Update On Past Two Weeks

Hey all,just a quick update on what has been happening here the past couple of weeks...First off,we had phone calls from two of Cules' hunting buddies that a Zulu named Gerome was in the area looking for hunting hounds...,had to be a team that has been working together for a while and that neither of them had anything he was interested in at that stage and could he help the guy whom has traveled all the way from Kwa-Zulu-Natal. The guy was a old client of theirs and they didn't want to send him all the way home empty handed...It was 8o clock on a weeknight and after a while Cules said sure let him come and have a look...., low and behold he liked Cules' pack and offered him an amount he couldn't refuse since the hounds are a hobby and not a lively hood.... So, all the hounds except for the two Dogos Argentina and a couple of jack Russel terriers  went to their new home in Natal where they have literally thousands of hectares in Zululand to hunt.....The kennels are empty and the farm very quiet...which I kinda like.Then, it was slaughter time and Cules slaughtered pigs and sheep for the household,then, as he was busy slaughtering,friends who came visiting during that time also placed their orders and phoned their friends and family and before we knew it,Cules was elbow deep in blood and gore....We smoke whole weaner pigs at a time and friends who tasted it wanted their meat done the same way...sigh....! So,that being done and over with,the piggys and sheep are  breathing more freely and life is going it's mad,frenzied,Autumns way....My youngest daughter is involved in game capture and working closely with her boyfriends' vet and are constantly doctoring rhinos,sable antelopes buffalo's etc....she gets to fly around in a helicopter and Cules just phoned to ask what they have been doing today and off course,she replied, capturing rhinos!!! Then, while browsing some horsey adverts a few weeks ago,my eye caught an ad advertising a Welsh Sec B mare of the finest bloodlines in South Africa....The owner has breast cancer and is selling all her horses... I replied to the ad and after weeks of deliberation, I finally bought her...there was only one other problem though, I didn't want to leave her in Johannesburg to be covered by another stallion and make another,very expensive,trip up to go and fetch her..,so Cules said I should look at buying a quality Welsh Sec B colt of different bloodlines to the mares' as I could also use him on our Anglo Arab mares to breed classy children's ponies....While searching for a suitable colt I was sad to see that very few people still breed Sec B ponies in South Africa....After a long,long search I finally found him and so "Rhys Ceieniog",the mare and "Roly House Of Stars" (both his parents were SA champions,hence the name) have finally arrived last Sunday.The mare's Sire was imported from the UK and so was the colt's dam Sire,so I am very happy to have been able to get the best bloodlines available to me....

My daughter's boyfriend visited and brought her a gift of carrots....for the horses, a first all right! I think he might just be Mr Right!

She thought it was a scream....

Cules hard at work doing meat cuts...smoked pork in this case...delicious...

At Roly Stud in the Johannesburg area where we went to pick up my Welsh Sec B colt.

Here Cules meets Hydown Pepper,the Welsh Sec A stallion freshly back from winning Supreme Breed Champion at the Horse Of The Year Show!!

That itty bitty little package of dynamite beat the Warmbloods etc for that title!

As we were making our way back from Johannesburg and Pretoria, Cules thought he recognised the area where his Grandparents used to live when he was a child..he told me to get ready to take some pics of the "Ghost House" and true as Bob...there it was, Turrets and all,it was on the corner of a busy intersection and I just couldn't get a good shot of it...

The 18 mo colt settled in at his new home in the bush....

The mare enjoying the grazing after travelling almost 7 hours...

She is a truly beautiful pony and has won numerous showing titles...

Well,that covers the most important happenings of the past few weeks here on Stoncroft Farm...

The End