Blogs for March

It's school holiday now and quite delightful. I enjoy school - especially since I'm homeschooled - but it's nice to have a break now and then.

Yesterday, Skye and I had a ball. The cows were scattered all over the place down at the bottom of the farm, and Aletta looked like she needed some help, so I decided to get Skye and give her some assistance. I groomed her first, currying and brushing and combing. Rainy tagged along and sat chatting on her bicycle while Achilles used it as a scratching post and investigated the edibility of the tyres. I legged Rainy up onto Skye to hang on to her mane and squeak all the way up to the paddock gate, then dumped her, leaving Rainy and Achilles looking mournfully after us as we cantered away bareback.

Herding is really good for the horses. It develops their suppleness, obedience to the aids, fitness, and attentiveness; they have to be on their toes and watch the cows, and it is marvellous in that they don't get bored. Skye is quite a master of it and I love herding, plus herding on horseback is quicker and more efficient than on foot. It's a win-win situation.

The cows were spread out everywhere in little clumps, grazing and swishing long tails quietly to the rhythm of their nodding heads, their brown backs baking in the sun. They looked up with deep, gentle brown eyes as Skye and I hurried up at a canter, Skye holding her head beautifully on the bit. Aletta perked up when she saw us, and the speed at which we mustered everyone and started shepherding them gently up the hill to the homestead. The air was filled with the gentle sound of a hundred sets of hooves clopping gently on the still-soft turf, and a hundred mouths hurriedly snatching mouthfuls of grass from time to time. We were nearly home when Aletta turned with an exclamation of, "Haibo!" This seems to be a general Zulu expression of surprise, denial, or disbelief, alongside with Eish and Haikona.

I turned Skye about and saw ten head of cattle still plodding around at the bottom there. Skye didn't like the idea of hurrying back, but when she saw the cattle she was keen enough - she loves herding. We brought them back at a brisk walk to catch up with their herdmates; some younger cows were there, others were older, dominant, or rebellious. Stubborn Beth, a daughter of Blinkers, broke away at one point and hurried off towards a small dam. Guessing her intent, Skye and I left the others to a worker named Bheki and followed Beth to the water, where she waded in to her knees and lowered her rubbery muzzle to drink. I thought Skye might be thirsty, and at any rate we were both hot, so I took her in up to her belly. She didn't drink - she has a thing about drinking with a bit on; she will rarely do so unless she is very thirsty - but watched Beth calmly, swishing her wet tail over both of us, spattering us with water to cool us down. It was very refreshing, and soon Beth turned around to trot after the others and with a splash and heave-ho Skye and I scrambled up the bank and pottered after.

Once the cows were more or less in, Skye and I cantered up another hill to go and fetch the calves. They were all in a corner of their camp, but scurried home quickly. Bunny Chow, a bold little heifer out of Bluebell the daughter of Blommie, turned and snorted and bucked at us, then tossed up her little fluffy tail and loped off, threating to butt the other calves. Tiger out of Tioctan (daugher of Terramycin daughter of Tinkerbell), Buck out of Benita (daughter of Blinkers), and Holly out of Heidi (daughter of Blommie) were standing by the gate, new to grazing out, and looking very sorry for themselves. After hurrying to bring back Ingrydd, the daughter of Indigo, who broke away and ran, we took them up to the gate. They all spooked here. Skye started, but jumped to stop them, and we managed to push them through the gate and quietly home.

It was wonderful riding Skye to fetch cows and calves again, after Miss A's rather disastrous performance yesterday. She really likes her work and gives her all and responds well to the aids; she also has the independence to react quickly to stop or speed up a beast before I, with my slow human reactions, can do a thing. She is getting much suppler now with the help of the herding and I also do some "carrot" stretches with her, which she hates because all she wants is the carrot. It's such a joy riding her and working together. I had an absolute ball, out and about with my dearest friend. Thank you, Skye.

I rode Achilles too yesterday. He was a bit hard-mouthed and he still drags on my hands quite a lot, but he comes on the bit a little now. Perhaps the difference is because it's the first time I took him out without his martingale, because Kevin says we can leave it off now and see if he learnt anything from it. He still has his water phobia, and he wouldn't canter no matter how hard I kicked him.

Today, I had a very enjoyable outride on Skye, too. She listened beautifully and that canter really is coming on. I rode Miss A and that was quite encouraging because she had not one single rear at all!! I can scarcely believe it. I also discovered that Miss A can gallop, even with her head turned into the rain. It started pouring just as we were heading home so for the last stretch, a good upward slope with firm ground despite the rain, I let her go and we thundered home. It was lovely because not only do we now know she can gallop under saddle without bolting, but also she kept her head and was sensible even in the rain and thunder. That was really good. At least some of my work is paying off.

