September photos

September is supposed to be spring, but even though the frost is over, it always feels like the last month of winter to me - dry and windy and gross, with alternating days of a weird, tired sort of heat or bitter cold. We didn't get any rain this September, unusually, but we did enjoy plenty of riding on the nicer days.

Ladybug with a kiddo on board. She gave me a few good rides this month, too, with especially nice canter work. Her canter is natural and easy.

Anke (EM's Friesian) and a little kiddo who begged to be allowed to cool her off after her lunge session. Anke is super kind and this kiddo is our newest - and just as cute as a button.

Sahara starting to look a bit fitter now that she has a boy to gallop around with.

Enjoying our letterboard to the full. It featured in the engagement shoot, of which I'll post pictures when I get the USB with all of them. Tanneth from Fine Photography bent over backwards to get us the first few photos for our save-the-dates that very afternoon, and suffice it to say they were worth every cent. Precious memories perfectly immortalized - she is brilliant.

My two hunks 💜 Thunder still looked so dull and skinny here. Spoiler alert: the change to Equifeeds Racehorse Meal worked like a charm.

This adorable calf was born with lots of chrome! They're all beautiful, but normally they're just cute little brown babies. This one has three socks and a star and a white tail.

Getting the garden started. It's taken the back burner now as wedding planning intensifies (five weeks to go! eek!) but always brings us joy.

I help this kiddo who lives on a farm with her pony just down the road. She rides him five days a week (and rides Midas the days that she's not riding her pony). Luka is only five but he's a fabulous little guy and she puts so much into him. He may not get the best care (which I'm working to rectify) but continues to impress with his sturdy native capabilities - this guy has never seen a farrier and his feet are like this. Natives are the best. He's some sort of Boerperd/Nooitie pavement special.

This one didn't do very much in August/September except for staying fit with some lungeing, the odd schooling session, and plenty of outrides. Nothing of note to report, but many many moments of amazing joy. He's the best boy.

Old charger Skye has a new thing where she pushes past Thunder when I lead him out of the arena in the mornings and then gallops around stiffly in the cows' night camp, for whatever reason. She reliably comes straight to me if I offer bribery in the form of carrots but will evade being haltered with great gusto. It's safe to say she's come through the winter well, if a little thinner than I'd like. At her age, we take what we can get.

The sweetest eye of the goodest little Lancey 💜

We got the garden started! Few things are more fun than putting on some worship music and playing in the soil.

Wynnie was weaned, most uneventfully, in mid-August and Arwen came back into work in mid-September. She was pretty chill at first, but when a little fitness began to creep in, this changed lol. She's more supple than before but still so, so stiff compared to the boys.

Thunder and I continued to jump once a week or so. He did the Wheel of Death like a proper dressage pony - perfectly. At little crosses for his mother's sake, of course.

So much weight put on in a matter of weeks. As an aside, EM bought me possibly one of my favourite gifts ever - a Waldhausen shedding tool. Wow. It is AMAZING. Thunder's coat SHONE through his entire shed, and he shed out faster and with less effort than ever before in his whole life. What's more, he loves the feeling of the tool, so that's a win-win.

I took my unfit sixteen-year-old broodmare for a nice gentle walk to stretch out her legs as we started to put her back to work. The joke was on me. I returned on a rearing, plunging fire-snorting dragon. Excuse me, madam, even if you appear to have aged backwards, I have not.

Lancey took my sister and her bestie out for a nice ride with Flash and Sahara, who were both perfect, obviously.

Did I mention that half of the farm burned down in August? Most of the horse fields were spared, but the woods and cows' grazing all burned down. God has been so gracious. The cow fields needed a burn anyway, and everyone was safe and OK. I just need to replace some fences. No biggie. This tree fell down like a week later, having been smouldering on the inside for days.

The Lord entrusted us with this special soul, Xena, for a few short weeks. We did everything we could, but she eventually went septic and passed on. She was a fireball and purred more in her few weeks of life than most kittens ever purr. I loved her fiercely and I miss her so much.

Rene approaching her third trimester with another foal by Dakota. We're hoping for a bay colt for her lessor this time.

Lancey working his lil butt. I say that he hasn't been working hard, but he's certainly looking the best he's ever had, muscle-wise. He's a chunky Arab now!

Another day, another outride for Sahara. She's turned into such a solid little schoolie.

