Horse and carriage

A beautiful day out at Main beach advertising T'Niqua Stable Inn. Storm and Mandla in top form!

How beautiful!

Horseback safari

Plettenberg Bay Nature Reserve had a brief pre-holiday season special on horseback safaris, which I jumped at! Shirley, Demi and myself booked in for a 10am 2-hour safari around the nature reserve, what an experience! Seeing the reserve on horseback was such a unique experience, the horses are allowed out to graze with the wild animals which are now quite used to their presence, and that of humans, and we were able to get exceptionally close to a wide variety of animals! In preparation for the safari, I made a point to change the batteries in my camera. Inevitably they lasted for only a few photos and they didn’t sell batteries at reception, so before I even got onto the horse my camera was dead! Not a happy chappy! But my cellphone sufficed, and Shirley got some good photos which I stole. The horses on first impression seemed to be boerperde, shaggy brown farm horses, rugged and used to the outdoors. I walked up to the first to say hi, and checked the girth (safety first) and the ill-tempered brute laid his ears back and kicked out; I was not going to ride him so moved on to see the other horses. Our guide, Dean, arrived and dished out the horses; I was on Toby, the ill-tempered brute. When I mentioned as much, I was assured that he was a pleasurable ride and the fastest horse on the reserve, being an ex-racehorse. We were lucky that other people hadn’t booked in for the ride and had a wonderful time chatting and enjoying a beautiful day! We got close to two male White Rhinos, one with a freshly cut horn. We stopped to look at the Nile Crocodiles and wandered quietly past a herd of lazy Wildebeest. The highlight for me was most definitely the hippos! A big male standing out of the water, with a female and her small calf in the water. We were also able to get incredibly close, what a spectacular moment! A fascinating sight was the white springbok. Inbreeding caused a lack of pigmentation resulting in an entirely white springbok, and a semi-pigmented springbok, an unnatural sight! Also on the reserve was a black springbok.. I am now firmly a fan of the original! Toby was indeed a good ride, though he was not much inclined to listen to my directions and was happier to pick his own path and follow along behind. I was quite content with this, to trust he knew the best route and I could just enjoy the surroundings, secure in the saddle. I did have a chance to put him through his paces, and what an amazing feeling to have him stretch out and lengthen his stride and race along a track! Exhilarating! All in all, the three of us got back, a little saddle sore but very happy, though the next morning though the little saddle sore had morphed into a lot saddle sore!

Looking like a seriously lazy rider!

Rhinos grazing next to the ostriches.

The hippos that made my day!

An unnatural sight on any reserve..

Demi tackling a shallow pond with encouragement from Dean.

Wedding wonders

T’Niqua is well on its way in the preparation for weddings, parties and romantic outings! All the hours of training with the horses building up muscles, reviving the old wagon and practice, practice, practice has paid off! A photo shoot was arranged with a professional photographer and some beautiful ladies all dressed up in their borrowed wedding finery. What a day! The wagon was polished, the horses had a bath and despite some early morning cloud it cleared into a beautiful morning! After taking some photos in the garden, everyone either took a wagon ride or walked to the fynbos site where Bettina had set up a stunning table for a shoot as part of a champagne breakfast overlooking the sea. And then there were chocolate cupcakes for everyone! Looking at how it all came together on the day, it is difficult for anyone to really appreciate the amount of work that has gone into getting horses, wagon and people to the level of competence and perfection that was displayed for the photoshoot. Months of time, money, blood, sweat and tears has been invested into this part of T’Niqua, and it paid off beautifully!

A handsome entrance.

Heading out into the fynbos.

A bit of a bumpy ride though!

Posing the models!

A well dressed driver!

The photographer in action.

It was a beautiful day!

A romantic champagne breakfast setting.

Mom the photographer.

Bettina and I.

The boys have big feet! 

The great fall

I had been bugging Shane for some time about going for a ride with me on Michiel and Bettina’s horses, and after a weekend stay there when he still hadn’t gone for a ride, it was decided that on Tuesday we would go riding. I have been taking Demi every Tuesday afternoon for a lesson on Weeky, and every Tuesday since before Shane arrived I get asked about whether he is coming with to watch her. Tuesday seemed like a good day to go riding then and when Dems asked if Shane was coming to watch I said that he was in fact coming riding with us!

