Pony stuff

Wow - we have got some weather here today (Thursday)!! So wild and wet... Think it's all over the north and I'm sure there will be some flooding. Our stream in the bottom of the valley is flooded - not quite come over the little bridge but it has all backed up at one point and a large area of grass is under water. I am so grateful that we are up on the top because although the house gets battered in wind, at least we don't get water inside. The cattlegrid in the yard is overflowing with water and the small paddock I use for the Shetlands is like a paddling pool! Water is also leaking into the big shed where the horses are. I let them out today but they were very glad to come in!  I can tell the grass is not great at the moment because they are keen to get their nuts (tho they only get a couple of handfuls each) They are whinnying and barging about a bit when I've got the bucket so I need to be careful... It was just a silly accident but I was knocked over by Ben a while back and because I held on to his lead rein, he trampled on me while I was on the ground... Had some belting bruises. But mainly I was embarassed - who gets trampled by a 9hh shetland???

Pickles did some serious work last week with Nicola (our friend and Grazers colleague) She feels she needs a horsey challenge at the moment as her horse is out of action so she has been lungeing Pickles. He has made progress - stays out in his own circle space instead of trying to be near her and is responding to voice and rope commands to trot and canter.. BUT it is all rather tiring for him as he is learning new stuff and though he can cope with it physically, you can see in his eyes (as Nicola pointed out) that he is mentally tired!! Awww..








      So cute with his little bridle on (he has a proper

       bit in his mouth)













       'Do I have to??'






       He is cantering here - on the wrong leg (it should be the       inside leg for better balance) but he did get there eventually..













   'WOT ARE YOU LOOKING AT??'









Now a bit later - just been out to feed horses (again!!) and it is all calm. No wind or rain and the horses are all snug... Yay!!
Bye..

Donkeys

Hi, it has got cold here  - I just wanted to stay by the fire today...(no chance!) and I noticed it felt like it was getting dark as I went to the school bus stop at 4... yuck.. Oh and Beth has got the fever - singing Jingle Bells (loudly) at 7 this morning and all the christmas songs from school...   Mm.  And So It Begins.    However she is playing Mary in the play so there is that entertainment to look forward to! (it is Sally here, not Scrooge..)

So .. DONKEYS! (is there a theme here?)
We saw an ad in the local paper 2 years ago 'donkeys for sale' and immediately went 'oooh!' and phoned up.. (this was in our mad phase - the first year here, when we totally indulged our animal passion) We went along to a farm near Appleby and saw donkeys of all kinds - a cute baby one just born unexpectedly, black ones, coloured ones - heaven! The farm belongs to the people who rent out the field for the Appleby Horse Fair, which is a huge Traveller and Gypsy event that has happened every year for hundreds of years The travellers bring donkeys as well as horses with them and that's how the woman got involved (don't think her husbands so keen!) - she adores them but sometimes has to admit she's got too many....(lucky for us)

   And so we ended up with Billy.                                                           And Robbie....

       


         They are both just delightful characters!
           
                                       






Did we need them?? NO! but we wouldn't be without them and actually there is method in our madness because we want to train them to be able to pull dead tree trunks and logs. They will be able to get into the wood and manoeuvre around without doing too much damage..
Billy is a classic grey donkey - with the loudest bray you have ever heard! (poor people that stay here, with him and Cedric the cockerel in the morning....) Someone said to me that it is a strangely ugly sound to come out of such a beautiful animal! Robbie tries to bray but it is a pathetic srtangled sound.. He is more brown and white - and always looks scruffy! He is the BIG personality, playful and friendly.






Robbie on the left, Billy on the right. The woman asked us to take them together because they have been good friends since they were young..

 I was amazed to watch them play - they are like dogs somehow.. They nip each others legs, gallop round the valley chasing each other making a terrible racket, they play tug of war with whatever they can find and carry things in their mouths! They love people and will hang around you just for the fun of it...

They never fight over food (like horses do) and even let Arthur the goat share their hay (more about him another time)

                                                               'Funny old life, in it?'


