Oxford Retirement Livery

20/05/2026

🌟❤️🌟❤️ BIO-SECURITY UPDATE ❤️🌟❤️🌟

*There is a sharp increase in equine ‘flu cases & reported strangles & EHV outbreaks over the past few weeks…*

We are hugely conscious that are beloved charges are more vulnerable than most & so we have implemented some stricter bio-security measures than usual;

- if you visit other yards / have contact with other horses, please visit us FIRST in the order of your day & ensure you have showered / are wearing clothes (including coat) that have been washed since their last contact with a horse.

- If you visit other yards / have horses elsewhere & there is a symptomatic animal at that location (raised temperature etc) please don’t visit - we are HAPPY to facilitate FaceTime calls / photos until the additional risk has passed.

- We have a boot-dip by the office & hot water / soap hand washing inside. Please use when you arrive.

- As far as possible, please only touch your horse/s here (we appreciate sometimes they have other plans! But aim for minimal contact).

- Visit your horse/s here in their fields / bring them outside of the field gate to spend time with them - only bring them into the yard if necessary.

- We will be disinfecting the washbox after each use.

Our visiting professionals (farriers, osteopaths, physios etc.) already visit us first in the order of their days as routine & our vets are supporting us with excellent bio-security advice…

We will re-assess every few days & adjust our precautions as needed.

It may seem a little OTT but we would rather be SAFE than sorry & with your support we can help keep our wonderful residents happy & healthy ❤️

08/03/2026

Say…“Happy Ponies” without saying “Happy Ponies”!

😍😍😍🌱🌱🌱🐽🐽🐽🌱🌱🌱😍😍😍🐽🐽🐽

Our spring-turnout started this week;

🤩 A phased return to grass for those that would benefit from grass / cope with the cooler nights & rain showers of March.

✅ Some will transition to pre-grazed fields to manage their early grass intake.

✅ Some won’t benefit from being out in the unsettled weather forecast over the next 10 days

✅ Some will move fields regularly over the next week or so as their gut biome adjusts from a hay-only diet to grass.

✅ Some will be out for the day & come in overnight as part of their adjustment.

They aren’t all the same, so they will all be managed differently 🥰

11/02/2026

The last two days have seen 47 sets of chompers have their annual scale-and-polish treatment… ready for maximum spring-grass-hoovering efficiency!! 🌱🤩🌱

We’ll check 15 of them again in 6 months time - as recommended by the wonderful Buckingham Equine Vets (the joys of “geriatric dentition”!) 🦷 👵🏻

Lots of brilliant info gleaned from listening to the brilliant Sally & Michelle: we talked ALOT about all the medical advances over the last 20 years that mean our beloved equines live longer… but that means that their teeth need to last them even longer!

So even more worthwhile keeping them tip-top (however many they might have left 😬🫣)

🎉HAPPY BIRTHDAY🎉 to Michelle - thank you for eating cake with us!🎂🎂

❤️ Photos of ponies chill-axing on the headstands because I can’t resist an open sweetie-drawer ❤️

04/02/2026

🌱🌱🥳🥳4th February IS HERE🥳🥳🌱🌱

We are half way between Winter Solstice & Spring Equinox gang!

SPRING IS COMING!

05/01/2026

🥶😫😫😫😬 Tell me it was cold today without telling me it was cold…. 😬😫😫😫🥶

🏇The heated trace wire wrapped around the water pipes kept the troughs flowing

🏇 Never-ending hay & haylege keeps hind guts full & stoking their inner furnace for cosy ponies from inside (like a Las Vegas buffet without the time-limit 🐽😂)

🏇 Rugged or not - the horses tell us what they prefer! Plenty rugless indoors & outdoors and some wearing up to 700g! They know what they want 🥰

🥶🥶 I on the other hand *still* cannot feel my toes 🥶🥶

01/01/2026

2026… the year of the FIRE HORSE?! 🫣😬

I’m not sure I’m ready for a Fire Horse year… maybe if we lunge it first? Like, really, REALLY lunge it…. Until it’s REALLY tired?! 😬🫣

25/12/2025

🎄🎄🎁🎁 Christmas Stocking Assembly 🎁🎁🎄🎄

It’s a serious business here….

