My next equine project horse

[AdorableAlice]

He's gorgeous! Exactly my kind of horse too. Love your stories about him, hilarious! How tall is he now? You may need a step ladder to back him

Thank you.

I don't know how tall he is to be honest. We do have a proper stick with a spirit level on it but he got upset before I could get an accurate measure, he was 16.1 ish. The string test, both methods say 18 hands. He is 19 months old this month. What am I going to do with him ! I will need a huge mounting block, a parachute to dismount, travel sickness pills and oxygen.

He is teaching me a lot about handling nervous horses and it is very rewarding. He caught his headcollar a few days ago and trapped himself, totally my stupid fault, he panicked but listened when I spoke to him and let me cut him free. Not a big deal unless you know the horse, but for him it was a massive deal not go bonkers and break his neck.

It has taken me six months to realise that he tells me when he is ready to move on to the next step and it is not wise to push him out of his comfort zone just yet. Getting him to trust us enough to pick his feet up has been a major problem and yesterday we had a big celebration. Ted allowed my farrier to enter his box, catch him, park him with the rope over his neck, and do a proper trim on his fronts. I had to hold his head for the hinds because Ted likes to see what you are doing to him and it became a bit technical to bend himself in half and put his foot on the farriers knee at the same time. He has been improving each time but yesterday was the first time he relaxed rather than tolerated the process and it was the first time he didn't run from the farrier.

He has just gone to bed and is snoring like a trooper yet again, no doubt he will have grown another inch by morning.

 

[Moggy in Manolos]

He is looking lovely, really maturing and filling out compared to the first photo

 

[Bourbons]

What an absolute stunner, I am utterly in love with Ted! I have loved reading this entire post start to finish (and it has help to relieve some of my boredom as I am working the night shift tonight )

I echo the comment about you making this into a book, your posts are fabulous!

I am eagerly awaiting your next update

 

[gracenarchie]

wow, Ted is absolutely gorgeous and one lucky little( or not so little ) man to have found a home with you. what a great post! Thanks for sharing his adventures so far, your posts about Ted have all made me smile - or caused OH to peer over my shoulder to see what i'm chuckling at
x

 

[Nic]

Great thread AA. I rarely venture out of comp riders now, but it was worth it for this!

 

[pogface]

WOW! He is huge! I love ted updates. Beautiful boy... But yes you will a step ladder etc for getting on and off! More pictures please

 

[Maesfen]

Lovely to see him again; he's looking tremendous - as only a tremendous horse can look! Well done, he's coming on famously.

 

[coffeeandabagel]

So glad I have found this thread. The ongoing saga of Ted and his extended family make very entertaining reading. I have had tears rolling down my face - I loved the DoE story, the wisp of hay alarms and his continual need for sleep.
Please do keep us up to date with his story.

 

[Marydoll]

He's looking really well, filled out a bit since we last saw him, what a lovely young horse

 

[ridefast]

Just found this thread, hilarious! Please make it into a book

 

[Ibblebibble]

wow he is growing up fast, what a difference 6 months makes

 

[AdorableAlice]

So glad I have found this thread. The ongoing saga of Ted and his extended family make very entertaining reading. I have had tears rolling down my face - I loved the DoE story, the wisp of hay alarms and his continual need for sleep.
Please do keep us up to date with his story.

Thank you, Ted is rather unique in a strange sort of way. I know he was not handled until he was 10 months old and finds humans frightening. Today was a prime example of his outlook.

Yet another delivery of haylage arrived, huge tractor with the forks on and a huge trailer. All the bales put into the barn where Ted lives. Ted stands there inches from the tractor with bales above his head, watching the process, ears pricked not a bother on him, just a gate and railings between him and the tractor. Alice backs off and stands in the middle of the barn, still quite brave, but several yards away. Job done, tractor turned off and driver jumps out to be paid - again !! Ted takes one look at the driver and high tails it out of the barn, Alice comes over to investigate his pockets for sweets. Ted stays outside just watching from a distance until the tractor fires up again, cue Alice clearing off and Ted coming back in. I think I need to find a few strange men to make friends with Ted, he likes women but apart from the farrier and the OH men are a problem.

When he landed with me 6 months ago I promised myself I would not get attached to him. Something has gone wrong, I have decided no one else would understand him so he has to stay with me, I day dream about riding him and imagine him all grown up, handsome in a cart horse way, and a rock steady neddy. After 40 years of keeping horses, do I really need a mentally disturbed Shire horse - well someone has to love him !!

 

[emma.is]

After 40 years of keeping horses, do I really need a mentally disturbed Shire horse

yes

 

[AdorableAlice]

wow he is growing up fast, what a difference 6 months makes

eek indeed, after being extra brave and having his flu injection this afternoon, my friend commented on how big he is now and asked how big will he might be when he is mature.

The last time I tried the string test he was having none of it, but today he stood rock still, oh dear - 18 hands. That cannot be right, so I did it again, it must be stretchy string. Lets hope the silly string theory is a load of rubbish !!

Most people retire to saga cruises, playing chess and lots of port. I will be spending my retirement with a mentally disturbed, gormless, 1 tonne 18 hand shire horse that has to have a sleep in the afternoons. Thinking about it we will be a good pair, I fit the bill apart from being a horse !

