Learning to trust

4 weeks ago, my photohunt post was all about this horse. Sierra, as he's now been named, is looking fantastic compared to a few weeks ago. These two people are riders at the school, and they're helping Melody teach this horse to trust people again. They wouldn't have been able to get this close to him a few weeks ago.

Empty stables

Photohunt: Heavy

She aint heavy, she's my Bonny.

It looks Abby's trying to hold up Bonny's head.

Stable mates nuzzling

The ground was too wet for Bradley to ride today, so they learnt about grooming horses ears today. While the kids were busy, I took Connor for a walk to see the horses.

These horses were next to each other in the paddocks, waiting for their turns to get groomed. I was very lucky to see El Gitano (right) lean over the railing to give Malawi (left) a nuzzle.

They're both still quite new at the stables. Malawi is a SPCA rescue. He's been at the stables for just over 2 months, and is looking fantastic now.
El Gitano is a thoroughbred who was living in very bad conditions. He'd been without water for ages and was barely fed. He's nearly 20 years old, and Melody doesn't expect him to fully recover for another 2 years (he's been at the stables for about 6 months). He was extremely under-nourished (which you can still see in the next photo), and had bad colic. He's also allergic to maize, so he's on a special diet.

Bonnie's eye

Taken at horseriding this morning. This is Bonnie, the horse that Bradley normally rides.

Horse shoes and other things

Bradley went horse-riding today, and I took these photos while I watched him ride (which was brilliant today btw, he did a rising trot perfectly and she made him do lots of standing in the stirrups to make his legs stronger).

Another great example of recycling on the farm... Horse shoes are used as hooks for the reins.


Baby chicks. The mother hen was close by and scraping the soil for the chicks to find food.

Shetland pony. Not sure about his name. There are 2 of them that wander around the paddocks and arena. They're not tethered or fenced in at all. In fact, not many of the animals there are, and that's one of the reasons I like the place so much.

Rainstone the Appaloosa

Bradley went riding again this morning, because he's missed a few lessons due to the rain.
Isn't this horse gorgeous? I love the spots on his bum :) Rainstone is an appaloosa and is owned by Letitia (the lady that assists Bradley's riding teacher).
I love the area and the fields surrounding the stables, so I couldn't resist taking this photo.
This is the view from one of the paddocks (where I took the mushroom pics from) to the fields. The white strips are electrified to stop the horses from wandering.

Baths and horses

Bradley went riding today.
There are a few of these old baths scattered around the stables and paddocks. They're used as water troughs. Good idea actually because they'd be easy to drain and clean.

You can see in the distance that the countryside is starting to get green after all the rains we've had.

White horse

I had to post 2 photos again today, because I quite like this photo! This horse was wondering around the paddocks today.

Bradley's first jump!!

Bradley did his first jump over crossed poles at horse riding today!! I'm so proud of him.

Horse

One of the horses in the paddocks this morning.

Horse riding

Bradley agreed to go horse riding again :) As long as Elaine (my sister) came to watch. Hopefully from next week we won't have a problem, he was much more relaxed this week and smiled for almost the whole lesson.

Connor meeting the Shetland pony. He wasn't too sure about the beast chewing his foot. LOL!


Bradley going over the trotting poles, with a very energetic Melody leading Bonnie.

New riding school

We tried a new riding school today. It's owned by Melody... Bradley went on a pony camp there during July. I was hoping she would change his mind about riding, but the jury is still out. He used to love it, I have no idea what has changed.
Anyhoo, more about that on my journal.
This is a beautiful place with loads of things for me to take photos of, so if we do carry on going, I'm going to have some fun too.

Horse

This horse was in the field next to the arena at horseriding today.

Nikita

Nikita is a Russian Bashkir Curly. The last horse of this breed in SA. She's very old, as you can see by the grey hair above her eyes.
She's a very gentle horse, so she's perfect to teach the small kids at the riding school.

Horseriding

Bradley went horseriding today. They did exercises with sticks and tennis balls.

Day 4

Today at horseriding the wind was bitingly cold, so Mike kindly moved the bench across the road for us to sit in the sun while we watched the kids riding.
The pic was taken from quite far so that you can see the bench and the horses etc.