part four

Due to all the wet horrible weather we had last year, which in late February turned to frost and snow, Merlin had to have a rug. I know he's a tough Highland pony and his breed are used to rough climates, but Merlin had been brought up living in stables and cosy shelters. We had neither, at that time, so a rug it was. He was brilliant and seemed to be thrilled when I put the rug on him, as finally he was the same as the other two, in their rugs. I know it sounds like I'm humanising him, but when Toffee had his rug first on for the season, Merlin chased him and chewed the rug at every opportunity. Is it any wonder then, that Toffee was still less than enamoured with him!
I started slowly with a towel on his back and finally when I got the rug on him, it reached his knees with great gaping areas at front and back. Back to the saddlers I went, clutching his measurements on a scrap of feed sack. The smallest rug I could get was a foal slip, fortunately it was also the cheapest in the shop! This fitted pretty well, although after only a few weeks, his rump was beginning to show. By March he was wearing a proper pony rug which actually still fits him this year, although the straps have all been let out :)



By June the weather was dry and most of the time hot. Most worrying was the lack of rainfall and we were ferrying water to the field in a big container on the truck. After filling every possible container, we decided we had enough for the luxury of baths for the boys. Toffee just stood and submitted, Oliver loved the water and was bathed and scrubbed enough for all three of them and Merlin made it perfectly clear that his tail was all that was getting wet, thank you very much! Wet sponges, apparently, were monstrous and anything soapy was just downright wrong. It was a fun time for us all, even if Merlin's beautiful summer coat was a little less than pure white ~:)