Fireworks Forewarned is Forearmed

 

We're fast approaching that time of year that almost all animal owners dread, the time of year when fireworks go off. 

In the UK November 5th, Guy Fawkes / Bonfire Night was the traditional time for fireworks, once a year. Most of us knew if our neighbours were going to light a few fireworks or when and where an organized display was taking place. We could make arrangements to keep our animals safe.

Over the years all that has changed, there will be countless nights, and days, between now and around mid January when fireworks will be going off in many of our neighbourhoods. without warning. Not to mention the number of random parties throughout the year, birthdays etc, when people use fireworks. These days many users of fireworks don't think to warn their neighbour to eg keep the cat in.

"Firework season" makes life a misery for many, it isn't just the animals that are frightened there are also numerous people who are scared of those loud bangs.

For years now the UK Government has been petitioned to bring in legislation to restrict the sale of fireworks. The Firework Campaign UK has been active since 2013, their website is the place to access information, petitions to sign and how to report nuisance fireworks.

According to Google AI the following UK organizations are also advocating for stricter firework legislation:

Dogs Trust, Blue Cross, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Cats Protection, The Kennel Club, BVA, Redwings Horse Sanctuary, Help for Heroes, PTSD UK, Children's Burns Trust, Association for Firework Legislation Reform.

And that isn't a complete list.

The BHS put together this checklist for horse owners over a decade ago, it contains lots of good advice starting with the first point about finding out what's going on, after all forewarned is forearmed:

Look at local press and local shops’ notice boards and listen to the radio to find out where the displays will be in your area.

• Wherever possible, tell neighbours and local firework display organisers that there are horses nearby, so they can ensure fireworks are set off in the opposite direction and well away from them.
  
• Decide whether to stable your horse or leave it in the field. It is sensible to keep your horse in its familiar environment, in its normal routine, with any companions to make it feel secure. If it is usually stabled, keep it stabled. If it is normally out in the field, keep it there as long as it is safe, secure and not close to the firework display area.
  
• If stabled, check thoroughly for anything that could cause potential injury such as protruding nails and string.
  
• If your horse is to stay in the field, check that fencing is not broken and that there are no foreign objects lying around.
  
• Ensure that you, or someone experienced, stays with your horse if you know that fireworks are being set off.
  
• If it is absolutely necessary for you to leave your horse in the care of another person during a firework display, then be sure to leave clear instructions and contact details for both you and your vet should any problems arise.
  
• If you know your animal will be stressed, talk to your vet about sedation, or perhaps consider moving your horse for the night.
  
• Playing music on a radio positioned outside the stable can often mask sudden noise, distract attention and be soothing.
  
• Try to remain calm yourself and keep positive, as horses will sense unease in a person and this may make things worse if the horse is startled.
  
• It may seem common sense but be aware of your own safety; a startled horse can be dangerous.
• Whatever you do – don’t risk riding when you think fireworks might be set off.
  
• Check if there will be a bonfire near your yard. If there is, make sure you have an emergency fire procedure in place. If you have any doubts, talk to your local fire safety officer.
  
• Make sure that you have adequate third party liability insurance. If your horse is frightened and escapes, causing an accident, then you could be held liable for compensation.

Farrier Day

 

Yesterday was a farrier day with all three equines getting a trim.

Our farrier had already been on the yard earlier in the day to do another horse, he was greatly amused to be welcomed by Eggsy, Madeline and Pippin who were obviously expecting him to trim their feet. 

We've been fortunate to have the same farrier for a very long time, in fact the ponies have never had anyone else trim them.
Looking back it seems an odd occurrence that our now farrier was recommended to us by the people who would eventually go on a few years later to abandon Eggsy.

At the time we were desperately seeking a good, patient, reliable farrier as our own was on maternity leave and the locum she'd appointed had failed to turn up twice!

This was especially problematic as we'd recently acquired Tipper, an ex racehorse, whose feet were in a horrible state plus he was terrified of having his hooves done. So much so that the vet had recommended Sedalin, to calm him, to be taken an hour before the farrier arrived. As you can imagine we were extremely annoyed at having a no show farrier when we'd sedated a horse.

