And we’re there...

They certainly don’t care about colour but an inflatable flopping around I thought might be bothersome, he looked but settled by the time we got there. Hopefully he’s the same at Christmas once everyone gets their inflatables out lol
 
Another challenge yesterday, unfortunately not one he coped so well with.
The neighbours bee's swarmed, right next to the gate to the boys field, so there's the neighbour and his wife running around in bee suits, and 2 helpers not in suits screaming, throwing clothes off and running away as they got stung :oops: and of course the bee swarm to contend with. This all went on for well over an hour, enough to have him and Hank pretty skitty. Scratched the planned walk as didn't fancy my chances of getting them out and back in the gate without incidence.
 
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Nobody stung at your end, I hope? I have to say the whole thing sounds a bit Benny Hill...
Benny Hill is about right, the music would have fit!
No I don't think so, not while I was there anyway, but unfortunately with the horse flies in full swing no one has escaped without a few lumps and bumps.
 
I've been so busy and the horse flies so bad I've not been doing a lot with Niko. I still haven't got the weight tape and measuring stick on him, but they're in the car ready for when I next get a second (when it's not raining!).
I've bitted him up a couple of times just while he waited for his dinner, then the other night we tried a little bit of flexing off of the bit, he was really good towards me, but flexing away from me he was a bit sticky one way. He didn't object at all, just didn't understand, for a first attempt I was really happy :D
I've also been hanging on him, just arm looped over his back, leaning on him and hanging on with as much of my weight as I can manage, jumping up and down against his side, he really couldn't give two hoots :D
I'm quite looking forward to getting him home in 2 weeks so I can do a little more (as we don't get the horse flies at home) and get him long reining and properly saddled. I have no intention of getting on anytime soon, but am hoping to do an in hand trek with an overnight stay before the summer is out and he'll need to carry some of the gear.
 
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He is a dude. It's lovely to hear that you are getting on so well.

The horse flies - how bad are they? I have never seen as many as this year, and they are enormous, too. They leave great smears of blood when I whap them. Vile things.
 
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He is a dude. It's lovely to hear that you are getting on so well.

The horse flies - how bad are they? I have never seen as many as this year, and they are enormous, too. They leave great smears of blood when I whap them. Vile things.
There’s swarms of them, some nights it’s a gauntlet to dash through into the stables and I’ll still swat a dozen off me.

He was unusually skitty tonight. Somehow he’d undone one of his leg straps and had a few scrapes up the inside of his back legs so assume he’d scared himself, they’re elastic ones so probably stood on and pinged a few times.

He settled down pretty quickly, so we measured (15hh and half an inch), weighed (430kg, not as much as I thought he’d have gained), had a poly pad, gel pad (for weight) and surcingle on. Then bridle and reins and we had a little walk about in and outside the stable, stop, go, turn and back all reasonably well 😁 I hope to lunge with a loose line around his bum later this week and stick him in long lines at the weekend 🤞 does depend a bit on the weather and horse flies tho!
 
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The rock star does it again 🤩
Very first lap on the lunge with pad and surcingle
And quickly progressed to long lines, this was after about 3-4 minutes
Some wobbly figure 8’s and a couple of sticky bits on the turns but no dramas! I really can’t wait to be riding him, in a couple of years we’ll be off exploring the world 😁
 
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The rock star does it again 🤩
Very first lap on the lunge with pad and surcingle
And quickly progressed to long lines, this was after about 3-4 minutes
Some wobbly figure 8’s and a couple of sticky bits on the turns but no dramas! I really can’t wait to be riding him, in a couple of years we’ll be off exploring the world 😁
Bless his wee heart.What an honest lad he is!
 
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Niko has both grown out of, and trashed, his 4 week old fly rug! The neck was in shreds last night, I'm guessing he got it caught on whichever post he was scratching on. He's going to have to lump it for a bit though, I'll patch it up and hopefully can make it last till it cools off enough that he can have the waterproof one back on (that I bought 2 weeks before that one). because I'll be broke at the rate he's going through them.
 
Niko has both grown out of, and trashed, his 4 week old fly rug! The neck was in shreds last night, I'm guessing he got it caught on whichever post he was scratching on. He's going to have to lump it for a bit though, I'll patch it up and hopefully can make it last till it cools off enough that he can have the waterproof one back on (that I bought 2 weeks before that one). because I'll be broke at the rate he's going through them.
Oh dear, sounds like he's channelling Ramsey - rug ripper extraordinaire!
 
The one good thing about fly rugs, is that you can stitch them up yourself. My nightmare was the winter rugs.
 
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The one good thing about fly rugs, is that you can stitch them up yourself. My nightmare was the winter rugs.
I stitch those by hand too, occasionally with a pair of pliers! They’re much easier now than the old canvas ones were but those rarely ripped!
 
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Funny story. In the early days, I had a spell of going up on winter mornings and finding Ramsey unrugged, with the rug lying half undone on the ground. I presumed it was some nasty person with a grudge. One day I happened to go back to the gate after turning him out. Cassie, a retired racehorse, and field boss, was diligently undoing the front buckle (old new Zealand type rug), with his teeth, while Ramsey stood patiently, then walked out of the rug, leaving it on the ground.
 
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Funny story. In the early days, I had a spell of going up on winter mornings and finding Ramsey unrugged, with the rug lying half undone on the ground. I presumed it was some nasty person with a grudge. One day I happened to go back to the gate after turning him out. Cassie, a retired racehorse, and field boss, was diligently undoing the front buckle (old new Zealand type rug), with his teeth, while Ramsey stood patiently, then walked out of the rug, leaving it on the ground.
Haha brilliant!
 
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The boy has such a character, I arrived today and started poo picking so he comes over to see, messes with the wheelbarrow, tries to steal my hat etc., then walks off looking over his shoulder to see if I’m coming too 😆 goes and puts himself in his stable and eventually pokes his head round the corner looking for me to follow and feed him, It must have been 10 minutes before he forgot what he was waiting for and wandered out to continue eating grass 🤣

This is the mess he made of his rug, I’ve not tried fixing it yet, keep forgetting to take a needle and thread with me
49B32312-25D5-483B-BF4B-6EE906D997E5.jpeg
 
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