The season is over now and we are getting ready for our annual trip home to the UK. We have moved horses around and have 4 quite close to our house. Two nights ago on the rainiest night of the season so far we get a phone call! "Your horses have got out and are right beside my house" In the five minutes it took for Chris to get dressed and get up there they had disappeared into thin air. For two hours Chris hunted for them with a flashlight but they were gone. At 11.30 he had to give up and come home. 


The first i knew about it (my wonderful husband had left me sleeping) was a wakeup call at 5.30am! Off we went search all over to no avail, fighting major panic we scoured the neighbourhood. How can 4 large horses just evaporate. They hadn't even left hoof prints and any that were there had been washed away in the rain.


After 2 hours thankfully we found them. Velvet had led them off the beaten track to a path near our old farm. Archie was beside himself, he is never the bravest of horses and was very vocally relieved when he saw us and came straight over as if to say "Thank GOD you found me!!". The others thought the whole thing was one big adventure, but came home without protest. All looking for their breakfast!


We are battened down the hatches this weekend as a big storm is about to hit Nicaragua and we are going to most likely see some BIG rains. 

As many of you know we love to practise Parelli Natural horsemanship here at Discovery Horse Tours. It is a wonderful way to bond with the horses, especially the rescue horses. It is also a great way to keep the horses fresh and interested in their work. We also use it to tune up any problems we may be experiencing with any of the horses. When they have lots of riders who have no experience riding them, it is easy for them to get into bad habits, we use the seven Parelli games to keep them tuned up!


This week i have had more time to play with the horses and i started with Coco. She started out as a real challenge as she has very definite ideas about who is in charge, but has turned into the superstar! Once she realised the games were fun and not a chore, she put her heart and soul into it. She loves to play so my aim this week was to get her to put her feet on things! She loves nothing more than to go and try to climb into the wheelbarrow or put her feet where they are not meant to go, so we thought we would put some time into channeling that!


The photo attached is the end result of a great session with Coco who was very proud on her podium. She didn't want to get off it!


Chris has been very busy this week helping lots of horses with problem feet. It is so rewarding for him to come away knowing he has helped a horse feel better! I am so proud of him. I am also very proud of the owners for making the commitment to barefoot for the benefit of their horse!


Our new hoof boots arrived from Easy care! Because our horses don't use horseshoes (it is so much better for their health and makes them live longer with no metal on their feet) we use hoof boots, think Nikes for horses! We only need them in the rainy season as their feet get softer, but they look so cute in them! The second photo is of Whiskey proudly wearing his!!


Now we are starting to batten down the hatches for the onset of the real rainy season. Chris has built the second barn so the horses can come in out of the rain whenever they feel like it. Everyone says it is going to be a dry one, but we are leaving nothing to chance!

This week we have been moving horses all over the place. The season is winding down now and we don't need to have so many horses at La Quina; we need to save the grass that we have for dry season. So this week Velvet and Archie moved over to a wonderful farm of 40 hectares with waterfalls, rivers and tons of grass. Velvet had a tendon injury so she has been off work for a while, well she seemed fully recovered when she was galloping around the new farm playing with Archie. I will get some photos of the waterfall (it is spectacular) this week but i will have to wait for my husband Chris to get back as he has the camera. 


Chris has taken a well earned surf break with our neighbour Joey. They gone down to the Southern Zone to a place called Pavones. It is beautiful down there. Enjoy it Chris, i have tons of work for you when you get back!!!


The two new horses Tequilla and Bryon were also moved to a new pasture this week. They didn't like the change in grass for the first couple of days and i was worried we would have to look for somewhere new for them; they were very underweight when we got them, so we didnt want to lose any of the weight they had gained, but thank goodness they love it now. 