More soft pony eyes 💜 Thunder has been working steadily since we got home from holiday in July. No lessons of late, but plenty of strength and suppleness being built. I'm working hard on on his tendency to lock his underneck when things get a little more difficult for him (possibly linked to my tendency to just pull the reins when things get difficult for me, right?).

He is just the handsomest 💜

Red! I would have liked a few more kilos on him, but he's as fat as I can feed him without getting his child launched into the stratosphere, and his coat looks incredible for the first time since he came. He's turning into a very, very nice young man.

Thunder had a nice bath and was not amused about it. I can't remember when last I had time to bath my own horse with my own hands and it feels good.

Every kid wants to ride the fancy new Friesian, and EM is very generous with rides on her glorious steed. This little kiddo was a bit nervous but all smiles on board Anke.

The fiance (squee!) got started on making some wedding things. We're not DIY'ing too much of it, but since the ceremony is on the farm, there are a few things we need to do.

My favourite goofball.

Second favourite goofball.

This kid needed to feel what a dressage horse feels like so I put her on Thunder, who bucked her off for whatever reason. This horse has never bucked anyone off in his life, and he then tore around the arena continuing to buck madly for like five minutes afterwards, causing utter pandemonium in the middle of a busy lesson afternoon. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile. He chilled out after a few minutes and carried on as usual once I put her back on again. I did find a bump on his neck the next day so I'm almost certain a bee or a wasp or something must have stung him because he's never tried anything like that before or since.

More wedding things being done.

Muscly he may be, but it seems the Arab neck is here to stay.

The broodmare bod still very much in evidence here, not helped by her magnificent pose.

SANESA Nationals was in the end of September, and while I failed to grab any photos of Bullet and his kid that don't show kiddo's face, they were fabulous. Isaiah and I grabbed an ice coffee afterwards to round off our September.

We had a fun show in the first week of October that deserves its own post, and I'll put some of the engagement pics up when I have a minute.

God is good!

 

July Photos

 July was a real rollercoaster! After babysitting the Friesians again for a month while K was away in May-June, we went on holiday, and only then did I start to settle into my new routine when we got back. Of course, the new routine now includes wedding planning - in which the Lord has been incredibly gracious, as usual.

The night before we left. The yard might not be perfect, but it's ours and we love it 💜

24 hours later, after 12 hours in the car, we reached East London. The Eastern Cape is really temperate and it was a welcome break from winter!

I'll have to put all of our holiday photos in a separate post, but suffice it to say that we had an amazing time, even if this one decided it was a great idea to waltz around on the beach in his farm boots.

We didn't quite have swimming weather every day, but we enjoyed exploring the city - especially the museum and aquarium - and walking on the beautiful empty beaches.

This was my first visit to Nahoon Point.

Back where we belong, only now we're engaged! It was a little bit of a shock to wake up at home the next morning and realize that we were still engaged. Part of my brain sort of categorized our engagement as being a holiday-only thing, I guess. It's still sinking in.

The layers seemed pretty happy to see us.

My sister was really excited to see us and assembled a card, flowers, and a gift before we even got home!

Sahara's mane has gotten soooo long! Midas's kid outgrew him and is leasing her now, and I also have a half lease on her for the riding school. She's a very good mare, big enough for grownups, very forward-going and obedient.

Wynnie and Thunder have developed an adorable friendship. Basically, Wynnie never leaves him alone, and Thunder always puts up with her.

I'm really unhappy with his weight this winter. He's not unhealthy exactly, but he's not the shiny, glossy muscle-man he used to be. It's been this way since the start of winter -- I think his itchy coat really bothered him in the summer and he might even be dealing with an ulcer as a result.

Noah helps me teach every afternoon now. He occasionally gives at least one of us a heart attack by popping out from behind things, but I love his company.

Lancey is super grubby but at least he's happy. It took me a while to get into my routine with him, I hardly rode the poor little guy at all in July. Even after a long holiday and all this time, I still feel the effects of burnout.

I'm giving poor Thunder grey hairs! I can't believe he'll be 12 in October.

We did lots of pole work this month. It was fun! I especially liked doing poles on a circle or transitioning from far-apart poles to close-together poles to add some variety.

Ladybug is starting to look pretty legit. This kiddo helps me out around the yard a lot, and though the Pessoa caused her some consternation at first, she's proven very useful.

Faithy noodle is doing well but still just standing in a field for now. I'm hoping to find her a rider who wants to compete on her. EM ended up getting her own horse, a gorgeous and really well-behaved Friesian that I actually schooled back at the Friesian stud, through a stroke of amazing love and providence. They're perfect together and I'm excited for many happy hours of riding together!

