The sire of her choice

Having worked so much overtime lately, Nettus and I took part of the afternoon off and brought Sahara back to the stallion station to meet with the boys. She was really one thrilled mare as we left the flock (which normally drives her nuts, seeing she's the boss and they should always accompany her in her eyes...). Unfortunately (for us), all the great sires were out of town this week, and the only one left for her to play with was Rio the colt.

Rio the colt turned to be exactly what Sahara the young but dominant mare wanted, and with Nettus being a soft hearted owner, she gave the colt's owner green light for the two of them to do whatever they wanted.

With Rio being the timid one, he took all the time in the world, nibbling her here and there and making sure all the time that she was "safe". And Sahara amazed us all, just standing there and taking it all without so much as budge.

Sahara was so taken by the young male that the hardest part was separating them and going home!

Had she had her way, she would have remained there all day and had lots and lots of fun...

Oh well. So we allowed Sahara to mate with the male of her choice and not the one that would ensure a high offspring value right from the start. Rio is really good runner though, and with his mild temperament, the mix between him and Sahara may actually turn out really well. In any case, we'll just wait for another 21 days before we bring her back, and see if her eagerness has faded or if the mating didn't take. If it didn't, I think I'll be looking out for Aldo, the local champion. Rumor has it that he'll be in town that week, but hey- we're in Africa, so we'll just take every day as it comes!

Ishtar

Sahara meets with the boys

An expert in the US told us that Sahara might very well be having silent heats, and that it might be wise to let her interact more with stallions.

First up (behind a wall of protection) was Rio, the Snowman's colt. At first, he was a bit overexcited, but then he calmed down and the two of them got down to some serious greeting. This is actually the same colt that Sahara kicked at the race track last year, when the two of them were just two years old. Don't they look sweet together?

Next up on the roll was Gamji, our Nigerian friends' former champion. He's been in Zinder for a while in order to recover from a bad leg injury, but it seems that despite having undergone all sorts of traditional treatments (most of them involving opening up the wound again and drenching it with different potions), the only difference is that he has grown in size. I never would have considered him as a sire in normal case due to his color (which is dominant, and I am in love with brown horses!) but seeing that Aldo, the sire we would have liked to have for Sahara, was no longer in town, both Nettus and I were considering Gamji an option. It wouldn't make a 100% Nigerien Barb horse (Gamji is a Sudanese horse) but the idea of foaling Sahara in the first place would be to get a large offspring, strong enough to carry bigger persons.

With Mr Gamji, it was all pure business, from the moment that he saw her (from afar). It started off well enough, until Gamji roared and tried to jump over the wall in order to get what he wanted. Sahara freaked out - I think he actually managed to scare her - but then she turned around, aim well and gave the wall between them some very good kicks. Oh my, our little girl has some self-confidence, believing she could shrug off one of the most dominant males in the country!

We let it end there for now, and took a very proud Sahara back to the flock, who were having the time of their life running around in JR's garden. It's pretty cool to watch horses in Niger be able to stretch their legs and do whatever they like. There's just so much joy involved.

Will keep you updated on what happens with Sahara. I think we'll go back to the stallions within ten days or so and see if there will be any changes on the level of interaction.

Ishtar

Our three girls this morning...

Sahara looking beautiful as ever - but who would have thought she'd grow so much during the time that she's been with us?

Maya starting to become less and less like an indifferent bush horse and more and more like the other mares in the flock

Arwen with the right posture. I wanted a picture of that belly to see if there will be any visible difference in a few months. It's only been about four months since DanMaffia was here and did his business... She hasn't called for any male attention since, but that's about all I know about whatever is going on inside her! And let us not forget, I have been tricked before...

Ishtar

Too young to be ridden?

In Niger, horses start being ridden at far too young a age, sometimes not more than a year or so. With Maya, we let her run along for the first few weeks, but when she started getting too daring on her own (peeking into people's gardens on our way out of town and hunting the herder's goats when out in the bush), we decided to give our 2 year old a try and see if what she was like. Nettus and I fought over who (wouldn't be the one) taking her out, and the lot fell on Nettus, who weighed less than I. It was a interesting ride but not a comfortable one - we only tried her out for a few minutes before deciding that the horse needs to grow a lot more before one of us will be comfortable to take out her. So Maya went back to being a filly again, which answers the title question with a big YES, despite regional norms.

Ishtar

A change of character

The funny thing about Sahara is that despite her 3,5 years of age and her 1 year long stay with us, she has never once demonstrated any signs of being on heat. So when the day finally arrived when she had a sudden change of character (all of a sudden getting very insecure and sensitive, which is a far cry from her ordinary over self-confident self), I thought it was time to bring in a teaser and see how she reacted.

The male was a nameless white-reddish young stallion with a very going temperament, and to start with, they seemed to hit it off fine (which wasn't to be expected, seeing Sahara has always been into dominating every horse on the planet!).

Things were going just great, until the male (who was probably a bit inexperience himself) got over-eager and jumped up on her back, which she wasn't quite yet ready for. So love ended there this time, but I'll let you know how things progress!

Ishtar

Bonding sisters

We took the sisters out to my brother's big garden, to let them figure out their differences like horses like to do. As a safety precaution however, we tied one side of Sahara's legs together so that she would be able to do any serious damage to Maya, who was a few sizes too small to properly defend herself (but had already showed a very independent personally that was slightly asking for trouble...).

