certainly starting to change here at Calvert Trust Exmoor. It has been quite a bit colder and rainy this weekend. I think I will soon be tucked up in my lovely warm stable every night, I can't wait for that.

We are all going out in the fields wearing our waterproof rugs again now. Needless to say we have rolled as much as we can to make them all nice and dirty!  Ah the joys of being a pony......

Horse Weekend and Spooky Goings On!

This weekend we had some visitors to the stables on a horse weekend. All the centre had been decorated with spooky stuff so us horses and ponies were feeling a little left out. However we soon realised that two of us had been chosen to join in the fun, myself and Duchess were decorated to look like skeleton horses!

Nicky got some chalk and we had all of our bones drawn on us! Duchess kept turning round to look at herself while she was being drawn on. I am quite sure she thought she looked fabulous!

Skeletal Horses!

Our visitors then watched us in the arena, as we moved around they could see which bones were moving which part of us. I decided to play a trick of my own though and had a lovely roll. This rubbed all the chalk off so Nickys hard work was no longer visible! Ha Ha!!!

Rolling around

 Hendrix was then allowed to come into the arena to play with us. He must have felt a bit left out because he tried to design his own outfit using a cone! Duchess was not impressed by this but i thought it looked like a good game and tried a cone on for size too.

Hendrix's Cone Costume!

Guest Blogger Daisy 1: My Lovely Horsey Friends

Hi my name's Daisy and I ride every week here at Calvert Trust Exmoor. 

Daisy

I was chatting to my good friend Pilgrim the other day and he asked me if I would write something about the stables. He said that everyone would like to know about my horsey friends so I said that I would; I hope you like it.


I know Bertie very well,he was one of the first ponies I rode here, he's very gentle and loves being groomed, he loves to potter around the indoor school and not do too much if he can get away with it!

Learning with Bertie

Then there's Henry, he's had a bit of a rough summer as the flies really like him! This makes him unhappy,but he's OK now autumn is here. 

Enjoying a ride with Henry

And Jack, well Jack loves to play and zoom around the indoor school, then when he's had enough he takes himself off to the door and asks to go back to his stable! Pilgrim thinks he's really funny.

Zooming with Jack

And of course there's Hendrix,he listens very hard to what I am saying and loves to have fun with me.

Having fun with Hendrix

I mustn't forget the others: There's Duchess she's the only girl and I think that she is in charge! Then there's Safari and Rooster, they are best friends and like to do everything together. And finally there is Teddy and Brin they are the big boys, and both very handsome.

Thank you Pilgrim for giving me a chance to write about my lovely friends, riding here makes me feel really happy, I love learning about the horses and thank you Nicky, Abi , Kerry and Louise for helping me.

Love Daisy xxx

Guest Blogger Duchess 1: A Mare's Eye View

Hello ladies and gentlemen, lovely to have the chance to give you a mare’s eye view of the Calvert Stables.

Hi I'm Duchess!

I have been here for nearly a whole year now and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying keeping all these boys in check!  I do have a special friend here who I lived with before I arrived here, his name is Jack and he is a very gentle soul.

I am quite popular with all the other horses and ponies which is great.  I do try to treat all the boys fairly though, as horses can get quite jealous of each other just like people. I love living here and enjoy both my jobs, I get ridden and also I pull a big carriage.  I am a multi-talented girl! 

Me pulling the big carriage

I'm a traditional cob by the way, which means I am fairly stocky and have a beautiful long mane and tail.  I also have amazing feathers on my legs…

...I know what you are thinking but these feathers are nothing to do with birds! When horses have feathers it means they have long hairs on their legs.  The feathers can be very thick and long.  They help to protect our legs from muddy conditions and also look rather splendid. I like it when my feathers have been brushed to make them smooth and shiny, all the guests here remark how gorgeous I look which is good for a girl’s ego!

The best thing about living here is the amount of fuss and attention I get from all sorts of people; I would stand and be brushed all day long.  

Must go now, my carriage awaits! - Duchess x

Dusty the Farrier

Hi everyone, it’s me back again, the smallest, mightiest pony here at Calvert Trust Exmoor! This week we have had lots of guests here in the centre doing all sorts of activities, including carriage driving and riding.

We also had a visit from the farrier, so I thought I would introduce you to Dusty.  He comes here to shoe some of us horses and ponies, along with his friends Clive and Jordan. Dusty is very friendly and as you can see from this photo of him shoeing Safari he loves having his photo taken,a bit like me! You may remember me telling you before, I have special plastic shoes when it is my turn to be shod.  

Dusty Shoeing Safari

Another visitor this week was the vet.  He came out to see Henry who has had an argument with a fence! The fence came of worst, but he was left with a cut on his leg which the vet had to look at.  Henry is fine again now though and will be back working very soon.

I've had a chat with Duchess who's the only female horse here at the stables.  She is very beautiful and quite outspoken so I thought you might like to hear about life from her point of view; so the next blog later this week will be written by Duchess rather than me.

Synchronised driving and competition fun

Last time I blogged I wrote about the Horse Experience Weekend that we had just finished; I thought this time I would tell you a bit more about it.

On the Sunday morning all our visitors had a carriage driving session, both Duchess and Hendrix were in action pulling their carriages.  This meant they could have some competition fun in the arena taking visitors around a course of cones, there was even a stop-watch involved!

Don’t tell Hendrix I told you but Duchess beat him in every trial!! Also they had a go at synchronised driving! It looked quite tricky to me but Duchess and Hendrix both had a fun time.

Synchronised Driving

After lunch it was time for the Horse Weekend Challenge.

