2nd March - A new arrival!

Well, Jerezano arrived today! He got a bit excited when the trailer pulled into the yard and he flew down the ramp, neighing at the top of his lungs!

Richard, his old owner, led him into one of the spare stables while he had a rug change, then he was turned out next to one of the other ponies at the yard – Chico. They had a few squeals and Zano, as I decided to nickname him, stomped his hoof a bit. But pretty quickly he was more interested in drinking some water and investigating the big blue bucket containing his hay!

Zano had a change of yard just before I bought him and he’s dropped quite a bit of weight, so my first challenge is to begin to build his weight up.

The next few days were spent just settling Zano in and getting him into his new routine.
His routine is this:

• He gets fed first thing in the morning, around 8am. While he’s tucking into his morning feed I put some hay in his blue bucket in the field and check his water. 
• Then, when he’s finished eating I swap his stable rug for his outdoor rug, giving him a quick check over and running my hands down his legs to check that everything’s okay. 
• Next Zano’s led to the field where he rolls within seconds of having his headcollar taken off!
• Then while he’s enjoying having a stroll round, cropping the spring grass or nibbling his hay, I muck out his stable, refill his haynets and top up his water. 
• Then, after a well earned cup of tea and a play with the yard cats, Eric and Toby and a chat with June, I either leave Zano in the field to relax or take him for a walk in the school in hand to get used to his surroundings. 
• After time to himself I bring him in around 5pm, he has another rug change, groom and his hooves picked out, then he gets his last feed, a cuddle and then it’s lights out for the evening.