Apologies to all that have languished without news from Deacons Gate Shires, it’s been another hectic month and every week I have thought…… I must update the blog but with all best intentions something always gets in the way (some things could be classified as procrastination of course) ssshhh don’t tell anyone!

As with any report where one whinges about not getting rain… it rained (40ml) the day the blog posted last month so that freshened up the paddocks for a week – no rain since of course. The short lived green has now past and the horses spend their time nuzzling through the dried out paddocks searching for any missed tendrils of green. Despite the return to dust and dryness, Raine has put on some weight and stabilized with his new feed so he’s a lot happier in himself these days pottering about keeping the other minis in line.

The biggins are much happier now that everyone is home. Duchess returned from her fortnight away behaving beautifully and initially she was really cooperative when we started our new daily routines, working her morning and night and smug us had plans to incorporate Rebs into the same routine when he got home. That is until D spat the dummy and refused to move after the first 3 days – ever tried to move an 800kg horse when they don’t want to? Well I do exaggerate.. It wasn’t that bad, she just refused to trot but our little balloons were crushed – our freshly trained mare was NOT doing what she was asked and Rebs was away getting his “education” what if it doesn’t work!!!

Rang the trainer for advice who advised to let her be… D’s just completed 2 full weeks of work every day, she just wants a break so give her a week off. Magic of course, a weekend later D was happy to work and do everything asked of her and enjoyed it – so now the working is done on weekends with everyone involved. Pearl doesn’t like missing out so she would trot and back up in tandem with D and vice versa when we haltered P and let D follow up behind… quite an interesting sight to see the two processing commands together.

Taybah has well and truly healed since the attack last month and the neighbours have finally secured the boundary so their dogs have been contained so everyone is happy… still after so many years of worry of an impending attack, it will be a long while before we can completely trust it’s totally secure, we’ve just got used to chaperoning the dogs everywhere they go. Our friends are still scared to stop at that side of the property for fear they will come through, sadly it’s not the dogs’ fault but all it takes is the one occurrence to make a person fearful forever of the wrong thing.

We’ve also had to spend considerable time containing two of our ducks that discovered the delights of the back neighbours dam. Quite a treck from our little dam for two little ducks but they dutifully made the trip every day and refused to come home – so each night on Dale’s return from work he’d have to go out and roust them back, of course they’d have to swim from side to side a few times before feeling the pressure and make their way up the steep walls of the dam (Dale stumbling up in the dark behind them), through the scrub (Dale weaving about trying to avoid the cow poo), under the gate, through the barb and alleyway (Dale would have to run around through the gates and come back to them on the other side) and back over to our dam (stop for a swim or two across) before heading back to the pens. So one Saturday I meshed the 300m stretch of the back boundry and gate and so far they’ve not been able to breech the divide, well once… but that got sorted (we think the horses stepped on the wire bending it out enough to allow egress). Happily for us and not so for the foxes we now have returning ducks each night.

Rebel came home last weekend and we’ve left him till now to do any work so that he has his due rest. With the dust storm hitting us today it’s way too windy and not that we think he won’t be fine, it’s about making every training session a positive one so tomorrow we do some float refreshers and lead work…. promise. The dust just gotn worse as the day wore on, looks like fog but gets into everything making your mouth gritty, eyes sting and the blustery winds just sucked the moisture out of any exposed skin, glad to see the end of it tomorrow.

.

The truck has been checked for rego and with a short list of fixes (Harold “our man of many talents” has done a superb job on the muffler and bracket replacement – rusty job was held in place with a bit of old wire) we have until next Tuesday to re-present it and the trailer for final inspection and then the prize is we get to pay a fortune to re-register it for another year – Yay. Has to be done though as the cost of hiring transport that fits 3 BIG horses is not readily available when you need it or at all for local shows and things. The aircon in the gooseneck is kaput so that’s the next thing to replace prior to next year’s May Heavy Horse Day.

Sunday is the Gatton Heavy Horse Field Day AGM so that has consumed a lot of our time preparing. Afterwards we’re holding a group discussion with a cross selection of participants and competitors to gather ideas and suggestions for 2010. Hoping to get some terrific ideas from this get together as 2010 needs a fresh approach to shake up the whole shebang – we need to get the crowds in to see the horses working and the participants happy to take part. If you have any comments or tips, ideas please send them through to me.

We’ve re-addressed our feed regime as the stuff we are feeding isn’t supplying all the minerals and nutrients our big guys need as D started chewing every tree in the paddock and with 1 barristock block lasting a week (should last 4 weeks) we have had to seriously check out alternative products. We’ve spoken to a few feed suppliers and breeders to suss what they are all doing/promoting and think we’ve got the transition worked out to a selection of products that should supplement our circumstances very well.

On a final note we discovered Pearl has an addiction – she stands for hours over the stunted olive tree in the mare paddock and scratches her belly, whilst the camera doesn’t capture her quivering lips and slow side to side movements, trust me she is. She stands here most of the day barely moving an inch in any particular direction once in position

Just so that everyone knows, Clive has helped with the blog tonight, lovingly selecting the occasional key to ensure I remember to scratch his ears (Gawd look at how grotty the keyboard is… another job sigh).  Night everyone 🙂