My next equine project horse

AdorableAlice

AdorableAlice

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Little Ted has decided everyone is his friend and is now greeting all and sundry with a large wet tongue stuck somewhere inappropriate.

For those of you familiar with the midnight ramble thread, you will know we have a footpath. Yesterday saw the Duke of Edinburgh Award children on the footpath. Excellent education for Ted and it was rather nice to see him greet them without fear. He even allowed several of the children to stroke his face.

I left him to it and carried on with jobs, until I heard a scream followed by 'he's got my rucksack' and 'get him to put me down'.

A quick look over the gate revealed Ted with his face stuck in the poor childs rucksack having a good root round in it. I pacified the child by telling her Ted was looking for sweets and he didn't mean to frighten her !

This is Ted's 'wasn't me face'.
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AdorableAlice

AdorableAlice

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Kallibear - not shoes ! Ted has never seen a farrier or had his feet picked up until I had him 6 weeks ago. It has taken 4 weeks to touch his legs without a big panic.

My farrier has done my work for 30 years and is a dear friend, he had all the time in the world for Ted this evening.

We just stood quietly in the stable and waited for curiosity to take over. Ted investigated every inch of the farrier, which included trying to undo his boot laces and having a good tug at his apron.

After 30 mins or so of handling Ted allowed both his fronts to be picked up and held. All the excess was trimmed off and he now has nice tidy feet instead of shoeboxes. That was enough for one session and I will continue working on his hinds, which are not as overgrown as the fronts, for a week and then they will be trimmed. What a little star Ted is and the farrier deserves a medal.
 
Kallibear

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Phew! I read it as Front shoes and was rather worried :eek: Sadly it's not uncommon and all the foal clydesdales at the RHS had a full set of shoes on :(

He'll just have to watch and learn for the lovely Martha :D
 
AdorableAlice

AdorableAlice

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Kallibear said:
Phew!
He'll just have to watch and learn for the lovely Martha :D
Click to expand...

Ted is in the dog house, he was moved next door to Martha and told to look after her on her first day in her new home.

He promptly fell asleep in the straw and snored all day, poor Martha thought she was on her own and got a bit anxious. Ted's favourite passtime is sleeping.
 
Donnie Darco

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AdorableAlice said:
Ted is in the dog house, he was moved next door to Martha and told to look after her on her first day in her new home.

He promptly fell asleep in the straw and snored all day, poor Martha thought she was on her own and got a bit anxious. Ted's favourite passtime is sleeping.
Click to expand...

Want my LIKE button :) It's a hard life Ted :)

Poor Martha, hope she's a bit more settled today :)
 
AdorableAlice

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Ted is traumatised and is applying for re-homing in an instituition where no females are allowed.

Admittedly he failed miserably when tasked with keeping the new cob mare company when she arrived last weekend. Staying awake for more than an hour is hard work, plus the new cob is big enough and old enough not to need mollycoddling so it was reasonable to expect the sound of Ted's snoring to be comforting enough. It was far too unreasonable to be expected to stand with one's head over the door just so the new cob had visable company.

Ted is upset at being blamed for shirking his duties and allowing the cob mare to get in a hissy, he really cannot understand why she can't just sit down and relax like he does, after all her bottom is huge and well padded so she would be very comfortable. He is even more confused now because she would not speak to him after he told her that and she remained in a huff until this morning.

The cob mare decided Ted was the most handsome boy on the planet this morning and made it very plain she would like to get to know him better, she reversed her ample bottom to his door and said 'I am all yours big boy'. Poor Ted is perplexed, confused, and fearing for his safety, he has gone back to bed to recover and I have promised I will explain all about female mood swings later ! He is adamant he is ringing Childline and wants round the clock protection.
 
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MadisonBelle

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I've only just found this thread today!!

Been a great read.... looking forward to many more updates and piccies....

Ted looks fantastic by the way.............
 
AdorableAlice

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Ted has achieved hero status.

I was not present when this happened but I am so proud of Little Ted.

A newly broken racehorse arrived yesterday to spend a little time hacking around our quiet lanes before going into training. It was turned out, minus the 2 shoes it lost in transit, over the back. Ted was far too tired to notice the lorry and new horse come in and took no notice.

