After our walk, WD and I went back to her house and went out to make a fuss of her ponies, who were bought off the Forest or rescued, and live such happy lives with her. Here is Woody, snug as a bug in his rug.
The chocolate pony and the ginger pony take their job of reducing the grass in the rested field very seriously,. They are good examples of the sort of mish-mash of bloodlines in New Forest ponies, many different sorts of stallions having been released onto the Forest in Victorian times to "improve" the breed. The chocolate pony has a mealy nose which shows that he has Exmoor blood in him. The ginger pony has driving cob, as he has an upright shoulder and more bone than most Foresters (ooops - sorry, if you're not horsey, more bone means he's got chunkier legs and an upright shoulder holds a harness collar well. For a riding horse a long sloping shoulder is preferable).
The rescue pony, who came as an unweaned foal after his mother had been killed on the Forest roads, is now 9. I can remember him as a dark grey foal. He mobbed me the moment we went into his paddock, licking my hands in great delight! We had great Pony Cuddles.
This is his friend, who spent quite a few years happily roaming the Forest before being brought back up to do some work again. He is The Boss in this field, and let the grey one know it when he pulled a face at him!
I also met WD's lovely puppy, who was so well behaved, bless her. We had soup for lunch, and chatted and bird-watched from the lounge, and I was lucky enough to see one of the Redpolls which has been visiting WD's many bird feeders.
Ponies of a different kind. Tricia, John and I went into Ringwood on the Wednesday and this stunning bronze mare and foal canter across the square. So much movement in those figures.
A corner in Ringwood, looking towards the Church. There was a nice little shop here where I got some more Bamboo socks. They are SO warm . . .
This is Tricia's ginger pony. Again, quite a chunky chappy and with the large head common to the breed.
He was hopeful of Food. Ponies, especially the barrel-shaped ones, have a one track mind!
Another ginger one! He is also a New Forest pony, although he was bred on a German stud and imported when his owner moved here. He is a great age indeed (32 or 33 I think) and only has one toof left.
He is very grey on his face now, with big salt-cellar hollows above his eyes. He was snug as a bug under his rug though, and pleased to see us and be made a fuss of.
Sorry pony, just an apple core today . . .
So now I am back at home and back into my routine, though that was spoilt yesterday when this wretched fluey cold bug returned (a combination of a day's travel, followed by sharing a bottle of vino). This will be my FOURTH week with it, and I had a temperature yesterday (I regretted wearing my new bamboo socks by the time we were in Tesco's and I nearly took them off to cool down!) In the night I woke up sweating like a race-horse again, so I am hoping I will feel a bit brighter today. I know I daren't do anything much until this has finally left me as any exertion (gardening for example) brings it out of the woodwork once more.
It was lovely to see Tricia again and I'll be going back down again in March.
What a good person Tricia is to have and keep all those ponies and aren't they lovely. Glad you enjoyed your short break.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good person Tricia is to have and keep all those ponies and aren't they lovely. Glad you enjoyed your short break.
ReplyDeleteThe "many ponies" aren't Trish's but belong to my friend WD over on Where the Beechmast Falls blog. Trish just has the one ginger one (lower photos). The other ginger one belongs to a friend. WD has saved these ponies from what would probably have been very brief lives had they gone to the sales at Beaulieu Road.
ReplyDelete.Good and bad then BB. Good pony shots and chats - and soup - with an old friend (all to be heartily recommended) but bad about that returning bug. Hope it soon clears up - probably needs a bit of warm sunshine.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you had a lovely visit, I am not a horse person I can admire them but thats as far as it goes, I think you are picking up bugs from traveling in a confined space with others and being in areas of lots of people, Air conditioning is the worse for spreading bugs, you will pick up have a tried some Echinacia or a Rescue Remedy
ReplyDeleteThe ponies were happy to see you BB. Especially the Grey One who adores friendly humans and has had to be taught to listen and respect our space a bit more. The lessons are ongoing........!
ReplyDeleteLovely to see Trish`s pony and his elderly friend. It must cheer her so much to go down to the field and spend time with her dear equine companion.
Dawn - I think it's still the same bug (as it presented with a temperature several times) and my sinuses are still clearing. It's like a mild dose of flu, which it could be as you can still get flu despite having the Flu jab.
ReplyDeletePat - You just can't get better than meeting up with old friends, especially when animals are involved.
DW - He knew he was in good company and it was nice to be wanted (if only for my salty hands!) At least he didn't tread on my toes : ) T's pony is wintering well but t'other one has the very spare geriatric body now, not helped by the Cushings.
Lovely post, nice to be with lovely friends and animals too of course.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear you are feeling grotty again. It sounds like you had a good visit though & the photos of the horses are so sweet. I'd love to see the bronze statue one day xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely outdoors-ey time you had. The horses indeed are lucky to be so well lokked after.
ReplyDeleteAlways lovely to see and hear about horses and ponies. I hope you shake that bug off soon and can get back to normal.
ReplyDeleteMaria - it was a lovely break and SO good to see my friends.
ReplyDeleteJo - this was partly self-inflicted as I had wine on top of a long journey (when I didn't drink enough probably in the day) and it's reared its ugly head again. Hopefully it will be gone by next Friday (when I will have had it 4 weeks!)
Louise - I'm an outdoors-ey sort of person, though it if it perishing cold or coming down sideways with rain, indoors has a lot of appeal! The horses are all very well cared for.
Suzie - Did you used to ride then? I'm hoping to Feel Completely Better next week.
Lovely to get a pony-fix, I always loved natives and one of the last ponies I owned was a New Forest from the Priory stud.
ReplyDeleteI adored those sculptures, the artist must have been a great horse lover, it kind of shows.
I am so envious of you visit to the ponies. They are all lovely.
ReplyDeleteBring moe uneaten apples next time !
Be Well !
cheers, parsnip
Parsnip - he has hay in the morning (already eaten it) and a feed in the evening, and sliced carrots too. We'd come in between feeds.
ReplyDeleteKath - you have to know horses and how they move to be able to do a sculpture like that one. it is superb. The Priory prefix is a well-respected one. I had Foresters too - Mockbeggar Maize and Windsmill Golden Girl, many many moons ago now.
The ponies are all lovely :) Hope you shake off the cold fluey bug soon.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see and hear about ponies that have been rescued and are now enjoying food, companionship and a great home. I live on Bodmin Moor and can't believe how some unscrupulous people turn out their unwanted ponies to spend miserable lives trying to survive in very harsh conditions. The native Moorland ponies are sturdy, grow thick winter coats and are hardy enough to cope with everything that the winter throws at them; these finer-boned animals are definitely not equipped to survive. Shame on those morons who just want to get rid of that once-loved but now outgrown pony.
ReplyDelete