Well Toffee is nearly 1 - my my how time flies. She was weaned at approx 5 and a half months and took it super easily. She's now back in the paddock with Honey and we never had any hassles. She stands approx 12hh at 11months of age. Yep, she's a midget!! Honey is pregnant again - this time to a perlino tobiano Australian Pony approx 13hh or so. We should have a lovely little buckskin (hopefully pinto) running around at the end of September.

And Yep, she even lets us saddle her up - that'll save time come breaking in process!! She's did not bat an eyelid :)

Honey and Toffee had a sleepy day this past Sunday. The sun was actually out for the first time in a while so they both lapped it up, sunbaking and snoozing all day long. I actually thought something was wrong with Toffee as I've never seen her be so sleepy for such a long period of time but as it turns out, she was fine, just snoozy!

So I thought I should wake her up for a photo opportunity!! Mind you her eye's are half shut still :)

Toffee had her feet trimmed by the farrier for the first time on the 4th May 2007. She was a complete angel to do and the farrier Will said she was one of the best behaved foals he's ever done. Thats great news!!! All our hard work and training with her has paid off!

She fell asleep for half of it and actually seemed to enjoy it.

Here is a little picture of her dozing while Will gives her a pedicure.

Here is Toffee aged 2 months (april 2007)

Aged 3 months (may 2007) - she ties up like a pro

Our beautiful little baby Toffee is getting so big so fast its amazing!! You don't realise how quickly they grow up!! 

She is proving to be very intelligent and is now officially halter broken, she leads nicely, ties up patiently and picks up all her feet! What a little superstar she is. She loves attention and winnies most times she see's you in the hope that you'll come over and give her a bum scratch!! - Its her favourite thing at the moment!

She loves to go for bolts and bucks around the paddock, so when I put her and Honey into a new paddock, Toffee thought it was just super! She spent a good 10 minutes hooning around like crazy - I"m sure this would have gone on for another 10 mins however on one of her high speed laps, she wasn't looking where she was going and ran straight into the fence, she bounced off it and was catapulted about 3 metres backwards into the paddock. The poor darling was quite shocked by all this and also sustained a few scratches here and there, but mainly she had a huge scratch on her forehead - her beautiful little star looks all mangled at the moment but thankfully the damage was only cosmetic and she didn't actually cut herself - what a relief.

Here she is at the age of 4 weeks - (not the best quality as taken with my phone)

Here she is at the tender age of 6 weeks looking absolutely stunning!! -
Check out those gorgous fluffy little feathers on her feet!!!!!!

Our beautiful girl Honey gave birth to a beautiful filly on the 1st March 2007 - Thursday night at about midnight.

I was lucky enough to be there for the birth - it was quite a traumatic labour actually and if I wasnt there, we would have lost the baby. Honey had what's called a red-bag delivery which means the placenta has come away and actually came out first which is not good as it deprives the foal of oxygen as the umbilical cord had torn off far too early. When the bag was partially out (about a basketball size) I had to break the bag and clear the foals nostrils in the hope that she would be able to breathe, unfortunately the foal was not breathing at this stage and her tongue was hanging out of her mouth, she looked dead. At this point, I thought there was no way the baby was going to 'come back to life' so I turned all my attention to Honey who was pushing violently. I had a hold of the foals legs and helped her get it out by pulling with all my might each time she pushed. It only took about 15 mins for the foal to actually come out, but it felt like an eternity!! I'm sure Honey would agree with that statement!!

When the foal was about half way out, she moved her jaw slightly and we realised she was actually alive - what a relief! We placed her head on a towel (as the ground was dusty and bloody) and let her rest. Both mum and baby spent about 20 mins resting after the ordeal and didn't even attempt to move during this period.

The vet arrived shortly after this and assisted for the next hour or so while we helped baby drink and stand. The foal was abnormally weak and required constant supervision. The following morning, baby had been drinking a little but not enough and looked to be going backwards so I took both Honey and baby to the Cranbourne Equine Hospital for treatment. They were admitted and hospitalised immediatley. Baby was stomach tubed and honey was milked by hand and the milk was tubed directly into her stomach. Baby was also scouring so she was put on medication for this. An ICG test was carried out to see if baby had received enough colostrum - which unfortunately she didnt as Honey was dripping milk for 48 hours before labour. To ensure baby got all the required antibodies, she received a plasma transfer to ensure she was protected. After 4 days in the equine hospital mum and bubs was released into our care.

Baby has been oficially named "Toffee" - this reflects her whole order. She was born into a bit of a sticky situation, but all is sweet now !!

Here are some photo's of the birth - bit graphic but I guess most births are :

In these 2 below pictures Toffee is only 11 hours old here :

Below left - Honey & Toffee in the Vet Stable.    Below Right - Toffee age 4 days

Toffee is aged 4 days in each of the below pictures:

Honey is glowing with good health! Her coat is sleek and shiny and her mane & tail are extremely glossy and thick.

She's really showing now and her belly looks HUGE!!!! She appears to be feeling it too - not the usual energetic self, she's much more affectionate and cuddly.

5 weeks to go......

Honey is an extremely good doer and even though the grass is dying off as the weather warms up and rain decreases, she is still tubby as ever. I have to lock her up every week or so for a few days just to keep her from foundering. We have also had to resort to towing her alongside us from another horse too just to try and keep her active and fit as she really is fat!! She seems to rather enjoy this idea and happily trots along beside her lead horse. Her summer coat has come through and she is looking truly stunning - we just can't wait to meet her baby in March.