Faith's hair growth has been insane. She rubbed this part down to the skin back in January.

Eventually it'll catch up to the rest again.

This is Carnegie, a new retiree. He's a good old boy.

We took the little monsters out for a pre-Finals training show in July.

Caught this barn cat snuggling a calf at like 5:30am when we were prepping for aforementioned show.

Shadow hugs for the best Thunder boy. He really started to come back into his old level of strength and fitness this month, so we're back to playing with the changes and walk-canter-walk transitions in travers and half-pass to prepare for the pirouettes.

Toy continues to enjoy his weekly rides, and I have discovered a new photography genre: between-the-ears pics feat. engagement ring. The silicone one, because I do not trust myself with the real thing when I'm riding, lol.

This kiddo is always fun to ride with, even though Dusty spent the entire ride trying her best to run away with him. Dusty's weight has given me many grey hairs this winter. She's feeling well in herself but I just can't get that weight up again. She's only about 19, which isn't old for a pony, so it concerns me greatly. She did start to pack it back on again after we dealt with a mild worm burden, so I'm hoping that that was the root of the problem. With her history, though, it's so hard to tell.

Lancey retained a surprising amount of strength and fitness, so we've been schooling counter canter, shoulder-in, and changes through walk.

It still doesn't feel quite real. Like a very happy dream 💜

This guy is a happy dream too 💜 He's going to feature in our engagement shoot and I'm REALLY excited!

Coat = OK, condition = bleh. I've switched from the Capstone Stud Time to Equifeeds Racehorse Feed (hilarious, I know), since it's less exorbitantly expensive than the Stud Time and while the Stud Time put a lot of spring in his step I do think he lost weight on it. Forever tinkering with a formula to make him spicy and chunky. His coat has done well this winter but he still gets scabby gross spots on his face, so I've bought him a very expensive fly mask, which Wynnie removes at least twice a day.

Jamaica did this to his foot two weeks before Gauteng Finals. I freaked a little and went the whole NSAIDs, wrapping, icing, antibiotics route but he was sound the next day.

The "sorry for sending you a gory pic of your horse's leg" pic that I sent his owner when he was all doctored up. I was out of Vetwrap (thanks to Red who overreached the same week) but this stable bandage did the job overnight until I could get more. Sometimes you just gotta improvise.

When I actually stick with Thunder's dressagey schedule Mondays through Thursdays, we spend Friday jumping whatever exercise I have up for the kids. He enjoys it and it's good for me to remember that I actually can jump.

We only pop over about 80cm or so but it's plenty of fun!

I got these incredibly delicious horse treats from S who runs the Arab stud now. The horses went crazy for them! They were Wynnie's first horse cookies and she was confused at first and then wildly excited.

Flashy enjoyed some outrides with his kiddos.

More "wow I'm engaged!!!" pics on a squeaky clean Lancey for once. His mane has gotten sooooo long and luxurious and pearly white - a good thing considering I'm going down the aisle on him in just over 3 months!

Am I going to take tons of these photos with my silicone ring and various horses? Yes. Am I sorry? Not even a little bit. We've waited a long, long time for this. God's grace has been so good in the waiting, but I'm glad it's done now!

I got this GORGEOUS new riding shirt from Zeuster Equestrian. The very nice lady bought Vlinder (from the Friesians) and I ordered a bunch of yard shirts from her and she kindly sent me this one as a present. I love it so much. It's nice and warm for the winter but very comfy and flattering.

Why was my lens so dirty on this day? Anyway, Red is finally starting to look like something. He still has a ways to go weight-wise but he's doing much better than when he first arrived.

It's weird to see Rene without much muscle, but her mane is sure getting long. She also needs a little bit more weight but has picked up well through the winter considering we weaned Rose recently and she's pregnant again. She's only due in January, so there's plenty of summer grass to pack on some more kilos before her third trimester.

Sunrise on the first day of SANESA Finals with Spirit, Flash and Dawn. None of my primary school kiddos qualified for Nationals, but it was their first Finals ever, so we were chill about it.

The old battle queen has started losing a little weight now, so she'll go onto some Speedi-Beet this week to tide her through the last of the winter. She's doing better this winter than last year, though, so I'm very grateful.

Now into the last, gross, windy month of the winter until the tide finally begins to turn towards spring, and then summer, and everything that that means - including our wedding day. I can't wait. God is so good!