Update on Itsy

On Tuesday my husband and I went down to Pembrokeshire to see how Itsy had settled in. She has been there since early November and is now part of the herd, though there is a definite pecking order, with Pippin as Boss. I thought she would remember me, but her new life is far more important, and I did create complete herd anarchy by taking down some carrots for them, so there were ponies jostling each other for grub. She was very relaxed, and isn't bottom of the pecking order any more as she was here. She considers herself above Maisie, the rising 3 Exmoor filly, but when Maisie goes back home, I assume she may be below Bullseye then.

Maggie and Brian have a far better set-up on their smallholding than we ever had here, as they have fields to use and fields to rest, and drier better-drained land than us (our top field became an absolute quagmire each winter as it drained to the bottom). The ponies have a more natural lifestyle as they are currently on 8 acres, and can move around in a bigger grazing pattern than they had here, mimicking how they would act in the wild, where they would have had unlimited grazing.



Stay right THERE . . .

A carrot for Itsy, with Pippin looking hopeful.


Maisie.

Pippin re-establishing the pecking order after Itsy and Maisie had been having a kicking match!

Itsy finding some nettle roots, which are good for cooling the blood . . .

Bullseye who was a rescue pony.



They are brought in when the weather is foul, and had been in the night before. Itsy was in her "pyjamas" - in other words, had a stable rug on to keep her cosy whilst her turnout rugs were drying. It was a pretty cold day but we missed the brief hail shower I am glad to say. I should think the stable rug went straight into the washing machine as she decided she would have a good roll . . .




It was so good to see her so happy and well cared for, and clearly adored by two little girls . . .

The end of an era

Itsy-bits . . .



I have been careful not to mention our horses on here. I'm not very good with reality, and not very good with having to let go either - I seem to have been doing an awful lot of letting go in the past two years, what with our daughters going off to Universities in the North of England, mum dieing last year, and now it is the horses leaving me. My darling boy, Fahly, went in June. Maggie will be going up to Scotland at the end of the month. Today little Itsy is going.

She came to us as a Rescue - someone had bought half a dozen unhandled yearlings from the killing pen at the local horse sale. Being a filly, she wouldn't have gone for meat, but she almost certainly would have gone for breeding, and not had a very enjoyable life. We were given her when she was 18 mths old, and still unhandled. She arrived scrawny and wormy, with a big fat tummy, and looked just like a spider, hence her name (from Itsy Bitsy Spider). Anyway, she has never done a great deal, being happy to be a companion to Fahly and Maggie. She has been gently broken in, but not done much at all, though I've had her shod and led her around the lanes this summer, with my middle daughter riding her. Now she is going to a family in North Devon, and is going to be a much-loved family pony. A family friend down there will be riding her out and getting her used to her new life, and schooled on.

Good Luck Itsy.

Itsy-bits

Click on photo to enlarge.




Itsy was the start of my return to horses after a break of several years. She was given to us by a local lady, and had been rescued from the "killing pen" at the local horse sale. She was unhandled and pin toed and thin from being bullied away from her food by a much bigger cob. We have had her 7 years now and she will be 9 in August. She is a Section C Welsh mare.

We haven't done much with her as she was always meant to be just a companion, but she has been backed, bitted, lunged and long-reined and when my daughters were at home, she had some outings. Now she is having outings again with me as she too will need to find a new home this year. She is well-behaved, though she hasn't seen much traffic. Fortunately our lanes are fairly quiet.