#chloe's column

[chloe-d-stories]

Ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for

Searching in the dark, your sweat soaking through the floor

And buried in your bones there’s a need that you can’t ignore

Taking a breath, steeling your mind, and all that was real is left behind......

*****

Welp - what a busy day we had here in Symphony Hill! Today was a charity fair the town organised to raise money for our local farmers (we’re only small, it was a start!). And boy was it a success!

There were food stalls filled with cupcakes and biscuits and all sorts of disgustingly sweet goodies - some made by the local high school Home Ec classes, others by primary school kids, and even a few grannies in there too; there were jewelry stores full of homemade bangles, necklaces and earrings; there were clothes stalls, woodworking shows, dog shows, a Fancy Dress contest for the kids (and kids at heart.....I’ll never forget the sight of Richard and Oliver dressed up as B1 and B2....where they even GOT those costumes from is beyond me).

The organisers also asked if we could put on a show of some sort about horsemanship and even host a little competition for the local pony club. We agreed instantly, but then came the challenge of actually coming up with something to show off.....

The competition for the kiddies was easy - kids love a gymkhana, and so I left the kids here at Winyard to organise that (which they loved!). But as for something for one of us adults to do, that was going to take a bit more thinking.

Until Christina caught me pondering it one day and she piped up that she had an idea for something we could do. Having no luck myself, I pounced on the idea....except she hadn’t told me the idea, and every time I tried to ask her, she just gave me this really sly grin and told me I’d find out soon enough.

(I ended up finding out later that afternoon when I walked past the all-purpose arena to see her trying out some bareback dressage on a very bemused and confused Ris.....poor boy).

Flash forward three weeks later, and I’m waiting at the side of the arena for Christina to enter on Ris. The time for the show to start was edging closer and closer, and they were nowhere to be seen.

Then, suddenly, the opening notes of ‘The Greatest Show’ began blaring out of the speakers around the arena, making everyone start and then gasp in awe as Christina rode in - bareback - on a perfectly groomed and shining (literally, the sun was so bright on his grey coat that I reckon it nearly blinded some poor sod standing on the wrong side of him) Ris. In perfect time to the beat of the song, they pranced around the arena in a routine that appeared almost flawless.

It certainly worked - people were frozen in place with looks of awe and excitement on their faces, some of the kids were dancing along and when the final chorus came along, there were a bunch of people joining in with the singing.

I swear I saw Christina try to hide a smile under her top hat, and I couldn’t help but grin too.

When I cornered her afterwards, she confessed that she’d been working on this routine for a while - a couple of months now - but this was the first time she’d done it in full costume and she’d only tried it bareback for the first time a few days ago.

Well, if anyone wants to know where the real Greatest Show(wo)man is, I’ll be sure to direct you straight to the barn where she’s probably mucking out one very smug and proud grey stallion’s stall.

Well done Christina, you certainly pulled off some spectacular moves out there!

[chloe-d-stories]

Birthday Suck-Ups

With Christmas well and truly over, our columnist turns her attentions to the next big event in her personal calendar: but what exactly are Richard and Steph hiding?

I hope that the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations treated you all kindly, and that you’re now back and ready to tackle the brand new year with renewed enthusiasm and a refreshed outlook.

Okay, that’s probably asking a bit much, but I hope at least you had a good break, away from the stressors of everyday life. No? Well, at least enjoy all the food…..

2017 had quite a wet start, but lately the weather seems determined to remind us all that we do live in Australia, and that Australian summers are notorious for being ridiculously hot.

Yeah, because it’s always fun when I walk into the house and see that the thermometer reads 47 degrees Celsius……

All I’ll say is “thank goodness for air conditioned arenas!”

Anyway, enough with the griping. This week we’ve been getting Tyler ready to start school on Monday: grade 4 sure is exciting (he doesn’t seem to care less). So we’ve been running back and forth from town grabbing last minute supplies, ironing uniforms, covering school books, writing his name on many, many stationary items. It kind of makes me nostalgic for my own school days.

