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• Mark is managing to do some wee walks with Beau now (after his left knee replacement in November ’25) which means I can get some time with S&B in their big field, feeding time, poo picking and doing bits of liberty connection 😉 

Sat 7th

Fab to finally get the rugs off S&B for a few days (hopefully)….they really really enjoyed a huge groom from me and then mutual grooming while I was poo picking the field 😉 Great to see 🙂

While I was cleaning the field Bella came over for a while. When she does this I always find a game or two to play at liberty with her to top up our connection jar and to give her a brain stretch 😉

Mon 9th

B’fast with S&B, they’re watching the farmer on the road when his car stopped to check some stock….they’re always aware of what’s going on

I made time after my chores to put together a small basic agility course so that when I want it it’s set up ready to go.

2 x different narrow gaps along a fence, 4 trot poles, 5 coloured jump wings for the weave and fig 8’s, a road drain pipe for some sidepass or jump and two stacked tyres making up a square with 2 jump wings and the pipe where we can do some nice turns with either the fh or hq’s 😉

Tue 10th

Not the greatest of pics as only had my phone to hand today BUT it shows that when we CAN play, we DO play. It’s usually at feed time (when they are wanting their apples) and at liberty 😉
Here’s todays offerings 😉

Bella….right then left foot on the medium pedestal

Storm and Bella trying to get their feet on the medium ped together. lol

Bella putting her left then right feet on the small pedestal

Stormy gets in on the act with the small pedestal putting his right foot on it 😉

Bella putting 2 feet then all 4 feet on the big pedestal 😉 🙂

Fri 13th

OMGoodness…..IT’s DRY….IT’s SUNNY (although -5*) and we’re all LOVING IT 🙂

S&B this morning at breakfast while the sun came up 😉

Took the opportunity to play with Bella online (Stormy followed us step for step at liberty) and get our connection sorted out and then I had the pleasure of riding Storm, then Bella bareback. Not a lot, just walking gently around the agility course and seeing how my riding cues were going 😉

What a good morning it was. Both horses were light to my cues (online and ridden) and they really enjoyed stretching their legs and minds <3

Sat 14th

Well what a great day (although -7* this morning)…..This is Mark’s first ride on Stormy since having his knee replacement operation, it’s been 3 months, 3 weeks 🙂 AND he thoroughly enjoyed himself 😉

Even having a wee ‘yeehaa’ up the hillock 😉 <3

I also had my 2nd ride this year on Bella 😉 Enjoying the sunshine and each other 😉

Sidepass

Trot poles

Trot weave.

We didn’t do very long (as our faces and ears were getting cold) but it was joyous to be out in the afternoon with our two beasties and each other on Valentines Day <3

Sun 15th

AND….just after a lovely 2 warm, sunny day the weather gods make sure we still remember it’s Winter out there….we have had 3″ of snow overnight and this afternoon it’s snowing again! ;( hey ho ;(

S&B’s rugs were on overnight last night, we went down at night to put them on as it was dipping to -4* again, then off during the day as it went up to 2*.

Tonight is going to be -3* (probably colder), it should stop snowing before nightfall but S&B will be wet after their dinner. They’ve got their other, dry rugs on tonight 😉

Some pics of our wee doggie Beau enjoying the surprise of snow this morning.

AND….some pics from dog walk this morning….

AND NO, I wasn’t taking black/white pics LOL 🙂

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL & I HOPE 2026 IS A GOOD ONE 🙂

New Years Eve we had a smattering of snow overnight and some very very rare local fireworks going off (hate, hate, hate noisy fireworks! 🙁 ) SO Mark and I popped out just before midnight to keep an eye on S&B, make sure they weren’t frightened or running around (luckily the fireworks were about 2 miles away BUT very very noisy 🙁 ). S&B did very well, just stood and watched in the direction all the noise and lights were coming from. I went over to them after the 9 minutes they were on for and gave them some very nice treats for being so good when that was going on 🙂

We rugged S&B tonight as there was snow due and it was around -8* overnight,

Thu 1st Jan

Not much going on at the moment with S&B, the ground is really hard and we had a bit more snow today.  They kept their rugs on today as it was still around -7* all day.

