Update at the Quarry

by Debbie Manning (Warwickshire, UK)

I wrote before about the possibility of moving my 4 ponies to a disused quarry in an attempt to create a more natural and enriching environment for them. Finally, we made the move.

They moved from a 9 acre hilly field with nothing more interesting than a hedge around the perimeter to a place with ponds, a couple of acres of rocky ground, marshy areas, numerous tasty trees with in their patch, horsey neighbours on 3 sides and a good view over surrounding countryside…

The ponies love it! At their old home, every time I visited (twice a day) I would find them either eating or sleeping, now they are far more interesting to watch. On day 1, my little pony went for a proper swim across the pond, had a shake and then swam back! They spend much more time browsing (particularly rosehips) from the bushes.

At the moment, with the very cold weather the pond is frozen. At previous yards they’ve only had water buckets to drink from and when they froze I would obviously break the ice for them. However, this has now become a communal pass time, they spend ages pawing at the ice having a sip, then pawing at it, then drinking a little more. My eldest mare had this sussed in an instant, but it has been really interesting seeing the others watch and learn from her! Also one of my geldings was pawing near the pond and dug up what appeared to be a piece of rock, put it fully in his moth and crunched away on it! I understand in the wild they dig for minerals like this.

They also spend more time just strolling around (always as a herd) and often in a line one behind the other!

We have been spoilt with the weather as so far it hasn’t rained since I moved them so my only concern is how the ground will hold up as the lower part of the land could potentially get very marshy.

The land has, to my knowledge, never been grazed before. At the moment they are happily munching away on 3/4 foot high grass (not at all lush!) and lots of herbs, which you can smell sometimes whilst they are eating.

My plans are to set up a paddock paradise style track before spring so that I am more able to regulate their weight, but for now they are very mobile and making their own tracks to the ‘water hole’ their salt licks, shelter, the different grass types, to socialize with the neighbours etc.

It’s really exciting to watch them.