And then there’s the next big thing coming up for me. You see, my birthday is on the 25th (I know, exactly 1 month after Christmas, what were my parents thinking?!) and I’m silently counting the days.

I’ve told both Richard and Steph many times that I don’t want anything, honestly, but Richard still seems to be up to something.

I caught him shutting off his phone rather hurriedly when I walked into the office the other day, and was a little too quick to answer when I asked him what he was doing.

Steph’s been asking me really random questions too: like “when was the last time we had a pool party?” and then ignoring me when I ask her about it.

It’s kind of sweet, I have to be honest. But really, those two are rubbish when it comes to hiding secret plans.

Onto other news, we’ve also been getting the horses back into their training slowly, after having a few weeks off over the holiday season. We’ve also had a heap of new arrivals trickling in slowly over the past couple of weeks, and with them, new staff members. Hopefully, I’ll get around to introducing them to you all at some point.

Hang on, I’d better get going. Sounds like Richard and Steph are up to something again. Talk to you next time!

Hey guys, Richard here. I’ve hijacked Chloe’s page for a moment to ask if you could join us on the 25th in celebrating Chloe’s birthday. I know she has a lot of fans here in Symphony Hill, and we would love for you to join us at Winyard for a big surprise party. We’re opening our doors for you all to come and celebrate with us: fun starts at 3pm this Wednesday.

Crikey, I think she’s coming back. Gonna send this off to the paper before she finds what I’ve written! Catch you all later.

Take care, friends!

R.

****

This week, Richard and Steph are definitely hiding something, but does it have anything to do with Chloe’s approaching birthday?

[chloe-d-stories]

Hamster’s New Friends

When Chloe asked Richard to go to a local auction and keep an eye out for some new prospects, she wasn’t expecting him to come home with THREE new additions!

Yep, you read that right.

My darling husband, who I apparently love very very much, went down to that auction and bought 3 new horses.

I asked him to go down and have a look at what some of the horses were like, and if we could maybe use some new blood in our lines – seeing as all our older horses are pretty much at the top of their games and we need some newer stars to start coming through the ranks.

When he came back the other day with a cup of my favourite coffee in my favourite mug with a sheepish smile on his face, I knew he was about to drop something.

Sure enough…..

“Hey Clo…..”

Here it comes, I thought, putting my book down and taking the mug of coffee before he actually did drop it.

“What have you done this time?” I teased, taking a sip.

Richard – of course, comedic genius of timing that he is – chose that moment to let the bombshell drop.

“Well, you know how you asked me to go to that auction. I sortofmaybeboughtthreenewhorsespleasedon’tbecrossdarling.”

I immediately sprayed him with coffee as I spat it out in surprise.

“You did what?!” I exclaimed, not because I was cross (okay, maybe a little bit), but because I hadn’t been expecting THAT!

Richard was going redder and redder and he was now avoiding my gaze.

“Um, well the first one was a mare I bought for Armaya – you know, since we sold Quincy back to her breeder, she sort of doesn’t have a horse anymore-”

Patting away the drops of coffee on my cardigan, I raised an eyebrow and looked up at him through my fringe.

“And the other two?” I questioned, other eyebrow raising when Richard went quiet.

“Well, one was this beautiful bay Welsh cob that has the most beautiful gaits and would be spectacular in the dressage ring!” He was gushing – he tends to get this way when he’s really enthusiastic about something, and it takes an awful lot to stop him.

Before he could gush any further, I held up a hand and gave him a pointed look. Collecting himself sheepishly, he rubbed a hand across the back of his neck.

“The other is an Oldenburg-looking stallion – bit older than our usual youngstock; vet reckons about nine or ten. But would be a fantastic eventer or jumper!”

I just blinked at him.