On a sadder note, the show in April that I was looking forward to so much is possibly cancelled out for us two. We got the entry form and it seems that the horse must be inoculated against equine flu to enter. We haven't had an outbreak anywhere near us since we got the horses, so they have never been vaccinated. I don't know the details about the vaccine itself so it has yet to be seen if we can quickly do Skye before we go. I am quite sure that she does not have the flu - and I know her best, so I can see when she's off-colour - and I think it's highly unlikely that she would infect any horse at the show, but rules are rules and they apply to us all so... oh well. They hold regular training shows so probably we just have to wait a while longer. I'm a bit disappointed because I was really looking forward to it; shows and gymkhanas are such fun, a whole big adventure with my best friend and I, and I do admit I have a competitive streak.

Sigh. Perhaps I should see it as an opportunity to better prepare for a show and wake up with the flu inoculations... what if we turned up in Pretoria, horse and all, and got told to scoot because we hadn't inoculated? Or, worse, if an outbreak happened and one of my dear horses caught it? Good heavens, I really do need to wake up, don't I?

It just goes to show, every cloud has a silver lining! Thank goodness, I am blessed enough to think of the world as one huge silver lining with a few specks of cloud in it. And who could help having an outlook such as that one, with family like mine, dreams like mine, horses like mine, and a life like mine, with a great big farm to roam in and all the time I want to do so, without being cooped up in a schoolroom all day?

How blessed I am!

March 25, 2010: Alive Again

Today I lived in full again. The AHS is over, Skye's leg is nearly perfectly fine, we went charging about in utter bliss, only slightly slowed down by Kevin, who was shouting, "Slow canter! Slooooooow canter! I said slow canter!" We did listen to him, eventually, once Skye's excitement and my excitement had been tamed a little. He rode Miss A and said she was much better than the last time, which was very encouraging.

A canter through the cosmos, bounding over rises in the ground; simple, swift, and everyday, filled with that ordinary kind of magic. Even Kevin shut up for a while and, upon seeing our blesbuck (who, it has been confirmed, is called David Livingstone) kicked Miss A and went charging wildly after him. Luckily Miss A is scared of Livingstone so he just slipped off into the cosmos and disappeared, and Kevin decided to leave him in peace and scramble up the dam wall instead.

It was simply glorious being on Skye again and being allowed to go nuts again. She meandered home without a limp and, despite the sweat that darkened her flanks, her eyes were bright and her ears were up and she seemed to be saying, "Get back on, I'm still good to go." Achilles came storming up to us in glee, smashing through a gate in the process. Because Achy was wanting to get to Arwen - he always does that with mares, regardless of whether they're in heat or not - Skye and I came through first. Achilles barged past her to Miss A, so Skye told him exactly what she thought of that with two rapid kicks, and Kevin shouted and waved Miss A's reins at him. Achilles was the picture of the henpecked husband as he quieted and shuffled alongside Skye for the rest of the way.

Little Siobhan's lunging will begin in a week or so when her AHS inoculation has quieted down again - we gave her an injection five days later than the others, because between the two of us not even Dad and I could hold her down. Luckily Kevin is pretty tall and can inject fast so when she reared up he got enough of the vaccine in to be effective.

Next, lovely news. In April there's a horse show at the riding school where our ballet teacher's daughter, Grethe, rides at (click the link "2009" and then "Blogs 2008" and then scroll down to "A Posh Riding School" for our visit to the school). It's called a 'training show' so it's a small affair but I thought it was the perfect chance to compete on Skye again for the last time this year - thereafter, I don't know of any shows until August and by then she will be heavily pregnant so Miss A is going to have to do that job. I'm glad of the chance to take beloved one to a show and also, it's the first actual horse show I'll be going to - there seems a difference between a fun-and-games gymkhana and a real show. Also good to get Skye used to the long travelling (it's about 45 minutes from Heidelberg, call it an hour especially with the box). Kevin gave us the all-clear with that one. Now I have a delightful incentive (and excuse) to spend ages and ages riding. There are two classes for the show, jumping and fancy dress. I'm not so keen on the fancy dress - and neither is Kevin - but Mom thinks it's marvellous so... oh well. Rain wants us to dress up as a cross between wild cowgirl and Queen Bodicea while notions of cowboys and Indians seem to be wandering around Mom's head. I dunno, I think I'll leave it up to the two of them.

For the jumping, Kevin says Skye's fitness levels aren't what they used to be. Realising that she hasn't really been ridden hard for six weeks and looking at the sweat on her coat as we came in, I was inclined to agree. Usually, Skye doesn't sweat so much and we do a lot of trotting and cantering when we ride. Jumping practice and schooling too; we need to work on a good working three-beat canter and on her suppleness. That we can do on outrides for the time being, but I'm a bit anxious about the jumping because we don't have an arena.

With grooming, it's basically just upping the daily brush-downs to a good clean, and she must have a bath. Skye hates water, so that ought to be fun.

I'm so excited!! We'll show those stable people won't we then, Skye? We'll show 'em - if not how to win a show, how to have fun in one. You and me, Skye. A team.

P. S. Here are some photographs from the gymkhana.

Plaiting up - Polka and I

About to go in... myself on Polka

Getting all fidgety, aren't we? (Excuse the position of my toes.)