Update on Honey

Honey has done remarkably well over the last few days in terms of settling and starting to gain a little confidence. She is a smart little girl and you can see her constantly watching and absorbing everything that is going on around her. The biggest help and influence to her so far has been Buttons. She obviously takes great comfort from him being there. She still doesn't want him completely in her space (which is understandable and being a mare she probably never will) but she keeps him in view all the time and in the stable will stand at the adjoining door between the two stables to be near him. I deliberately put her in the larger part of the stable so that she had the option to move much further away if she felt she needed to. I moved her hay further up the back of the stable so she had space to eat it without feeling she had to protect it from Buttons, but she will walk to the back of the stable, take some hay and move back to Buttons door and stand and eat it there. Buttons is such a great wee guy. At the most he can be a bit boisterous but never aggressive. He is so sociable. He has respected Honey's space when she has told him to move away, but he doesn't give up and has worked at encouraging her to start to let her barriers down and trust that he isn't going to hurt her. They now graze side by side in the field. The fact that she now has companions in the field that she can feel safe with and is not being bullied or hounded is hopefully going to help her confidence and general well being both physically and psychologically immensely.


Catching Honey to come back in from the field was a little difficult to start with. She wasn't acting like a horse that doesn't like to be caught in terms of it would rather stay in the field, but more warey. She couldn't understand why all the horses were all of a sudden getting their headcollars put on and led away. The horses are usually already standing at the gate by 3pm waiting to be brought in, knowing they are going to their stables where there is hay waiting. Honey, however had no way of knowing where the horses were being taken to and it might not have been to somewhere safe. She is however getting better every day. She doesn't know me or any of the other people who handle her so her trust will have to be earned.


The Dentist is coming out on Monday to have a look at her teeth. I've been watching her eat hay and it is obviously very difficult for her. It takes her a long time to try and chew the hay and by her body condition I imagine she is getting very little of the goodness from her food due to her teeth. I am going to gradually increase hi fi lite into her diet as a hay replacer as it is chopped it will be easier for her to chew at the moment. I have started her on a feed balancer but she will need ongoing dental care and I doubt we will see much improvement in her body condition until her teeth are improved. Her coat is very fluffy and fine, not at all like Buttons. I suppose like everything else that will improve with time when she starts getting the correct nutrients and care. It's hard to tell in any photographs how thin she actually is due to her coat, but she really isn't carrying any condition. I've ordered her a little rug, incase we get any more torrential rain.


The farrier and vet are coming tomorrow. The vet will start her course of vaccinations. Wolfie and Buttons are due to be shod / trimmed tomorrow so I will ask the farrier to have a look at Honey's feet as well. I will take some photographs of her feet before any farrier work begins to use to look back on. Her feet actually make me feel a little squeamish when I look at them with their overgrown and odd shape. And they are not anywhere near as bad as they were when she was rescued. I would like to wave a magic wand and make everything perfect for her but it took years of neglect to get her to this stage so it will take time to repair the damage. I'm very happy with the way she has progressed in less than a week and hope that it continues. Every night I notice her to be looking more relaxed. Her fear of the feed bucket disappeared quickly, surprisingly enough! She has suffered so much and I just hope we can undo the damage which people have caused her. Horses are very forgiving, but they don't forget. I will post some photographs soon and will get Buttons and Honey's blog started - if I can remember how I started this one.