His expression quickly turned to one similar to Tyler when he was much younger when he used to get into trouble and he knew he was in trouble (now I know where it came from).

Thinking I was about to start getting cross (as I was sometimes wont to do whenever Richard did something terribly impulsive like this), his shoulders slumped a little and he bit his lip.

“They’re out in the field with Hamster if you-”

That did it.

“THEY’RE WHAT?!” I screeched, leaping to my feet. “Rich, you put three brand new horses out with possibly the fightiest and grumpiest stallion we own?!”

Cheeks flushing, he squared up to me and clenched his jaw.

“They’ve already been introduced over the fence, they seemed to get on really well. I’ve left Oliver and Markys out there with them to supervise!”

Deflating a little – he does know what he’s doing I supposed – I sighed and took his hand.

“I hope you’re right about this” I whispered, grabbing my jacket and pretending to ignore the suddenly bright grin that lit up my husband’s face.

Child.

So, we walked outside in the drizzle and down to the main field. Sure enough, there was a bay cob casually grazing by the fence, a chestnut mare trotting up and down the fence connecting their field to the one where Daze, Boo and Cadi were currently housed, a grey tobiano stallion prancing around the middle of the field whinnying at the top of his lungs.

And right in the middle, looking very bothered and most unimpressed, was poor old Hamster – who looked even more unimpressed when the grey (who’s a good few inches taller than he is) playfully nipped his forelock. At that moment, he shot me the most long-suffering look I’ve ever seen on that colt’s face.

Sorry buddy, this one’s on Richard, not me!

*****

This week, poor Hamster’s been given some new friends - he doesn’t seem too pleased!

[chloe-d-stories]

When Accidents Happen

Just because you’re the boss, doesn’t mean you’re immune to a few little accidents here and there.

First off, just let me apologise right now if this week’s column is a little jumbled.

You’ll see why when I tell you what happened yesterday.

Being winter in south east Queensland does not mean that we escape the cold weather – this week it’s been getting down to such lovely temperatures as -3 degrees Celsius. Charming.

And when you combine that with the fact that it’s been quite showery up here in the mountains.

Sounds like a great recipe for disaster, doesn’t it?

And when you’re distracted by something, you forget that the yard is very icy early in the morning.

That’s where our story begins, dear reader.

Friday morning, and the sky has cleared a little, but the early morning temperature of -4 (a record this year), combined with the morning dew and left-over wetness on the cobblestones from this week’s rain. I was out doing the morning rounds, taking feed to the chickens, throwing Billabong some hay, and turning the horses out into the field.

Now, by now I’m sure you are familiar with the personalities of our horses. One in particular likes to get very cheeky in the mornings, and the chill in the air makes her even sillier.

Daze always looks forward to going out into the field of a morning, especially lately. She’s one of those odd horses who relishes the cold weather.

Unfortunately, that just turns her into a complete and utter nutcase. Well, more than she usually is.

Now normally, I can handle her bouts of silliness. But, I also had made the (stupid) decision to take Rose out at the same time.

Rose is, how do I put this nicely, quite a madam. It’s like she is stuck in a teenage girl’s mind, and always throwing temper tantrums.

It doesn’t take much to set her off, either. That morning, it was the sudden appearance of Big Boy and his flock of girls bounding into the field we were heading to.

I had just opened the gate, and Rose stopped, planting her hooves firmly into the ground, refusing to walk another step.

Daze was already in the field, so I unclipped her lead and let her go, so I could focus on getting her Ladyship into the field.

No such luck, unfortunately.

Daze decided to help me out, and trotted over to us, reaching out and batting Rose with her muzzle, as if to say “Come on!”

Well, Rose did not like that. At all.

She squealed and pulled back, ears flat against her neck. I grabbed the lead with both hands and dug my heels into the grass, trying to keep her under control.

Daze spun around, surprised, and took off, taking sanctuary over by the back fence.

