Darcy & Altibo Updates

- d a r c y -

Having a chat with his pal Cookie in the stables.
Darcy's been enjoying a spell over the past few weeks, and is coming back into work without a trace of stiffness - or sensibleness. His coat's coming through (and his Winter fur is flying out in handfuls, mostly into my mouth it seems...) and he's looking sensational. He was moved to a paddock next to a 17.2hh mare, who appeared to terrify him, but now he's got two whole paddocks and some fresh Spring grass in the laneway, as well as two overflowing buckets of hard feed a day to get some condition up.

Pretending to be a Brumby in the round yard.
We had a fun time in the round yard yesterday, and after he finally settled down he did the most perfect, lovely extended trot I've seen. I was quite unaware he could have such beautiful action after having only seen him hobble and lurch around recently.

Got racehorse?

He had a much needed bath after his work out yesterday, and even had Cameron put a 3 minute conditioning treatment through his mane and tail! He smells nicely of peaches now, which I'm sure wont last too long. He's moving to his new agistment place on the 1st, where he will be sharing a paddock with my other boy, Altibo.

Pre-bath glossiness - and that tail just keeps growing and growing!

- a l t i b o -

'Gimme that! Now!'
Altibo is certainly a character. Part giraffe, part horse, he can contort himself into the most bizarre way to get to what he suspects might be a carrot. He's nearly consumed my phone, a hoof pick and my sunglasses in several seperate attacks.

Death by horseback.
We're having weekly lessons (and I will on D Boy too, when he moves there) and I fall off after a half hour, sweating, incoherent and unable to move. I have never worked so hard in my life - Alt is the sort of horse you have to make do EVERY little thing I take for granted (i.e don't randomly turn left/halt/do some strange humping motion the second I take a tiny bit of pressure off the rein etc) but I certainly feel like I've acompished something when we're lucky enough to do a semi-decent circle at a trot together.

Posing for carrots :)
On the ground, D and Alt are very similar ponies. They're both super alert of where I am at all times, pick their feet up the second I ask them, constantly maul me for any trace of food. I can leave them unsupervised with Cameron and I can be assured I wont return to find him, laying mangled and kicked to death from his amusing attempts at rugging/bridling etc.
I'm looking forward to having them both together and not having Livery any more, so I can spend my mornings feeding out and grooming, and, lets face it, swimming in the dam with them in Summer.

He loves the attention.
No, really.