Bye until next time.. Will probably have some Pickles the Pony news next..








































                                                     

A walk in the wood

We have had some 'rogue' sheep in our wood today - I spotted them from the bathroom window and realised they weren't ours.. The wood is about 10 acres and it is classified as ancient woodland because it was on the first Ordnance Survey map printed in1700 (ooooh) It is pretty special - we know there are deer, badgers, foxes and red squirrels in there - and to go in there, lean aginst an oak tree and listen to the birds and the stream, is a wonderful experience that we feel very grateful for. We are actively encouraging the regeneration of the wood SO the sheep had to be chased out.. Jonathan and Morgan were away in Edinburgh - first time experience at a rugby match (All Blacks V Scotland - amazing atmosphere apparently) so Beth and I trotted in there with Dan the sheepdog. We followed the sheep to where they had pushed up the fence over the stream to get into the wood, and I found a dead branch to put against the fence for now. I had managed to get down the steep valley side without mishap and avoided getting my legs caught in the dead ferns but as I pulled at the branch, it gave suddenly and I feel flat on my back.. Beth LOVED it - completely lost the plot and belly laughed her little socks off! We then had a wander back... (once she recovered) It;s all very 'dank' and decaying at the mo, but very atmospheric and gorgeous colours - yellow ochre, burnt sienna (I only know this since taking up painting!!) We stopped and sat at a point we call the fairy knoll...very beautiful..(could have been more so without a manic 6 year old wanting more funny falls)
The dogs are in disgrace - set off for a walk down the track with 2 dogs (no idea where Jack the Border Terrier was) continued the walk with 1 dog. as Red took off into the wood, ignoring the whistle and shouts (makes me so mad!) then on my return, had 3 dogs with me! Mad..  at least they come back - but Red is so big and noisy, she's really disruptive, whereas Jack just potters and tries to chase the odd pheasant. and my lovely Dan just stays with his Mum, bless him!
There is a connection between the donkeys and the wood, so I will explain all next time...

Introducing the horses

Hi, from wet and grey Eden Valley - very Autumnal now, leaves everywhere suddenly.... It's been a hectic couple of weeks! We went to London at half term for a few days (my old stomping ground!) to see my niece Charlotte who is now working down there and another friend - and to show the kids where I used to live.. A third floor council flat on Tulse Hill Estate is very different to here! and it seems to be both a lifetime away and just only yesterday...But good to go back and we went in Brockwell Park where I used to walk my dog Barney (bless him, my mate) and had a coffee in the very trendy (but in some ways, unchanged) Brixton Market. The kids were great, we did loads of walking as well as buses and tubes - saw a lot and really enjoyed it all. Then got back here and collapsed in a heap for a couple of days! (well I did) Nicola had been in charge of the animals and it's no easy feat remembering what animals are fed what, when so we always leave loads of notes, but it is fantastic for us that we can go away and know everything is ok at home - so many people feel tied to their farms..  Now the weather is colder, the animals are more demanding for food and are fed twice a day. I am still careful about how much grass the horses are getting, even though it is not rich any more, because Ben is prone to laminitis (inflammation in his feet, brought on by too much protein and sugars in food) and I have to watch his weight. Luckily, Son of Ben, Pickles (do they know they are father and son?) has not had laminitis, but I am not taking any chances so he is company for Ben in the 'starvation' paddock and when I bring them in.. Very funny to watch them together, grooming and biting, galloping and rearing up... Dinky is such an old girl (30 plus/) but so healthy that I let her have more. She is very hardy and I think this is because she is a Fell pony (native to Cumbria) I will get in touch at some point with the place that had her as a brood mare (think she had about 18 foals!) and let them know how well she is..
So here are horsey pics...

This is Ben - about 12 and we have had him since 2006 when my sister bought him from a hose sale AS A SURPISE for us!! We wanted a companion for our goat Merlin - but Ben being a little gobby stallion, nipped and terrified Merlin till we got him done (Ben, that is...on our lawn...interesting) BUT before then, we loaned him out to a fat black and white pony called Tinkerbell..and the result was...

