Chilled...

So if we missed the point of my last blog, it was that im actually on a tropical island off of the coast of QLD... te he he he... ok, maybe not... i may or may not have been very very excited cos it snowed! te he he he. hmmm. FYI... i counted and it snowed 4 times today... but none of it was enough to stay snow for more than 3 seconds on the ground, so unfortunately no piccies of it. hmmm. I rode Josie this morning and she went really really well so im happy that at least some of the riding im killing myself with is paying off just a litte.

On the other hand, I rode Maple this arvo and that was 2 and a half hours of fun... wait... it think the 'fun' word in this case is actually pronounced "TORTURE"... after spending half an hour chasing her around the Hunt course, I finally caught her and brought her in and tacked her up and got out into the 'big ring'. I then discovered that Maple doesnt like to turn in circles to her left... it results in her rearing and bucking and bunny hopping and just generally trying to get whoever is on her at the time, off (in this case being me)... this afternoon, the bucking and rearing gave me one unschelduled dismount, a bruised bum form the uncschelduled dismount, one bruised face (possibly broken nose) from the rearing, and one bruised ego form the whole situation. So once after it took me another half an hour to catch her again... i jumped back on her and got very frustrated with my serious lack of riding ability. - its here that i should point out to my fellow riders that it turns out, that sitting on the horse and crying doesnt solve anythign either! - Anyways i finally calmed the horse (and myself) down and then laughed at myself for crying like a big baby and then carried on trying to make the horse turn left. The end result was one happy me and one unhappy Maple... we shall see what she has planned for me over night when i get on her tomorrow!

Hmm so that was my day... i ended up being cold and bruised but slightly satisfied with my efforts for the day. just waiting for the awesome bruises to come out underneath my eyes now... if they show themsleves i will be sure to take pictures so you can all laugh at me! Currently i just look retarded with one swollen eye... te he he... aaahhhh horses... gotta love em.

Well i hope everyone is having fun at home and are slightly warmer and slightly less bruised! xoxoxo

YAHOOooooooooo.....

It snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed it snowed. But then it stopped :(

5 Months down...

Wow... its officially been 5 months since I arrived here at White Fence Farm... Its strange to think that i have been away from home for that long! Can't wait to see what the next 5 months holds for me!

Today was quite a good day... Arno asked me to ride Toby (who i have renamed Rupert), Cajun and Josie. So this morning, i rode Cajun, who tried to buck me off, and then Josie, who subtly tried to buck me off! Then after lunch, i got to drive the big tractor around the top ring for a few hours and after that, i jumped on Rupert and hooned around the hunt course on him! and that was pretty much my day... it was fun. Also today i found out that my friend Anna will now be in New york until christmas time, (as opposed to leaving today for Argentina for two weeks and heading straight back to the UK) so that means i will get to see her and hopefully go and party in NYC a lil bit!

hmm good times. ok, well im going to head off, but i thought i would let everyone know that im still kicking on over here and having fun! hope evryone is doing the same back home. xoxo

Excitement...

So today i got up at 6:30am and stumbled my way down to the barn and did my barnly chores and then caught two polo ponies, brushed the copious amounts of mud off of them, hosed their feet off and loaded them into the trailer with Normandy (who is a school horse). Arno, the Korean guy (aka "C.S") and myself all hopped into the truck and made our way to Arno's Arena Polo(which is really indoor polo). We arrived there at approx. 9:30am and i took CS out for a lesson (on Normandy) before the polo match and then we went to watch Arno play his match at 10:30am. It is quite a fast little game i have to say... the 'field' is a small dirt indoor ring with the garage doors a each end use as goals! After Arno played his first 'chukker' (the polo equivalent to a footy quarter. kind of...) he called me over and told me to get on his horse because i was going to help out in the next chukker!... (you should all be informed that I have NO idea how to play polo!) Anyways, with that, he jumped off of horse, shortened the stirrups and began to walk toward the exit (to get his other horse) and yelled out "have fun kid" as he disappeared down the barn way. So I got to help out by picking up the balls for few chukkers, which is ALOT harder and lot more scary than it sounds, but it was SOOOOOO much fun cos i got to gallop around on the polo ponies and get to be in the action without the pressure of actually playing! lol anywhos, im now known as "arno's kid" in the (arena) polo world. As you can tell by the way i have rambled about it, i had alot of fun! te he he he. Yea, so after the games finished Arno swapped my ball 'picker-uperer' (thats what i like to call it anyways) for his polo mallet and let me 'stick and ball' for ten mins and gave me a mini polo lesson! Well anyway, i really hope that he plays more arena polo this winter (he was 'filling in' to show the beginners what its like out on the actual pro fields!) because i thoroughly enoyed it today!

