The Happy Bottom Riding Club.
With a tribute to Pancho Barnes.
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The Happy Bottom Riding Club. With a tribute to Pancho Barnes. |
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In the spring of 2009 we started searching for land to build a
stable and a home. We looked all over northern Taiwan, but finally found
a place just 3 km away from our present house in Longtan. The land is
situated in HsinHsu and is just on the banks of Sinpu River in a
beautiful valley. It used to be a rice farm, so we have to do a lot of
work to make sure that the land stays dry during planting season. Here is a view from the southeast corner and the irrigation ditch can be seen running along the road. 2009-05-10 |
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| The wall is completed and the tree planting has begun. We are
planning to plant a lot of trees to give us and the horses shadow in the
summer and protection from the wind in the winter. 2009-10-18 |
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We also planted trees along the south border, close to
where the arena will be. 2009-10-18 |
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| We managed to find a large tree for sale close to our land and had
that moved to the farm. Here is the local gardener and his crew planting
it in the middle of the farm. 2009-10-21 |
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The tree looks like it has survived the move and has
just started to sprout new twigs and leaves. 2009-11-11 |
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Today the roof panels arrived. If weather holds, we might have the roof finished by the end of the week. 2010-02-01 |
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| Half of the roof panels have been installed and the concrete has
been poured for the floor. 2010-02-04 |
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The horse boxes are being built and it is starting to look like a
stable. 2010-03-04
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| Work is progressing on the building. The outside panelling is in
place and fittings, cabling and water is being connected. Unfortunately,
some poor person decided that he needed our electrical feed cable and a
water pump more than we needed them, so last week he helped himself to
them. 2010-04-02
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The fence between the two sections of land has been built and the
landscaping around the building is completed. Now we are waiting for the
sand layer for the arena. 2010-04-14 |
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| On June 06 I invited a lot of friends for an opening BBQ at the stable. On the right there is a link to a photo album. |
Opening BBQ
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| In May I moved the horses to the stable and they immediately took a liking to the environment. They graze, they play, they roll and frolic. |
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Curios loves running around and showing off. | |
| But after playing comes shower and grooming. The preparation area holds two horses and next to it is the tack room. |
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Lester and his new girl-friend Mei-Mei are grazing together a sunny day in early July 2010. | |
| The horses love to stand with their heads out and look around. |
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Mei-Mei does not mind the company of dogs. Here she is with our Border Collie, Gustav. | |
| On July 15th I celebrated my birthday among all my loved ones at the stable. |
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Lester is very protective about Mei-Mei and there has been some jostling and kicking when Curios comes too close. | |
| The ever-vigilant guard dog, Gustav, on duty. |
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But there is also some training to be done. Here I am lounging Curios an evening when it is getting cooler. | |
| My sister, Jocelyn, has been very helpful and is learning how to take care of the horses. |
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Some flat work with Curios an evening in July. | |
| We are doing flat work now and will do some jumping later when the obstacles have been delivered. |
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Last updated: 2011-04-22 09:19:30 -0400