Rose was still throwing a fit, tossing her head and snorting angrily. “I’m NOT going in there!” was written quite clearly all over her face.

Now, if there’s anything that Steph – as her rider – has told me about her, it’s that you have to not give in to her, and keep at what you’re doing until she obeys. Otherwise, she will learn what she can do to get out of something.

So, I stood back up, relaxing, and approached her, ready to take up the slack on her lead.

Bad idea.

She chose at that moment to pull me back away from the gate. And being on the cobblestones now, I didn’t have the grip I’d had in the field.

My feet slipped out from under me, and I cried out as my left ankle spun and rolled. Pain shot up my leg, and I felt myself falling to the side as that leg collapsed beneath me.

Rose didn’t like that either, and she gave an especially hard tug on her lead.

Unfortunately (gosh, I seem to be using that term a lot today), her pull was stronger than my own, and she pulled so hard I literally heard my shoulder dislocate, and I let Rose’s lead go in shock.

Of course, as she had been pulling on me, that had been keeping me somewhat upright. Taking that away, and I toppled straight over.

I landed smack onto my shoulder, wincing as a particularly hard edge of a stone pressed right into my joint, adding to the immense pain from the dislocation.

By now, I had been joined by Steph and Richard, who both quickly took control of the situation. Steph went straight over to Rose, and concentrated on calming her down. Richard closed the gate, barely sparing the bemused Daze a glance, and knelt beside me.

I don’t really remember much after that. Richard said that he called an ambulance, who then picked me up and took me to the hospital. I had x-rays – which confirmed that I had dislocated my shoulder, but luckily it wasn’t serious, and they were able to put it back in without surgery.

My ankle was only sprained, and I was given a sling for my shoulder, a bandage and crutches for my ankle, and a wide variety of pain medications, and sent on my way.

I spent pretty much all of yesterday on the couch, with my leg propped up on a pillow, my arm throbbing dully in its sling, the fire crackling merrily and the TV on.

Today, I managed to grab my laptop and try to get this column out, and I’m pretty sure I’m still high on pain meds, but things are looking good.

Granted, my injuries mean that I can’t ride for a good few weeks, and I can’t go out into the yard until my ankle heals enough for me to walk on it. But hey, could be worse.

Still, I’ve learnt my lesson: don’t – whatever you do – try to make Rose do ANYTHING. I’ll leave that one to the expert, I think.

[chloe-d-stories]

The Old and The New

It’s a special time of year for our columnist, and the team is giving her new reasons to celebrate.

I’d like to tell you a story – if I may.

It takes place 11 years ago, and at a tiny grove in the middle of a secret forest. Fireflies dance around a young couple as they snuggle together in the winter air, the sounds of crickets and insects and birds around them make a beautiful night time chorus. The trees around them rustle contentedly above them, and somewhere in the dark, a dingo and his mate are laying down for the night.

The two humans are oblivious to this beauty, only paying attention to each other, and revelling in the love that is shared between them.

These two are soon to be wed – the very next day, in fact – and for them, nothing is more perfect than the other.

Their actual wedding day dawns overcast and with rain due to fall in the afternoon. Guests begin filing into the little chapel early, in awe of how the quaint sandstone building has been transformed for the couple’s special day.

The bride and groom themselves are busy with their own preparations – bride putting the final touches on her hair and dress, groom having a last Scotch with his best man and groomsmen before his ride to the church pulls up.

The hours fly by and their ceremony is soon beginning. A quiet affair – neither of them desired a big fuss to be made – it ends just as a gentle shower drops from the heavens.

The groom steals a glance at his bride as they exit the church – to cheers and confetti from the guests and passers-by cheering from beyond the fence – and his heart swells as he takes in the woman on his arms. Her smile lights up his world, her hair is just starting to come free of its restraints and strands of auburn are falling softly around her glowing face.

She grins up at him and reaches up and brushes from confetti from his hair. And in that moment, there is just the two of them.