Fri 2nd Jan

Still cold but the sun is shining this morning SO rugs off so S&B can get some Vit D and warm up a bit. We gave them a nice brush and got the rugs into the house to dry/warm up a bit in case we need to pop them back on tonight.

Mon 5th + Tue 6th

All blue rugged up for the cold, even wee Bodie Beau

We call S&B over as we have a weather warning for snow today….to change their rugs

They now have slightly bigger red rugs on with necks so the snow doesn’t melt down their necks and onto their shoulders 😉

Both now snug and cosy ready for snowfall.

AND this afternoon at feeding time (around 3.30pm) it was still snowing…..

Mon 12th

Well, we had a lot of snow with quite a lot of flurries over the last week so it was about 6″ deep.

With the damp and the freezing temps we put their rugs on which kept them cosy.

From around 4pm yesterday until this morning we’ve had rain, quite a lot of heavy rain and then lots of drizzle SO….a lot of water everywhere and a lot of the snow gone which is fab. SO…RUGS OFF this morning…yeehaa. And S&B thoroughly enjoyed their brushes which helps to relieve any itching, get some rug scurf off and gets their hair folicules up and working again to keep them warm 😉 🙂 🙂

Happy S&B, Happy owners too 🙂

Tues 20th

Unbelievably S&B have been in the house paddocks since xmas eve, almost a month, and this is the first time really that I’ve been able to walk them out.

The trimmer is coming on Thurs so I wanted to re-connect to them before that and also make sure that when they come out of the paddock gate they don’t automatically think they’re going back to their big field (not able to stand still or pay attention) so a walk out was a good move.

They did really well, walked over a field and a bit in front of the house, waited patiently then walked back with plenty of halts and backups along the way 😉

Sun 25th Jan

OMG, we’ve had 5 days of heavy rain and wind, this luckily took all the snow/ice away from the tracks BUT has now caused lots of flooding around the countryside 🙁

We’ve not been flooded ourselves but the horses have had to be rugged with necks on as no shelter really up here. They’ve been staying close to the feed station behind our house and garage and staying warm and dry under their rugs (thank goodness) and it looks like we’ve got 2 more days of it here before we can even think about taking them back down to their field (if it’s not flooded) AND then we have about 5 more days of light rain/drizzle coming. It’s been awful.

Our coats/leggings are constantly wet, we also changed rugs on S&B so the other ones are trying to dry in our spare room and all the coats, hats etc drying in our lounge 🙁 What a mess and I’ll be SO glad to get into a dry, mild Spring (if we’re getting that) 🙂

Tues 27

We have now had a week of constant heavy rain and back to the gusts of high winds today too ;( 🙁 🙁

We checked the big field yesterday to make sure everything was still good for S&B going back to it soon and apart from a couple of electric fences broken, which were easily fixed, and some large bird poo splats in the shelter all was not bad at all…in fact there were some Barn Owl pellets (poops) in the shelter too so we’re happy the birds took shelter in our shelter but hope they find other places to sleep when S&B return 😉 lol

We were planning on taking S&B back tomorrow, supposedly a day of dry calmness BUT our farrier has rescheduled his visit for Friday (probably more drizzly rain so may not happen!!) SO we’re going to keep them up at the house until then and if he can’t make it then I’m taking them down to the big field and his next visit will have to be re-organised.

Friends etc are saying Spring will be here soon but we know we have Feb and March to get through yet so just trying to hang on in there and hope this year isn’t one of extremes 😉

Weds 28th

Well the Met Office was right and today we have a DRY, MILD day 😉 🙂 🙂

Absolute bliss to be able to take S&B’s heavy, very wet rugs off and give them both a super scratchy groom which they thoroughly enjoyed.