Shane’s motto about horses is that they bite in the front, kick in the back, and are dangerous in the middle. I have heard numerous of his bad horse riding experiences, most notable being his first riding experience on a Mongolian horse, which did not go well at all! And then I came along and help him set a new record! I had my horse crazy childhood years and I started riding, but after falling off a few times I lost my taste for it and decided I wasn’t so horse crazy after all. Since moving to Plettenberg Bay and meeting Michiel and Bettina, and their horses, I have rediscovered my horse crazy years, much to Shane’s dismay! This is how Shane ended up on Tuesday afternoon with me and Dems ready for a ride. Things were a little rushed and it ended up that we didn’t have a girth for Mandla so I would ride bareback, with the instructions to my companions that we would keep to a walk. Despite the original idea of taking a long walk through the fynbos we decided to do a shorter lap through some pine trees and along a dam as Shane hadn’t ridden in a while and skippy here was going bareback. Shane was riding Troy, who to me is huge but seems more in proportion when Shane gets on him, and is also the slowest of the lot. Troy doesn’t walk, he snails. Things were going well, everyone was happy, Troy was his sturdy plodding self, until we reached the dam wall. It is here that a specific reed grows, an invasive but quite attractive reed with a fluffy white top. This caused trouble. Weeky was in the lead and decided that this was far too scary to pass so Mandla took point, not noticing the waving tails until he was almost upon them, got a fright and made a U-turn with surprising agility for a horse so large and almost ran Weeky and Dems down! Troy and Shane had stopped for a grassy snack unimpressed by the troubles we faced. At long last we coaxed Mandla and Weeky past the scary reeds and past some protruding wattle branches. Troy ambled his way past the reeds without batting an eyelid but the protruding branches presented an obstacle to Shane, who decided to lean way over to the right to avoid them. This was his unseating. The saddle slipped with his full weight on the one stirrup and Troy, feeling the unequal weight stepped left to compensate and dumped a dear Shane on the ground.

I heard the commotion and turned around just in time to see Shane thump to the floor. In hindsight I can giggle about it, but I had seen him fall and hit the ground, then I saw him standing, and once I turned to go to him he was back on the floor on his back – minor freak out! But besides some bruises and a hurt pride he was fine, and got back on the horse to ride the 2 minutes back to the paddock. So much for showing him how awesome riding can be, he can now add to his repertoire of horse riding horrors, the great fall of 2013!

The seasoned horse-rider.

Dems demonstrating the jumping position.

A walk in the park.

Back on the horse, even with a smile!

A weekend away

Shane and I were invited to go and spend the weekend at Michiel and Bettina’s farm, weekend starting Thursday! What a wonderful couple of days! On Thursday evening their new horse, Storm, arrived and that was exciting. The poor boy developed a bad snotty nose though and the vet had to be called out to give him some medicine. Friday afternoon we set up some mistnets in the fynbos and spent Friday afternoon, as well as Saturday and Sunday morning ringing, which yielded a range of species including a grassbird, Cape Sugarbird, Orange-breasted sunbird and White-browed Scrub robin among others. We took some walks through the fynbos and found all sorts of cool plants and birds to look at and photograph. We also had some time to put some springtraps around the garden and managed to catch a good few extra birds in those, including an African Hoepoe. We talked, laughed and ate (with copious cappuccinos from the awesome ‘one-push and viola’ coffee machine) and just had a really wonderful time with an amazing couple in a stunning setting! Shane managed to escape a horse ride this time, but not for long!

Being creative.

A Protea sp.

The Kiwi in his natural habitat.

An early morning walk to the fynbos mountain. 

Storm, the new horse.

Zorro, a handsome boy!

The view.

Friends and fun

The beautiful fynbos walk that Mandla has been doing during his training saw a few more human visitors lately. Shane is here for a visit and I wanted to show him everything I keep talking about, and Mark wanted to look at a potential ringing site. And so Shane and I, Mark and Jesse, and Bettina and Michiel went for a walk. What a stunning walk it is! The fynbos is all in flower and smells amazing and fresh, butterflies of all sorts are floating around, birds are singing and dashing by, more than enough to keep us well entertained for a few hours! We walked further than I have been with Mandla, finally stopping on a kopje that ended in a cliff plunging down to the sea. There we spent some time admiring the view and enjoying all the plants and flowers. Finally we made our way back to the house for an amazing brunch that Bettina had prepared, and of course, to do some horse riding. Jesse was very keen to have some alone time to spend with the horses without his sister, and after saddling Weeky up we went for a walk around the paddock, and again and again. I think the budding ornithologist is also a budding horse rider!

Enjoying the view with my man!

A kopje with a view!

Jesse and I investigating the plant life.

Gota love the colours!

Some of the flowers on the walk.

Cape Sugarbird.

At the pond.

Dragonfly.

Hanging with the horses.

Doing the rounds.

Horse happiness

Horses seem to be making a rather regular appearance at the moment, and I love it! Mandla has been making huge progress with his training to eventually pull the ossewa, the ossewa is well on its way to being roadworthy and is absolutely stunning, and the drivers are making good progress with their training too; not as easy as you think I assure you! Michiel has done some maintenance on a track through the fynbos to a beautiful spot overlooking the sea, and this is the track that we have been using with Mandla, who is now pulling a big tyre that we take turns riding in!

And we’re spreading the love! Kel and the kids came to do some horse riding, and to see what Mandla does. It was a wonderful morning but Jesse and Kate were most excited about going for a ride! Each had a turn to help groom a grubby Weeky who had just rolled in the sand, and ride around the paddock. It was a really wonderful morning, with Jesse making plans for his mom to leave him there next time so he can hang out with the horses and Aunty Bettina!

A beautiful fynbos walk overlooking the sea.

Mandla posing for a photo.

Cool down walk for the special boy.

Jesse and Kate in the nearly completed ossewa!

Horse happiness! Photo by Kelly Brown.

Going to see Mandla get 'dressed' into his gear.

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!