First Light Shadows

A few days ago I was woken up at 4am by Minki who "had to go" and as the day broke I saw that it was the most brilliant lighting I had seen in a long time and managed to capture these pictures, the shadows of trees on the terracotta walls of the old farm house.

Every day since has been cloudy and rainy.....

Goat Buying Roadtrip

Last Friday, Cules and I went on another road trip to buy goats,it was about a one hour drive from us and cold and rainy! Would never have guessed it is the middle of summer here...It is also because of this weather that I do not always have Internet access lately...or when I do it is incredibly slow!!! But here goes,today is good again!

So, with the weather being like it was,we decided we both had a craving for the Greek's comfort food! If you are fastidious about what you eat for breakfast...please DO NOT scroll down.....

Chips or fries as the Americans call it,doused in vinegar....

A fresh bread straight out of the oven.....Breakfast  on the go, fit for a King on a rainy day!

We munched through that while viewing this....

And then Cules had to decide what to buy and what not......sometimes it is a blessing not having so much money that you can buy everything you lay your eyes on...

Or these guys and girls would definitely have come home with us also...

Imagine accidentally walking into this in the middle of the night....

See the little brown one second from left,the farmer gave her to me! For free!! How lucky can a girl get..?

A Day On The Farm

Daybreak

Late afternoon swim in one of the dams for Minki and Flower

Cules trimming the Arab colts on a nearby Arab stud farm

New Riding School Ponies

Meet two of the three newbies! Little Pixie dust will only be arriving next month once her foal has been weaned. Tinkerbell on the left and Scooby Doo on the right. They have already been dewormed and have had their first African Horse Sickness Inoculation. I am praying that the killer virus stays away from them as with the rainy season comes this disease! I have found them in a very dry,arid area about 3 1/2 hours drive from us so they need to pick up a bit of weight still,they are not neglected thin in any way but can do with a little bit more weight...They are working very hard on that one.....

Playing With Dung

We went for a walk on the farm with some of the dogs yesterday evening,we have had a little bit of rain and everything is starting to go green. There were lots of dung beetles about which I am very happy to have noticed,considering all the chemical spraying from aeroplanes in our area over the citrus orchards.

To me this looked like way too much hard work!

Rodeo!

My eldest daughter Tarien went to the first Rodeo in South Africa this past weekend,though it was nothing like the Rodeos in America and even talk of not having horses again next year because they are just too sensitive, (which is a good thing in my opinion!) Remember we don't have cutting,reining etc like in the U.S.A and it is mainly a bunch of wannabe cowboys trying to ride the crap out of everything, but according to my daughter the opposite happened most of the time! I dream of watching a real American Rodeo in the USA one day. Yesterday we had the Vet out to administer the African Horse Sickness vaccinations,it is a terrible disease borne by virus carrying midges and no horse is immune to it,no matter how many times it has been inoculated against it! I have acquired three stunning ponies for my riding school,Scooby Doo, a 14.3hh laid back gelding,Tinkerbell,a 13.2 hh skewbald pony and Pixie Dust,a 12hh skewbald mare who was used in therapy sessions with handicapped kids,she is still with her previous owner until her foal is weaned next month.The Rodeo event took place on the largest Friesian Horse Stud in the Southern Hemisphere! Thank you to my friend Tariena and her husband who took my daughter with them to see this event! Here are some pics.

Willow trees...

The biggest Friesian stallion at stud in RSA,17.3hh  Bertus B....waiting to go into the arena for his demonstration.

Apparently this animal has goose flesh presence..

Showing how a Friesian does Grand Prix Dressage moves!

Miniature donkeys! I want one! Look at the size of the baby!

Off course Tarien HAD to try the mechanical bull.

The singing cowboy and his........,wait for it...Historical Boerperd! (Proudly South African)

This horse is amazingly well-schooled,I could do with a horse or two like that in my riding school!

Busy Days!

