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#irish cob
pandemicpony · 2 days
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Boys starting to enjoy spring!
Hopefully they will be able to venture out into the field in another few weeks. They’re desperate for a proper run around!
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whywishesarehorses · 2 years
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Pensioner sets off on 600-mile pony trek with pet dog in saddlebag
Jane Dotchin, 80, has been making the unusual journey from Northumberland to the Highlands since 1972. (Story from STV News)
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An 80-year-old woman who wears an eyepatch is on an annual trek with her pony from England to the Highlands – on a seven-week adventure which began in 1972.
Jane Dotchin packs her saddlebags onto her trusty pony’s back every year, and heads to the hills from her home near Hexham, Northumberland, on an epic 600-mile trek to Inverness, covering between 15 and 20 miles a day.
She set off on August 31 with her steed, Diamond, aged 13, and her disabled Jack Russell named Dinky for company, from the off-grid smallholding where she lives.
She carries everything she needs including her tent, food and just a few belongings – and despite wearing an eyepatch is determined to continue as long as she can.
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Ms Dotchin said: “My mother would look after my other ponies but she wasn’t that keen on looking after my Halfinger stallion, so I rode him down to Somerset to see a friend, which is about 300 miles.
“It was a bit of a hard slog, but it was good.”
After that initial journey, she caught the taste for the open road and travelled to visit friends near Fort Augustus, near Loch Ness, every autumn since.
The journey takes around seven weeks depending on weather and Ms Dotchin tries to stop off to see people she has met over the years.
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She said: “I refuse to go slogging on through pouring wet rain.
“There are a few different routes I can take depending on the weather.
“I don’t want to go over hilltops in foul weather, but I work it out on the way.
“I don’t bother with maps, I just keep to the routes I know.
“It is nice to go and see [people] again – I ring them up in the morning to say I’m going to be there in the evening.
“I don’t warn them too far in advance, because if the weather suddenly changes or I decide to stop early then they can be left wondering where I’ve got to.”
Disabled Jack Russell Dinky, who has deformed front legs, travels in a saddle bag.
Ms Dotchin said: “She manages fine, when there is a nice grassy track she gets out and has a run, but she doesn’t like stoney ground but she is a nice hot water bottle for me in the tent.”
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She said: “I asked for something good and solid in my old age and he got me a cob from Ireland. I struggle to get on her half the time, but otherwise I manage fine.”
Her diet consists of porridge oats, oatcakes and cheese which is bought at local shops.
She prefers to make porridge with milk, but water will suffice.
Ms Dotchin added: “You can always boil it from a stream.”
Her bathroom habits are equally DIY, and she said: “I dig a hole.”
Ms Dotchin is devastated by the littering she has seen over the years and said Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, is somewhere she finds “shameful” due to the amount of rubbish.
She said: “It’s appalling, in particular single used barbecues which are left lying all over the place.
“Cumbernauld is the fly-tipping capital of Britain.
“There are some lovely people there who let me camp, but some of it is so disgusting and shameful.”
Campervans on single track roads have also become a more persistent problem.
She said: “Drivers just didn’t seem to know how wide they were, I was forever just about getting swept off the roads by them.”
The right to roam has helped with countryside access, but she said: “There are still some locked gates or little side gates that you can’t get a horse with packs on through.”
For emergencies she carries an old mobile phone as the battery lasts six weeks.
Ms Dotchin said: “I keep it switched off and just ring out to ring up landowners to get gates unlocked or to warn people when I’m coming but sometimes the trouble is getting a signal.”
During the foot and mouth crisis in 2001 she went on bicycle instead.
She said: “I covered many more miles with the dog in a pannier but it was not the same, I missed my horse.”
In recognition of her independent spirit, and many years of long distance trekking, she received The British Horse Society lifetime achievement award last year, which she said was “a bit of a surprise.”
During her travels she witnesses rutting deer and stags fighting in the autumn, and foxes.
She said: “There is always something interesting happening and there is never a dull moment.
“I will probably be stopped one of these days.”
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horsesarecreatures · 8 months
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Irish Cob Stallion SD Worth It
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webdiggerxxx · 9 months
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꧁★꧂
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featherypoppy · 11 months
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suspiciousmammal · 5 months
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No you don't get it, we simply must go investigate the shrubbery
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probablyfakeblonde · 1 year
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Dapples ✨
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asterwild · 1 year
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pulling one from the ol' digital sketchbooks since the Irish Cob is the horse of the day for #neighvember
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track2hack · 8 months
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15.08.2023
Miss piggy 🐷 😴
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marimo331 · 5 months
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This is the picture of the winner from the last poll .
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pandemicpony · 9 months
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Finally, some realistic standards for unicorns. There is no need to always be pristine! 🫢🦄
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katjadarkrider · 8 months
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Zion (Song Of War X Call Me A Saint)
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horsesarecreatures · 9 days
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John Silver - Irish Cob Stallion
Olesya Nickolaeva Horse Photography
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webdiggerxxx · 8 months
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꧁★꧂
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featherypoppy · 3 months
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Several stages of Dirt Bliss courtesy of Poppy - mid 2022
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suspiciousmammal · 2 years
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i am absolutely fascinated by the differences in conformation and function in the horses! I really thought in the first example that one horse was just relaxed and the other was just more "on alert" - i didn't realize that was their actual differences in head carriage and leg placement. kind of unbelievable to make a *draft* horse to not be super functional at pulling heavy loads. is there a generalized problem in american vs euro where the american type is less functional across breeds?
That's a great question! I think it's hard to give a general answer, as some breeds are drastically different in the US vs Europe, while others are largely the same.
Even within the US, horse breeds are rarely uniform in type and conformation. If you look at the Quarter Horse, the performance and show lines are worlds apart:
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On the left is My Intention, a successfull halter horse sire. And on the right is Metallic Cat, who is currently the highest ranking ranch horse sire. My Intention looks grossly overmuscled, because that's what wins in the show ring. But it's very far from functional. He looks like a gym bro who's overcompensating for his last breakup. Meanwhile Metallic Cat just looks more like a functional horse.
So within the US on its' own you'll see a difference in work vs show lines.
And then there's breeds where you can really see a difference. Irish Cobs are rather common especially in the UK. They're colorful and a bit more laid-back in terms of temperament, so they're usually a great choice for children's ponies or people who are more casual about riding. Meanwhile in the US, they're this weirdly exotic novelty breed that primarily gets bred for flashy colors and extremely long manes and tails.
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The us version of the IC is on the left, while the traditional IC is on the right. The hair is much longer, and the body type of the us IC looks like it's been refined a bit. It's less draught-ish looking, with a drier head.
When looking at the Shetland Pony vs American Shetland Pony, you'll see that it's also been refined, but to a much more extreme extent:
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American Shetland Pony on the left, Shetland Pony on the right. These two are roughly the same height, by the way. The Shetland kind of got the harness horse treatment, like the Brabant.
In general, American breeders seem to be focused on improving breeds while European breeders stick to preserving the qualities of a breed. That's a generalisation ofc, but in very broad terms, that's essentially what's happening here.
Now, warmbloods are a different story. I think I'll split this answer here and save the warmbloods for later though, my brain is fried from work
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