New polo ponies

Much excitement – we have two new polo ponies. They have come all the way from Zimbabwe which was 6 days on a lorry. Their longest traveling day was 21 hours, including 5 hours standing on the lorry in the blazing heat at the Zambia / Tanzania border crossing. Despite their seemingly arduous journey, they both stepped off the lorry looking remarkably sleek and shiny. Just another example of how easy going African horses are compared to their UK counterparts! It is best just to accept that things are done differently here and it really doesn’t seem to do the horses any harm. Whereas in the UK, we wouldn’t dream of putting a horse on a lorry without protective leg bandages, these two came all the way from Zimbabwe without them. I did send our lorry and syce to Nairobi with bandages for the last leg of their journey, but they didn’t bother to use them telling me there was no point since they had done the first five days of the journey without them!
Anyway, the new ponies are called Amarula (how apt – one of my favourite drinks) and Nakita. Nakita is tiny, just 14.2 hands so she really is a pony. Although they did most of their journey with five other horses (not for us, but for other people in Kenya), they have obviously bonded and are now inseparable. They absolutely refuse to mix with the other polo ponies and graze in a separate part of the boma (paddock). In an attempt to break this bond, we have moved them so they are no longer in next door stables. They neigh to each other all the time and are delighted to see each other the following day. Nakita seems intent on attacking any other horse that comes near her, but hopefully they will make some new friends soon…. At least they come from the Zimbabwean bush so they have seen elephants, giraffes, etc before. They don’t like our camels though! Can't say I blame them - they are quite ugly.

What else is new? Well, we had an equine vet from the UK staying here. She commented on how healthy and well kept our horses were which was nice (obviously I made sure her and her mother had decent looking horses and hid the old skinny ones!). Unfortunately, on her second ride, her horse went lame which was a bit embarrassing but I guess these things happen. Especially with our horses who like to be lame a lot.

Foal update. It is so lovely to see how Santa has progressed after all the hard work he has been. He looks so healthy and alert now. He has stopped trailing round after his mum with his head between her hind legs and now is a lot more independent, his head is held high, his ears are pricked and he is becoming very inquisitive. He is so trusting and sweet natured considering all the traumas he has been through. He can even canter and buck, but his legs are so long that he has to graze like a giraffe with his front legs spread so that his head can reach the ground. Even Champagne has started being a bit nicer to him (she is a bit of a bully).

Coco still hasn’t had her foal! When I first came to Lewa, I was told that both mares were due to foal on the 8^th Jan. Santa arrived early on Christmas Day, but Coco did not look at all ready to foal. On rechecking with the owners of the stallion, I was told Coco was due 29^th Jan. Well, it’s now the 16^th Feb so who knows?! Over the past week, her udder has definitely enlarged so we think she is thinking about foaling and isn’t just fat. However, my research tells me mares can start “bagging up” weeks before they foal so it may not be imminent. I guess she will have it in her own good time..

Well, it has been a very horsey blog so far. Apologies to those of you who are not the slightest bit interested in horses. I’m not sure that I’ve done too much else of note to report on. Yesterday was fun though. Whilst we were having lunch, there were lots of elephants on the hill opposite making their way down to the river to drink. So after lunch, we took a walk down to the river and sat and watched them drinking. I love baby elephants – they are so sweet. Then later that day driving to the farm, I saw a baby giraffe. Haven’t seen a baby giraffe in ages so that was nice. Then early evening, we were heading out to set up sundowners (drinks) for some guests and all the giraffes were lined up along the air strip looking at something. We drove over to find three cheetahs – a mother and her two boys (although they are almost fully grown). The boys actually jumped up on to the toilet hut roof and were playing together. Fantastic to see them out in the open as normally they are barely visible in the long grass.

That’s about it for now. Had some rain recently which has been quite refreshing. Not too much – just a couple of light showers late afternoon, but it helps to dampen down all the dust and makes the air smell fresher.