The BOLASHAK Pony

I am delighted to report that the Kazakhstan based personel company BOLASHAK http://www.bolashak.com/ have generously agreed to sponsor a second horse in Kazakhstan to join Zorbee. We are very much indebted to them for their support, and the horse (or rather pony in this case) will be named Bolashak in honour of the company. Zorbee is of course sponsored by the wonderful probiotics company VIDAZORB. http://www.vidazorb.com/

Rowena has already purchased a suitable candidate for the new Bolashak, already nicknamed Bolly. Perhaps he will merit the cracking open of a bottle of the other type of Bolly when we officially cross into Europe over the Ural river in Atyrau. He is seen above in sub zero training for the rigours ahead with boy groom. He may not be the most beauteous of equines, but handsome is as handsome does, and as long as he is tough, goodnatured and can walk westwards, who cares!

I notice from the photo that he is already sporting one of the saddles provided by our other main sponsors Free and Easy saddles http://www.fnesaddles.com/.

Over the last few months we have experienced a lot of trouble sorting out registration problems with my Lada. This was due to the fact that foreigners are not in fact permitted to own Kazakhstan registered cars, and 'ownership' only involves the legal right to use and sell a vehicle. The registered owners who 'sold' the Lada had unbeknown to me (as my Russian is limited) asked the lawyer to include an extra clause apparently to protect them from any problems arising while I was in possession of the car. However this also seriously effected my legal rights to the vehicle and created considerable problems, particularly as the registered owners were subsequently extremely obstructive about altering the paperwork. Happily, thanks to the sterling efforts of Shaun Weaver and Ed in Atyrau, to whom I am eternally grateful, it has all been sorted at last, and we are now in a position to trade the Lada in for a more suitable 4WD truck to tackle the Hunger steppe of Kazakhstan.

I have booked my flight from Amsterdam to Atyrau for March 30th. I plan to travel round to Kyzlorda in the truck while Rowena accompanies Bolashak on the train - we felt it might be a bit of a strain for him to endure 4-5 days journey by truck over rough roads. We hope to start riding sometime in the the first week of April, all being well!

The patter of tiny hooves

Aaaaahh! Our first spring arrival today in the form of a bouncing colt who made his way into the world at about 2.45 a.m. early this morning. He is by Cwrtycadno Cymro out of Millcroft Simone and is a full brother to the ill fated Sion, who is looking gloomily over the hedge at another brother who will no doubt make the grade. The foal is a robust little chap with a woolly coat, so although he foaled in we will leave him out in the paddock tonight.

Poor Sion.

Our two year old colt (now gelding) Pontsteffan Sion is just back from being castrated and looking a little down in the mouth. He was bound for Australia as a stallion last year, but unfortunately for him one of his testicles failed to descend, so he has been denied a life of ease with the ladies, and his younger brother has usurped him. If anyone out there wants a cracking Section B gelding with an excellent temperament, he is for sale.

On the way to fetch Gethin and Iona from uni on Friday, I called in at the Outdoors Show (I had free tickets!) which turned out to be a detour well worth making. I even discovered Rowena's neighbour James Moreton presiding there in a yurt (or ger as the Mongolian version is called) He and his wife Karina run travel company http://www.panoramicjourneys.co.uk/ which runs off-the-beaten-track holidays in Mongolia and Bhutan.

We are all anticipation at the moment, as one of the Section B mares, Millcroft Simone (property of fellow breeder and friend Rob Jones who keeps his ponies here) is dripping milk and due to foal before the night is out.