Racehorse owner managed to persuade a farrier to put a set on yesterday afternoon, so new racehorse had to be re caught and brought back to yard. Racehorse would not be caught and apparently was in a right state.

Owner, who is a dear friend of mine, tells the now waiting farrier, to fetch a horse from the yard in the hope the upset racehorse would latch on to it and calm down enough to come over and be caught. Farrier is told to fetch 'the little black one' the farrier has never been on the yard before.

Failing to notice the 11h black 28 year old pony he was meant to bring, he found Ted and much to the horror of my friend, who was too far away to be able to tell the farrier who Ted is, watched the farrier, in his apron, lead Ted through fields Ted has never seen, over to the silly racehorse.

Apparently Ted didn't put a foot wrong even though he had a totally bemused expression, the plan worked and the racehorse was caught but then refused to be led back. Ted gave him a lead, ignoring all the silly behaviour, back to the yard. Said racehorse then got anxious being hot shod but Ted calmed him down by hanging over the door by the racehorse's head. The smoke and banging did not bother him at all.

Farrier said it was a 'good job that old black horse was so good at keeping the racehorse calm'. Ted went back to bed and slept his adventure off.

I must explain the rules to Ted about not talking to or going off with strangers !..he is going to be a right character and at the moment if he was human his only comment would be 'whatever', his trust is growing by the day.
 
AdorableAlice

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I spent the night with Ted Sunday into Monday, being in the unfortunate situation of colic watching another horse.

I think Ted has a sleeping disease. All he did was lie flat out on his side snoring like a trooper. Very occasionally he got up, had a mouthful of hay for all of 10 minutes before collapsing in a heap and snoring again.

He is addicted to his straw pit, I have to drag him outside and post him into the field, where he just looks at me, straw sticking out of his ears, and absolutely no control over his bottom lip, yawning his head off and trying to wriggle his way back through the gate. He sleeps like a new born foal and he is growing like a weed, he is taller every time I look at him.
 
Flummoxed

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Oh AA - where have you been hiding this thread - why have I not seen it before? Ted is absolutely delicious (if a little on the huge side) and I have just spent a wonderful half hour (at work) catching up on his (oh so tiring) life. I love the farrier story. I love the picture of him trotting towards you and laughed at the mental image of him trying to hide behind you.

Like, like, LIKE!
 
chickeninabun

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Flummoxed said:
Oh AA - where have you been hiding this thread - why have I not seen it before? Ted is absolutely delicious (if a little on the huge side) and I have just spent a wonderful half hour (at work) catching up on his (oh so tiring) life. I love the farrier story. I love the picture of him trotting towards you and laughed at the mental image of him trying to hide behind you.

Like, like, LIKE!
Click to expand...

Ditto!! It has really cheered up my day.:)

Keep Ted's wonderful story coming!
 
AdorableAlice

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Maesfen said:
Definitely. Get this book written missus, not like you have anything else to do with your time apart from gallivant about on the lovely Martha. :D
Click to expand...

It was the lovely Martha I was colic watching. As perfect as she is for me it has become apparent she needs a rhino house to live in.

I proudly gave her box number one on Saturday, which she promptly pushed the front out of with her huge itchy bottom. That resulted in frantically ringing the vets for a dectomax jab and the ex hubby to come and winch the stable back together. On the Sunday she was banished to the cattle sheds which are more than solid, so I was furious to get a call from the neighbours telling me Martha was on walk about and had opened a bag of beef nuts during her safari, another embarrassing call to the vets had to be made.

It appears she is a dab hand at latches/catches and if her teeth can't open the doors her ample backside certainly can. She is far too smart for a 6 year old !, however, I have fixed her good and proper, she is in a big box with lovely oak walls, into which I have screwed electric roundings, threaded a wire through and put the earth/charger out of her reach. That well and truly stuffed her and her face was a picture. She is probably on her IPad studying electronics and plotting her escape as I write this.
 
armchair_rider

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Maybe the sleeping and fast growing are connected? Perhaps he needs all the rest because he's growing so fast.

I want to know what your farrier considers to be a big horse. Or possibly I don't
 
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