The Great Wall Of China

With the original wall being built over a time frame of 20 years, the Great Wall Of China is an incredible structure.

Built with mainly rock, earth, and wood, it is believed that some one million people died in the making of the massive wall.

It isn't just one big long wall though. With it's original purpose being to defend China from attack, it also has many forts, passes, and beacon towers built into it to house soldiers, store things, and to pass on information safely.

More facts about the Great Wall Of China

➳ The Great Wall Of China is the longest structure ever built by humans.
➳ Despite popular belief, it is not true that The Great Wall Of China can be seen with the naked eye from the moon.
➳ The highest part of the wall is about eight metres (26 ft)

Blue Mice

I told them it would happen. I told them she would be the last one left, the one to last the longest.
 Yes, we are now currently down to one mouse. We don't know exactly what's been happening, other then them getting near their 'expiry date', but one by one they all started being picked off. The most disturbing thing, though, is how Abbi found dear little Peaches Wednesday evening.

It was a pleasant mild evening when Raspberry pocked her nose out of a warm cosy nest, made of the finest materials the clan members could find in the vast expanses of their home. She had been asleep all day in that nest, snuggled up to share the warmth of her petite fuzzy body with the other mice that made up their small clan of four.
It was a strange smell that drifted lazily toward the small spotted mouse's nose as she scented the air carefully- much different to the usual musty scent of tiny biscuits and seeds that usually greeted them about this time of night. The scent intrigued her, and eventually lured her out of the warmth she had been enjoying so much in the nest. Raspberry followed her sensitive pink nose toward the source of the smell, and came to an abrupt halt when she saw what it was. There, sitting in the wood shavings, was a ginormouse (Excuse the pun) slab of meat with a whole lot of perfectly crumbly bread crumbs on top to finish it off.

In Fond Memory Of:

Peaches, the mouse who could never put on any weight

Berry, the mouse who could never take off any weight

Cocoa, the mouse who always put on a stunning public appearance

And Liquorice, the mouse who loved her toys.

Briar The Quarter Horse

Last week it was really sunny, so I got in quite a bit of riding. Here's some photos of me on Briar, our new Quarter Horse mare! I am currently trying to get her fit so we can start having a few jumping lessons, come summer :)

This past week...

Has been busy. Real busy. Busy as in waking up at about 7:00 in the morning, and walking groggily into the lounge only to have a gigantic puppy come tumbling straight at you, and most of the house awake and running around the hall way and kitchen shrieking (Yes, that's you Anika and Noah -.-).  It's been good though, for many reasons- some of which I shall state here.

First off, Willow had another litter, sired by Mr Chubby (AKA, Casa De Quimera Jasper). There were, and still are, three in this litter. One Blue Otter doe, a Blue Otter buck, and a Smoke Pearl Marten buck. I'm just hoping the Blue Otter buck will take after his sire, as I am looking for a replacement buck at the moment (Chubby has, uh, issues).

Secondly, it was my birthday on Saturday. 14 this year- so that makes three years of blog writing !

Thirdly, me and a friend (who is also horse mad and has her own pony :P) did lots of work with Briar and Peanut over the weekend. We gave Peanut a bath (soaked and trimmed his tail, soap and everything). Lets just say he was not very impressed by the time the hose came out to wash the soap of his horsey hair.Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures, but I can tell you he now has a proper pony tail that isn't full of yellow dreadlocks!

Me and Hannah (my friend) also did some in hand, and riding work with Briar. We lunged her and did some leading practise etc of the first day, then on the second day (Sunday), we tacked her up to do some riding. Now Briar hadn't been ridden for a good 2-3 weeks due to bad weather and everything, so I was very impressed with how good she was. We just rode her bare back for the first maybe 15 minutes, then put the saddle on. I am now happy to say that I have jumped Briar up to about 60 cm (I know I know, sounds tiny. It's allot bigger then that though, when you're on a horse that jumps really well), without any falls

Fourth, and very exciting is the fact that Otto has now started puppy training school! He went to his first session yesterday, and I must say he was definately top of the class when it came to all the obedience things we were doing. No surprise really though, seeing as the rest of the puppies there were a naughty Jack Russel, a timid LabxStaffy, and another chilled flop-on-the-ground type LabxStaffy. It was heaps of fun though, I can't wait 'till next week :)

We Got A New Puppy!!!

We Got A New Puppy!!!

Yes, we got a puppy. Introducing... Otto! Creative name, huh? Ok, so I didn't just think it up on my own (I'm pretty awesome, but not that fantastical). But I was the one who found the 'most popular dog names' list :3 Aaaaany way... Meet Otto, our 13 week old Huntaway, Bearded Collie, 'Eye dog' cross- and all the way from Roxborough!

Me holding Otto on the way home. I got spewed on four times in total (thanks, Otto -.- )

Otto with his favourite teddy, a few days after we got him

This is Otto with his teddy now! He has grown so much

Wet Winter Days

Just a general update on what's been happening around the rabbitry and everything :)

Serenity Paws Bubblegum has got exactly 6 days until the nest box goes in for her, we are very excited for her first litter! I plan on keeping a doe kit from her as a brood doe, which will be very cool.

We are also getting another (Yes, ANOTHER) buck! He is such a looker, Blue Otter Senior Netherland Dwarf Buck. Plus he's a twice proven breeder, there is a picture of him at the bottom of this post. 

Willows last litter have all been sold and gone to their new homes, with the exception of the buckling Mia is keeping as a pet, and one doe kit that will be going to the pet shop this week. I think we will be giving Willow (Or, "Wally" as she is sometimes called :3) a well deserved break from breeding, until the end or Winter or so.

The hens now have a finished new house, thanks to Mums awesome building expertise :) Their old house had gaps in the roof where water dripped in on them, so hopefully this one will keep them nice and dry.

Ok, so the most exciting new I have saved for last. Guess what guess GUESS WHAT!?! We now have two ponies! Yesterday (21/ 6/ 14), we went to have a look at a pony that was for lease. We tacked her up, and did some riding in the arena. I went first, and did a few jumps after a bit. It was so much fun! After everyone had a go, we un tacked her, and gave her a good brush. Then her owner asked us if we wanted to take her home then! So we now have a grey cat B miniature gelding, Peanut, and a flaxen chestnut 14.3 hh Quarter Horse cross Welsh mare, named Briny. We are going to start riding her tomorrow, I can't wait :)

Another update on Peanut

We have now started breaking in Peanut! On Monday, we lunged him two times, gave him a thorough grooming, lunged him again, and Abbi rode him! He was such a good boy, no bucks or anything. We are going to do some more work with him today, so we will see how it goes!
Here's a picture of him- Abbis feet are only about 20 cm off the ground on either side

*Edit*

So yesterday the weather cleared up enough for Abbi to have another ride on Peanut. He's really good with her getting on now. Instead of leading Abbi on him, I put the lunge line on his halter and made him walk in a circle around me while I stood in the middle. He was really good- until I got him to trot anyway. He did a tiny bit of really good trotting at first, went back to a walk, I asked to trot again, and he got grumpy with me and did a little buck thing and kinda slid in the mud... so Abbi came off the side. That was Abbis second fall, she said it didn't hurt at all! :)