And when I say Tipper's hooves were in a horrible state I mean terrible, the above photograph shows them after the 1 remaining shoe had been removed and he'd had his first trim with us. Poor horse.

That was all a very long time ago, with regular visits from our farrier we don't see hooves like that anymore.

So we're all happy now, plus the farrier brings polos, hence Eggsy, Madeline and Pippin waiting eagerly at the gate to greet him.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Graham and Edith for sponsoring Eggsy's hoof trims, it's very much appreciated. 

We'd also like to say thank you to Eggsy's 7 followers on this blog, it was really quite exciting to log on and see that not only had people read our post but some had also followed. 

Thank you.

You can find more about Eggsy in The Eggsy Pony Diaries on

 https://ko-fi.com/eggsyponyandfriends

  

Remember me Eggsy Pony?

 

It has been a long time hasn't it?

We appear to have taken an extended sabbatical from this blog, but now we're here to make amends with regular blog posts for your perusal. 

What's prompted this action?

Well it's pretty much to do with Twitter / "X" again. 

Recently we've had difficulty posting, several of our followers have also had the same problems. Sometimes it won't let us comment, sometimes it won't let us post having apparently reached our "daily limit" when we haven't actually posted in 24 hours. And the other day we couldn't even get onto to "X" because apparently:

"Some privacy related extensions may cause issues on x.com. Please disable them and try again"

That was on the rather ancient mobile we use, currently we are able to post via the also rather ancient laptop. 

Once again we were back to trying to figure out how to offer a honest connection with everyone who is interested in Eggsy Pony. Returning to good old fashioned blogging, using a free well established service like Blogger, seemed to be a good option, it certainly worked well when we first rescued Eggsy.

Blogger does offer a "Follow" option, a button that you can click so you can add Eggsy Pony and Friends blog to your reading list and stay updated with new posts. Just need to figure out how to add it.

And another advantage is that we don't have to contend with the social media algorithms or the endless advertisements! 

We're not abandoning Eggsy's social media, you'll still be able to find his posts on:

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/eggsyponyandfriends where Eggsy writes The Eggsy Pony Diaries several times a week there isn't a paywall on his account, it's entirely free to read, though of course he is always very grateful for a coffee. 

"X" formerly known as Twitter: https://x.com/eggsypony

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eggsypony

Bluesky: @eggsypony.bsky.social 

Eggsy also continues to send the occasional newsletter via Substack  https://eggsypony.substack.com

So that's about it for the first blog post in a very long time, not exactly horsey this time but we will be back with some horsey stuff very soon.

Eggsy's 2023 so far

Hard to believe that it's mid-April already, that the first quarter of 2023 has been and gone and that despite good intentions this blog has been neglected since January.

We left you in January with the news that we were starting a newsletter on Substack for Eggsy Pony and Friends. Four newsletters so far if you haven't seen them yet here are the links:

January New Year New Newsletter  

February Your Valentine card from Eggsy Pony 

March Happy St Patrick's Day from Eggsy Pony 

April Your Easter card from Eggsy Pony 

We'd love it if you'd subscribe, as we keep on saying we won't spam you and we're not trying to sell anything, it's just a way of staying in touch with friends.

Talking of selling, in January Eggsy opened a little shop to try and raise some funds toward Eggsy's feed, like just about everything else these days the price keeps on going up! 

The shop is on his Ko-fi page, there are some books in it and we've started adding a few other bits and pieces too. All proceeds go directly to toward Eggsy's keep, Ko-fi don't take a penny.

Yard cat

We had a very sad time in February with the demise of our old friend Gingee the cat who came home with us when we were forced to leave Muddy Bottom. We're so grateful for the year that Gingee had as a house cat, there's a piece about him here:

Sad day - The Eggsy Pony Diaries 

House cat

We do try to keep everyone up to date on Ko-fi, it's a very easy platform to use with the added advantage that if readers want to they can buy Eggsy a coffee! (Coffee money goes straight toward his keep).

In March Madeline celebrated her 21st birthday, of course there's a Eggsy Pony Diary entry about it on his Ko-fi page.