In other news i have 4, maybe 5 horses leaving the farm tomorrow. Normandy, lil Porkchop, Donald, Hopscotch and possibly Iris (sniff sniffz). Also the Korean man leaves early tomorrow aswell. So that leaves me and Friday (the cat) in the barn (hence the pic)... oh, and a few horses of course. Te he he he. K, well i should really go and get some sleep... because i have to be in the barn in 9 hours.... BAH! HA! love to y'all... have fun, be safe....xoxo

Letting everyone know....

Wow, so mum just left the farm to head to the airport to begin her journey home. The last two weeks have absolutely FLOWN by! Its actaully really weird to think that i won't be seeing her for another 4 months. And i have to say that it is as equally weird to think that when i get home i won't have seen you all for 9 months... its a scary thought but an exciting one all the same. Anywhos, so im once again alone in the barn (te he he) and have many-a-thing to do... Im currently working on a pony called Hopscotch, because he is going to another kiddie farm and he has some personality problems that need sorting out. Also about to start riding Toby, who is a mustang that Mum convinced Arno to keep... so now i have to ride him pretty much everyday! I other horsey news... Lotus aka "Lolita" (my very injured lil polo pony) is doing very well and it looks as if she will make a full recovery over the next 6 months or so.... yay for that. Well I hope mum is enjoying her trip to NYC and has a safe return home... thats about it for now. Have fun. xoxo

On Tuesday mum and I caught a lift with Arno to spend the afternoon in New York City! Braving the wet and cold weather, we started out at Zabaars (famous deli in NY) and then headed to the (recommended by Arno) American Museum of Natural History... which was a lot more fun than i had anticipated i must say! Mum and I wandered around the museum for a few hours and admired the large dinosaur collection... which blew the pants off of Adelaide Museum's little dinosaur section! (te he he) Anywhos, I decided that there was only a certain amount of walking around and looking at dead things i could take, so we headed out on the streets for an (unscheduled) visit to Central park before we jumped into a cab and headed to Times Square! Mum and I spent ages wandering up and down broadway and 42nd St. and in and out of stores, taking in all of the lights and sounds that Times Square had to offer. We then had dinner in a small Italian restaurant and headed to the Hard Rock cafe for dessert... where we also had our picture taken infront of the wall of guitars! After filling ourselves up with too much food, we jumped on the bus for the three hour journey home which was also a welcome nap! well, thats about it for now me thinks... its Mum's last night tonight so we are having a party with Arno and Olga and some Korean dude that is here for the B&B... fun times. ok, have fun and stay cool. xoxo

Cold weather and Riding pics...

Another cold one last night, getting down to -2C... when i got down to the barn this morning, some of the hay was frozen... rather than just gaining a layer of frost overnight. Mum and I did quite a bit of riding today. This morning Mum rode Normandy and I rode (my new fave) Iris and took them out on the hunt course for some jumping excitement. After lunch i jumped on problem pony 'Jewel' and mum gave me a lesson in schooling her, as she tried to buck me off in protest of the rather large whip i was using! unfortunately for her, she was unable to buck me off so she had to put up with me on her back for about an hour! - fun times.

hope everyone is having fun and being cool. love y'all. xoxoxo




Me riding Jewel













Iris - on the hunt course















Mum and Normandy on the Hunt Course














Iris and I on the same jump














Iris and I warming up on the log jump














Mum warming Normandy up in the ring













The frosty.... nay, FROZEN hay this morning

One more picture... grr

well im being stubborn.. the puter had a lil spit at me before and wouldnt let me post this pic of Falcon in the paddock this morning (for unknown reasons) so im posting it in a separate lil thingy all to its self... ha ha ha ha... beat that mr computer! (guys... ive actaully lost the plot!... dont worry, i'll find it again soon)
hope everyone is safe and doing well...
xoxoxo

Pics of Ma and I...

