The Eggsy Pony Diaries

 Over the last few weeks we've been publishing extracts from Eggsy Pony's Diary over on Ko-fi, his buy me a coffee site, where people can donate the cost of a coffee or more towards the cost of his care. We actually post quite a lot of stuff over there that anyone can see if they care to visit, but, the diary posts have been for supporters only. Meaning that only those who have bought Eggsy a coffee within the past 30 days or members who have signed up to buy him a coffee or two every month could read Eggsy's musings about the week.

Thinking that some of you who haven't been able to access the posts might be interested in what he has had to say for himself we've published three of his diary entries below. If you enjoy them maybe you would consider becoming a member you can sign up here , you're free to cancel anytime, or, if you'd like give it a try before committing buying a coffee gives you access to supporter only content for 30 days. All "coffees" go toward the cost of feeding Eggsy.

A Drama Llama Ding Dong sort of week 

Loads of drama here on the livery yard this week, it probably goes without saying that it's mostly down to the humans.

It all started when we saw an equestrian flying through the air, for some unknown reason she'd catapulted herself  from the back of her trusty steed, we know not why. Of course it didn't end well, next came the splintering of wood as said equestrian crash landed onto the menage fence. 

The fence did not survive, the equestrian did all be it with a few breakages, broken finger and cracked rib. Who knew it was advisable to ride with a parachute!

Honestly you'd think that was enough excitement for one week but oh no, I suppose you could say it's been one of those weeks. 

We're all peacefully grazing minding our own business when quite out of the blue an owner comes and collects her pony from the field, much to his disgust I might add. She's marching him back to his stable with mutterings about fat bottoms, crests and laminitis. I hasten to assure you that the pony does not have laminitis, his imprisonment is a precautionary exercise. 

Pippin and I look carefully at each others behinds and decide it might be time to make a hasty exit before our human starts getting ideas, after all  "the better part of valor is discretion" and we prefer to graze another day.

Another day and electric fence wars rage again. This is an on and off occurrence. There seems to be a problem with the electric fence being on, which is why we have our own as apparently I can't be trusted. Some people on the yard want the fence on and some, well one actually, says it's too powerful a zap and that someone will get hurt. 

The yard owner is inclined to agree with "the one", possibly because his electric bills won't be so high, so it tends to be kept off. Pony owners want the fence on because ponies are inclined to attempt to graze where they're not supposed to. This of course does not include me as I'm constrained by our own electric fence, unless I get the opportunity. 

Anyway an argument ensued, voices were raised and someone, who will remain nameless, called her opponent daft. I mean good gracious how low can these humans sink? 

The following few days were an electric fence on / off sort of time as battle raged. Is there a winner? No, for some inexplicable reason the whole thing seems to have fizzled out  and the fence is once again permanently off again. Until the next time....

My equine friends and I have concluded that sometimes humans are very hard to understand and it's best to keep our heads down and carry on grazing.  

(First published on Ko-fi 30th May)

I really love your tiger feet 

It's been a feet sort of week, not tiger feet obviously, no tigers here, thank goodness as they might eat us equines, but definitely a week of feet.

Started off for the humans on Monday morning when they had to take our canine friend Miss Darcey Puffle Dog to the vets. She'd been licking a hoof, oops foot, so much that it was swollen and red raw.

Possible allergy, antibiotics, antihistamines and a no chew dressing, £127.70.

Not the greatest start to the week.

It was our turn on Thursday, no not the vets, none of us can lick our feet raw we have hooves, it was farrier day. I'm exceedingly lucky as my farrier work has long been sponsored, thank you Graham & Edith your help keeps my hooves in tip top shape.

We all had a little trim and a clean bill of hoof health, glad the humans got some good news as, yes you've guessed it, they had to return Miss Darcey Poorly Paw Puffle Dog to the vets on Friday.

Another week on antibiotics, some fancy expensive pills that block enzymes involved in the processes of inflammation and itchiness of allergic dermatitis, £92.50.