And now we're into April busy planning and plotting a future update, all will be revealed shortly, watch this space....... 

Where do we go from here Eggsy Pony's Twitter Conundrum

Twitter feels really precarious at the moment, but we don't need to tell you that, you already know and many of Eggsy's followers are making plans to leave or have already left. 

Where do we go from here ? 

What are we going to do to keep in touch with our Twitter friends ?  

How will people know that we're here? 

We've spent years getting to know one another, building a community of people who have much in common, kindness and a love of animals. Together we've helped saved lives, offered shoulders to cry on, virtual hugs and cheered each other on, but, now it feels as if our engagements are at the mercy of a CEO who controls who and what we see on our Twitter timeline, whether or not our Tweets are seen. 

It's not just Twitter, Eggsy Pony is on Instagram too, but, we rarely get to see what those we follow are up to, we don't do FB but have heard it's the same there.

What about all the sites people are suggesting we join? Should we be joining Mastodon, Tik-tok, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Clubhouse, Counter Social ...... the list is endless.

Eggsy Pony is already on Instagram and Ko-fi, we have this blog, but, Twitter has always been the main place we "socialise" with those of you who are interested in him. If Twitter goes down or just becomes downright unusable how can we keep in touch?

We've been trying to work out how to offer a good honest connection with everyone that makes wise use of time, how we can let you know what Eggsy Pony and Friends are doing, what's been happening, tell you about the interesting things we see, our hopes and dreams. Somewhere we can talk directly to you.

So today we wrote a newsletter you'll find it here on Substack. We'd love it if you'd take a few minutes to have a read and if you like it, if you'd like to keep in touch, if you can cope with another newsletter in your inbox, we'd love it if you'd subscribe.

We promise we won't spam you, it won't be one of those advertorial or marketing letters. We hope it will feel like a letter from a friend, one that arrives by post, in a stamped envelope, written in real ink with a proper pen. Only of course Eggsy's letter will be digital and arrive in your in box. If you want you'll even be able to reply because the service we're using allows you to like and / or comment on the newsletters. An added bonus for us is that it's free to use, unless one chooses otherwise which we don't plan on doing.

Here's the link to the newsletter we do hope you'll take a look and subscribe so we can keep in touch. Thank you. 

https://eggsypony.substack.com/p/new-year-new-newsletter

 

Eggsy Pony's year that was 2022 Part 2 July - December

 

This is Part 2 of Eggsy Pony's year that was 2022, if you haven't read part 1, January - June, you'll find it here:

Eggsy Pony's year that was 2022 January - June 

July

You may remember that when we left Muddy Bottom in January, Hansel the Goose and  Gingee the stray cat who stayed came home with us, in July Eggsy Pony gave an update on how they were settling in via his Eggsy Pony Diaries on Ko-fi :

"Gingee our old feline compadre from Muddy Bottom days finally left the sofa and started to explore the house. This has not gone well, he is now encamped on the landing much to the disgruntlement of several other felines who liked that spot. The human is also rather disgruntled as Gingee Roo Roo is now deserving of the name Gingee Poo Poo, he has, unfortunately taken to using the bathroom for toileting. That's right Gingee Poo Poo is pooing on the bathroom floor! On the bright side he is still weeing in a litter box downstairs. As far as this little pony can see cates are a law unto themselves."

"Hansel our goose compadre from Muddy Bottom got a new pond so at least he's happy. For pond read huge shallow sided feed bucket, it's really not fair I want one filled the the brim with yummy food..."

As temperatures rose to 40c, 104f, tempers frayed on the yard. Two ponies colicked after apparently ingesting grass clippings, the owner blamed the yard owner claiming that cutting  grass and not removing clippings was criminal negligence.

Someone called the fire brigade when the yard owner had a bonfire. 

One of the ponies who had colicked came down with laminitis and once again the owner blamed the yard owner for her pony's health problem.

Then to top it all the yard dog was accused of biting someone and reported to the police as a dangerous dog.

Things were getting rather unpleasant ....

August

The RSPCA visited the yard following a complaint about a dog in distress.