As promised: more pics of this morning!...




Mum riding Josie (not a pic from this morning but oh well)












Mum this morning with the frosty tyres

me pointing (with enthusiasm) at the frosty tyres

Porkchop (eating his breakfast happily) before mum and I started pestering him

Mum with Porkchop

Me on Porkchop

Melting ice from the top of the water trough

Me and Falcon (one of my injured polo ponies)

Me kissing Falcon (he doesnt have a mane incase you are wondering)

Mum kissing Falcon (everyone loves Falcon! te he he)

Fun with Mum...

Well today and yesterday have been the coldest days of my 'American experience' so far! last night it got down to about -1C and during the day it gets a little warmer.. getting up to 11C and then plummeting back down as soon as the sun disappears! Well given these temps, we have had frost (much to my excitement) on the ground and everywhere else for that matter, in the mornings. I set out this morning with my camera on our hunt course and around the barn yard and took various pictures of frozen things... it kept me entertained for a while at least! ha ha ha.

Mum and I were feeling slightly energetic this morning and decided to go and pester Porkchop the pony, so we took some pictures of that as well.

I also decided to paint some poles this morning, however i think the mixture of cold and blonde hair is getting to me, because i painted poles last night and came to them this morning to put the second coat on, thinking they would be dry.... of course forgetting that they were FROZEN last night... hmmm i know... im shaking my head too!

Anyways, thats about it for now.... thought i would add a couple pics for everyone to see... will be sure to add some more within the next 24hrs... enjoy!



The Frosty Grass













The hunt course












The Log jump on the Hunt course

Another hunt course pic!

Mum and I being losers

Mum with Porkchop

Me on Porkchop... pointing at him as if i had something funny/useful to say! (te he he)

A Wormy situation...

So the last couple of days has been perfect sunshine all day, but today it looks like the weather had a change of heart and it has literally been raining all day. Arno and his (polo) friend Chuck have been trying to convince Mum and I that it is going to snow on Friday.... I myself am slightly skeptical of this suggestion but it IS forcast for a low of 0 Degrees.... so who knows!

Mum and I passed the time away in the barn today by worming some horses and ponies and then cleaning tack. I think maybe the horses and ponies drew the short straw (pardon the barn related pun) with Mum worming them today because it actaully ment that they had someone who knew what the heck they were doing so they were all taken back by the fact that they couldn't actually spit the paste out, nor rear out of the way... pretty sure some of them were saying "This wasn't in the brochure" as mum made her way through the 20 horses on property... although we did have a little excercise running around to catch one of the horses aptly named Mouse to break up the routine of successful 'wormings'... we finally cornered him and enticed him by telling him that it was 'Apple' flavoured... i think thats what really sealed the deal personally. te he he he.

When the sun is out, i have been dragging mum out into the rings with me to ride... yay for that... In other news, for those of you wondering, i have moved out of the Dormitory (yay) and moved into the Main House, into one of the guest rooms, which is fun.

hmm. thats about it. i think so anyways... Well, until next time my fun friends from down under... Be safe, stay cool and have WAY too much fun.

Catch!
xoxo

YAY for mum

Mum arrived safely on Friday night in the big apple and made her way to meet and greet us by catching Subway and hailing a taxi... she ses she did her best sex in the city impression for that! So all is well, happy to have mumsicles around and having lots of fun in the barn and sure to have lots of fun out and about over the next two weeks!

In other news... as promised, i thought i woud tell you how my day finished out on friday... managed to live through calming the horse down and ended up with minimal paint coverage... so all was well. we then left the farm and went to pick up mum and then went out to dinner in NYC to a japanese restaurant and had sushi... which i keep discovering is deceptively filling. anyways.

