Rather a hectic weekend!

Very busy weekend - seemed to be non-stop movement. and I feel as though I need another weekend to recover!

Saturday - First off - to the Myerton pawnshop to pick up two wicker chairs that struck my fancy... rather tattier than I had seen in the gloom of the shop but still nice -limed wooden frames with wicker inners - will look great with some nice foam cushions. They will go on the new stoep at the back once it has a roof. So now I have to get foam and material and I think they will look best with piping.

Then back home, canopy back on and then we tried to persuade Patricia to jump in (which she normally does) - she said no - I guess being pregnant and just about to pop makes you a little hesitant about leaping up to chest height. So popped her in the horse box and off I went to benoni. The plan was: take Patricia to my friend Lees' place - she breeds alpacas and has all kinds of high tech cameras etc and moms-to-be are monitored, whereas with me they are more or less left to their own devices and we get a nice surprise when its all over - but if soemthing were to go wrong then I wouldn't be there to help. So Patricia has gone to the maternity ward! Then on the return trip I had Coco in the bakkie (she leapt in willingly - its amazing the two of them have adapted very well to travelling - you open the door and either chivvy them towards it or lead them with a halter and "Oops! In they jump" - makes life a lot easier than running round and round a feild trying to grab them and getting kicked and spat at! And then Raul was put in the horsebox and rumbled around in it - the males are very big and strong close up! He is coming to stay with me so that we can keep testing that Coco retains her prenancy - after 3 "disappearances" we're trying all methods now! he will be kept separately at first and then I'll try putting some of my males in with him - don't want them to get beaten up.

Then off to Southern Riding School with Sarah to visit her mare Chancery and my little pony Paddy and see the new foal fathered by Gwalia. Very dainty and sweet and pretty. Sarah is having Chancery schooled there in return for her training one of their horses (a big friesian cross called.... Ugly Noo Noo - and he isn't ugly at all!) and Paddy is there to be schooled so that eventually Sam can ride him in her lessons. Seems to be very slow progress at the moment which is hitting the bank balance horribly. Then home at last - via Sarah's so that I could taste her yoghurt. I made 5 litres of yoghurt the other day with cows milk, Sarah makes hers with goats milk and it is much less acidic and very creamy - very nice but more expensive because she drains off the whey so there is less produced per litre - but VERY moreish! I've been toying with the idea of getting some goats too so that I have milk on hand as well - funnily enough Johan doesn't seem very keen on the idea, he does have a point - where would we put them? Am sure I can make a plan.....

Johan went to pick up shavings in Walkerville whilst I was gone with the horsebox - the current price is about R16 per bag and these were 3/4 size bags at only R5 each so I took all that they had - 50 bags. A good bargain, the horsey grapevine works well.

Sunday - up at the crack of dawn to get Womble into the horsebox, the carriage on the truck and off we went to Kyalami - about an hours drive. Was really organised this time - even packed some peanut butter sandwiches! We arrived at Kyalami in good time but got a bit lost trying to find the entrance to our new driving arena. It is really great - it is South of the Lippizaner hall and has a large warm up space, lots of trees to park under and eventually we will have a little clubhouse too. Much better than being treated as a second class citizen and having our events moved here there and everywhere so as to keep the show jumpers and dressage riders happy - plus we won't scare their precious thoroughbreds with our carraiges anymore. Very nice indeed, the commitee have only had access to it for the last two weeks so the various ditches, holes etc still need to be sorted out. We were all geared up because our arch rival Jop Granada was going to be there! Jop is the most wonderful tiny grey welsh mountain pony - he only has one eye and is 17 years old but he goes like the clappers - you can hardly see his legs move they go so fast and he always manages to beat us in the cones!

The first competition was "ideal time" - now I never have a clue about this because I know that according to the rule book, ponies are meant to go so many metres per minute but as one never knows how long the course is how do you work out how long it should take? So, we just toddled around at what seemed a reasonable rate and we came third! What a fluke. The next competition was a Faults competition and we knocked off one ball so didn't come anywhere in that - the last competition (in the baking sun) was the time competition and we were determined to put our all into that!

So we went around as fast as Womble wanted to go (which can be pretty hair-raising as you are cantering flat out towards the barrier and need to make a sharp turn and Wombles got his head down and his legs are pistoning and he does not want to slow down!) but once again we knocked off one ball (&^$^#^%$#) which meant 5 seconds penalty. Our time was 161 seconds plus the 5 and it was the 5 that killed us. Natalie Hogg came first with one team at 163 seconds and then second with her other team at 165 ... but we were very pleased with our 3rd place rosette - another one for Wombles string along the study wall!

Back home in a totally exhausted state but still had to pick up a teff bale in the horsebox as well - the box was worth every penny this weekend! We sat down to watch a Morse episode but I fell asleep in the middle - phew!