Spring has sprung - literally with lots of rain!

by Nicky Hoseck (Trail guide at Wild Coast Horse Trails)

Well, the weather has done it’s best to curtail our work at Wild Coast Horse Trails but we have soldiered on in pouring rain with all the enthusiasm of those who love their vocation and have the privilege to work with amazing equine companions.

Our two clients from Johannesburg, Bronwyn and Simmy, endured three days’ of rain – determined not to miss a minute’s riding during their weekend farm stay. The whole experience was quite a challenge for two ladies who had rarely ridden outside of the arena before, but they coped admirably with the difficult conditions, helped along by our sympathetic and steady horses.

Another wet few days saw Klara Webb introducing the team to Ttouch and Ride with your mind techniques. The results were astonishing and we saw some incredible improvements in our horses after just one short session. Our minds have been opened to a whole new way of approaching our work with the horses and we are looking forward to sharing this new knowledge with our clients on the Natural Horsemanship Week programme we are developing.

We are also discovering the benefits of riding in a lighter seat and encouraging the horses’ backs to come up underneath us. Doing so much fast beach work inevitably leads to our horses tending towards the forehand. This new way of riding is helping to combat that and we saw some great results, especially from Roz and Geronimo. Geronimo was a stock horse before coming to us so has never been the easiest horse in the schooling arena. However, Roz’s riding, assisted by Klara and Ttouch bandaging, brought him into a beautiful outline and had him extending through the neck and rounding his back like a dressage horse!

September saw the launch of several new trails and holidays at Wild Coast Horse Trails. Our new seven- night beach trail is a fantastic 140km adventure along the Wild Coast which Nicky lead for the first time with clients Claudia and Volker Weber. Although Volker’s shirt suffered a few casualties after trying to bundu bash our way through a small section of forest, the rest of the trail went smoothly and painlessly. Our furthest destination is the Kob Inn, situated right on the rocks overlooking the sea; this is stunning spot and proved excellent for dolphin spotting. The riding is as exciting and varied as ever and our horses gobbled up the additional kilometres without batting an eyelid. Troy proved, once again, what a solid trail horse he is despite his youth. After a long morning’s ride through to Mazeppa Bay, he had a long drink and then promptly dozed off – truly nothing unsettles this loveable boy even at his tender age of six!

Last week Nicky and Roz headed out into the rain once again with clients from Sweden, Germany and the UK. The rain did nothing to dampen spirits and the four-day beach trail proved to be an enjoyable adventure for all. The rivers were surprisingly shallow and calm which made for easy crossings for both horses and riders. Roz, however, was on Time Warp who is not always sure how many legs he has or where they are at any given time. As a result, they ended up swimming the Kobanqaba River while the smaller horses all managed to wade through quite comfortably. The dips and undulations in the river bed are not always easy to read and Time, sadly, misjudged it and ended up in a deep section, casually soaking Roz along the way! Our Swedish and German clients then headed off to Dinaka where, hopefully, the weather cleared enough to give them a wonderful game riding experience.

Torstone Tasara

Torstone Tommy

Torstone Astro

The past couple of months have been busy with the births of this years’ first crop of foals. Astro is the first foal out of Tic Tac and our first pinto baby. He’s already looking tall and strong so shows potential to follow in his grandmother’s (Tenna Sea) hoof steps as a great a trail horse. Tommy is the progeny of our Percheron stallion Bobby and has the same mischievous personality as his brother Trevor. Our filly (Tasara) is the first foal from our Anglo Arab stallion, Tashbah, and one of the few chestnuts we have produced. In her first couple of weeks, she had all the flightiness and action of her Arab bloodline but now, as she fills out, her mother’s Percheron genes are starting to show themselves. And, last but not least, is our Thoroughbred/Percheron cross colt. Born jet black with a white star, his grey hairs are already starting to come through.

Back on the farm, there has been lots of activity, as The Loft accommodation for clients on our working riding holiday programme has enjoyed something of a revamp. A deep clean and a fresh coat of paint has given it a new look, although the rain has forced us to delay repainting the exterior so we are hoping for some dry days in order to complete the project.

Ida and Phillippa, from Sweden, have just headed south to experience some of the adrenaline adventure highlights of the Eastern Cape. First stop is a skydive in Grahamstown and then they are headed down to Stormsriver to throw themselves off the Bloukrans Bridge. Crazy or adventurous – what do you think?

Over the month ahead, we are looking forward to furthering our Ttouch work and also to starting two youngster, Twain and Taitum. Both Anglo Arabs, we are really looking forward to seeing how these youngsters shape up under saddle with the intention of them joining our trail team in the years to come.

Till next time.....

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