Mum and i are going for a ride this arvo so im going to get ready for that! yay.... catch!

A late post...

Friday 6th October 06
1:36pm

Hmm, so interesting happenings on the farm… first and foremost, mum arrives here in NYC in approximately 4 hours… which means she is somewhere in the west in the USA at the mo. Exciting stuff.

Anyways, a change around the farm will see no workers (except me of course) around the property, two of the other workers (that were doing ‘maintenance’ work) are headed to the south of North America (probably Florida) and the other one is headed to Europe as he was only actually on holidays in the US, visiting the other two. It’s kind of strange but probably no different to being a month down the track, when Arno was going to “let them off” anyways… I think it simply means to Arno that he has to finish chopping his winter firewood himself… lol diddums. Ha ha ha

Anyways, this morning we went to pick up seven of our horses that were grazing in a paddock far, far away (ok, only a half hour drive). One of them is a baby, well actually they are all babies, but one of them in particular hasn’t quite learnt to deal with life yet and totally freaked out about getting on the trailer, almost killing Arno and I in the process… scary stuff. Same problem occurred getting her off of the trailer, cept this time we were prepared and took some safety precautions in getting her unloaded… so my project for this afternoon is getting her to calm the bleep down and try and get her to eat something and be a normal horse, rather than a psycho kicking and bucking machine… wish me luck! Ha ha ha well by the time I post this I will have already done it/not done it so maybe I will add a little note at the end telling you of my success or lack there of.

Also going to attempt to paint some poles and we all know by now of my trouble with paint cans so I will also let you know how that goes.

I cant wait to see mum tonight…. We are having dinner in NYC…hopefully she will have saved room from all that er, plane “food” for a decent meal…

Ok, well I am off to go and try to not kill myself in the barn before we go to NYC tonight! Te he he he he…

Later!

Zufälligere Fotos

Ok, so i was in the mood for posting photos, so here are some very random pics taken throughout the summer! Enjoy...



For those of you wondering... this is what I look like, at 6:05am at camp.

















This is Marieke, Brenna, myself and Livvy, the night that the staff went out for dinner.












Me in the barn being a knob (nothing new)


















Pillow Polo team... FYI: yes, im the one in the middle!











After Pillow Polo...the gloves come off! (from left: Liz, Anna, Me, Brenna)












Me at 'Shop Rite' (like Coles)


















Jackson the pony taking me for a ride in the stall!

Im a Hippopotamus and I've got Noodles on my Back...

Ok, so today's title is a little strange... but there is a method in my maddness!... to your right is an all brand spanking new list of things to look at, under "Dan's Fun Stuff". I highly recommend that you take a look at the Noodley Hippo link... its going to be stuck in my head for the rest of my life... kind of reminds me of a certain ring tone i once had... Ring any banan.. er, bells? HA!

wow, ok well today the weather warmed up a bit slightly which was good to, um, feel... i also managed to tame the paint cans this afternoon, which was fortunate because im still picking sparkly purple bits off from yesterday despite my showers in between... YAY for me.

There is one whole day until Mum arrives and i am absolutely beside myself with excitement... also excited today because the food shopping arrived and there is lots of bacon in the fridge... mmmmm bacon..... speaking of which, i might go and make some... whilst sinnig about a hippo with noodles on his back.... anywhos

catch y'all soon!
xoxo

Escaping horses and paint...

Two days until mum visits! YAHOO! anyways, wow, Im so excited its not even funny.

The mother and daughter left with big smiles and Arno watched them with a big smile on his face knowing that he had just gained another camper for mother/daughter week at camp next year... which kind of made me smile.

Today, two of my horses (despite BOTH being injured) decided that the grass was greener on the other side of he road, literally! They somehow opened the gate latch, opened the gate (which swings inwards), strolled up the middle of the road side by side and into the driveway of the main property and began munching on the grass outside the dorms... highly entertaining! Also today, i had another fight with a paint can or two, again letting them get the better of me... however i DID end up a nice purple colour, which im now discovering has little sparkly bits in it!

Fun times are being had by all.

catch! xoxo