Beautiful Rain :)

I woke up this morning hearing the sound of rain on our roof :) What a relief! Even though the rain won't be enough to fill the dams, it sure is a step in the right direction. I am hoping it will rain like this for the next few days, so, fingers crossed ;)



Just look at all the mist. I wish you could see the rain in the photo, but it isn't raining THAT hard.

I went to go feed our two equines and thought I'd take some pics :p The two of them were soaked, but didn't seem to mind (?). I guess they were enjoying the rain as much as we do. Regardless, I let them walk around the house just in case they would like some shelter (we have two shelters at the back of the house for them to use).



My Joy all pretty and wet :)



Renny all wet :)



Renny is a SA Warmblood cross American Saddler. She is only 2 and a half years old, but already a big girl. I won't be surprised if she turns out to be 17h.h like her dad :)



Joy taking shelter :) I love my pony!!!!




Last but not least my puppy (em, he was a puppy like 8 years ago, lol). He is my baby boy and I love him to bits! And he loves me too :p He is what we call a pavement special (aka a mut), but his looks and character makes up for his lack in pedigree. His mission in life is to become a wolf ;)

All clouds, but no rain :(

Hey :)

Well, our area has now officially been declared a drought disaster area. According to the newspapers we only have enough water to last us until end December, maybe January if we lucky! Scary stuff!!!

But I am a bit angry, because municipality should have seen this drought coming. All the signs were there, but they waited until it was glaringly obvious before enforcing water restrictions. My one friend has lived his whole life here and he says that our area has always had a history having 3 years of rain (including floods) followed by 3 years of drought. And now that I think about it, we have had a lot of flooding the past 2 years. Idiots! I am sure global warming is making the drought worse too. And if this is only the first year of drought then I don't know what it is going to be like the next 2 years! There is already talk that all water will be cut off from everyones houses and people will have to physically collect water at central points :o

We lucky here on the farm. We don't have piped water (shocking I know) and survive only on rain water. Yes, it is possible. Despite the drought we are doing good. We save as much water as we can. Bath water gets recycled to be used for tasks like washing the car, washing the dogs (lol), flushing the toilet and watering the grass :) The water we drink we buy from town.

Next door to us there is a diary farm. They are really feeling the heat of the drought. Their massive dam that they have is running extremely low. They never thought that would ever go dry... well now it is! If they don't have water to use on their pastures they won't have the grass for their hundreds of cow :( The sad thing is, the clouds are there, but it just doesn't want to rain! Stubborn clouds!!!!



The lovely green pastures belongs to the diary farm. You will be able to see what is left of the big dam.



Here is a close up of it. You can see the dry banks... now all of that use to be covered in water.



You can see the pretty clouds in this photo :( But they won't let go of those rain drops.


Anyway, so I finally posted an add for my pony Joy. I am waiting for the website to approve it (when they do i will post a link) and then I just have to wait and see :)

I went out this afternoon to take a few photos of Joy for the add. Poor thing had flies all over her face :( That is the only thing about living right next door to a diary farm- the flies!!! Well, as soon as I took a couple of photos I put Joy's fly mask on. And Renny's too. Renny (full name Serenity) is my friend's 2 year old. She is Joy's best friend :)



I love this photo of Joy :) She was posing for the camera ;p



My baby in her pretty pink fly mask! She was so happy when I put it on. No more flies :p



Renny playing Hide and Seek :)

Long time... no blog ;)

Hey

I've been itching to get writing on this blog, but I keep on finding myself either extremely busy or someone is using the computer :(

Anyway, so I have this little Welsh Cob X pony called Joy. She looks like Black Beauty, but only cuter :p She is black with three white socks and a star! And shiny as hell... in the sun, lol.

I got her because her previous owner didn't want her at all. The ass wanted to use her as a riding school pony and the poor thing was only 2 and a half at the time. I was supposed to train her for him, but how do you do that two a horse (em, pony) that's not even 3. I thought I would take it slow with her. She was a very nervous little thing. The owner, however, wanted her ready NOW. I didn't bother to go any faster :) She's young for goodness sake! Anyway, he ended up deciding to get rid off her. Not sell her... he just wanted to get rid of her NOW aka give her away. I felt so sorry for the little Joy and decided to take her myself :) Why not? She is young, hasn't had any training (no bad habits learned yet), good conformation and moves like a dream (so much potential!).

When she got to our farm she was VERY nervous. I had to leave her halter on to make sure I can even catch her! She didn't like people at all. At the time I was still working for the owner and didn't really have the time to start working her straight away. So I left her to graze on the farm and did the occasional "halter training" aka Parelli :p My family helped a lot too. They gave Joy (oh, and her half brother Jack who came with her to my farm to be trained) a lot of attention.

Joy is now a completely different pony! SHE LOVES ATTENTION and won't pass on the opportunity to get her bum scratched. You can touch her anywhere, even her face and ears which was impossible when we got her :)

About a month or two ago, I started backing her. I was expecting some fireworks considering she was a right brain (Parelli term, lol) when I got her. I rubbed the numnah over her... nothing. I put the saddle on... nothing. I got on her... nothing! She trusted me to the point where I could get on her with no fuss :) And in a halter!!!

We are now just doing basic training involving halt-walk-trot etc. transitions and turns. She has been doing extremely well :) I even had a little girl come ride her a bit and Joy behaved like a star!

So, back in the present now :) I was a little worried about Joy, because I found some heat in her right fore leg. She wasn't lame at all and there was hardly any swelling, but something just didn't feel right to me. Knowing how serious lower leg injuries are, I didn't want to take any chances. I've rested her for the past week. I sponged her leg down at least twice a day with icy water, applied ice man during the day and cooling clay at night. Looking at her this morning I would say she is looking good. When I called her this morning for breakfast she came cantering. When she trotted there was no bobbing head or signs of pain. Good.

I am now going to advertise Joy for sale. I have done as much as I can in terms of training. She is not nearly as well schooled as she could be, but she knows the basics and handles herself well with kids. I have less than two weeks to find her a new home (a stretch I know). I will be visiting a friend in Joburg on the 10th and will be staying there until January. And since we are moving end of December, I can't keep Joy. I am a little sad, but I know it is for the best. I am really gonna miss my baby girl :)

Hello there :)

Ok, so I have finally got this blog up and running. This will by my personal blog and I will talk about my life with horses, my journey to becoming a trainer (for now, lol) and much more.

I will just start off with my goals :)

Ever since I fell in love with horses, I knew I wanted to work with them for a living. I get too derpessed when having to spend a day without the smell of horses. Growing up I have come to realize that the horse industry is very BIG :) There are so many fields you can go into. So much to learn! I still don't know exactly what I want to do for a career. What I do know is that I enjoy training horses and find the whole process very fascinating. So, maybe I will go into this, even if just part time. The other career that has caught my eye is equine physiotherapy. I have always wanted to become a vet, but never had the tolerance for blood. Physiotherapy is a good alternative, I think :) There is also hydrotherapy and acupuncture!

Talking about horse training. I have been bitten by the natural horsemanship bug :) One of my goals is to get my parelli levels one day. To do that though, I have to have my own horse, which is my other goal.

I hope to one day own my very own horse :) So, far, I have been blessed with horses owned by others. I've looked after them, trained them and loved them. In return they have taught me everything I know today, preparing me for the day I get my own equine partner.

Anyway, I won't bore you guys further :)