Day 84 Thursday
First horse to ride of the day: Nile. A few laps round the track at a canter, easy. I could easily sit to that canter all day. Most definitely going to be one comfy endurance horse!
Second horse: Obelix. I decided he needed some more schooling time rather than a hack out. When I had previously schooled Obelix he had been so naughty with evading my leg aids and rearing, plus refusing to shut a gate once opened. With a rear before I got on, for no apparent reason we headed off to the camp to school in. Obelix will easily open and close the gate on his way out so that was not a problem. Once in the school I expected evasion by any means necessary so it was quite a shock for him to behave perfectly. Circles of different diameters, serpentines and early stages of leg yielding, plus all three gaits worked on. No rearing, no bucking and no evasion with even the head starting to drop to an outline. All very good and thoroughly chuffed with my little horse , time to tackle the nautiest of stages closing the gate before returning home. Open gate, easy, close gate, done and no rearing!!! Not sure what happened but Obelix has chilled out, I wonder how long that will last......
That afternoon time to take out another youngster, Medina. First time I've ridden Medina so it was to be a quiet leisurely hack out. Soon found out Medina is rather opionated but forward going at least.
Onto riding Samrah. Seeing as its pretty common for Perseverance horses to be ridden in halters, I figured it was about time Sam was also ridden in a halter. She is ridden in a bitless bridle anyway so its not that different. Just mounted and about to head out from the farm when I spot the herd of foals running down the road. Without a second thought (didn't even get as far as the first thought to be honest!) we galloped out from the yard and out onto the track to race along and come out at the far camp gate near the cattle grid, which is as far as the foals could possibly go. One of the workmen had jumped in the bakkie and was driving down the road (had picked up some of the other staff en route not that I knew this at the time). So at full speed Sam and I went towards the gate and met up with the other guys there. Situation was soon back under control and the foals could be herded back down the road and into the new camp they should of been heading for. At this point I realised I was in a halter, oops! Good to know Sam will behave at high speed and also able to open gates in record time too. She hasn't been that fast whilst she's been here but at least now the pony stride seems to of disappeared, considering it was an extended trot all the way home.
So thats all the youngsters ridden and all very behaved unlike the older advanced lot who spent the previous day bucking.
Day 85 Friday
Seeing as Karoo had only been lunged previously I decided to ride him out, hopefully with no bucking. This is the first horse I have ridden in a very long while with a bit and it felt strange! A couple of loops round the track in canter (first time I've had chance to canter this horse), which I enjoyed immensley. Such a comfortable forward going horse!
So time to ride the spookiest horse on the yard; Mercury. Mercury is Ashley's mount so its only when he is away when I ride this horse. Lucy accompanied me on Liberty and we headed off for a trip around Red Valley just for a change of scenery. No spooking, wonder if Ash had words with Mercury before he left for Namibia...
While the boss is away the staff will play! i.e a trip to the bar to join the rest of the local farmers in the area at the men's club.
Day 86 & 87 Saturday and Sunday
The weekend and....Horse to be fed, sprayers needing to be moved, chickens to be done....... Still many things to do on the farm even on a weekend. At least once the chores are out the way with we can chill either with my head in a book or watching something on the projector.
Saturday evening we did have a film extraganza with a friend. Nothing like sat in front of a projactor laughing at a comedy whilst eaten homemade apple pie!
Sunday pretty much ran as Saturday except Lucy was woken to the sound of hooves outside the window. Yes the foals had escaped and were peering into the house. Lucy woke me and we went to chase the foals back into their camp.... IN OUR PJ's! Half the herd went in the 5 terrors ran down the road. Mad dash to the car and we were in hot pursuit. Managed to get by them and drop me off and then Lucy had to get by them again to be in front. At least I managed to throw some jeans over the top of my pj's as we left the house so I didn't look too out of place. Eventually the foals were back into their correct camp and the gate was firmly closed. Nothing like making a fashion statement whilst in another country!
The rest of the day when not doing chores Lucy and I spent our time absorbed in watching episodes of Lie to Me. We unfortunately got a bit carried away and spent our time often using the phrase "Just one more!"