The police visited the yard following complaints about goodness only knows what.

In a fit of pique the yard owner declared he'd had enough of liveries, was going to put the place up for sale and that we would all have to leave. The thought of having to move the horses again, after they'd only just settled, was horrible. 

It was a horrible time on the yard, muck destined for the muck heap got dumped in a gateway and left, the sand school gates were locked to prevent access to a certain person, fences were pulled down...

It was so hot that the grass was a scorched savannah.  

And suddenly it was all over, the unhappy owner finally left and peace was restored. The place never did go up for sale.

September

I concussed myself, I'd gone out to feed Hansel the goose in the pouring rain, not looking where I was going I walked straight into a branch that had come down and banged my head. I didn't think anything of it but by tea time I was feeling decidedly sick and unwell. So unwell that next day I asked my son's to do the horses for me.

It actually took me a few days to realize I was concussed, at first I thought I'd caught a bug of some sort but realization slowly dawned when I started getting words muddled up and forgetting what I was doing. Unfortunately I suffered post-concussive syndrome which was to last for several months. 

I'll let Eggsy tell you about the next traumatic experience with another extract from his Ko-Fi diary,

"The next disaster also came in the pouring rain, Mr Boo colicked. He was pawing the ground and going down to roll, eventually refusing to get up and we all thought he was a gonna. The horse's boy and herself sat in a muddy heap trying to comfort him whilst waiting for what seemed like hours for the vet. We horses all stood watching with worried hearts.

The vet thought he was a gonna too and was talking about humane euthanasia on welfare grounds when Mr Boo basically said, "Sod that I'm not ready to pop my clogs yet" and stood up. He had to undergo the indignity of having the vet's arm up his bum and several injections but was given 24 hours reprieve." 

I must add that Mr Boo made a full recovery from that colic episode and is still with us.

October

Miss Darcey Puffle Dog is back at the vets with the mysterious swelling again, she had surgery on the foot a while back and we thought / hoped the problem had been resolved but a couple of months down the line we were back to square one with little idea as to what was wrong with her. This time biopsies were taken, along with one from a spot that had appeared on her ear. The results came back as "trauma" causing the foot to swell and a benign tumor on the ear. More antibiotics.

November

Tina from Guiding Horses made a supa dupa brooch / pin using some of Eggsy Pony's tail hair, that's his hair in the little bottle. She's selling it and some others as a fund raiser for Eggsy, the kindness of some is heartwarming.

(Now sold)

December

And here we are in December all present and correct, Miss Darcey Puffle Dog finally came off her antibiotics and (touch wood) the foot is fine and the benign tumor has simply disappeared. 

Everyone is fine, though the horse's boy did catch covid earlier in the month he has now fully recovered. 

We've had bitterly cold weather with days of hoar frost and frozen ground, we seem to be in the middle of a rainy spell now and everything is mud including the ponies. Here are some photographs from Christmas Day.

So that's Eggsy Pony's year that was 2022. Wonder what 2023 will bring.....

(If you enjoyed the extracts from Eggsy Pony's Diary there are more on his Ko-fi page, some free for all to view others for supporters only, buying him a "coffee" gives you access to them and other supporter only posts)

Eggsy Pony's year that was 2022 Part 1 January - June

 It's seems to have become a bit of a blogging tradition, during the time betwixt and between Christmas and New Year, to publish a  retrospective blog on the year that's about to end. This is Eggsy Pony's 2022 year that was part 1 January - June: 

January

 2022 started with us losing the land we kept the horses on and also our major source of income. New Year's Day found us desperately seeking somewhere to keep all four equines together as well as a home for a goose and a cat. We'd been told by our then landlord that he wanted the horses off his land by the start of the year and we hadn't found anywhere to go. 

Things were getting very "uncomfortable" at Muddy Bottom, despite the fact that our rent was paid  and we hadn't even been given written notice to quit, the landlord had started chainsaw work on trees next to the horses' paddock. And during the Christmas holidays he'd sent his son and granddaughter to Muddy Bottom to try out their new dirt bikes! 

