First Day in Ireland

Well, it obviously hasn't been a week. It seems I can have more frequent access than that. If this becomes a regular thing, I may even be prepared with pictures next time.

This is the end of my first full day in Ireland. Some things are constant. Horses are horses and there are lots of similarities between the way horses are cared for here and the way I cared for them in the States. They still need food and water and exercise. Their stalls still need to be mucked out (scooping out the wastes). There are still some horses who are left out in the field unless they are being used.

Some of the differences in care seem to stem from a lack of space rather than a cultural difference. For instance, since there is no room to turn all the horses out at once, the horses are turned out into the arena singly or in pairs while we muck out their stalls.

One startling difference between horse management here compared to what I've done before is that I've always known breeders to try to breed in such a way that the foal are born early in the year. Some breeders aim for January and February for older and therefore bigger yearlings, since all horses are considered a year old on their first January 1st. Other breeders aim for the spring when the weather is mild and the grass is growing to provide the dam (mother) with lots of nutrition. Neither of those things seem to be pressing issues here.

Here, there is a foal just one week old, still a little wobbly on her spindly little legs. They are also breeding a mare who is in her first heat (fertile period) since coming to the farm a few weeks ago. If she becomes pregnant, she will be expecting in late July. I can under that here, where rain and mild temperatures appear to be the norm, an owner may not be concerned about availability of high quality food for the dam. However, if they are planning on selling the foals, I would think it would still be important to make sure they were comparably sized to the rest of their age group.

Well, I think that's all for today, I'll post more next time I have a chance.