The soft sprinkles of rain make them look as though silver glitter has fallen onto them – sparkling in the sudden sunlight that appears as the couple’s lips meet in their first passionate kiss of their marriage.

***

So, what was with the trip down memory lane, you might be asking?

Well, some exciting things happened this week that had me reminiscing.

First, Tiana and Markys – two of our dressage team members – have been together for a few years now, and Markys announced (to male company only – I only found out because I bugged Richard into telling me) that he planned to propose.

The boys all helped him prepare to pop the question. A quiet trail ride on their two horses, arriving at the highest point on the estate. It has a beautiful view, and you can see right out into the valley, you’re surrounded by peaceful forest and there’s a cheery little creek that runs past the clearing.

Very romantic, isn’t it?

Well, Tiana clearly thought so, because Richard received a text from Markys at about 1:30pm on Friday.

‘SHE SAID YES, BABY!!’

There was a lot of cheering in the yard at that moment.

Proof awaited us when the two lovebirds returned from their ride about an hour later. Markys was grinning like an idiot, and Tiana’s eyes were shining with happy tears, a grin just as wide on her own face.

Of course, all of us girls immediately demanded we see the ring, and she was happy to oblige.

***

Later, when I was putting some clothes away in my closet, I stumbled across a garment which I remember wearing as though it was yesterday.

I ran my fingers along the white satiny fabric, still so perfect even after eleven years.

The veil was sitting above it – it was the something old I had as part of my good luck package, it had been used by my mother and grandmother at their own weddings.

A nostalgic smile curled my lips as I twirled the delicate lace edges and – on a whim – reached up and took it gently from its place.

Mirroring my own actions from all those years ago, I laid the veil to rest atop my head. It fit just as well as it did then – although I have to say that the yard outfit and paddock boots really didn’t match too well.

Richard and I had our day eleven years ago, and now, on our own anniversary, two of our closest friends are starting their own journey together.

Congratulations Tiana and Markys!

[chloe-d-stories]

Mysterious Maladies

Winyard’s resident cheeky equine has gotten himself in trouble again, but how exactly did he manage it?

You all know that feeling when everything is going really well and you’re absolutely on top of the world, and you’re sure nothing can go wrong?

Yeah, I wish I knew that feeling.

The week started off well – our four new team members arrived from Germany, and have been taking the time to acquaint themselves with Australian weather. They all seem to be rather enjoying themselves – Markys and Tiana took them out on a trail ride the other day to show them the sights; I’ve never seen so many happy faces as I did when they came back.

And then the Winyard luck struck again yesterday. I should have known that it was too good to last.

Lucy called me – rather frantically – this morning, saying that Hamster had sliced his front leg on something, and that we needed to call the vet.

In my defence, she was doing her morning feed rounds of the racers – who are all out in the fields at the moment, enjoying the sunshine – and it was about 5am. So, I could be forgiven for not really getting the urgency right at that moment.

She had to repeat herself to me as I sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, and then I found myself completely awake.

I grabbed my boots and jacket – not caring about changing out of my pJs, and ran outside.

Sure enough, Lucy was standing by the gate to the field, lead-rope in hand. On the other end of the lead-rope was one very bemused – and rather sheepish – Hamster.

My eyes trailed down to his left front leg, and saw rivulets of blood running steadily down. Lucy had clearly tried to stem the flow by wrapping her scarf around his leg – I winced, that was one of her favourite scarves too – and it now had a red patch over the wounds.

“Stay here, I’ll call Molly” I told her, concerned as she nodded shakily and stroked the stallion’s neck.

Luckily, Molly was on call this morning, and she promised to be over as soon as she could.

I thanked her, and hung up, walking back over to the pair at the fence.

Poor Lucy looked distraught – she’s got such a big heart, and often puts so much of herself into everything that whenever something happens or goes wrong, she tends to blame herself and feel tremendously guilty.

