Meet the Animals

I decided it was time to put in some pictures of my furkids :D

Remy
Show name: none
Breed: Siamese
Gender: Female (spayed)
Color: Lilac point
Hobbies: Furring up things that are clean, looking out the window, cuddling her dad
Job: Hunting and eating flies
Likes: Food time, brush time, eating grass
Dislikes: Nail time, public transport, kids

Apollo
Show name: Kennel Royal Pinsch Alpha Herculis Von Blitz
Breed: German Pinscher
Gender: Male
Color: Black and tan
Hobbies: Sleeping under a blanket, cuddling on the sofa, peeing on things outside
Job: Pulling a bike sometimes, doing tricks
Likes: Humans, running fast, DOGS
Dislikes: Food sometimes, nail time, showers

Bali
Show name: Extrawhite
Breed: KWPN
Gender: Female
Color: Liver chestnut with chrome
Hobbies: Sunbathing, eating hay, hanging out with friends
Job: Dressage
Likes: Food time, friends, scratches inside the ears
Dislikes: Being deprived of food time, being deprived of friends, and too much scratching inside the ears

House Tour

Some of the rooms in my house :D

Hallway to the bathroom and bedrooms

Kitchen

Living room / studio / office

The TV rolls out to the middle of the floor for movie time

Bathroom

Polework Inspiration

The other day I went to ride and decided to do some trot poles. 
This was my setup:
Later, I was clearing trees in the front forest, and suddenly I was seeing trot poles everywhere.  Because of the trees competing for light, they had all grown really straight and tall.  I cut down a few to use as trot poles in my arena someday :D
I had a meeting with the sports club and the dog club and I will be able to build my arena on the far side of the football field.  The land has already been flattened and drained, just needs some sand.  Sand can be expensive though, and I need to build the stable before anything, but I'll be at uni next week

 

These are the poles:
They aren't very thick and some haven't been measured to 3 meters yet, but they will do the job for now. 

Clearing Land

The house comes with three acres, so one of my priorities is getting the land cleared of trees.  The trees had grown in so thick we had to cut them just to be able to walk into the forest.  Another benefit of clearing the land is getting light in - hopefully grass will grow between the trees and save us a little money in feeding costs.  The trees we cut down are going to be shredded into wood chips to provide a substrate for the paddocks that will be attached to the stables.  If there is any left over, I'll make some riding trails around the field behind the farm.

We knew clearing would be a big job, but nothing could prepare me for what was to come.  I had no idea so many trees could grow in such a small area.  My mom and grandma were there helping me move in to the house, so they helped with clearing land.  We started at the back of the house, armed with a bow saw and a pair of branch cutters.  We were about 10 meters in when we uncovered an apple tree!  We soon found another half-strangled in a wave of birch saplings.  I left some big pine trees standing in the field we were clearing.  I always wanted pine trees, they are so pretty with the red trunks complementing the green foliage.  We got about 20 meters into the forest in the course of two days, cutting trees thinner than a pencil to trees stretching thirteen meters into the canopy. 

Since my mom and grandma went back home, we have been spending about an hour per day clearing trees, saving the big ones for later or keeping them as ornaments.  Are currently working on the forest skirting the driveway, which will eventually be a grass paddock.  We are on a tight schedule, because we can't move the horses until the wood chips are ready and I worry that we don't have enough wood yet...  Another prerequisite is converting the garage into a stable, but I am missing tools for the job.  That's a story for another post, hopefully not too far off!  Autumn break is coming up and I aim to move the horses in by then

Mom throwing trees we cut down

The pile of trees when we were finished the first night

Some of the pine trees I'm keeping, the neighbors land is on the left

A tiny apple from one of the apple trees.  They haven't seen the sun in a while

Outside the house

Here are some pictures of the area around the house :D

The house, seen from the neighboring football field (owned by the sports club)

An acre of forest on my land that needs to be cleared

The driveway

The view from my window of a neighbor's land

Welcome!

I always said to myself that I would start a blog when I bought my farm.  It took me five years and seventeen viewings to finally put in a bid.  Finally, we have moved in!  A lot has happened in the week I have lived here, I’ll spend the next few posts catching you up on that