Cutting Cow

Dolly has trained herself to cut sheep...she kick starts them,she can run a Figure of Eight.....BOTH ways,she changes legs....she even bawls at the sheep!

Dolly making her grand entrance....

Look and learn Quarter horses....

She lopes along letting them sheep know what is about to happen...

Just getting her bearings and warming up....

Ok,you see THAT look?

Now she is warmed up and ready to go......

Kick-starting the show....

Look closely to see what she is doing,my little camera wasn't fast enough to take a clear shot...

Look at her legs....

......and she's even bawling at the sheep here....

After kick starting the sheep into action,

.... she gives herself a jump start....

Perfect flying change in front and behind!

Look at that bend to the inside..!

You go Dolly!

Collecting herself for changing over to the right...

Ohh,she changed her mind and did a downward transition to the trot...

Oh Dolly you forgot to half-halt!

I keep telling you ...inside hand to outside leg you dimwit!

Ok,here we come again for another try to the right...

This is looking so good...!

Dolly, Dolly,where are you going?

A little bit of constructive criticism never hurt anyone, you know!

I promise I will shut up!

Dolly.....?

I realize you never booked a lesson,but you did some pretty darned nice moves there, come back!!

Dolly???

Never a dull moment on this farm...

The End.

Foal Update

The little cutie is growing so fast now and just too gorgeous...He provides me with ours of fun just watching him run and play..

Is this food???

Can't I go back to my stable with a good Joan Collins book and a cup of tea???

We can hire a babysitter to look after him for today!

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The Time Of The Stormy Nights...

Yes..That time of year again. This happened two nights ago:

Part of the stables' roof blew off!

We were lying awake in bed amidst loud claps of thunder,howling winds and rain pouring from the skies,when there suddenly was this very unusual,disturbing noise....

Peeking through our bathroom window we saw that part of the stables' roofing had come down and Cules told us to stay inside while he went to try and move the three horses who no longer had any shelter from the rain. We had no idea as to whether some more sheets of  roofing could come down and I anxiously watched through the kitchen window as my horse, Ghost, refused to let my husband catch her. The loud claps of thunder and torrential rain didn't help matters much... I called out her name and told her to "stand" which low and behold, she did and Cules quickly caught her and ran to an empty stable at the back of the building... I will never forget the sight of my horse trotting quietly along with pricked ears through the rain and thunder next to my husband whereas normally she should be behaving badly by rearing and trying to break loose...

I'm thinking she was keen on getting into a dry stable...

Well, we are going to be busy fixing the roof for the next couple of days!

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Rabbit For Dinner Anyone?

One evening a couple of weekends ago, I was sitting in my favourite armchair which belonged to my beloved's Great Grandfather and my Beloved was sitting right next to me in his favourite armchair which belonged to his Great Grandfather. Both chairs look exactly the same but there is a difference..he prefers his chair and I mine..

.I was reading through Jamie Oliver's book called "jamie's italy" and low and behold there was this chapter called "My thoughts on rabbit" ..WHAT??  I read the recipe for the marinade out loud to him and said that I actually have all the ingredients for this growing in the garden..except for pancetta,we never have that in the house,I have seen it at our local Woolies,but it is rather expensive...so anyway wrapping rabbit pieces in bacon should be more or less the same thing...?Jamie also said that wild rabbit tastes WAY better than tame rabbit.... I have NEVER eaten rabbit you know.

 So, my beloved perked up a bit out of his slumber and asked me if I would like to have a rabbit for barbecue the next day, seeing as it has to be marinated overnight...I looked at him and the warning bells started ringing in my head,sure, I said, but," Lovey I don't want you packing up the hounds and going out hunting tonight..,we were having such a nice time sitting around just quietly chatting and watching telly... " "No dogs necessary" he said, jumping out his favourite Great Grandfather's chair and calling out to Jessica (who was home for the weekend from varsity)  "you feel like going rabbit hunting?" he says to her ..in a flash she was there with the .22 rifle and out the house the two of them with Minki in tow marches.

There I was sitting,still trying to wrap my mind around whether I really wanted to eat rabbit meat....

Not three minutes go by before a shot rings out...and back into the house they march with a wild rabbit shot in the garden!!

I should have named her Dianna,quite the huntress she is!

It was so hilarious,

'cause I went scrambling out into the garden for the thyme,rosemary and lemon and ..voila!

In a matter of minutes the meat was hunted, slaughtered and marinading for barbecue the next day!

Excuse the tobacco that crept into the picture,but here is the rabbit meat as we were devouring it the next day.

It was really very tasty and looked and tasted a lot like chicken!

For those of you who would like the marinade recipe,here goes;

A handful of fresh thyme and rosemary,leaves picked

4 garlic gloves

8 teaspoons of olive oil

zest and juice of one lemon

1 teaspoon honey

Bash it all together in a pestle and mortar or a liquidizer

Enjoy

Thanks Jamie!

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Great Balls Of Fire...

Yes..it was THAT time for the pigs and colts on the farm two weeks ago! The younger male specimens of those two breeds of animals on the farm never saw it coming...they still don't know what hit them! Some of them are still a bit stiff in the groin and don't know why...!

This is the picture that will spring to mind every time a man annoys me!!

This is how we do it..

First the colt is sedated by the vet...

We had the Chief  Vet Mr Paul van Dam and his veterinary wife Franza Keiser and our newly elected President of "The Endurance Ride Association Of South Africa" who lives just down the road from us, all present at "the proceedings"

In this picture above the President Mrs Francois du Preez is lending a helping hand on the right..

As soon as the colt is showing signs of going down the ropes are put in place to help him go down in the safest possible way and to pull his hindlegs forward so the vet can go about his/her bussiness in a safe way...

Something to make sure he feels no pain...

Ouch..ouch..

She makes sure that both testicals are "present"

..and there goes a whole lot of attitude.., biting,rearing,nipping..,bullying,screaming and shameful behaviour etc!!

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