I have just got back from looking at a new horse to buy....umm not sure whether to get her or not.

She seems great except she is a mare, and i usually only buy geldings, and she is white, major bummer in the rainy season. But she is only 4, very quiet to ride, but seems to me to be a bit crabby. Maybe it is just because she hasnt been ridden much and is very young and has probably been roughed up a bit. AND she is very cheap. Mind you this always makes me nervous!!lol Maybe i will sleep on it. I have attached a photo of her.

Today the first barn is being started! Hurrah. Now things are starting to move along really quick, which believe me is a good thing!

Ok, last week was dog rescue, this week it is the turn of KITTENS!!!! Yeah, i love cats.

Alonzo who works for us was up in the mountains and he found two kittens who's mother had been killed by a dog, the other two in the litter were dead from starvation, so rightly so he tucked them in his shirt, and brought them back to the farm.

They were checked out yesterday by Jessie the vet and found to be very very skinny, full of fleas, worms and ATTITUDE!! They are so cute, and are now happily filling their bellies and having lots of cuddles. Not sure what to do with them as the rescue group we work with have 29 kittens up for adoption. Guess they will be some good ratters when they are older, so they can hang around the farm and enjoy the easy life!

IAll go on the new farm today, the frame is up for Alonzo's new house, the barns go up next week, fingers crossed. Time is marching on and we have so much to do but it is very exciting.

I will take some photos of Pearler and Stewart (the kitten, and no i didnt name them!!) and put them up tommorrow.

Yesterday was dog rescue day, but it didnt go to well! The Mckee project based in Jaco that we help with, called us up yesterday asking if we could take in a Rockweiler that had been found on the road. He is in a terrible state and very ill, one part of his illness has left him temporarily blinded. This is a problem as he doesnt know us and is very strong. Well it resulted in me getting bitten trying to give him medication yesterday.

I feel so bad for the poor thing as we now have to send him backb but he is way too much dog for me and very very strong, even in his weakened state. Hopefully a man down the road who used to train dogs for the LAPD can help him.

Fingers crossed when he is feeling better he will be calmer!! Poor thing.

Well we have lovely sun shine today which is great and will dry the fields out nicely, we are a bit overrun with mud after all that rain.

Today was a very productive day. Having horses in the tropics is not easy at the best of times, but when the tropical rains come it is even harder.

Today we spent the day checking all the horses over for any signs of rain scald or mud fever, but phew we had very little, those that had little patches were treated with a combination of mineral oil and yellow sulfer powder that works a treat. We run an open barn system and when it is raining we put all the haynets into the barn to encourage the horses under the shelter. It seems to be working, as rain scald is usually a big problem right now!

The farm seems also to have turned into a wood yard, with piles of the teak for the new barns lying around all over the place. The boys that work for us are busy stripping all the bark from it so it is ready to use on Monday, poor guys this is hard work, they will be glad for the weekend.

We finally seem to be coming to the end of the bad rain storm we have just been under for the last 3 days, i am glad to see the back of it, but it will have been good for the fields.

Well my chores are done for the day so i am off to cook Chris a nice dinner! Poor man has had

Well it is batten down the hatches time. Or if you have horses get your wellies on and get out there! Rainy season has desending on us big time with a tropical storm off Mexico dumping tons of rain on us.

We run an open barn system here, so the horses can come in and out when they want, but with big bulging haynets and a nice dry interior, they are mostly staying inside. I am glad as it is much better for their feet and skin if they stay out of th heavy rain.

All the teak wood arrived for the new barn yesterday. It is an enormous mountain of wood from a sustainable farm down the road. Now it just has to magically transform itself into usable buildings, with some help from my dearly beloved.

Dont think we are going to get much riding done this week, but had a great ride yesterday with a girl from Kentucky. The new horse Casper went really well, but didnt really see the point in jumping the logs i was asking him to, he thought it much more energy efficent to just crawl over them!!!

