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! :)

Another picture

Yep, I have started yet another painting. This one is of Doc though, and I can't wait to have it finished! I think I might try some acrylic paint with this one though... we will see :) I will post pics once I'm done.

Horses!

Here's a cute picture I took of Peanut the other day! Me and Abbi have been lunging him just about every day, it's funny to watch his short little legs go as he trots and canters :) We also had some one over to trim his hooves last week- Peanut hated it! The lady picked up his foot and he started dancing around rearing and everything. It was very interesting watching, he certainly picked the wrong person to mess with!

Our new projects

Recently we have been building more (Yes, MORE) animal enclosures, with the latest one to be just about completed, is a new quail and guinea pig run.
It isn't massive, but there's plenty of room for the two quail and four guinea pigs that now live in it.

We are also going to make another run a bit bigger then the quail run, joined onto it for a rabbit to live in. I can't wait to have them finished... and another awesome thing is that we still have plenty of wire left over for making hutchs. I plan on building two more... so then we will be a 7 hole rabbitry!

I will post some pictures once the runs and cages are finished :)