I have now purchased two bags of Suregrow and a bag of chaff for Penny. I am slowly introducing her to the pellets so that she is ready to start feeding January 1st. I have been giving her handfuls with her mineral lick, she seems to like it so will have her first full feed on January 1st. I might also get some molasses to wet the feed as she seems to rather like the stuff!

I have found some rubber matting for her stable, which has now been laid and swept. It's now waiting for a bed on top of it which I will put down shortly. I am going to start to bring Penny in for her feed so that she gradually gets used to coming in again. She found it rather traumatic when she came in the other day!

The weather has been very mild and wet, though it has got colder today. Penny's rug seems to be keeping her warm and dry so i am pleased with that. Her field is in a mess, the ground is very heavily poached, I am hoping that the horses will go in another field before the spring to give it a rest. Also need to ask about the fencing as it is currently eletric - which is no good for foals!

Penny now has a Mark Todd light weight rug to wear, the rain has been non stop lately and cannot be very pleasant for her. When I brought her in to her new stable she was very over anxious. She wanted to get straight back to her field companions and was not at all happy about having the mud knocked off her. As such we didn't achieve much but managed to get her new rug on - with her putting up quite a protest. I was pleased to find that under the mud her coat is in good condition, it has a shine to it and there are no signs of rain scald.

I have been researching what to feed her. Because she is carrying a lot of condition I am going to feed her a low calorie diet. I do think that she has lost weight over the past two weeks, which is not surprising given the extreme weather we have had. Hopefully with her rug on she will be better protected. I am going to start feeding her Dodson & Horrell's Sure Grow from January, to ensure that the foal gets the right nutrients. I will gradually introduce mare & Youngstock mix so that in her final three months she is being fed nearly her maximum amount. The most feed she will require is in the first three months after foaling, when she will be feeding her foal.

The weather is again bad tonight, with heavy rain and wind. TB's do not fare that well with rain, they can cope with the cold but not the wet. Hence the rug. Fingers crossed she keeps it on!

Next EHV due 5th February 2007. Need to seek advice on Tetanus etc.

Penny EHV

Penny has had her first EHV today. The vet said that she is looking well and not too fat as I had feared. He advised that she start being fed in her last six months, so I will start feeding her in January and build it up gradually until she is on maximum feed for March, April and May. We also now have a nice big stable for her, so she will start coming in at night from April. I now have to research what to feed her. It will be a stud mix but not sure which one. I will email the companies and see what is best.