No wonder they need help with financing my care, I could almost feel sorry for them and suggest that a tiger might have been a better choice for a pet:

"That's neat, that's neat, that's neat, that's neat
I really love your tiger feet, I really love your tiger feet
Your tiger feet
Your tiger feet
Your tiger feet"

Song by Mud. Songwriters: Chapman Michael Donald / Chinn Nicholas Barry 

(First published on Ko-fi 26th June)

It wasn't me

It wasn't me, the ball cock on our trough broke, not my fault.

Honestly it wasn't anything to do with me, just because I was drinking at the time doesn't mean I broke it. No not even if my muzzle did give it a vigorous bash, just for fun. It was not me the wretched thing had rusted through.

The result of the ball cock thing breaking was that the trough just kept on filling up and overflowing because Mads and I just couldn't drink all that water. We got a nice splashy puddle along the fence line to play in and the paddock next door got a mini lake before anyone noticed.

Of course once they noticed the livery yard man repaired it pretty quickly, and no it's not my fault he got rather wet in the process. How was I to know he'd nearly fall in the trough when I nudged him, gently, on the back just to remind him that he hadn't paid his dues - given us a mint.

Anyway the end result is that we had a lovely clean trough full of delicious clear water and what does she go and do? 

She moves us into another paddock without a trough! Good for us as there wasn't much grass in our old paddock and there's more in this one. Bad for her as she now has to haul the water down to us !

Sometimes you have to wonder about humans making work for themselves. Now if it had been left to me I'd have just let us have free run of both paddocks.....

(First published on Ko-fi 10th July)

About  Eggsy Pony:

 Eggsy Pony was abandoned with locking stifles when he was just a foal, you can read about his abandonment here, his care is funded via donation.

If you'd like to you can help Eggsy in the following ways:

Follow Eggsy Pony and Friends on Ko-Fi  where if you choose you can also buy him a coffee, which isn't really coffee, the coffee money goes towards his feed.

Follow, like and retweet @eggsypony on Twitter

Follow, heart and share eggsypony on Instagram

Make a donation via https://www.gofundme.com/f/z8gpxg

or Paypal : eggsppony@gmail.com

Take a look at Eggsy Pony's Redbubble store, he gets a small % in commission on any item sold which goes toward his feed.

Settling in at livery

 If you've read earlier blog posts and / or follow @EggsyPony on Twitter you'll be aware that due to loss of land the horses have had to go to a livery yard. Well that was in January so we thought it was about time to update everyone on how Eggsy and Friends have settled in.

The news is good, horses and ponies are very happy in their paddocks and they've been allowed to live out 24/7 since Eggsy made such a fuss about the stables. The yard owner even provided a couple of new field shelters, not that anyone uses them. 

Our paddocks are right at the end of the track so it's a bit like having our own place as no one walks down that far! Having said that the other horse owners are all nice and everyone, mostly, gets on really well, most of the time. 

For the time being, much to Eggsy's relief, the stables remain abandoned. This may or may not be permanent, it will depend very much on the weather, if things get too muddy the horses will have to go in at night. Hoping we can manage to keep them out, Boo and Maddie are now both in their twenties and having space to move around at will helps with their mobility, Boo for one would get very stiff in a stable overnight and of course Eggsy hates being confined. 

There's another reason we haven't persevered with stabling. Our, slightly separate from the main yard, block of stables has a barn in front of it and unfortunately part of that barn has been let to a small shed making business. When we were shown round our understanding was that the work was carried out away from the stables, we were even shown where and it wasn't anywhere near us. But that's not the case and as you can imagine there's a lot of noise from the building especially as they seem to like the doors wide open whist working and there are a lot of vehicles coming and going. Not really conducive to horses and especially not to an angsty Eggsy. 

But on the whole things are good at the livery yard and the horses are all settled and content so that's the main thing.

Now what about the other two Muddy Bottom Residents who had to leave with us?

 Gingee the cat came home with us, surprising us greatly when firstly making no complaint about being put in a cat carrier and secondly knowing all about litter trays! He's made a remarkable transition to house cat spending most of his time lounging on the sofa. Sadly our other house cats are not enamored of him and are still avoiding him, but hopefully given time they will actually get used to him.