“Luce, he’s going to be okay” I tried to reassure her, reaching over to put my hand on her shoulder. Poor thing, she was trembling. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t from the chill in the air.

Molly arrived about ten minutes later, pulling right up to the yard and jumping out, bag at the ready.

“What’s he done this time?” she asked, lips quirking slightly as we walked over to the fence.

I shrugged, wondering that myself.

Clambering through the planks, Molly’s hands felt down Hamster’s leg with a quick and practiced touch, coming to rest on Lucy’s makeshift bandage.

“How long ago did you find him?” she asked, glancing up at Lucy.

“Uh, about twenty minutes ago” Lucy replied “I put the scarf straight on it – it was still bleeding.”

Molly gave a nod and hummed quietly in thought. She started taking the scarf off, and as it fell away, the wound became visible.

I don’t quite know what I was expecting – maybe an arterial bleed or a compound fracture or something. Then I shook myself; Hamster would not be either still standing or even still alive if either of those had happened.

Instead, I was relieved to note just three long, deep gashes running down from his knee to his fetlock. One in particular was still bleeding steadily.

Molly gave the wounds a quick once over and then replaced the scarf.

“So? What’s the verdict?” I asked, getting a muzzle to the shoulder as Hamster decided to say hello.

Molly stood and put her hands on her hips.

“He’s going to need stitches, and probably quite a few of them by the looks of those cuts, and I’d recommend giving him a tetanus booster as well, just in case” she replied, reaching around and grabbing her bag.

I nodded and turned to Lucy – who looked relieved.

“Let’s get him over to the vet station then, and then while Molly’s working, you and I can finish the feed” I told her, smiling as she nodded and clicked her tongue at the stallion beside her.

Molly was here most of the morning, treating Hamster in the vet clinic here at Winyard – thank goodness, we have one of those. The wounds got a thorough flushing out, and the end result was 25 stitches over the three wounds, and a free shot in the behind. Molly said he wasn’t too pleased about that one. I can’t say I blame him.

We left Hamster in one of the recovery stalls to let the local anaesthetic wear off, and we finished the feed.

Now to turn our minds to the next part of the mystery: just how did Hamster manage it?

Molly reckons that he might have put his foot through part of a fence, or perhaps cut it on a ground-dwelling branch. I’m leaning more towards the former. As all of our fences are planks, it is very possible that he might have broken one and the sharp edges of the broken plank could have caused the wounds.

But Lucy reckons that the wounds looked more like those you might find on barbed wire injuries. Which is strange, as we make it a rule not to have barbed wire anywhere near the horses.

This is going to require some serious investigation, and I’ll be sure to let you know how we get on.

[chloe-d-stories]

The Best Aussie Christmas Ever!

Christmas at Winyard isn’t blessed with snow, but that doesn’t matter – according to our festive columnist!

I hope this finds you all well during this festive season, and that Santa was as kind to you all as you deserve!

Christmas hasn’t quite come for us yet. I’m still in the past right now; as I write this, it is two days before Christmas, and we’ve just finished at the Symphony Hill Christmas Parade.

Which meant we got to put the new present to good use.

I know, presents usually have to wait until Sunday (wow, that sounds weird for me to say right now, but moving on) to be opened, but with the parade this evening, I just had to get it out of the way.

I managed to lure Richard outside and wrap a blindfold around his eyes, trying hard to stifle my excited giggles.

He shot me an amusedly perplexed look as I took his hand and led him towards the main courtyard, excitement bubbling in my throat as I laid eyes on the spectacle before us.

Stopping about ten metres away, I reached up and removed the blindfold, hiding a delighted grin as Richard blinked owlishly in the sudden light, before his eyes focussed on the sight before him – a sharp breath escaping his lips.