✅ 1x trip to Bookers
✅ 1x tray of bananas
✅ 2x GIANT sacks of swedes
✅ 3x catering packs of polos
✅ 6x bags of Stud Muffins
✅ 10x Likit selection boxes
✅ 20x kilos of parsnips
✅ 25x kilos of Equerry minty treats
✅ 60x kilos of 🥕 🥕

And a mine-sweep of RB Equestrian Ltd looking for treats & snacks we haven’t tried before to find new favourites…

PHEW!

🥰🥰🥰 Happy Christmas Fluffkins 🥰🥰🥰

27/11/2025

We have a final 2x gelding spaces for our relaxed, luxury retirement livery at home with us on the hill outside Oxford city.

This week has been the perfect combo of cold/dry & now warm(ish!)/wet that shows the different personalities & which horses choose ‘IN’ over ‘OUT’! 🥰

08/08/2025

Thanks LiveryList and the Yard Owner Hub for being such a brilliant platform!

You can tell the mornings are fresher currently & Owners’ thoughts are turning to winter…

06/03/2025

OOOOOOHHHHHHHH YES 😎😎😎😎😎

It’s nearly rolling / harrowing / fertilising time… 😍

26/12/2024

🎁🎄🎁You could trust any of our beauties to do the most important job there is 🎁🎄🎁

🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

I have blatantly stolen this from another page, I loved it, substitute some names and.....
Happy Christmas from all the team 🎄🎄🎄

‘‘Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the yard
Santa was wondering-
‘When did things get so hard?’

Comet had a virus,
Blitzen pulled up lame.
Prancer had a stable cough,
And Vixen had the same.

Dancer had started napping,
And Donner had a splint.
And Rudolph’s nose no longer glowed,
And Dasher had a squint.

Vets bills were fast expanding,
The reindeer just weren’t fit,
Christmas eve was fast approaching!
St Nick was really in the s**t.

Mrs Claus was worried,
But she is a tour de force-
“Santa we can solve this!”
She had a plan, of course.

“You need a beast with courage,
Who can fly and stay the course!
With guile and heart and intelligence.
Why, you need an Ex Racehorse!!

Santa clapped his hands with glee!
Mrs Claus was right!
Now he just had to choose his team,
And all was saved come Christmas night.

It soon came time to load the sleigh,
And what a glorious sight!
Necks arched, ears pricked and all alert,
Coats gleaming in the moonlight.

Led by the greatest of all time,
The mighty Super Duty
And after him came Battleship Boy
Then Magnum, what a beauty!

In fourth was Severnwind
Next to him came Clarey,
Guinness looked a bit keen,
And Tim a little lairey!

The final five brought up the rear
Ottis and Louis and Elvis
Henry next trotting along
And Cyril slipped a pelvis

A little trouble with the brakes
Super Duty pulled pretty hard.
A quick pitstop to change his bit,
And up they flew again, onward.

All went well until the pyramids,
Where Magnum had a spook,
“It’s fine!” Cried Boy whilst locking on,
His brilliance is no fluke.

Around Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower
The team flew on the right courses
Sydney Harbour was a breeze,
For such magical racehorses

With such fine horsepower at the helm,
Santa was home in record time!
The horses never missed a beat,
Well-the line up was sublime.

Boys and girls around the world
Awoke to Christmas Day beauty
With thanks to Santa and his steeds,
And the plucky Super Duty.

So if on Christmas night, you wake
To hooves upon the roof,
And soft whinnying in the dead of night,
Well now you have the proof-

Santa sacked his reindeer,
He saw the error of his ways.
He far prefers ex racers,
To deliver Christmas Days