A walk in the sun.......

We took the girls out for a work this afternoon. There was a huge storm here last night but now the sun is out although it's still a bit windy. Kinna was a total sweetheart as ever, she really trusts Aliénor now, she will follow her anywhere........

She'll even follow Éowyn!!

Skyfaxa was a bit on her toes though, snorting at dangerous leaves and bits of wood by the road and generally being silly. She is going to be much more of a challenge than Kinna......

Kinna is looking better already,I think she's filled out a bit in the week she's been with us!

Noisette's gone home......

....and Sky's not too happy! Despite the fact that Noisette was pretty mean to her, she has been running around neighing for her since she left. She's shown me her heels a few times too. Mademoiselle a du caractere, je crois......

Poor Kinna doesn't know what to do, every time she tries to get near Sky she gets chased away.....then she comes over to me for a bit of reassurance, hopefully Sky will start being nice to her once she realises Noisette isn't coming back.

Playing with the girls

Kinna has been following the girls when they run round the paddock, she loves to be with people!

Kinna's turn for the vet

The vet came today to have a look at my new girl. She microchipped her (she didn't like that much!) and vaccinated and wormed her, then we had to do the "signalement" for the Haras Nationaux (French National Stud) where her markings are recorded. The vet put her base coat colour down as grey, which it isn't because her skin is pink, her white bits are caused by the Appaloosa Leopard complex gene acting on her BAY base coat colour, but when I explained that it fell on deaf ears.........ah well, never mind. So that's another 40€ screwed out of me by the Haras, because it's apparently a legal requirement that all horses are registered with them - sounds like a great way to make a load of cash to me!

I weighed her for the wormer, she's only 194 kilos! And she's about 12.2 high.........

As ever she was good as gold, after that Ali & her friend Holly groomed both the girls and let then graze on the lawn for a bit. I think Mademoiselle Skyfaxa is a bit jealous of the new arrival!!

Kinnskjóna

This morning we were going out to take the mother in law out for a spin in the wheelchair (she got knocked down by a dog a few weeks ago and broke her foot) so I thought I'd bring Kinna out to see how she reacted, thinking she'd get all panicky being out on her own like Sky does. Not a bit of it!! She followed me like she's being doing it for ever, didn't mind the wheelchair, cyclists, cars, motorbikes or tractors!! Little bit wary of puddles, like Gandalf she's not too sure about the reflections in them, but most of the time she was just curious about stuff. The only time she got scared was when we went past the garden with a barking Alsatian (the same one that got out and knocked the MIL over as it happens), she wasn't scared of the dog, but when its owner came over with a big stick to hit it (as they do here..... ) she jumped away from the stick so that tells me something about her past......

After lunch we turned her out with Skyfaxa in my neighbour's paddock, they trotted about a bit but soon settled down to the serious business of stuffing their faces!

the new filly......

I have time to write a bit more about the new girl today......

The bloke I bought her from showed me 4 Appaloosa mares in a field and said one of them was her dam but he didn't know which one. Today I have had an email from his daughter, who wants me to keep in touch.I sent her the pics I have taken of the mares and she said it's definitely one of these two but she wasn't sure which, she's going to check with their owner who's currently away in Paris.

Apparently the sire is a leopard stallion, she's going to try and get me a photo of him. So I don't know why she looks like a paint!! Apparently one of the other mares had a foal that was totally black last year but still had all the Appy characteristics. My filly has them too, mottled skin, white sclera, striped hooves.


I don't understand Appy genetics, it's all a bit of a lottery!!!

Aliénor has fallen in love with her, she took her out into the garden today and brushed her:


We have trawled through more Icelandic names and have come up with this:
Kinnskjóna, which means 'pinto mare with a white patch on her cheek' - how much more accurate could it be?!!! She looks more like a pinto than an Appy and does indeed have a white patch on her cheek:

I love Icelandic names, they are so descriptive.......we'll be calling her Kinna for short though!"

Sky's new friend

Saw an ad for an Appaloosa filly for sale on Wednesday, went to see her on Thursday, brought her home today........

Today we decided to do a "trial run" of our sponsored ride that's planned for March 13th in aid of Equine Rescue France. We rode from Bonneville to the Lac de Gurcon, about 10 kms each way, to check that the paths through the woods were passable. It started out sunny, but then it clouded over and it was cold! Mike met us at the Lac with the girls and a picnic, but it was a rather hasty affair due to the temperature.......

Still, we now know our route is fine, mostly through the woods with a bit of vineyard, hopefully it'll be warmer next month!!

More white stuff.....

I get the impression that the animals are less than impressed with the return of the snow, most of them had decided to hide from it this morning!! That's more than one day of snow here this winter which is practically unheard of.....still, the sun's out now so most of it has already melted.

Busy day.....

Went on a bit of a trek today. We'd been invited to go and visit Flecha in his new home so set off to drive the 3 hours up to Oradour Fanais, near Confolens in the Charente. He now lives with another small pony, Gypsy, and 2 Fjord ponies, Rocky and Kalix.

They make quite a nice little herd!

I love the colour of the Fjord ponies, especially the two coloured mane. Shame they don't get a bit taller, I think my feet would be down to their knees!!!

Then after that we went back to see the Breton filly Almonde. She's only about 45 minutes away from Flecha.

Turns out she's never been away from her mum or out in a trailer or out and about on the road so she could be a bit of a project.......but I'm sure she'd soon get the hang of it all like Skyfaxa has.....

Weather!!!

After several nice cold but sunny days when I couldn't ride due to teaching and Éowyn wrangling, this morning I had a couple of hours free.....and the heavens opened. Typical.

Nice rainbow though........