Hi you all! I DID miss each and every one of you! (I hope some of you have actually missed me a bit....??) My week has been hectic,I have been blowed over totally! Am only just now starting to see normal again and remembered to BREATHE 5 min ago....Well,I am all right,more than ever so! Let me tell you about it...Out of the blue I get this call Tuesday ..from the chairman of the home owners committee of a State Of The Art Equestrian  Estate right here in Tzaneen,they have been interviewing prospective Riding Instructors/Stable Managers to run the equestrian side of the estate for the past 2 years with no luck...no-one complied with their (rather fastidious) demands...The home owners now wants to get the equestrian side of things going..they did buy there because all these riding facilities were promised to them after all. Someone suggested that someone call me and just arrange an interview...huh... um..I have never had to do a interview before..I am a housewife who runs my own little riding school for crying out loud! What do I know of interviews?? Ok, be at the chairman's house for a meeting (INTERVIEW) at 7:15 tomorrow morning..What the.."Your husband says he is busy shoeing horses the whole day tomorrow and he wants to be present..."My husband KNOWS about this??" Yes, be there... bye..At that point my armpits started smelling...

So off we went the following morning,as we entered the estate our jaws started sagging,there are actually people in our little town with that much money??? Oh my,those houses are huge and I must say very taste full Georgian and Southern style houses,it felt like I was slap bang in in the American deep south it just needed swamps! The estate is situated high up in the mountains with views over a huge lake. A charming older gentleman invited us in to his beautiful house and introduced everybody,there were lots of gentlemen in that meeting,I felt a little bit daunted..I admit,this situation was way out of my league! i was asked some questions,asked to make some suggestions,handed plans for R4000000 stables and asked what my opinion was..I looked at the plans and thought what I would have added if they were mine..and then I couldn't shut my mouth the ideas just rolled out of it...Cules looked rather shocked at first..Geez...I made a LOT of suggestions. Then I was tried...someone mentioned something about his brother's children riding with said person up in Johannesburg...it just so happened I knew this person extremely well and actually deal with him on a regular basis...I could name his brother's children and their ponies and what they achieved at their last mayor show. Harr harrr! Life is just so good when something like that happens by chance!

Ok,to make a long story short,I got the job!!! I was given free rain to run the riding school and manage the stables,and I can choose my own staff! I am told over and over to just say when I want something or get it done and they do it for me. What bliss! They have already started building temporary stables for my riding school ponies to live in until the barn type ones are finished. I will acquire my own ponies for that riding school and have already found 2 suitable ones which we will go and fetch either Sunday or Monday. I have been really busy you see...

Today we went to Polokwane to watch a World Cup Qualifier Showjumping show! All the top horses in South Africa were there,legendary horses and riders..I couldn't stop staring, I took some pics for you all!

xoxo
Liesl

On arrival

Early on in the day I noticed this toy that they used to rake and roll the arena and immediately knew that Cules would soon be playing with the yard owner and his toy......

A bit of bling...

A confident,strong rider that caught my eye throughout the day.

Imported Holsteiner stallion,note brand on flank,there were quite a few imported Holsteiners.

Perspectives....

Look at the size of those jumps!

That was not the main event.

This poor girl fell off,lots of disappointment there..I felt so sorry for her.

See....I told you...!

The surface of the arena was imported from England and cost R 400 000 for the main and training arena.

Month of Expectations and Anticipation

When the year gets to November I always get a sense of great expectation and anticipation,because Christmas and New year is creeping up on us! I love the holidays,not only do friends and family make a conscientious effort to get to visit each other but the rainy season and storms are also going at full tilt! I love evenings spent outside on the porch around the fire talking nonsense till late into the night,or more often than not into the early morning hours...We have never been big on the Christmas decorating thing but for some reason,this year I want to do the whole Christmas thing! My youngest daughter is finishing school now and I cannot turn back time!!! I will no more be driving to school,attending sports games etc. Next year everything is going to be new again,one daughter far away at varsity and the other may be going overseas to work on the mega yachts! So this year has to have a Great Big Bang to the end of it!!...for me anyway...I am getting ready for booming thunderstorms at night,electricity failures etc..I remember as a kid we would all sit in the hallway,close all the bedroom doors and tell ghost stories amid all the noisy thunder clapping about,it was SO fun! My Dad had us jittery for months afterwards!! Soon when the first really big rains hit and the streams are all running again,Cules,the girls and I will be digging catfish out the mud just for the fun of it as they emerge from the earth after hibernating through the dry season! I hope I can get pics of that! I am so ready.....Here are some pics of what I am looking forward to!