April 11, 2020
Kensington Country Store was a source of joy for me. Three times I have purchased Snow Peas and Sugar Snaps. I came home and stored them in a safe place. So safe I haven’t found them yet. I always plant peas early. One year I planted them March 29th and had peas on June 6. Most snow pea varieties take 60 days to mature. Next part of the story, I asked if they had common timothy seed in stock. The answer was yes, another customer asked me what I did with the seed. So I explained Frost Seeding. At home in my B.C. mountains there is not a lot of topsoil on those rocks. We rarely tilled the pastures. Now is the perfect time to renew pastures by spreading grass seed. Warm days open the earth and accept the seed, cold nights close the earth around the seed. I think it is a European technique, My Swede and my Brit know and understand the technique. Island farmers give me that look, so I haven’t found anyone with a machine that will do the job for me. Every spring I broadcast the seed by hand. Now the best part of the Country Store story!!. The lady said I will buy your seeds for you. That to me meant that the Snow peas will germinate and produce bountifully. A gift is a gift eh!. I was handed the receipt and told to pick up the seed at the dock. This gift brought me to tears, she paid for my Timothy seed. I am going to have the very best pastures in South Granville. A gift expands 10 times according to the good book.
I do the very best I can for the herd, with a very small pocketbook. Trailblazers are posting pictures of the horses after the winter, check out Handibear Hills Facebook page and see how well they look coming out of the winter. Nature is a wonderful thing and I let her do a lot of the work. I do not blanket the horses, they are outside almost 24/7. They do come in when the wind is 80klicks plus and the wind chill is more than 20 below. I do not trim manes or brush tails. Their long tresses are the only defense against flies. I wish the Standies had heavier forelocks. I like forelocks that come down over the eyes. Those blasted flies always go for the wet parts. If their tails get matted, I dip them in a bucket of warm water with some laundry softener and that takes care of the tangles. I do not braid tails for the field. Through experience with my own braids, braiding breaks the hair at the top by putting too much weight on the hair shafts. In the time we did shows, I taught the kids how to do an Andalusian or Draft horse mane braid. Horses have a very thin hides, and I protect it as much as I can. I always made girth covers to prevent girth galls. I have since discovered the fuzzy girth and that is what we use now. I make sure the girth is the right length, so the buckles are not behind the elbow. Every time the elbow hits the buckle, there is a bruise, it hurts and they will shorten their stride. The first Standies that came to the Sanctuary had all kinds of harness scars, grandfather would have had a fit, that meant the caretaker did not fit the harness properly. My driving harness has lots of protection for the ponies and the horses, we do a lot of long distance, hilly drives, their tender hides need a lot of protection.
After any riding or driving, I expect that the girth area and every leg be massaged with Witch Hazel, at least 3 minutes for each leg, the driving ponies are massaged where the harness hangs. And every exercise is finished with a strong muscle massage, leg stretches and tail pulls. The horses that had injuries need a deeper liniment to keep them sound. I mix a liniment of Witch Hazel, Asorbine and a crushed camphor block for their massage. When I hit the stable, it pleases me to get that glorious liniment smell. Then I know my Trailblazers have learned well, and care for the horses the way grandfather would have it done. When all this self distancing is done, I would love to give a hands on instruction for the things we do to keep horses comfortable and sound. I would love to share my massage cheat sheet. I hope you are all studying muscle and bone structure of the horse.
Keep well, I give you all virtual love and hugs from the herd and I.