time is flying by

I understand why people love daylight savings. i really do, i enjoy it as well. But to me it seems, all it really means, is a couple extra hours work, has to be crammed into every day. Instead of being inside animals finished, by 6pm. It now is a rarity for me to be in the house before 8.30pm, then dinner still has to be cooked. I'm not complaining, i know i have a wonderful lifestyle and get to work outside with horses all day. But i also work dam hard for it. from September through to December, i seem to be in a state of constant exhaustion. I think the main reason for this is its horse show season...(im sure it also has something to do with the fact that the number of animals on the farm seem to have increased dramatically, with calves, foals, goslings an even the rabbit having babies, but i like to blame shows, and not the time i spend holding baby animals)

As soon as daylight hours increase my work load seems to increase ten fold. Not only do i have my own horses to work, but people want me to ride, train and show their horses as well. Suddenly everyone wants lessons again. usually from 2.30-7pm I'm teaching as well as taking pony club rallies. Mondays and Fridays, mean either packing or unpacking the truck for the weekend. Saturday and Sundays are very often early morning and long days traveling to, and competing at, horse shows. But like i said i love it, and competition keeps me on my game, i wouldn't give it up for the world. I just struggle to find the time to do anything non horsey related, like update my blog, check emails,do paperwork, or do anything that doesn't involve actually making money or riding my own horses, as well as work around the farm...

But today I actually have an hour or two free today, having for once, no horse shows. So here is an update on all the wild horses.

Matai, continues to grow and fill out. no longer looking like a shaggy scarecrow he once was. he is a handsome muscular little man now, with a gleam in his coat to rival a top show horse. He has also come to the stage, where girls are pretty interesting to him. He is an angel to handle still, and never so much as looks, at a girl horse while I'm on the other end of the lead rope. but in the paddock he races up and down the fence calling 'the ladies' as they walk into the barn each day. unfortunately for him, they are not interested at all, ignoring his flirtation and calls. as soon as they are out of sight he gives up and goes back to eating. his groundwork is very established, he can be lunged, handled, has progressed to doing some more advanced jumping exercises, and basically will try his best to do anything asked. i think it is time, for him to move on to the next stage of his training.The plan being, to break him in to ride,during the next few weeks, as he looks strong and ready to be ridden.

Fern, like i mentioned in the last blog, is very fat and healthy. she is still her lovely self, calls to you, when she sees your on your way to visit her. she's still happy being handled, and loves being scratched every day, but unfortunately doesn't get more work than that, as i don't have the time, and she is also busy being a great mother to little Sonny. so i think she will just have a quiet few months, until little Sonny is old enough to be weaned and then i will continue with her training.

Sonny, is gorgeous. Is a bit of a fatty, at the moment, but also seems to be growing taller and stockier by the day. He has the sweetest face, and is genuinely, i think, a kind, happy soul. He seems to spend most of his days sprawled out flat, sleeping in the sun. But gallops and plays, speeding around the paddock and exploring new things, every morning and night. he loves being itched all over, and shyly stands and sniffs at you while being scratched. I must get photos up on this blog, as he has already changed so much since those first few pictures were taken.