Pony pedicure

Another thing that I have really enjoyed in Plett, is spending time with Bettina and her horses. And after arriving on Friday, Demi and I headed out to the horses on Monday for a ride. We then learnt that the horses were having their hooves done the next morning. This was an opportunity not to be passed up! And so Demi and I found ourselves back at Bettina’s farm at 8am Tuesday morning to watch Vaughn, the farrier and trainer, sort out the boys’ hooves. First though was to have a look at their teeth. Recently Weeky has been tossing his head a lot on the trot, and an investigation of his teeth showed the reason why. Horses need to see the dentist once a year to shape their back molars, which become painful and sharp and rub into the inside of their mouths. And the boys are all due to see the dentist, poor chaps! But to watch Vaughn open up Weeky’s mouth, grab this big fat tongue and pull it out the side of his mouth and inspect his teeth was too funny and so interesting! To see Troy moving his tongue around like he had tasted something bad, and huge Mandla hang his head after the violation was so entertaining! These boys have such character and endearing personalities!

And then for the hoof clean-up! They didn’t need shoes, but needed their hooves trimmed and neatly filed down and shaped. Weeky went first. What a fascinating process! A sharp knife come hoof-pick to clean out all the mud and poo lodged in his hoof, then a huge pair of nail-clippers to trim the outer wall of the hoof, and finally a big nail file (probably better likened to a metal rasp) to clean off the sharp edges and round the hoof neatly. Vaughn made it look so easy and after commenting as much he let me try! I even got to wear the cool farrier pants! Like a boss! The hoof is not as hard as I thought, but the sharp instruments help! You need to put some oomph into cutting the edges, but altogether manageable, barely! The most difficult part was holding his hoof up! Trying to get into the right position was so hard! I’m stumbling all over the place, with Weeky leaning on me and me leaning on Weeky trying to keep his hoof up locked between my legs, now that made me sweat!

Vaughn clipping the wall of the hoof.

Filing down the rough patches.

Putting on the pants!

Hoof up..

Hmmm not quite..

Hold it there!

In position and cleaning out all the muck.

Clipping the edges, like a boss!

Church on the beach

After returning to Plett after a most wonderful time at home, I was feeling somewhat sorry for myself, and had decided to hole myself up for the weekend and just settle in and work my sorrows away. The weekend I arrived back, Xtreme Life Church, along with the Knysna church it was planted out of, had a camp at Keurbooms Campsite. And so it ended up that I went out there with the Browns on Friday evening to hang out, and on Saturday evening for boerewors rolls, as well as on Sunday for church on the beach. It was so good to see the Plettatoes that have a big piece of my heart. They really have become family here. And so slowly my pity party had a joyful change and I enjoyed hanging out with my peoples.

Setting up for church.

What a view!

Darvil day

An unexpected trip home brought more surprises than just being able to spend time with family and friends; I was in time for Darvil ringing! In PMB, once a month on a Saturday a team gathers at the Darvil Bird Sanctuary, which is on the property of the Darvil Water Works; delightful aromas fill the air and soak into your pores. So Saturday morning I was up at 04:15 to be ready to leave at 04:45 to meet the team at Darvil at 05:00. I like to think of myself as a morning person, this Saturday in particular I was not. Bleary eyed I rolled out of bed to dunk my head under the tap and begin making myself somewhat presentable to public appearance. By the time I reached Darvil excitement was setting in, smelling the familiar smells and seeing all the old faces and happy smiles lightened my heart and countenance. There had been some rain recently and the track to our site was very muddy with some wonderfully deep puddles to 4x4 through, but we made it to our ringing site. We split into teams, those with gumboots to the muddy track those without to the grassy track. Altogether we put up 14 nets and then settled in to wait for the arrival of our first volunteers (the birds that is).

Some days you get lucky with a nice variety, and some unusuals that aren’t often caught, some days you can catch a whole bunch of the same birds. That day we caught roughly 30 Thick-billed Weavers. These birds, true to their names, have rather thick bills. And they bite. HARD! A rather painful crushing that doesn’t stop until you manage to pry their beaks off whatever area of your digits they have latched onto in retribution for being caught. Taking them out of the nets I joked about who would start squealing first, it was me..

It was a wonderful morning out. The rain threatened, and started on and off for most of it but to be out with all the people and extracting birds and taking photos was just a super way to start off the trip home! And so we retired home for a shower (wash off all the Darvil sewage), with soaking wet, mud encrusted takkies, and a happy heart.

Off to check the nets..

Busy at work ringing our volunteers.

Nets cleared and birds are taken to the table to be ringed.

An active Malachite Kingfisher who wouldn't keep still for his profile.

By-catch in the nets which we were able to extract without dismemberment.

Horsing around

Bettina and Mikhiel, a couple in the church, have 3 horses: 2 percherons (Mandla and Troy) and a riding pony (Weeky - Weekend Warrior!). When I heard this my ears pricked up and when Demi was going to go for a ride I asked if I could come along. As a kid I went for riding lessons but I haven’t been on a horse for a good couple years and it seemed like a good a time as any to get back on a horse! And so it began!

The first day Demi and I each had a turn on Weeky, and since then I have been hooked! Weeky is the one I ride the most, he is well trained and has some umph! I did also have a chance to ride Troy who looks nice and big but is soo slow and just plod.. plod.. plods around and cannot be coaxed, cajoled or kicked to go any faster than a walk. Mandla is the biggest (and strongest) of the three and I have yet to ride him, but we’ll see how that goes, I’m happy riding Weeky!

Bettina and Mikhiel have Mandla and Troy with the aim that they will be able to pull a carriage, and an ossewa! And so in recent days Vaughn has come to train Mandla and Troy, as well as Bettina, in how to be carthorses, and a cart driver! It has been amazing to watch Vaughn work with these big boys and get them listening and moving when and where he wants them. It is a simple (so it seems) system. A strap goes over the back and is tightened over the belly with a girth, long ropes are put through a loop in the strap and connects to the bit on the bridle, one on each side. So you have really long reins and you direct the horse from behind, not on top. Simple enough? Vaughn makes it seem so! But it is somewhat a lot more complex! But the boys are looking good and I’m enjoying riding Weeky around and watching them work!

So you get an idea size wise.. Left to right is Mandla, Weeky and Troy.

Demi on Weeky with Bettina walking beside.

Beautiful boy!

Mandla waiting for the command to walk on from Vaughn.

Troy plod plod plodding along.

Back up..