Recent content by Fransurrey

I have the Equisafety Mercury. It sits well and is shaped. I have the yellow hi-viz, but the orange one is fabulously bright. I've had it 3 years and wash it once a year. It's starting to let water in during heavier downpours. It's wrap around and it did come with a belly strap, but I've never...

You could always borrow a tall stair gate? Also I hope you mean cat tree. Bringing the car indoors might cause issues. 😆

I just fill two large flasks with boiling water and add to a bucket with a cap of dettol and baby oil. Add a bit of cold water so I can submerge hands in it and hot cloth. He's snow white on his non-black bits and this gets him gleaming. I focus on his clipped bits and base of mane. Any left...

I also work in academia, but not research anymore. Depending on your lifestyle and experience, it's possible to earn a decent wage as a Research Fellow, but it's mostly FTC, which is why I eventually left. I now manage funding and knowledge exchange, which is quite flexible outside core hours...

I've always done intros through closed doors to start with, swapping them around after a day or so to exchange scents. It's been a long time since I did cat to dog intros, but I seem to remember we just made private spots available to the kitties, fed them up high so the dog couldn't get their...

The warmest option I've found is el cheapo thermal tights from Primark or similar, underneath summer riding tights!

My EMS pony (and current PSSM1 cob) have done fine on haylage, so I wouldn't discount it unless you know that source is too high in NSCs. I used to order pallets of meadow haylage from Baillies.

No. They're horses. They don't give a sh*te about Christmas (bit like me, really, ha ha!). They do get the peelings from the carrots, parsnips and sprouts, but that's it and I spread that over a couple of days if I feel it's too much for one sitting! Anyway, it's November. Shush.

Large trug of straw chaff if storage is big issue, or as suggested, bed on barley straw so they have something to nibble at after the hay. You could also feed more of oat straw, so worth investigating that as the main forage source.

If he's struggling with abscesses or thrush, I would make sure that he doesn't have flappy bits of frog, ask the farrier to ensure his lateral and central sulcii are opened up and treat with hoof clay (Field paste or equivalent), with the odd disinfecting hoof soak. Any chance he's metabolically...

I just wear long hiking socks! My current favourites are Moggans and Danish Endurance.

I used to use aubiose on bare earth. It helped keep their feet dry. I had to stop, though, as my cob decided it make a great toilet and made special journeys to the field to pee in there!! It was lovely before I bought him, though!

Regarding the stable, are you able to make a pen outside the stable, to give her more room/views whilst she's in? If outside is all concrete, sink some electric posts into plant pots/concrete in tubs. You may find she's much less stressed and better to handle, then.

I love this. Especially the lining up of a chocolatey treat. 😁 Well done. Funny what scares us, isn't it? I'm terrified of schooling. I always envision coming off and landing on the fence or something like the wall of death. Yet I'll happily hack alone for hours and hours and think nothing of...

Not just parasites. Ivermectin does modulate the immune system and in animal models helps restore myelin around neuronal sheaths. I have a friend who brought a load back from the US, where you can get it far too easily. She gave it to me because she couldn't stand the taste (she does have MS)...