Two towering Clydesdales – one grey sabino, the other a bay – stood together, thick manes fluttering softly in the gentle summer breeze, feathering wafting casually about their hooves. The sleigh behind them a startling red with gold trim, laced with white, green and blue tinsel, the evergreen wreath hanging from the front of the horses’ joining harness a wonderful touch.

Richard turned to me, eyes conveying about a hundred different emotions.

“You’ve always loved draft horses, and wanted to take up driving” I shrugged, once more entwining my hand in his. “Mick rang me a few weeks ago and told me about these two, and we came to an arrangement” I continued, grin going wider.

Then the breath was knocked out of me as I found myself pressed against my husband’s chest. We embraced for a good few minutes before he pulled away and walked over to the waiting horses.

The grey sabino raised his head, ears pricked, and let out a deep, booming whinny.

The bay was a little slower in his reaction, but he nuzzled Richard as he approached and reached up to stroke his wide, proud face.

“Chloe, I –” he broke off, voice thick. He didn’t need to say anything though; I understood.

“You’d better get changed – they’re expecting us at the parade in half an hour” I told him, almost giggling when he spun around to face me, a stunned look on his face.

“You didn’t think we dressed them up just to surprise you, did you?” I chuckled, grabbing the bag that sat on one of the seats in the sleigh and tossing it to him.

Puzzled, Richard opened the bag, and caught sight of the bright red fabric inside. His face lit up and I found myself wrapped in his arms for the second time in five minutes. I laughed, and pushed him away gently with a fond shooing motion. He grinned and sped off to change.

You see, Richard has always wanted to be in the Christmas Parade, but the opportunity never arose before now. Mainly because Symphony Hill has never actually had a formal Christmas parade before now.

So I’m glad they decided to make it official this year. The phone call they made to me about a week ago just cemented it.

Richard returned about ten minutes later. At least, I think it was Richard – he was barely recognisable as the jolly man in red.

Although, I have to say: I didn’t envy him in that hot suit and beard in almost 35 degree heat.

He didn’t seem too phased, just grinned at me and clambered into the sleigh’s front seat.

Holding a hand out to me, he raised his eyebrows in question.

“You coming, Mrs Claus?” he asked, cheeky grin on his face all the while.

A grin nearly as wide settling onto my face, I climbed in next to him, shivering with excitement as he clicked his tongue and the two horses set off, almost as eager as the two of us to get going.

The parade itself was an awesome success. People from the town lined the streets – some dressed up, others in the typical Aussie dacks of singlet, shorts and thongs – all cheering and waving as “Santa” clopped past in his horse-drawn sleigh.

At the end of the parade, was the carol concert. Steph, Tyler, Rayleigh, and the rest of the Winyard team joined us for the concert, while Richard took centre stage with the sack of presents for the little children in the crowd. The delighted smiles on their faces will stay with me for a long time.

When the night was over, and Richard had taken off the beard and jacket, the four of us sat in the sleigh for the return trip to Winyard.

Tyler and Rayleigh fell asleep in the back, Tyler’s arms wrapped protectively around his little sister, who was snuggled into his chest.

We pulled back into the yard at around 10pm, and after unhitching the horses and turning them out, we woke the two sleepy-heads and Richard reached around and picked up a blanket from the back of the sleigh.

Walking out into one of the open fields, we lay down on the blanket and gazed up at the startlingly clear night above us. A faint whinny in the distance broke the silence for a moment before it became quiet once more.

And in that moment, as I lay with my family and watched the stars, surrounded by our horses, totally at peace with the world, it didn’t matter that it doesn’t snow at Christmas here. All that matters, is that we are celebrating together, and that everyone is happy.

And all I wish for you is that you find a similar happiness and peace with your loved ones this festive season.

From everyone at Winyard, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

[chloe-d-stories]

Decorating the Yard for Christmas

With just one week to go, Winyard Estate is getting well into the Christmas spirit with some festive decorating.

Wow. I have to say, this whole Christmas decorating thing has absolutely worn me out!