Hansel the goose came home to our garden wrapped in a blanket, he wasn't quite so accepting as Gingee when it came to being caught and travelling, but, he too seems to have settled down nicely, he waits at the garden gate for breakfast in the mornings which is nice. A garden isn't ideal for a large grazing bird like a goose but it's the best we can do for him at the moment.

So all in all everyone is settling into their new ways of living.

About  Eggsy Pony:

 Eggsy Pony was abandoned with locking stifles when he was just a foal, you can read about his abandonment here, his care is funded via donation.

If you'd like to you can help Eggsy in the following ways:

Follow Eggsy Pony and Friends on Ko-Fi  where if you choose you can also buy him a coffee, which isn't really coffee, the coffee money goes towards his feed.

Follow, like and retweet @eggsypony on Twitter

Follow, heart and share eggsypony on Instagram

Make a donation via https://www.gofundme.com/f/z8gpxg

or Paypal : eggsppony@gmail.com

Take a look at Eggsy Pony's Redbubble store, he gets a small % in commission on any item sold which goes toward his feed.

 

Miss Darcey Puffle Dog

Yesterday, May 4th, yes Star Wars Day, "May the 4th be with you", was our dog's birthday so it seems appropriate to introduce her to the blog, please meet Eggsy's canine friend Miss Darcey Puffle Dog.

 Darcey came to us as a rather unruly adolescent following the break up of her family home. At 7 months old she hadn't had any basic training and wasn't even house trained.

Unfortunately, due to her former owners both being out at work full time, she had spent much of her time in a crate and hadn't received any socialization either. 

As you can probably tell from the photographs she's a real live wire, typical of her breed, working cocker spaniel, who needs lots of exercise. Although we weren't looking for a dog at the time, we took her when she became too disruptive to continue living with her former owner.

She proved quite disruptive to our cats too! 

Fortunately with lots of training Darcey calmed down, she gets lots of exercise now, and the cats got used to her so Miss Darcey Puffle Dog has become a much loved member of our family. 

 

  

Eggsy Pony hosts Twitter's #ponyhour

Did you know that Eggsy Pony hosts #ponyhour on Twitter (with a little typing assistance from his humans) ?

No, what's that you may ask, so here's the rundown on #ponyhour 

What is #ponyhour ?

#Ponyhour is a weekly live chat hour on Twitter.

When is #ponyhour?

Tuesday nights 9-10pm UK time (4pm ET) for live chat, but, you can Tweet anytime using the #ponyhour, we retweet every day of the week.

Who can take part?

Everyone can take part in #ponyhour, of course you'll enjoy it more if you have a love of equines, horses, ponies, donkeys, mules even zebra. You don't have to own a horse or ride if you love them, join in. And as lots of horse people also have other pets they're welcome too!

Equestrian businesses are also very welcome to tout their wares, special offers etc on #ponyhour 

Equine charities are most welcome to promote their charity, fund raisers etc on #ponyhour

Show organizers Tweet #ponyhour your dates.

How do you join in?

Follow @aponyhour on Twitter and use the hashtag #ponyhour in all your Tweets and replies to people's Tweets, this enables others joining in the chat hour to see your Tweet / reply.

Who hosts #ponyhour?

#ponyhour is hosted by Eggsy Pony, with a little help from his humans, Twitter account @eggsypony 

Gelding

 So it's the anniversary of the day I was kidnapped, if you can call  willingly being led kidnapping, drugged, held hostage and had some of my bits removed, presumably to encourage the horse parents to pay the ransom, aka the vets bill.

Posting the photographs here on the blog so as to record, for posterity, such a momentous day in the life of a little pony!

This is me with my tail all bandaged up so it wouldn't get in the way.

Waiting for the vet man to set out his equipment, believe me I had no idea what was about to happen.

Vet stuff.

This is the actual moment that they drugged me!

All doped up.

Oh the indignity of it all, I'm being washed

and shaved!

I was given more drugs.

Feeling very sleepy,

so sleepy that I almost fell over.

I can't look at this photograph, this is when the vet man started to remove parts of me.

It's over I'm dripping in sweat and presumably the ransom is about to be paid because

they're allowing me to eat. 

However I will never be the same again!

