April Photos

Autumn is firmly here now, and with it, a lot of changes. I have officially left the professional dressage world behind. I loved, LOVED working with the Friesians -- the horses, the people, the incredible experiences, it was all just amazing. But at the end of the day... my writing career has seriously taken off of late, and I simply do not have 25 hours in the day. After a lot of prayer and deliberation (and even some therapy) I realized that as much as I have adored the Friesians, the Lord has something different in mind for me now. I am so grateful for the experiences I have had there, but I've grown into something that is not a professional dressage rider.

It's hard to explain because it has nothing to do with skills -- I still feel I can become a top rider if I keep at it, and I continue to strive to ride the highest levels someday -- and even less to do with the environment I was in. It was a wonderful environment, with amazing people and fantastic horses. I just... realized it's not my dream anymore. I want to ride dressage and do it at the highest level, but not with all the baggage that comes with doing it professionally. And since God has so graciously opened the writing door for me, allowing me to almost halve my working hours while almost doubling my income, I have the opportunity to do just that.

Plus, K was in a place where she was ready to grow in her professional riding career, and so everything worked out just perfect. God's timing and plan in action, of course. So K is riding the Friesians and running their yard now and I will still get to see them regularly and take my lessons on Thunder and the others there.

I do still have Morning Star Stables, of course. The choice came down to giving up my stables or giving up the Friesians, and honestly... these kids have my heart. I couldn't let them go. So I have the riding school (10-15 kids max) and a few liveries and I get to pour all of my love into them.

On with the photos.

Rose is getting so big. The two bigger foals will be weaned at the end of May, since they need to go to their owners. Rene is confirmed in foal again, too, so she needs to wean her baby at 6 months rather than later (she is looking great though). I will really miss their cute little faces.

Miss Sassy. I loved her, though I'm ready to wrangle only one youngster these days, that youngster being a perfect little Wynnie pie. She's doing so great under her new rider.

My shoulders are so tight here and I remember feeling calm and quite confident when these pics were taken. This had become my habitual position, more because of life stress than riding nerves -- another thing that's changing. More on that later.

Such a beautiful mare and a real credit to her people 💜💜

Wynnie 💜 We did a few short sessions in April. Mostly, I started playing a little bit with getting her used to the hose. It's too cold for that now, but we did get to the point where she let me lightly spray her leg without RUNNING DIRECTLY OVER ME like she did the first time (excuse you madam, this is not how we behave). Wynnie is still going to give me plenty of grey hairs but I love her sass. She is just so much like her mom.

One of my parents' free-range pigs had babies and they have chosen Thunder's stable as their bedroom. Thunder is normally not a fan of pigs but he doesn't mind them at all.

He did get a little more work this month than in March, but still not a real program. I really look forward to settling back into real work with him now that things are calmer.

Skye is still looking great! We have about one more month of grass, so I'm going to start slowly introducing her and Magic onto their winter feeding regime towards mid-May. She is really doing so well, though. It was good for her to start living on her own and not having to deal with other horses' drama anymore. I do want to run some routine bloods on her though, just to check on those inflammation markers that were a touch high last time, and see if she's going to need any extra help for her old knee over the winter.

I mean... it's not bad for 33.

Her incisors are still great, so she can eat carrots by the bag full. Her only real complaint right now, apart from the old knee, is that the lack of molars means that sometimes pockets of food get stuck in her cheek and I have to stick my fingers in there and pull it out.

The first time I saw it I thought it was a GIANT TUMOUR but it was just a wad of grass. We had a few ridiculously cold and rainy days in April, as we do, so we busted out the blankets for the outside horses.

Thunder's feet are so beautiful as a rule (crossbreds for the win!). I feel like the frog on this one is weirdly long for some reason, though. Something to bring up with my lovely farrier when he comes again.

Noah has been coming down to watch me ride lately. It's so cute.

Thunder's coat has been looking so much better since we bought him all the fly gear. His chest, neck, belly and shoulders are totally fine. Of course, he ripped up his R300 fly mask in short order, and immediately broke out in bumps, scabs and raw places all over his face. I dutifully went out and bought him a new one, but I'm going to have to find a more durable solution.

Lancey has been mostly neglected, poor soul. (Well -- I mean, if you can call it "neglected" to have every need catered to and not have to do any work).

Even though the grazing is starting to diminish now, I cut all of Faith's stud feed out of her diet and left her just on grass and balancer, despite the fact that she's still nursing a foal. With Lassie getting bigger, she's just blowing up like a blimp now. This was taken in early April and she's probably put on another 20kg since then.

Wynnie on another stint of halter training. On this day we jogged back and forth over a little cross I had set up in the arena for lessons, and she was so cute about it.

I also stood on the mounting block to see what she'd do. She stared into the distance, contemplating her plans of world domination.

On Easter Monday, we went to watch the final day of showjumping at the Toyota Easter Festival. Even though it had absolutely poured for the entire week of Easter Festival, the organizers had really thought on their feet and kept everything going smoothly. They ended up having to jump in the smaller sand arena, which didn't have a ton of seating, but we still really enjoyed the day -- and, most importantly, the horses and riders jumped on good, safe footing.

Isaiah really enjoyed the outing, and it was weird but nice to see so many people watching. We haven't been around such a large crowd since the lockdown started. But with numbers easing in South Africa, and all of us having had our shots, it felt good.

The poor beloved was stuck watching a whole day of horse showing and I wasn't even riding in it.

On the way home, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was... the fuel station. (Y'all complaining about $4 a gallon? Ours has skyrocketed to the equivalent of about $6 a gallon.)

Still, the double rainbow was one of the most gorgeous I have ever seen. A heavenly promise, painted on the storm.

The Friesian girls enjoying some winter grazing planted for them.

Wynnie was such a sleek little thing for HOY just two months ago. Now, she is a hairy blob. I'm afraid the young-horse-uglies are at the door. Arwen weaned her last foal around seven months, which made everyone's life much easier when it came to actually separating them, so I'm going to give her some more time with her mama and see if Arwen will wean her naturally.

Magic is fat, happy, and unbelievably feral-looking. He keeps picking fights with the broodmares who aren't afraid to tell him what they think using their teeth, so don't have too much sympathy with him.

Lancey made his debut as a mounted unit horse for our local volunteer first responders. No one got hurt on this hike, but we had a blast riding around the trail in case someone did. This ride definitely deserves its own post.

Red is FINALLY putting on some weight. It took me an inordinate amount of time to hit on the right formula for him, but we're getting there. Thoroughbreds, y'all. You can keep 'em.

We had our very first frost of the year, rather early this time. I was relieved to see it. It has been a long, stressful summer of insect-borne diseases.

A friend, E, is picking up riding again after many years and I'm so excited.

The big stallion with the gentle spirit. 💜 I am sure of my choice but I'll definitely miss these gentle eyes looking over the door at me every morning.

I caught Wynnie and Thunder mutual grooming over the partition one night. Of course Wynnie stopped as soon as I took the photo, but it was still cute!

She also graduated to a big girl halter after outgrowing her foal slip. I can't believe it. It seems like she's gone from being a little baby foal to a growing young lady in the blink of an eye.

God is always good.