Jeremy

Today Faye went to visit Jeremy and his fosterers Anita and Rowan.  Jeremy is very happy in his new home and we are delighted that he will now be on permanent loan with them.  He doesn't usually reside in this field...apparently this morning he worked out how to undo the latch on the pony field gate and decided to take his friend Tilly to go visiting to the next door field with the Highland cows!  Rowan's been doing lots of riding with Jeremy and has been doing some ground work with him too, including jumping poles.  With the summer holidays approaching, I'm sure they are going to be very busy indeed!

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Ted's New Tractor Has Arrived

Yesterday Ted's new compact tractor arrived...and it's very smart too with a shiny red link box on the back.  Ted says that we should be able to borrow it to help with the hay making, and with the poo picking in the field too!

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Neil Parish MP On Hot Branding Of Equines

Our thanks go to our local MP, Neil Parish, who raised the subject of hot branding at Prime Ministers Questions in Parliament last week.  Neil asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the hot branding of horses and ponies and if he will make a statement.

This was the response to Neil's question:

"There are no proposals to amend the existing legislation relating to hot branding.  While the Government accepts that there is currently a need for semi-wild moorland ponies to be hot branded, we have asked the semi-wild moorland pony societies to prepare a code of practice on hot branding and to continue to look for suitable alternatives".

Our campaign for a ban on hot branding continues...Defra's view is not supported by veterinary and welfare organisations in the UK.  All groups agree that microchipping should now be compulsory and hot branding should be banned.

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Frodo...

Thank you very much to Carole Coleman of The Witheridge Voice for sending through this photo from the parade yesterday.  Carole has constructed a lovely slideshow with lots of photos of St John's Fayre 2013 on the Witheridge Voice website https://sites.google.com/site/witheridgevoice/gallery-3 - it's a great record of the day!

Frodo didn't seem tired at all today and has done a bit of rolling in the mud so he's definitely not clean anymore!!

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St John's Fayre...Frodo's Big Day Finally Arrived!

Today was the big day we've been preparing for.  Quite a few p4p volunteers had a very early start today.  The ponies did look a bit surprised to see activity at the yard so early this morning.  Frodo did quite well overnight and only managed to get one splodge of dirt on him, which was shampooed out very quickly.  We put on his new boots and headcollar and then the heavens opened...a torrential downpour left Frodo trying to tuck himself into a building for cover.  Thankfully it was just a shower, but we thought it was probably best for him to wear his rug to walk to Witheridge in case of more unfavourable weather.  We were actually very lucky...although it definitely wasn't sunny, the weather wasn't too bad, and certainly not the worst weather we've encountered!  We were quite pleased to have taken the rug because the red rug made Frodo more visible to road users.

Whilst Frodo was on the way to Witheridge with one team of volunteers, in Witheridge itself, another group of p4p volunteers was setting up and arranging the fundraising stall.  With the strong winds, it was quite a challenge to get the gazebo safely put up.

Frodo arrived in Witheridge in plenty of time for the parade so he could trim some grasses and overgrown hedges for the residents whilst he was waiting.  This year he was programmed between the Penny Farthing, Fell Pony and Majorette Dancers in the parade.  Witheridge was absolutely teaming with people, vehicles, lots of loud music, steam vehicles, a fun fair, drummers, dancers etc and Frodo is very good at taking it all in his stride.  Waiting about has never been one of his strong points but once he's underway in the parade and has a purpose he does a very good job.  Victoria and Sara were our banner bearers to lead the way for Frodo.  At the end of the parade Frodo had quite a stream of admirers and young people who wanted to come and stroke him and take pictures.

After Frodo's public relations session, his job was done.  After saying thank you to everyone, he headed back up the high street for a quick munch on some long grass before the journey home.  He probably walked between 7-8 miles today, so it's not surprising that he was looking a bit weary by the time he was back at the yard!

Thank you very much to everyone who came out and supported us today and helped with the stall or getting Frodo to and from the parade!  The stall raised £102.75 for the ponies.

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Frodo's Bath And Final Preparations...

Friday was Frodo's bathing day...I'm not sure that he was all too convinced that it was a good idea, but he does need to look smart for his duties tomorrow.  One of the disadvantages of being white is that the dirt really does show...and Frodo does love to roll in the mud.  Catherine came to help with the bathing and brought lots of shampoo and a lovely Frodo sized rug - it was definitely quite chilly today and not at all ideal weather for having a bath, so the rug helped Frodo to stay warm afterwards.  Topsy thought Frodo looked a bit scary and Rocky postured towards Frodo as if greeting a pony for the first time.  This afternoon Faye took the rug off and Frodo does look quite white now that he's dry...the question is, will he still look like that in the morning??!!

Frodo looking smart wearing his new rug

Frodo this afternoon, definitely looking clean so far...

New p4p banner and flags

 Another of the major tasks that Faye has been working this week is designing and producing a new banner and flags for the p4p fundraising stalls.  Earlier in the year we were kindly donated a couple of blinds by Woodford Curtains so that we could produce our own banner.  The finished items look great...and thank you Ted for his help with putting in the eyelets...it was definitely worth all the effort.

We have lots of helpers on stand-by for tomorrow...let's keep our fingers crossed for reasonable weather for St John's Fayre...

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Frodo's Boots Have Arrived!

Just as Easycare promised, Frodo's special boots arrived by courier this morning!  It's amazing that the boots were in Arizona on Thursday and today they arrived in rural Devon.  He does look very smart indeed wearing them.  Frodo wasn't quite sure wearing them for the first couple of steps and then he was fine and mooched around in the yard quite happily.  He'll need to have a bath on Friday and then he'll be all ready for his big adventure to be a VIP (Very Important Pony!) in the Witheridge Parade on Saturday!

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Bobby's Bath

I thought we should have some photos of Bobby on here, particularly for Hazel-Ann who will be missing him as she's away on her holidays at the moment.  Bobby had a bath this morning - one drawback of using the neem to keep the midges and flies at bay, is that the layers of oil build up and become quite sticky.  After a few weeks of oil, a bath of seaweed and neem shampoo helps to get rid of the stickiness and then we can start all over again.

Thank you Catherine for helping!

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Squirrelling About

I just have to post the video of a young squirrel I was watching at lunchtime today.  We were all amazed with his skill - hanging upside down to raid the bird table...but secured by only the tips of his toenails!!

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Thanks to the USA...

I need to say thank you to the Easycare Company in Arizona who have been fantastic today.  We have been trying to order Frodo some front hoof boots...he's got a long walk in a week's time to be a star in the parade at St John's Fair, and to make sure he can cope with the distance ok (he hasn't been this far in a very long time...or possibly ever!) hoof boots will make sure he'll do the distance.  Over two weeks, 2 well known UK companies haven't delivered what they promised and it has been a very disappointing experience in customer service.  One phone call to Easycare HQ in Arizona this afternoon and a very helpful representative put us at ease and resolved our problems.  Frodo is having his boots sent out from the USA express delivery so that they will arrive on Monday...that should allow him to have a practice before his big adventure on the 22nd! Thank you Easycare!

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