Competing in the challenge

Our visitors had to ride or drive around a course of obstacles in the arena, while they all watched each other and cheered each other on. At the end the staff and guests enjoyed a well deserved cup of tea while the stables staff handed out certificates and rosettes to our guests. We equines were happily munching hay by this time. A good weekend was had by all!

It's Rosette time!

Smiles and fun for the Horse Weekend

Hi folks, it’s your mini-Shetland mighty atom reporting again!

It's starting to feel like summer is finally over, but I must say that we horses and ponies here have really enjoyed all the lovely weather we have had this year. I'm sure all our visitors have loved being here in Devon in the sunshine.

Although it has been a bit cooler this weekend we've still had some good sunshine, which is great because we have had some guest here having lots of fun on our Horse Weekend. 

Grooming

The guests all get involved in looking after us and learn how to feed us, groom us and muck out our stables, they also learn about how to clean our tack and harness. The guests this weekend had a go at working out how a harness fits and works – to help them do this they tried Hendrix’s harness on themselves!!

Trying Hendrix's Harness!

Sometimes the guests get to do agility with yours truly as well as trying riding and carriage driving. This weekend Bryony got to ride Henry, She practised her trotting and steering around obstacles in the arena. 

Bryony riding Hendrix

Our other visitors Sarah, Natalie and Karen, went in the carriage with Hendrix.  They drove in the arena and Hendrix showed how great he is at going through cones. When all the horses had done their work Bryony helped to feed us all our lunchtime hay.

In the arena with Hendrix

After lunch Bryony went for a ride outside on Teddy.  Sarah, Natalie and Karen went out driving in the carriage with Duchess. They drove down the track where lots of leaves are starting to fall off the trees. (Teddy says that’s because it is autumn now).

a beautiful Autumn drive

Everyone was worn out at the end of the day. When our guest had finished for the day all us horses and ponies went out for some lovely grass – our favourite thing to do! 

Rubber Mats

we've just had a delivery of new rubber mats, they're for Rooster's stable as his are looking a bit worn out.

Having rubber mats on the floor means that our stables are nice and soft to stand in; we still get bedding on top of the mats too.

It's much better and more comfortable to stand on the rubber mats rather than the concrete floor, It also means the floor is warmer which is good in the winter. 

Rooster enjoying his new floor

I'll let you know what Rooster thinks of his new 'des res' next time; I wonder who got the job of taking the old mats out and putting new ones in? They look pretty heavy to me!

Meeting Lucinda Green

The other night some of the people from the stables went on an outing, a famous rider came to open a new Event Centre at Mullacott Stables, which is not very far from here. The new centre is a venue for shows and competitions for people to take their horses to. 

Nicky went along with Amy who is a regular and longstanding volunteer here, and with one of our regular riders, Jack.  They met Lucinda Green MBE who was there to cut the ribbon and unveil a plaque.

Meeting Lucinda Green

I asked Teddy about Lucinda Green and he said she is very famous as an eventing rider. She has also written some books about her horses and her career. 

Nicky said she was lovely and Jack and Amy had a great time, Jack even got a signed book. I thought all this sounded brilliant but they could have asked me to do the official opening as I am something of a local celebrity! 

Teddy says I'm nowhere near as famous as Lucinda Green; maybe not, but I'm working on it!

Duchess on the pull...

Duchess and Hendrix have been very busy pulling their carriages lately, we have had lots of lovely guests who have enjoyed going in the outdoor arena and out and about around the are. As you know Hendrix was recently given a new harness set, which is lovely.

Duchess has also had something new, she had a new set of shafts for the four wheeler carriage which are the perfect length for her to make her job of pulling the carriage as easy as it can be.  She loves pulling the carriage and she is very strong with great muscles!

Duchess looking great in the carriage

I'm Pretty as a Picture!

Hi everyone, the mighty atom is here with the Stables Report for you all!  I know you like to keep up with what is happening here in the Calvert Trust Exmoor Stables.

We've been very busy in the past few weeks meeting lots of lovely groups. I have been doing my bit, showing people what I can do and what fabulous creatures us horses and ponies are! I've also been out on several walks with guests and have noticed there are loads of blackberries growing round here.  I did taste a few but I definitely prefer grass!

Last week I had a very special visitor. You may remember I told you all a while ago that an artist was coming to paint my portrait.  Well, two pictures have now been done and the lovely ladies who painted them came to see me. 

Me with my pictures!

They brought the portraits of me with them, I took a look at them and thought it was just like looking in the mirror in the arena! Now I'm not being big headed, but I do think I look very cute in these paintings! 

New Kit for one Lucky Pony!

A couple of weeks ago a lovely lady called Sarah rang up to say she would like to donate some equipment to the stables. As you can imagine this was very exciting for everyone here, we were all wondering what it would be and which horse or pony would get to wear it!

Well, Sarah arrived with a very smart driving harness set; Hendrix and Duchess are our two driving horses here at the stables so they were both looking over their stable doors with interest. Lucky Hendrix now has a lovely leather harness to wear. He says he is very happy about it and seems to be showing off rather a lot; but then he is a rather a show off anyway!

On a Monday morning all the tack is always shiny and clean too so I think whoever works Sunday must spend quite a lot of the day with a bucket of water and some saddle soap!  We each have our own tack and equipment so there is quite a lot of tack to clean.

Just some of our tack; there's a lot to clean!

The stitching also all has to be checked to make sure the tack and harness is safe to use. I'm very glad I'm the pony who gets looked after and not the person who has to do all the cleaning up! 

My lovely tack looking all clean and shiny