Draught Horses

It is not often you see Draught Horses in South Africa as Boerperd, which I used in the army, Thoroughbred, and Arabian, are way more common. And today we saw 3 pulling a cart on the way to church.

I was lovely to see these mighty beasts clip clopping down the road and the best part is that they seem well cared for. Normally you would see a horse and cart in Soweto, Karoo, and on the Cape Flats but never in the Northern suburbs of Johannesburg where the luxury sedans and 4x4 rule.

Berede

Wow, now this brings back memories from my army days many moons ago as I was in the Berede, which is Afrikaans for a mounted unit to which I belonged. Yip, we were the ones that still rode horses into war; thankfully it was a low scale bush war and I only did 2 years conscription.

Since the senseless murders a few days back, the South African Police services have brought out everything to show the neighbourhood solidarity even if it means doing mounted patrols in the suburbs. Anyways they are a most welcome sight in our neighbourhood.

Restrained Horses

Watching the Lipizzaner horses doing a display at the Nissan Easter Show, I was not that impressed, sorry but I wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong, the control, precision, of rider and horse was beautiful to watch and not half bad as it takes lots of training to perform at this level. I suppose it was the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna which has set a very high example and I expected more than just four riders; two performing in the dressage arena and the other two who did something on the outside.

The legendary Lipizzan are breed for dressage, although elegant looking, nothing comes close to seeing majestic horses in the wild without the hard bits restraining them.

Carts, Sushi and Battlefield 3

It is Friday and the weekend with my turn to have Matthew. It is his birthday in a weeks time but we are starting today. He is finally turning into a well balanced teenager. I left work early to go pick him up in Benoni and on the way I stopped at Skazi Clothing to pick up a lovely printed T-shirt for Matthew. While there this cart plodded past me which just made me stop in my tracks. Not everyday you get to see a horse and cart winding its way through the suburbs.

About six in the evening just as Matthew and I was to leave for Yamada Sushi, a fierce rain storm hit Johannesburg. We lost electricity at my cottage so braving the weather we made for Yamada to eat as much sushi as we can eat with friends Paulo and Magda. At Yamada, Matthew open his presents while enjoying his sushi.

With our bellies round with the tasty sushi, Matthew and I made our way to Craig's place for some Battlefield 3 which has just been released. A few hours later we headed for home where Matthew received his present from me, a Lego Starwars X-Wing fighter which when built will be about 30cm long. Well now I am heading for bed while Matthew is staying up building his X-Wing.

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