Other great news this week; the wonderful Brita Rizzi of Barefoot saddles US has donated one of their amazing treeless saddles for Moro. Moro is one of our rescue horses that has proved really difficult to fit a saddle to. Brita was very thorough and had us take many photos of Moro from different angles, that way they can plan how to pad out the special saddle blanket that you need so that the horse is not only comfortable, but able to develop a better stronger back! Incredible. Barefoot Saddles and particularly Brita are well known for their wonderful generosity and love of horses. They support many rescue and therapeutic riding centres. We will be eternally grateful for them helping us with our rescues down here in Costa Rica. You should check out their website www.barefootsaddles.net they are all treeless saddles which goes great with our belief in natural horsemanship. When Moro's saddle arrives i will put up a photo of him wearing it!


The photos today are of me with Tequilla, one of our new horses, please excuse the state of us both it was Sunday!!
The second photo is off Chris and Byron the other new horse, ditto for them...it was Sunday.
The third photo is of the very clever designer of Barefoot Treeless Saddles and the next is of the wonderful saddle kindly donated by Brita Rizzi. Now we just need to find a way to get 9 more!!!!

This week we have had lots of afternoon rain so we have only been doing tours in the mornings, but a burning questions has been unanswered; where do the monkey's go when it rains? We can normally track them to a rough area of the farm when it is sunny, but in the rain they seem to disappear. We think they go deeper into the forest to get more shelter, but no one ever seems to see them go! When i find out i will let you know!!haha


We have a new guide this week called Nancy (also a Brit) as Julia is on holiday's in Canada and enjoying the high life on boats with wine!! Good for her, she deserves it. Nancy has been great and seems to have the wildlife magnet on, her groups have been lucky enough to see lots of monkeys, Toucans, and parrots. I had my own great wildlife moment yesterday when a white nosed coati (like a large raccoon with a long nose), he came running down a tree in front of us and took a huge leap down to the ground and ran off! He was beautiful, but quite old i think. We have seen him around before. He is getting more used to us and hangs around a bit more which is nice.


The new horses are coming on great and Tequila will soon come to the main farm to join the others, but Byron is going to take a bit more rest time and gain some more weight before he has to work out his place in the herd. Poor Velvet pulled a tendon in her back leg whilst playing around in the field so she is on rest break now. 


Chris has been busy building another barn to provide more shelter for the horses in the coming rains, he has made this one away from the main barn instead of connecting them. The problem with a herd is you always have very dominant ones who like to stand in the middle of the big barn and not let anyone else in!! 


Well, i had better sign off now as it is Sunday and we have to go feed the horses!

I can not believe it is August already and we have now been on the farm for 8 months now. It has been great, but challenging of course being it is virgin forests that needs constant managing. But we love it and are very happy we made the move.


Julie is leaving for Canada this week for some much deserved R and R, but hopefully she will hurry back as she is "El super guia" (the super guide)


Tuesday we have a friend coming to check out the tour who has bet me $10 he can lasso a cow! Should be funny as he has never done it before. I think my $10 is very safe in my pocket!!


We have been planning this week our hiking tours that we are going to be introducing next year, these are going to be amazing, we can cater to families just wanting a rain forest adventure to our full on hiking nuts, do we ever have a mountain for them to climb!


The new horses are coming along great, we are moving them to a field with more grass on Monday so they can continue to gain more weight, they are so sweet, i can't wait to get them on the main farm so i can start playing with them properly.


Remember we told you about the desperately ill "Mama" dog that we picked up. This is her after her emergency operation. She has a huge heart and is a fighter thats for sure. She is slowly gaining weight now and will be ready for adoption anytime now. Any takers???

This week has been an amazing week for monkey's. Nearly all our tour groups have seen them. Whitefaced and Spider monkeys have been putting on a great show.
Chris has been busy cutting a new trail to the waterfall as the other one has been way too muddy after our crazy rain last month. This trail will take everyone up the river and is really pretty. Can't wait to ride it myself.
Sad news is we lost the sloth that we we trying to reintroduce to the wild after it's mother rejected it. i guess nature really does know best and something must have been wrong with him. Still Giselle and Alonzo tried so hard and we were all sad to lose him.
The two new horses we have just got are coming on great and putting weight on nicely, can't wait to bring them to the main farm and introduce them to the gang, but that won't be for a while yet. They are called Byron and Tequilla, i will put up some photo's soon.