Hattrick

Another horsey photo and another successful ride. Girls set off early in the morning and stopped over at MrsMY's house for the children to see Mummy riding and also try out this future possible hobby.

Flash and I caught up with them at the sports ground in Frechenrieden where lots of children appeared to be having football training.

Angie reports that nervous Arabian Sultan (grey) is calming down at a rapid rate with being ridden "properly" now that Angie only has to concentrate on him. In Frechenrieden they were directly passing the fire brigade house as the monthly siren testing went off directly above them. One can easily hear the siren for over a 5km radius. Sultan didn't flinch.

The big bonus today was that we were invited around for a late afternoon  BBQ at the Mullers and got to meet the child(horse)minding Granny. It was a lovely do and included beef from the family's organic Charolais herd. I cannot describe the wonderful taste and how the meat melted in the mouth. It was simply bliss.

And the setting is a treat for any animal lovers and especially my daughter Kate who shares many if not all of the same passion for animals as the Mullers. The Mullers have a rule: All creatures great and small in the garden have a lifetime guarantee and will neither be slaughtered or passed on to anyone who they don't believe will offer them anything less. So the massive land tortoises (see extra photo) the two types of water tortoises, the two donkeys, a dozen or so Cameroon sheep, two ducks, few hundred Koi fish, abandoned bird of prey, cat and dog and until it died recently, the three-legged deer are safe. In fact in some cases also the cattle at the farm - one girl of over 20 was coming to her end and it was recommended she be slaughtered - MrMuller sen. said no, she deserves to end her long loyal years at home in the yard by being put to sleep and not end up at the butchers.

We long overstayed our welcome but a very big thanks to the 3 Generations of the Muller family for such an enjoyable time and wonderful food.

Back home we had our animal problems today. The bees caused me grief but that ended well by evening. The worst was our Chief of Staff, Cindy the cat who is now just over 15. Five minutes before we were due to have leave for the BBQ she appeared to have a heart seizure or something similar and careered around with eyes rolling and totally unable to coordinate herself. We managed to hold her and when she seemed to have calmed down a bit put her in a cat box in a dark room.

During the BBQ I popped home to check her out and heard her crying before I entered the room. She had soiled the box badly and I could imagine that was upsetting her even more than any pain she might have. Let her out and she stumbled out into the garden seeking shelter. Although better she was clearly not in good shape. However, she ran off and there was nothing I could do.

When home and again, we found her in the horse stable and again some improvement and she even had a bite to eat. Angie had seen her vomit out some white phlegm earlier so even the thought it may be poison came to mind. Hope she recovers soon. She and Flash are both 2003 born from the same farm.

Now I have a hattrick of horsey photos, will return to my normal boring Blips tomorrow. Just maybe there will be one with rain but even that is looking doubtful.