Pickles!! about 3 now - very very cheeky and funny.. He is a 'mouthy' pony and sometimes nips but always goes 'OH, I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT!!!'  He is very chilled, nothing bothers him (unlike Ben, who I had to do a lot of work with to relax him .. don't know what had happened to him before) and I am bringing him on so that Beth can ride him.. He would be fun to drive too (tho I don't really know about that yet)

This is Dinky - not a great pic of her, she was hungry and wouldn't stand still! She is about 14.2 and classic Fell. She is quite grey on her face but still beautuful - and can move when she wants to! I ride her sometimes, but mainly it's Beth and her friends that mess about with her. She is a great confidence boosting pony and I trust her in the stable totally..



so that's the 'herd'...
They now are trained to come to a bucket of rattling nuts so I don't have to climb up the side of the valley and all over to get them (used to be a real pain)  However the first time I rattled the bucket, I had the sheep and donkeys following me rather than my intended targets!! Foolish... But fantastic to see them now, galloping to me when they hear the buckets.

So...the donkeys come next! (could write an essay about those two!!)
Bye...

Working on the track

Hello...
Well, the weekend saw the most glorious weather up here (like most of the country, I think) - cerulean blue skies and warm sunshine with just a hint of crispness to remind us it was Autumn.  Some of the trees in the area are turning yellow and orange though the ones in our valley are pretty much still green. I still pinch myself at times to check that living in this beautiful place with all its serene space is not a dream!
BUT we had the track to 'fettle' (love that word - think it's Yorkshire?)  - half a mile of shovelling ex road planings from the loader, raking it then rollering over it with the mini roller borrowed from our farmer/builder neighbour. We didn't do it all - though it felt like it! - just concentrated on the bits that had been washed away by the monsoon type rain we had in the summer. Hard work but very satisfying... Both kids were great! (Morgan fuelled by the thought of his pay - and Beth because that's how she is!!)

Funny, wondering where the planings came from.. there were yellow bits that must have been yellow lines, so must have been somewhere urban... So once a road in a town, now ended up crushed and remaking a track in Cumbria.. Recycling at its most exciting!?

Jonathan has been trundling off with the trailer full of haylage to deliver it as far as Lancashire. He advertised the haylage for sale on Preloved, a site that not everybody, it seems, has heard of. It has worked well for us so far - we also sold our Angora goats on there (see Barnacre Alpacas)



I took pics of the animals so that I could introduce them but OMG, there is so much to say it is overwhelming - and you have to REALLY LIKE animals to appreciate all this I think! 

So here is a quick introduction...

Here is Simba - and he is the King... rules the dogs (and us)
More about him another time..

    This is Red and Jack, looking nervous! (not normally asked to sit on the kitchen window seat) The term 'barking' (as in mad) comes from someone who must have met Red.. She is a German wire haired pointer..and there are many many stories to tell . Jack is a border terrier - very sweet, with the most perfect eyeliner (he really looks like he's got it on) but he likes to wander and goes conveniently deaf to shouts and whistles.. He spent the first few weeks of life with us cowering whenver he saw Simba, who used to box his ears! aawww...

This is Dan, my adopted sheepdog - a very happy character, always wagging his tail.. (though still not brilliant at being a sheepdog, but that's because of me) He has to put up with Red - they both sleep outside in the shed - very cosy because of the wood burning boiler that heats the barns and office - they have their own personal central heating!







So that's the cat and dogs.. much more to come on them.. I will do horses and maybe donkeys next!
Bye for now..

Hello!

Hello - and welcome to Gill Bank Farm blog!

This is just an introduction for now - we hope to start blogging regularly some time next week.

Gill Bank Farm is in Cumbria, with the atmospheric  fells nearby on one side and the beautiful Lakeland fells in the distance on the other. We came here in December 2009. It is our dream home - one we waited and hoped for and visualised for many years - and we intend to be here for a very long time!

'We' are Jonathan and Sally and our children, Morgan (14) and Bethany (6) - also our many characterful animals, who I will introduce in the next blog.

See this space for silly animal tales, farming stories, trips around the Eden Valley and Lake District, and a general description of our family life here in Cumbria..

Bye for now!

Sally