 

[AdorableAlice]

Another month has passed and Ted has had a trying month. Winter does not agree with him and he has slept through most of it. Considerable snow arrived and some bright spark thought Ted would like to play in it with his sister Alice. The excursion to the great, white outdoors did not go to plan.

Having dug him out of his shavings and down the corridor to the barn door he was mortified to find the world had gone white. He dropped his head to sniff the strange stuff, didn't like it and went into reverse pronto. Change of plan and Alice is led out first, she leaps out and attempts a belly flop in the yard, but Ted is still in the door way, not at all convinced it is safe to go out. With orders to the OH to give Ted a shunt up the bottom we finally have Ted in the yard and start walking across to the straw yard and paddock. Alice is break dancing on the end of the rope but Ted is walking like a cat with wet paws, picking each hoof up and shaking the snow off his feathers.

Safely let go in the straw yard, Alice heads off outside at full tilt and throws herself, head first into a snow drift. Ted just stands at the open end of the barn watching her. It took three of us to push him out. Of course Alice wanted him to play and was dancing around him, nipping his backside and annoying him. Eventually he managed to raise a trot and off they went, sadly I did not have the camera that day, but as they reached the top of the field and did a hand brake turn, a snow drift got in Ted's way, flat on his side he went and slid down the field in a very undignified manner. At one point he was sliding as fast as Alice was cantering. Deeply traumatised he returned to the safety of the straw yard and remained in there until bedtime.

He went out a few days later after the snow had thawed a little, but still did not enjoy it. I am sure he has got a sleeping disease, all he wants to do is stay in the warm, eat and sleep. !! He has shot upwards again this week and looks lean and tall. Alice on the other hand has only grown sideways.

 

[LittleBlackMule]

LOVE these stories!

 

[SKY]

just put a 1st class stamp on him, that should get him to me . he is stunning, sooooooooooo sute and great conformation and markings. best of luck, enjoy him.

 

[pogface]

Love hearing about ted! And Alice too

 

[PoppyAnderson]

Look at his face in that first pic. He does not look like a happy camper!

 

[AdorableAlice]

The inevitable has happened, my sweet, gormless Little Ted has turned into Kevin the teenage yob.

It all went very wrong this morning and Ted has been very naughty, intense shame hangs over his head and no one is speaking to him.

The aftermath has left poor Alice packing her handbag and going into disguise. She was last seen in the pharmacy queue at Tesco, she is hoping to be prescribed the afternoon after pill. She is mortified at the prospect of having to tell the pharmacist she was ravaged by Kevin the carthorse, in the straw yard at 9am. It is the end of the world for Alice and she needs therapy.

As for Ted, well, I gave him a good talking to. All he had to say was 'yeah, whatever'. He is grounded, no tv, ipad and mobile phone gone, pocket money suspended until further notice and travel card removed. I told him an advert on dragon driving is only a fiver and it is coming out of his child benefit.

 

[asommerville]

!!poor ted.....it must be his hormones....

 

[ridefast]

I love this thread! I know it's been said already but you really have to make it into a book!

 

[Flummoxed]

All I can say is........................ oh dear!


And laugh my head off; sorry.

 

[coffeeandabagel]

Spring is in the air??

 

[pogface]

This has made me laugh!! Poor Alice... Poor Ted!

 

[AdorableAlice]

!!poor ted.....it must be his hormones....

His pockets were picked the day after he landed with me last June, he is not allowed hormones !!

Alice is not home yet, she must be lost and bewildered in the alcohol aisle of Tesco, I hope she doesn't wander into the burger aisle, that will just about push her over the edge.

 

[Maesfen]

Bless Ted.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Bless Ted.

He is not to be encouraged !! A randy cart horse is a handful, so as to speak, perhaps that wants re-wording !

Alice has just phoned, she wants picking up because she has lost her bus ticket and has no money because the afternoon after pill cost a fortune, plus she had to bribe the pharmacist to keep quiet. She spent her last £1 on chocolate and refuses to walk home.

 

[Maesfen]

Perhaps he's one of those that needs to be sent down the coal mines at an early age to work for his living; I've heard Martin Clunes' mate is a dab hand with overgrown ponies...........

As to Alice, I thought she was on the 5 - 2 diet plan so this can't be a fasting day.

 

[AdorableAlice]

Perhaps he's one of those that needs to be sent down the coal mines at an early age to work for his living; I've heard Martin Clunes' mate is a dab hand with overgrown ponies...........

As to Alice, I thought she was on the 5 - 2 diet plan so this can't be a fasting day.

Work for a living ! he would need a job that only requires 40 minutes effort in every 12 hours, and it would need to be a tall mine to fit him in it. He is already booked in for training to the harrow, save me shifting his endless sh..

Alice and I are the diet. Alice is not growing, other than sideways, and she will not be big enough for me unless I drop 10 dress sizes and 10 stone.

What am I going to do this evening, Alice refuses to go to bed with Ted again, and who can blame her. I have promised to buy her a onesey, Ted will never work the buttons out.