So all mares have been covered and still two to scan to confirming they are in foal.  That should happen this week. One mare has a lot of cysts and it is proving difficult to find a heart beat. Although her humour has changed so Ann is fairly confident she is in foal.

One more field to top and tidy up before Autumn sets in. We use an aerator or slitter to treat our fields . I think this year of all years it has showed its worth as grass has been in good supply and steady growth. They say a slitter can help produce 30% more grass and it saves on spreading fertiliser. Hopefully if the ground dries up some more we will slit all our fields again. It is a great boost to surface drainage. With horses they really pan the ground being not cloven hoofed so the slitting helps break the surface up without destroying the grass. Plus you don’t have to shut the fields off from the horses whilst you do it.

We haven’t got very far with our field shelters. The steel legs have been modified to a more secure footing so they should get planted this coming week. 

Sorting through some old photos and I came across this picture of Caerba Legacy as a foal. The scary thing is this looks very much our current colt foal!

Talking of raves from the graves there was this picture of Caerba March Mavis from her hay day. Well she is enjoying her retirement and keeps the others in order. Unfortunately over time like most of us here she has far more grey hair now than she should!

21st August

Filed under: Irish Draught Horses, Toux