Showjumping

Just got home from another weekend competing. Two days showjumping was a change from what I normally do which is eventing , my little wild mare Fern, I just can't say enough good things about her. Horses are so versatile given the chance, and being from the wild is not proving to be any disadvantage for this fantastic little mare.

She takes everything in her stride,whether jumping logs into water,or prancing over fancy decorated show jumps, galloping through the forest, or dressage schooling. She just quietly gets on and does the job, no fuss, no stress, no complications.

This little horses is a special one, I couldn't be more proud of her, to this day shes one of the easiest horses I've ever dealt with, and tries her heart out for you every time. She's is small, the smallest horse in her class this weekend, not to mention the only one who grew up wild, and probably the only one to be a mother many times over, yet she still came home with ribbons to show for herself. Not that it's all about winning but it's nice to have something to show for such a awesome horse.

The wild stallions

It's definelty spring, you can tell by the way the horses start behaving. They suddenly have energy to be annoying. Boys start noticing girls, and the girls suddenly start flirting across the fence right back at them. There is galloping and bucking, play fighting, and everything is jovial again. It's not just the horses either, I can suddenly start to breathe sigh of releif, I've survived another winter. I hate winter, the mud and rain and constant chill.

But september and October bring there own challenges, mainly becase our valley turns into a wind tunnel, the barn roof moans and groans constantly as the gusts try to peel the sheets of tin off their frame work. Riding outside every day, your skin starts to get the rough, red and raw feeling, windburn, and about this time every year you start thinking the rain and cold wasn't really so bad, as you become exhausted from fighting the gust all day.

The horses are all starting to shine too, fatter, full of energy and their hairy coats start to disappear. All the young horses suddenly rocket up in height and spring spurs one massive growth spurt. Despite the wind the wild horses are shaping into good looking horses.
Their changing to in more than appearance, Miro especially is starting to get a deeper more manly voice on him, and gives a deep low whinny to every girls who looks his way.
 The pecking order in the herds is getting re-established, with younger boys just testing the boundaries and who really is boss. This needs to be done and the older stallions/geldings like bear and Matai, quickly push the young upstart back in their place and keep the herd functioning properly.

Although we don't have wild babies due this year, our other broodmares are not to far away, which is always exciting. Plus there's horse shows every weeekend, and I'm have taken overcomiment to a whole new level, with eight horses in work, a farm to run, wild horses to train, and just me to do it all. Spring is always busy, and the more I work hopefully the more bills I can off, plus sleep is for when your dead anyway, who needs it when your young.

Marathon

I don't know what's happened recently, but every time I sit down to type out a post, I get interrupted. Another job comes up, exhaustion sets in, I run out of time, whatever it is, I've started a hundred different posts, on a variety of topics, but haven't finished any.

It's no secret I'm always busy, but the last six months have been some of the busiest of my life. I check my calendar and another week seems to have gone past,the end of the year is marching ever closer. Running riding camps, training horses, keeping the farm from falling to pieces, doing charity work,finishing my diploma by correspondence , I barely have time to think let alone write. Then I did something even stupider than normal, I entered a half marathon. So now I have added running to my list of things I must to do each day. I have one month before the race, plenty of time to get fit... Good joke, I haven't run in years, like since high school, and currently running two kilometers let alone the required 21k is a challenge.. Apparently horse riding fit, does not equal running fit, unfortunately.

This fit of madness was brought about, because we were throwing around ideas for more fundraising for Kiwi Care Team ( animal charity that Ive worked with in Egypt and Fiji this year), someone said lets do a marathon, and I said "yes". It's all for a good cause right ? it'll will be worth the extra effort, and the high possibility my legs won't ever function normally again after completing the event.

But now I need your help. To make it worth torturing my body, and it's not just me a whole group of us are running it to help raise awareness, I need people to sponsor me, any amount of will do and it all goes to Kiwi Care Team. To keep everyone updated I'll put photos up, as proof that I actually ran it, also so everyone can have a good chuckle at my pain, hopefully keep you all entertained.

So if you are interested in sponsoring (lets face it i need all the encouragement i can get right now) email me at chloesponys@hotmail.com

Check out www.facebook.com/KiwiCareTeam

Or if your interested in running it yourself , as part of KCT fundraising and meeting the team, we'll give you a t-shirt for your efforts, all you have to do us enter and get some sponsors yourself. Give me an email and I'll pass on details!

Oh and all the wild horses are doing great, I'll try and update everyone soon, but right now I gota run....

Fern doing her good thing on the weekend