It's quite nice to blog only to people who know the history, because you will all be wondering how I have introduced Ace to the herd, especially to Jazz. The answer was - VERY carefully!
First of all I turned him out with Buttie and Radar so he could make friends with them before having to face Jazz. Then I turned Jazz out with him alone so there was no jealousy to contend with. Then I turned him out with them all, but for several days I only turned him out in the daytime, so that he had room to get away. It was only when I saw that everything was completely quiet during the daytime that I put him in the barn with the others overnight. I made sure that there was an excess of food available with no possibility at all of them running out and getting into food wars.
Considering that we are talking about Jazz here, it's gone really well so far, touch wood. After about a week, he ripped the pink rug in the photo on Radar in the old blog clean through along the spine. It was brand new and 1680 denier ballistic material. That photo was taken for Spinal Research and has led to me refusing to do any more work for them because I think that they are wasting people's money, but that's a story for another day! The second rug, also brand new, the same but a different colour, went with an identical rip a few days later. The third rug was old and already mended, I wasn't going to lose another new one if I could help it. I have no idea where it is, because after a week Ace came in without it on. It's out there somewhere in twelve acres.The fourth rug was nearly new, less than 20 days use in total. It was on two days before Ace came out of the barn with a series of holes in it. So he's now on his 5th rug. New out of the bag yesterday. Two tiny holes and a piece of sheepskin at the neck ripped off last night. I am NOT amused, he is costing me a fortune in rugs!!
Tonight I am going to leave the barn open. The ground is nicely dried up and I hope that being able to come and go when they want will mean this rug will at least last until they don't need them any more.
Sigh ...........
Boy your Boys are two up on Tucker. He only went through three rugs this winter. I'm pretty sure Chance is the culprit here. But Tucker is a lot taller, so he had to work to get it on top of Tuck's rump! I've nicknamed him, "Shredder."
ReplyDeleteLoved the pic on your old blog, especially the stylish headpiece Radar was sporting. *lol*
The lost rug will show up sooner or later. It's kind of like lost horseshoes....when you least expect it.
Once again, it simply proves, "Boys will be boys!" *G*
You can always spot the culprit, can't you Jean. His is the rug that is absolutely perfect, it's only everyone else's that are hanging in threads :-)
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Great to have you back blogging Caroline. Currently unable to view your video until I'm home next month :( but Ace sounds, well, ace! Nice to hear how the rest of the gang is too :)
ReplyDeleteSo far so good for herd introductions, rugs aside...
I found the one in the field! It only had one broken leg strap, all the rest intact and still done up. I've replaced the strap and it's back on him, because it's an old one and I don't mind so much if it gets torn, it's already ot one big repair.
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