So lovely to let them be naked for a while.

Not sure what kind of wet weather is ahead for the next 5 days, Met Office says changeable from light to heavy rain through out SO we’re hoping to allow S&B to be naked for a while (light rain and warmer temps is fine for that) but we have rugs ready with necks if it decides to go to freezing again 🙂

Sat 31st

YEEHAAAA…..S&B finally back in their big field after 5 weeks in the home paddocks. We’ll miss them a lot not being close by but they were very happy to be back in the big field and Bella showed us how happy she was by jumping in the air at the front and kicking out behind on the hill as she realised she had the space to run around (airs above ground come to mind…not bad for a 740kg drafty)

It’s still a bit drizzly but mild in temperature and the farrier trimmed their hooves yesterday so they have a nice 6 weeks down there before they come back for their next trim. I hope and pray we get some nice days so I can get out to do some basic agility with them soon but just being there, moving about grazing and going up and down the hills will really fitten them up without me doing a thing

Field is a bit flooded in places but that just means S&B have fresh drinking water! 🙂 LOL

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk

<3 WOW, it’s DECEMBER already….

Not a lot happening at moment here apart from wind and rainy weather (which is putting play or riding on the shelf for now).

S&B will be coming to the house on Weds 11th (farrier coming to trim hooves on Thurs) so hopefully get a chance to ride Stormy up, leading Bella BUT if it’s going to rain then I’ll walk them up….hopefully get a pic or two then 🙂

Weds 10th

Well it seems we’ve been lucky to mostly miss a lot of Storm Bram, yes we had some 50mph wind and quite a bit of rain but really not as much as we thought so that’s good.

We still have the farrier coming up tomorrow, to trim their hooves, so we took a chance on the weather (it’s still on/off rain here) and managed to get S&B back to the house ready for that. I togged up in case of rain, luckily as it did drizzle a bit and S&B walked beautifully for me. I wanted to ride but they were so wet from days and days of rain ;( BUT it was good to walk with them, thank goodness Stormy is a very solid horse as I hung on to him a couple of times as I was walking in deep puddles and squishy mud. lol.

All home and hopefully the rain will eventually stop tonight. Tomorrow is supposed to be dry, the farrier will be pleased to hear that as we have nowhere for him to work under cover (apart from a large umbrella) lol 😉

Fri 12th

Farrier came yesterday and their hooves are looking fab.u.lous 😉 They spent the night at the house and today I rode Bella back to the big field while leading Stormy 😉

Considering I’ve not ridden her for nearly a month she was a total STAR <3 She walked calmly the whole way and did a wee trot just before the end and she was sound (not lame) and happy to trot 😉 They’re very happy to be back in the big field and stretched their legs. The next visit to the house will be before xmas, staying up here over the xmas and new year week (there is a local hotel doing fireworks this year, the first in 15yrs since we’ve been here so am trying to keep the horses as far away as possible for that stupid event!!!).

Anyway, some pics from today…

Lovely to have a dry day, bit chilly but that’s not bad.

Mark came on the quad bike and opened all the gates for us 😉 Water crossing, no problem.

Keeping Stormy from going in front was the main issue, he soon settled further behind once he realised he wasn’t leading 😉

I thought we’d both go through the gateway BUT Stormy always has his own idea’s 🙂 LOL

And a wee trot just before the field…Bella sound and happy to trot thank goodness 😉

Really enjoyed the ride home and it was fab that Mark is ok to drive the quad bike so I didn’t have to walk all the way home again 😉

Wed 24th (Xmas Eve)

S&B happily back to the house for the Xmas week. Hope they enjoy the change, think I will 😉 Then maybe back to the big field around 3rd January after worming 😉

Just a few pics from the afternoon 😉

• Shelley – HorseSavvy.co.uk