HappyHorse Trails

Horseback safari and wine tasting trails in the Boland.

Few October rides

We didn't get much time for riding this month, but when we did, we were rewarded with some fantastic riding, good company, close animal encounters and seeing loads of new spring babies.

Christoph Reuter, from germany joined me on an exhilarating ride. As he is an experienced rider with his own horse in the UAE we could do a number of long canters and trots through the bush. We came within a few meters of the eland herd and got pretty close to the oryx too.

Alison Rennie from the UK joined me for a beautiful ride in the most gorgeous late afternoon light. unfortunately my small camera broke and I only had my mobile phone to take pictures with. The animals did a good job of hiding, but eventually we did track down just about everything. My horse almost stepped on a baby springbuck trying to camouflage in the long grass; but luckily I saw it just in time and could stop Twilight in her tracks. The calf tried to hide desperately, but soon realized her game is up and jumped up to join the rest of her herd.

Marina Wehrle from Germany and I had a relaxed ride in the rain. The animals were trying to hide from us and the weather, but we did manage to surprise the bachelor herd of elands, see another springbuck calf in the grass, watched the zebras and bontebok charge across the grasslands herding their new babies to safety.

I hope to get more time in the saddle in November and Marina said she's definitely joining again next week!

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Spring is here

With spring truly announcing itself today with fantastic weather, excited animals, loads of wild flowers and my first bout of hay fever for the season we took out some family members on a nice ride through the sanctuary.

We saw all the antelope pretty good, getting really close to the eland and gemsbok herds. The young eland calves are very inquisitive indeed. We also saw a crow and seagull chasing a fish eagle around trying to steal it's meal.

With the pigs and the springbuck already having loads of new babies we are expecting a whole lot of new additions to the other animals soon too.

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Arsalan, Nimisha & Julia

Had a fun ride with Arsalan from Kashmir, Nimisha from Zimbabwe and Julia from Russia.

It was hot with no wind. We saw a great selection of the animals, and Arsalan had a particularly close encounter with a herd of galloping Zebra.

Unfortunately my camera broke halfway through the ride, so I couldn't get photos of the close encounters with Zebra and Eland.

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Sue & Gert

We just had a great relaxed ride with Gert and Sue of Cape Town.
The weather was absolutely perfect. Warm enough not to be cold, perfectly clear, with no wind. The animals were mostly relaxed too and we got to see almost all of the animals, including some close encounters with Blesbok, Zebra, Eland and wild pig.

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August 11. - Charming Mauritians

We enjoyed hosting the Rousset ladies, celebrating Yasmin's birthday with a game trail ride today.

The weather was great and we got to see most of the animals pretty well before the zebra chased everything away.

We also had a VERY close encounter with the herd of eland cows and calfs. They got a bit too curious for our liking though. Had a fun trot and canter too and the horses were enjoying themselves.

The rest of the family were on a game drive in one of Villiera's vehicles and they seemed to have had a great time too - helped along by Villiera's fantastic rose bubbly.

We hope they enjoy their Cape Town holiday further!

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rough day

Our new saddles arrived. They look great. I haven't tested them or even photographed them yet as their arrival was completely overshadowed by 2 horses obtaining traumatic injuries and needing stitches and injections and some TLC. Presumably they ran into some barbed wire when they escaped their new paddocks last night.

The vet seems to think the wounds will heal with time, and there should be no lasting damage. Mahogany has a deep puncture, cut and rip wound on her left fore and a gash on her left hind. Sirrah has a terrible gash on her left hind. Lost a large patch of skin and was open to the bone. Painful, but hopefully all will be well.

I'll take pictures when we change the bandage on friday.

First ride into The Wild

I took Twilight on our first ride into the Villiera Game Sanctuary.

The wild animals were quite jumpy and rather scared of this huge-humpbacked-unstriped-zebra. Especially the zebra - who were chasing each other around, each not wanting to be the one closest to us. The springbuck and bontebok were also keeping their distance. The eland didn't seem too intimidated, but of course they are huge and have humped backs too.

Twilight was pretty well behaved but was scared of whatever the zebras were scared off too - not realizing of course that they were scared of her.

It is clear it is going to take a number of encounters to convince the animals to let us get up close. In the meantime I just have to convince them that we mean them no harm.

I can't wait to see how the animals react to the giraffes that will be released there soon.

I did get to see a Cape Fox, which is not something you'd easily glimpse from a vehicle.

I also got a good sighting of 2 fish eagles grooming each other and sounding their calls.

In another encounter today, a secretarybird walked past the horses. I managed to snap a quick picture.

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Almost there..

We've spent the weekend planting poles for a larger 2Ha paddock. During this week we'll try to get the fencing completed. By next weekend Francois will have started taking horses into the game sanctuary to get them used to game, and the wildlife used to horses and riders.

Our new saddles are also on the way and should arrive within a week or two.

Francois is helping to host another game drive this week for some Villiera guests.
So things are moving fast and excitement is growing...

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Move to Klawervlei is mostly done.

After a month of facing issue on issue we are finally mostly done with our move. A few things remain to be organized; like building bigger paddocks etc.

We've started with retraining the horses and doing short outrides with them. We'll build endurance and relaxation, along with introducing them to wild game over the next couple of months. There-after we'll be launching commercially and taking guests on horseback safari!

Here's a photo of Jodi's horse, Jupiter, exploring Klawervlei.

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2 new boys

We settled on the new additions to our empire.

Both are large (by our standards) geldings, with good temperament and weight carrying and endurance ability.

Fire (bridled in the photos) is a Cape Boerperd Arab cross. He is 12 years old and is a nice ride. He's completed his novice endurance requirements and should be an excellent trail horse. He's 16hh and not afraid of anything. He moves at an energetic, dapper canter - fantastically comfortable.

Perez (we'll likely change that name!) (purple halter in photos) is a young percheron thoroughbred cross. He's got the sweet nature typical of the percheron, with some athleticism from the TB. He's still growing and should reach well past 16hh.  He needs some more training, but should be a solid ride. He's got excellent movement, and if I had the ambition he would make a good dressage prospect.

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HappyHorse Safari and Wine Tasting Trails