We’ve spent all this past week slowly getting the whole yard looking nice and festive for Christmas, and not a moment too soon, since we’ve only got a week left.

Still, better slightly late than never, right?

And I have to say, if I am allowed to say myself, that we did a pretty good job.

We have our enormous outdoor tree set up in the entrance courtyard, down near the office. That was probably the hardest thing to decorate – the thing’s nearly ten metres tall!

There’s wreaths on all the building doors, and tinsel draped around all the available wall space. And when I say “all the available space”, I mean all the available space.

Blame Steph: she’s the one who went a little mad when she got her hands on the tinsel.

Still, she did a great job with it, and you certainly can’t say we’re not festive around here now!

We’ve also set up a life-sized Nativity scene near the front entrance, complete with live animals (that one was Tyler’s idea, of course). So we now have a donkey, three sheep, half a dozen chooks, a few ducks and a dairy cow to add to our ever-growing menagerie.

The more, the merrier, that’s what I say! Richard still isn’t quite with me on that one, but I’m sure we’ll win him over: he’s already quietly besotted with Billabong, the donkey.

Our other residents have also been lending a paw (or hoof) to the festive decorating.

Although, when I say “helping”……

Kyra loves decorations – be they Christmas, or I’m sure you remember what she did with the pumpkins at Halloween – and will easily run off with a wreath or a string of baubles in her mouth, and have a grand time throwing them in the air and catching them, before running off again. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve had to rescue a poor bauble or lonely string of tinsel out of her mouth or out of a certain burial near the outdoor arena.

Watson couldn’t really be bothered, although he does seem to like curling up in the closest patch of fresh tinsel and deciding it’s the perfect place for a nap. Then he just meows crossly at us when we try to gently prize him off it so we can hang it up in the barn.

He just stalks off to find another piece, or to attack a low-hanging bauble.

Then there’s our other four-legged friends.

Now, I’m going to tell you a story about what happened the other day. And you have to promise not to laugh....

I’d been hanging decorations inside the main barn, and it was raining outside, so some of the horses had retreated to the dry, warm cosiness of their stalls (and their hay). All throughout my time in there, certain equines had been sticking their curious muzzles into everything I was doing, providing Richard and Tyler with endless amusement as I constantly had to bat the persistent red muzzle away (three guesses who….).

I had the tinsel in a bucket and was stringing it up above the stalls (standing on a free hay bale), when the phone rang in the tack room.

Setting the tinsel down on the hay bale, I scurried off to answer it, and was gone maybe five minutes, but when I came back, I found the bucket of tinsel gone, Richard videoing something on his phone, and Tyler in stitches behind him.

Confused, I cast my gaze over to the stalls I had just been decorating.

Daze had somehow managed to grab the bucket of tinsel in front of her stall and was now holding it up in her mouth, watching as Hamster – who was in the stall next to her – took the loose tinsel in his teeth and stretched his neck up towards the top of his door.

I blinked in surprise, before chuckling and standing back as the two mischief-makers threw the tinsel around trying to get it where they assumed it needed to go.

I have to give them props for trying, but in the end – and after about five minutes of laughing later – I convinced them to admit defeat and Hamster gave me back the strand of tinsel, a mildly disgusted look on his face as he turned back to his hay.

Clearly, the shiny, glittery strand of festive decoration didn’t taste quite as good as he expected it to.

As I turned to retrieve the bucket containing the rest of the tinsel coil, I was met with a chestnut mare giving me the most stubborn look I had ever seen on her face.

I reached for the bucket in her mouth, and she moved her head away. I reached for it again, taking a step toward her, and she held her head higher, effectively taking the bucket out of my reach.

Amidst roars of laughter behind me (and hiding giggles myself, I have to admit), I managed to get the bucket back, but only after I had let Daze hold it in her mouth while I finished putting the tinsel up around her stall.

If animals could go on Santa’s list, I think I know where those two would be going…..