About  Eggsy Pony:

 Eggsy Pony was abandoned with locking stifles when he was just a foal, you can read about his abandonment here, his care is funded via donation.

If you'd like to you can help Eggsy in the following ways:

Follow Eggsy Pony and Friends on Ko-Fi  where if you choose you can also buy him a coffee, which isn't really coffee, the coffee money goes towards his feed.

Follow, like and retweet @eggsypony on Twitter

Follow, heart and share eggsypony on Instagram

Make a donation via https://www.gofundme.com/f/z8gpxg

or Paypal : eggsppony@gmail.com

Take a look at Eggsy Pony's Redbubble store, he gets a small % in commission on any item sold which goes toward his feed.

Gossip from the livery yard

 

It's been quite the week here at the livery yard, we've seen tractors moving field shelters, you'll remember some of them got blown over during the storms, hopefully that won't happen again!

The show ponies, yes there are posh show ponies here, came back from their first show of the season with ribbons, apparently a most successful outing as they've now qualified for a show they wanted to go to.

 The oldest resident, Little Lady had a close call with the vet. She got choke which prevented her from swallowing her food and had to have tubes put up her nose and water poured down them to remove the blockage. But she's okay now which is a good job really because Monty needs her now.

Shock of the week was Rosie going to a new home

everyone says she's very happy in her new home which is of course lovely but poor old Monty was a bit bereft when she went. Fortunately Little Lady's kind owner came to the rescue by suggesting that Monty shared Little Lady's field so now the two OAPs bimble around together munching grass. 

All's well that ends well!

And as for myself Eggsy Pony, well I've had a good week, thank you for asking, just don't mention head collars or stables.

About  Eggsy Pony:

 Eggsy Pony was abandoned with locking stifles when he was just a foal, you can read about his abandonment here, his care is funded via donation.

If you'd like to you can help Eggsy in the following ways:

Follow Eggsy Pony and Friends on Ko-Fi  where if you choose you can also buy him a coffee, which isn't really coffee, the coffee money goes towards his feed.

Follow, like and retweet @eggsypony on Twitter

Follow, heart and share eggsypony on Instagram

Make a donation via https://www.gofundme.com/f/z8gpxg

or Paypal : eggsppony@gmail.com

Take a look at Eggsy Pony's Redbubble store, he gets a small % in commission on any item sold which goes toward his feed.

 

• 
  

Stormy weather

 Living on a small island in the Atlantic means that we're subject to storms and these past few days three have passed our way. Storm Dudley, Storm Eunice and now Storm Franklin. Fortunately being in the east of England we haven't been subjected to the worst of the weather but we have taken a battering.

Strong winds and heavy rainfall have left the fields with standing water and of course

we do have poaching by the gateways where the horses congregate waiting for us humans to bring them essential supplies of forage and their hard feeds. But we have to say considering Eggsy Pony's insistence about living out 24/7 the paddocks are bearing up well.

Which is more than can be said for 3 of the field shelters on the yard which ended up on their sides during Storm Eunice. Fortunately there were no equine or human casualties.

Luckily the field shelter in Eggsy's field stayed put, probably because it's a bit ramshackle and the wind could blow straight through those gaps! 

 Eggsy has his own way of sheltering from bad weather, standing as close as possible to Maddsie, who being larger than him acts as the perfect windbreak but

unfortunately even Maddsie can't stop the wind from playing havoc with Eggsy's hair do!

• About  Eggsy Pony:

   Eggsy Pony was abandoned with locking stifles when he was just a foal, you can read about his abandonment here, his care is funded via donation.

  If you'd like to you can help Eggsy in the following ways:

  Follow Eggsy Pony and Friends on Ko-Fi  where if you choose you can also buy him a coffee, which isn't really coffee, the coffee money goes towards his feed.

  Follow, like and retweet @eggsypony on Twitter

  Follow, heart and share eggsypony on Instagram

  Make a donation via https://www.gofundme.com/f/z8gpxg

  or Paypal : eggsppony@gmail.com

  Take a look at Eggsy Pony's Redbubble store, he gets a small % in commission on any item sold which goes toward his feed.