I came to the realization yesterday that sometimes horses or any animal for that matter, dont rate highly for everyone. I had the unfortunate experience of being roadside yesterday to help with a horse that had been hit by a car. The poor horse had been at the accident site for 4 hours and no-one had thought to ring a vet! Even when i called the vet, we was unable to put the horse to sleep immediately as the law requires the owners permission. We all knew the owner wasnt going to come, as here in Costa Rica if your animal causes an accident, you have to pay the damages. The horses was very old and in a poor state anyway, so no one was going to claim the poor thing.

Finally we were able to put him to sleep and hopefully he is in a better place now. So ...phew, emotional day.

On a brighter note, i had a great ride on Archie, my young horse, this morning. He was calm and responsive!! This is a major step forward i can tell you.

Chris is loving the natural trimming clinic in San Jose and learning tons of new stuff so he will be busy doing all our horses feet when he gets back!!

Today is  new day thanks goodness. After two flat tyres, running around like a headless chicken and then trying to cut my finger off whilst cooking, it wasnt the best of days yesterday!lol

Chris has gone to San Jose to attend the barefoot trimming clinic being held by Cheryl Henderson, it should be good and hopefully he will extend his already unrivalled knowledge of the horses hoof!

I have just been checking out the new pasture we planted last week and it is storming along, hope it keeps going that way, we have a lot of horses to feed.

I worked with Casper today doing the Parelli technique of sitting on a bucket for 20 mins, not touching the horse, and letting him come and go as he pleases and let him check me out if he likes. He is such a character, and probably has never been able to do this with a human. I felt like i was being frisked at Miami International! He even tried to climb on my lap (had to put a stop to that). This is an amazing excercise and one i can highly recommend. The horses afterwards was completely different, and much quieter.  I will try it again tommorrow and see how it goes. Then it is off to work with teaching him the Parelli Seven Games. Friendly game is number 1 (obvious one), Number 2 is the Porcupine game (this teaches the horse to move away from constant pressure) next is the Driving game (move away from rhythmic pressure) number 4 is the Yo Yo Game ( i love this one, and teaches them to back up whilst you stay still), next is the Circling game, then the Sideways game and finally the Squeeze game (moving through tight spaces). Once he has these down he is ready for the tour.

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We took our new horse Casper for his first ride yesterday and he did really well. At first he was a little nervous as everything is new for him, but after a while he settled down.

Chris did his feet yesterday, he was very punchy with his back legs! Many of the horses we have aquired in this country have phobias about their back legs. As we all know horses never lie, so something terrible has happened to make the nervous like this.

Rain Rain Rain today, it seems like rainy season is here! Now we have the fun of rain rot and fungally horses, lots of work ahead!

Not sure if any work will get done on the new farm today as the weather is not playing our way. I am off to visit the local govenment offices to try and get a business licence for the new farm! Wish me luck, i suspect i will need it.

Peoples kindness and enthusisum on the tour always amazes me. We had a wonderful group today, the conditions were perfect. Warm sun, not too hot, crystal clear water at the waterfall and three people who LOVED the mud!!

We recieved some amazing reviews on real adventures website today. I didnt even pay them!!!lol

Electricity has gone into the new farm, this is a major tick off the list, only 400 more ticks to go.......7 weeks and counting. Gulp.

We named the new horse finally and settled on Casper. He is a little unsettled at the moment which is to be expected, but will soon get used to his new surroundings.

Finally our new horse arrived yesterday. He came off the truck very nervous, but was met with big cuddles and a big bucket of grain. He seems to have decided he likes it here!! Suprise Suprise.

We are unsure what to call him, and will have to consult my Mum and Step Dad who bought him for us. Being as we are from Cornwall, it will probably something related to there.

I have high hopes for this horse, he seems very laid back and should be great with the tourists. The problem now is getting him integrated with the herd without getting too bashed up. We normally move new ones in gradually over two weeks. I started yesterday with two horses that came from the same place as him recently, but one of them really turned on him. This is not a good start, but i will try again tommorrow. Archie, my horse, was as laid back as ever and showed him around. Archie is so sweet and doesnt understand the need to kick 10 bales of whatsit out of each other.

I will post up a new pho