Year of summer

It’s hard to believe it’s almost Christmas. Listening to christmas music in 30 degree weather just doesn’t have the same feel to it as drinking hot chocolate at the ice rink or your train being delayed because of the snow. And I do love Christmas, the cheasier the better. But I must say it is nice to still be able to walk around in shorts and sit outside in the evenings. It’s different.

I’ve had a busy week with lots of trail rides and horse riding lessons. I’m happy the trails are a bit busier now, I’ve met so many interesting people, I love hearing everyones stories. And I went riding with Stefanie! Even though we ended up riding in the rain (felt just like home), we had a lovely ride and chatted the whole way. The riding lessons went great as well. I’m teaching a ten year old girl named Ka’tia. She just loves being with the horses, adores Tshoks and she’s doing great with her riding. She went from being nervous about riding without me holding the horse, to trotting around the arena over one lesson. After just three lessons she already knows how to do a rising trot and she’s even cantered. She is so excited about everything and very eager to learn. She made me the cutest card saying I am the best riding teacher ever, so sweet! Both Meghan and Evan have also come by for a few riding lessons and they’re making great progress. 

Even though I love working with the horses, it was really nice to get away from everything for a bit as well. I spent a weekend at Heleen’s, in the park. It was by far one of the best experiences ever. We saw so many rhino, elephant, giraffe, zebra, antilope and what not, we spend almost an hour looking at lions sitting about three metres from our car, I got the chance to see cheetah and wild dogs (they’re so beautiful, I loved watching them interact with each other). I also got the opportunity to work with three horses of which nobody knew anything, not even their ages or breed. The park had acquired them to use in the field but they didn’t have anyone to train them yet so they didn’t know if they were even ridable. One of them couldn’t even be caught at first. I worked with him for two hours and after that I was able to ride him around the paddock. It was such a rush to realize I had given him that trust and a very rewarding experience. It gave me some confidence in my abilities as a trainer.

  

I made some progress with our own horses as well. After training Bullet with the bitless bridle on the trails and training him to ride without a bridle in the arena I decided to take him for a ride around the property with just a rope around his neck to steer him. He was amazing, it felt no different from riding him with a bridle, he still responded perfectly to my steering and I could stop him just fine. Since I’m possibly insane, I decided to then try it on a proper training ride in the plantations as well and it went amazing! We even cantered without a bridle, made me really proud. Meanwhile, Lancelot’s training is going very well, Daphne and I started riding him at the beginning of November and he’s been very good. On some of the rides, he bucked during trotting but on my last ride with Mariette he was perfectly fine. I think I’m going to take him on a guesttrail this weekend, it’s just walking so that should be fine.

As for my plans for next year, I’m pretty sure about what my next destination will be. It’s something horse related but it’ll be in a very different environment, about 30 degrees colder for one. Any guesses on where that’ll be?

Lemons

A lot has happened since I left Wyoming so it’s about time I give y’all an update *fake cowboy accent*. I’m back in Hluhluwe but it didn’t go exactly as I had planned. A couple of days before I was supposed to fly here, I was told that the volunteer project I had been working on since I was last here, was cancelled. For various reasons it was decided that we wouldn’t continue our work on it. For me, that meant one of the main reasons I was coming back, was gone. On top of that, Christine sent me a message that she was leaving Hluhluwe and wouldn’t be there once I’d get back. You can imagine I was a bit doubtful about going back after that, but I figured I didn’t know what to expect last time I came and that turned out great, so it would be fine this time around. And when do things ever go according to plan?

So yeah, I’m back and it does feel good to be here again. In a way, it feels like I never left, taking care of the horses, riding through the bush and enjoying the African weather. A lot has changed though, for one it is a lot more quiet, without Christine, and of course Mariska (who left this summer) and everyone else that visited. Michaela and Nathan are still here though and we’ve had some fun nights at the bar already. Heleen comes by as often as she can, to help me with the horse training. It’s so great to see how much her riding has progressed since I was last here and how much she enjoys being with the horses, and of course I love our chats. Basically what I’m doing now is everything that has to do with the horses, I feed them, take care of them and train them and since there is no guide at the moment I also take out the trails with guests. I spend half of my day in the saddle as I try to ride three horses a day, so I can’t really complain about my life right now (the great weather is a bonus ;).

As most of you know, I was planning on being here for at least six months, but likely longer, to work on the volunteer project. Obviously that didn’t happen, which brings me to the next big change (drumroll): the lodge is for sale. So yeah, anyone interested in buying some property in South Africa? It includes eight lovely horses (and a groom/trainer/guide if you give me a good offer ;) Like I said, a lot has happened. I have decided to not extend my visa for now and to leave at the end of January. Don’t worry though, I probably won’t bother you guys for long over there in the Netherlands. I have a couple of different things I’m working on for next year (most of which involve travelling) so I’ll keep you posted!

On to the good stuff! I did do something other than riding ;) My first two weeks, Daphne was still here so I got to spend a lot of time with her. Martijn’s friend Albert was also visiting for a few weeks, which made for lots of laughs. Michaela, Daphne, Albert and I went to Bayete where we got to touch and feed three giant elephants, I’ve never felt so small in my life! Christine came by for a visit, with Jaenette and Michael, her friends from Sweden. I went to St. Lucia with them, where we spend two days exploring beaches, eating sushi, lounging by the pool and (much needed) catching up. Christine and I went for a drive through the park where we apparantly drove right past a couple of lions, I guess we were to busy chatting to notice them. As for the aforementioned barnights, you know it’s been a good party when it ends with people being thrown in the pool fully clothed (at least they had the good sense to take my phone from my pocket ;)