This photo was taken early November -

This photo was taken in October (the last time we rode her before turning her out for her pregnancy) -

Honey is soooo fat that I've actually had to bring her home and put her in a 'skinny paddock' to stop her gaining more weight.  She has been living it up at a friends property (with lush green grass) with Sugar, Hope and Faith and has just about doubled in size. She's an incredibly good doer.

Her pregnancy is going exceptionally well and she's feeling wonderful. She is often seen scooting around the paddock bucking & carrying on like a fool. She is very energetic at the moment and is so funny to watch - it must be all those changing hormones . I have had to seperate her from her normal paddock buddy Sugar becuase she is too full on for her at the moment, especially as Sugar is so heavily pregnant (due any day), she needs her space to relax without Honey racing around like a maniac. Becuase she's been so full of beans, she's managed to tear her beautiful new synthetic rug to shreds too so she's wearing a spare one while we get hers fixed....  Grrr... little devil 

Honey is 4 and a half months pregnant in the below picture;

Honey has tested positive and is officially in foal to the lovely clydesdale stallion.

She's looking stunning and I'm very excited. It will be a long wait but well worth it I'm sure.

Honey is going very well and she is enjoying being out at stud. Here is a gorgeous picture of her and Toohey (the clydesdale stallion).

Aren't they just the cutest couple!

Beautiful Honey is going to stay with me for quite a while longer now as I have decided that I am going to put her in foal. She will be put to a Purebred Clydesdale stallion soon and hopefully if all goes to plan, I’ll have a little baby honey running around this time next year!  Will post more updates when I know details on what’s happening.

Also, her warts are completely gone and she is looking fabulous. I'm sure she'll throw a lovely foal.

Warts are not a pretty sight. Left is a picture of poor Honey's nose at the moment. I had the vet out to see her and he said that they are not anything to worry about. He said that in time the just fall off (generally over 2-4 months), they are contagious as it is a virus so she must be kept separate from the other horses. He said you don't need to treat them but becuase I want her to be paddocked with other horses, I need to treat them. He said to go to the chemist and purchase a human wart treatment and use that. I have bought a new wart system that is now available in chemists and is works similar to the liquid nitrogen method that GP's use and it freezes the wart at its core and it should dissapear within 10 days.  I expect Honey's to take longer as there are so many but time will tell. I shall start treating Honey now and in a few weeks I'll update her progress.

In the picture she had knocked the top off one of them and that is why they are a red colour (from the bleeding). Generally they are the same colour as her nose and have a cauliflower look about them.

Honey was great at Gembrook. We rode from 10am to 2pm and it was hilly terrain and she excelled herself.

We all rode in a group of 50 horses and Honey didnt get silly at all which was fantastic!!

She lead the pack so was a bit more goey than her usual laid back plod along self. She thoroughly enjoyed the ride and had so much stamina- it was amazing to see her keep up with the other bigger horses with ease.

We passed cars, truck and motorbikes and she didnt even batter an eyelid at any of them. Little Superstar!!!

She's looking stunning and we're loving having her around and she'll be with us for a bit longer as she's being used by us at present.

WOW Honey's summer coat is finally here & what a little spunk she is !!

She's been a little angel as always and has been doing lots of trail riding with us.

We are doing a 1 day trail ride in Gembrook this weekend so will get some pics of Honey strutting her stuff.

She's well rounded now with the spring grass and is still the sweetest placid little thing !!

Our beautiful Honey is fantastic. We have done a couple of trail rides with her in the past few weeks and she's coming along well.

Unfortunately due to the winter weather & lack of daylight hours, we havent been able to do much else with her as yet.

Honey is going to be staying on with us for a while longer as she is being ridden by one of my family members.

We will post further updates on here from time to time.

Honey is doing extremely well and the swelling has gone down completely. She is running around the paddock with the other horses and feeling fine! We will continue to rest her for another couple of weeks just to be on the safe side, then will post the next update for all to see.

Sorry everyone, I know you are all waiting for the update on when Honey will be for sale, but we have had a hiccup with her and have to put her on hold. She has got a very swollen leg from a nasty kick from one of the other horses that she shares a paddock with.

The poor darling is not lame thankfully but she can't be ridden at the moment due to the swelling. We are resting her in a confined yard to stop her moving around too much and hope to have her up and running again in the next few weeks.... its now a waiting game....

Stay tuned folks....

PS - when Honey is back up and running again, her sale price will be $2500

Meet Honey….

Honey is a lovely bay mare, she is 14hh and approx 13 years old.

She is a honey by name & a honey by nature that’s for sure.

She has been with us for a few weeks now and is constantly impressing us with her gentle nature.

We don’t know anything about her history unfortunately, however we did hear that she was previously a beginners pony and the only reason for her sale was that the property was sold and they urgently needed to sell her, hence she was sold at the saleyards. It was very sad to see the doggers laughing when they were the highest bid, so I just couldn’t let it happen and decided to take this cute little girl home with me.

Honey travelled home in an open stockcrate and was a little angel, trucks whizzing by, and driving under bridges etc… she just stood there and took it all in, not fazed by anything.

Once we complete all of our assessments for Honey, she will be offered for sale. We estimate this will be in approx 2-4 weeks…

Sorry about the picture, we will endeavour to get better ones in the coming weeks.