It was rapidly becoming apparent that we couldn't continue to rent from this man and the family business was also on the site.

Losing the land plus the behaviour of the landlord on top of the enforced business closures during the 2020, 2021 lockdowns forced us to come to terms with the reality that we could no longer continue our family business. 

Eventually, through a friend, we found a livery yard that had vacancies for Eggsy and his friends. Paying livery was going to more than double the cost of keeping our horses but we just couldn't find any land to rent within a reasonable distance from our home so we had little choice but to move there.

We'd also failed miserably in our search for new homes for Hansel the goose and Gingee the cat, both had been dumped in the orchard to fend for themselves and of course we fed them and they became our responsibility. The only solution for them was to come home with us, not ideal but we couldn't leave them there, they'd been abandoned once and we weren't about to abandon any creature in our care.

January 19th was moving day for the horses, Eggsy Pony took hours to load, and, when he arrived at his destination promptly attempted to jump out of his stable. But, Eggsy is no showjumper and he only succeeded in getting his front legs over the stable door and was unable to get himself out of his predicament. 

He was such an unhappy boy and we were fortunate that the livery yard owner allowed us to let Eggsy live out as long as the fields didn't get too poached.

February

February found the British Isles battered by storms, Eggsy Pony and Friends field shelter survived, it's a bit colander like with lots of holes holes in it so the winds passed through. Others on the yard weren't as lucky 

Fortunately no one was hurt and the upturned field shelters were eventually righted with the assistance of a local farmer.

The big news for Eggsy Pony was that we joined Ko-fi which is rather like a blogging platform where fans (does Eggsy have fans ?) can show their support by buying a coffee. Of course the money isn't really spent on coffees, Eggsy doesn't drink them, nor should he, but it goes toward his keep.

March

During March we decided that it was about time Eggsy had his own birthday. We didn't know exactly when Eggsy was born so in previous years we'd celebrated his birthday with an extra carrot or two on January 1st the official birthday for Thoroughbreds in the Northern Hemisphere. 

The date we came up with was 28th May because that's the date that the people who had abandoned Eggsy to die left the area. The date that his life changed forever.

We also celebrated a real birthday, Madeline, Eggsy's  Thoroughbred friend and companion reached the grand age of 20 on March 5th.

April

In April we celebrated the anniversary of Eggsy finally getting gelded the year before. It had been a momentous day for all concerned having taken us simply ages to save the funds to get it done! 

May

May started with Eggsy's canine friend Miss Darcey Puffle Dog's birthday on May 4th but of course for Eggsy Pony the big date was 28th May when he could celebrate his very own birthday, without having to share, for the very first time. He had a little virtual party over on Ko-fi, and was completely spoiled in real life.

June

June 1st was Pippin's birthday, Pippin is Eggsy's elder brother by another mother, which this time coincided with a visit from Auntie Philo who always brings such wonderful and bounteous treats with her.

Another June birthday was that of Eggsy's first friend Boo who was 24 this year.

The birthday boys caused a bit of a ruckus during their birthday month by escaping their field and munching grass on the track. To be fair it wasn't exactly their faults, 3 of the other liveries had broken the fences of their paddock and gone walk about so naturally the other horses were quite interested in what was going on. The fences are a bit wobbly, Pippin doesn't know his own strength so a fence post wobbled a bit to much and he stepped out followed by Boo. 

This adventure resulted in us having to improve the fencing with the addition of our own electric fence energizer and extra electric fence rope. An expense we could have done without especially as Miss Darcey Puffle Dog made her first, of what was to be many, visits to the vet with a swollen foot where she was initially prescribed antibiotics and antihistamines.

June ended in great sorrow when the oldest resident, Little Lady, a miniature Shetland in her 30s was destroyed. Her owner who was also very elderly and rather vulnerable was finding it increasingly difficult to care for her so felt that was the best thing to do. Unfortunately, this decision was made under an enormous amount of influence from another on the livery yard and those who had voluntarily taken over the care of Little Lady were very upset about the whole thing. It was to be the beginning of what was about to become "open warfare" on the livery yard. 

Click  for Part 2 July - December