The idea however was just to give them the time they needed to figure out their differences, which we did. It was quite a show, and fun to watch!

After thirty minutes of screaming protests, twists and turns, the two of them suddenly got down to some serious smelling.

And within no time, they started to interact like long-time flock members! Wow - in this case, blood was definitively thicker than water...

Ishtar

Maya

Today, our horses got a visitor, a two year old filly from the bush who happened to be none other than Sahara's younger sister. She was destined to our neighbor, but although with her two years she would seem ridable to most people in Niger, she is too frail for any of us. So she's staying with us for a short period of time, until we can find her a suitable home. Now it took us a while to figure out an appropriate name for her, but then finally something hit home. To all Swedes out, Maja Gräddnos from the children's book series Pelle Svanslös is explanation enough, but whether you know of this kitty with a cream colored nose or not; Maya has turned out to be a very appreciated horse name here in Zinder.

Ishtar

Does aggressive have a tender side?

In late December, I wrote the following draft:

For a dog who previously had huge aggression issues, Dennis is turning out to be quite a teddy bear!

He still has days when he is immensely uncooperative and prefers being the hunter rather than the herder, but then he has other days when he's just being himself and tries to make contacts with the animals now occupying his former kennel.

Then my dad came to visit, and the dog bit him (totally unprovoked)! So much for our tough guy having a tender side! But to end with a true Ishtar thought: "Hey, at least I'm glad I don't have small children!" But I haven't given up on him yet. Am in no position to either, since he's a fabulous guard - just has to work on his social skills...

Ishtar

Separation anxiety

Our horses have separation anxiety. They have only known each other for a year, but from the first week, Sahara has gone nuts whenever Arwen is away.

The big change this year is that Arwen now reacts with equal frustration. The disadvantages are (obviously) many, but there are surprisingly many perks as well. For instance, when you go somewhere, you bring one horse, and the second one just tags along.

The same behaviour pattern applies to Nettus' pet goats Amadeus & Esmeralda, who will not go anywhere without one another.

We are now only waiting to see if Dennis our mafioso guard dog will tune in as well?

Ishtar

Life in our garden

Don't you just love it when animals of all kinds settle in and start making nests, only to find a few weeks later that there is a little junior growing at an amazing speed?

It really didn't take long for this little guy from the time he broke out of his egg to fly out of the nest. Honestly, it was all over within two weeks! He's gone now - from his nest that is - but he might be part of the number of adults that come to feed from Arwen's leftovers...

Ishtar

Latest Ishtar expansion

Trying out the Zilco saddle

Since it was Ramadan, there were a few races at the track (nothing big). Nettus and I deciding to bring out the girls and let them parade the new racing saddle I bought with me in Sweden.

Arwen was first to go, and loved every inch of the track (as usual).

The biggest change this year was Sahara, who was impatient for her own turn. She had to wait a while though, because in between Arwen's lap, there was another race:

Then her turn finally came, and she surprised us all with her newfound strength and motivation to carry through.

She looked good!

Ishtar

When unhappy is cute...

So we adopted a seven year old dog and have already begun to turn him into a teddy bear. He's eating properly and taking regular showers. Now don't you all think that the fuzzy fur suits him much better? He wants to be a veranda dog, but he'd rather not have the showers...

Ishtar

How most of our spare time is spent

Any siesta, evening and weekend is a great opportunity to do some adjustments on the house! This weekend, Nettus painted her room and we had two windows changed. It costs quite a lot of money (seeing we have gone Nigerien now) but it's really worth it, having light into the house!

Ishtar

Arwen's hunt for a worthy sire - part I

Now this is a post for all the horse lovers out there! Especially those with an keen interest in the two barb mares residing with their Scandinavian owner in Niger.

It all started when my friend the Snowman brought stallion boy Pablo over to see my girls. My two mares responded very differently: Sahara tried to attack, while Arwen tried to catch his attention. After 1½ years of showing absolutely no interest, she was on heat again!

Pablo was so impressed that he jumped for joy, but unfortunately for him, Arwen's owner wasn't as impressed by him as he was by Arwen, so Pablo had to go home emptyhanded.

Next up was Rio - a another colt belonging to the Snowman who runs absolutely beautifully!

I would have accepted him had Arwen liked him, and at first, she showed all signs of liking what she saw.


They greeted once, then twice, and all of a sudden Arwen decided that there was something about Rio that wasn't to her liking, and she spun around and kicked him in the face. I could have insisted, but despite being extremely elegant in his run, Rio was both small for his age and a bit too young to be courting. Knowing Nigerien horse mating business is a complicated affair, I had rather choose a stallion who knew how to go about.

Now Arwen had already set her eyes on the stallion of her choice: a certain Mr Colonel whom we greeted once when going out riding. The Colonel and she clicked immediately, and the match would have been perfect. Unfortunately, the colonel's owner was in the UK right now, and the process of getting in touch (much less getting a yes) seemed to be a very complicated affair.

It seemed at that point that Ishtar had her hands full with a mare crying out for male attention but no suitable sire in sight. Several friends got involved at the same time, trying to sort the issue, and then all of a sudden, different people had each organized it in their own way (without asking Ishtar!) so that different stallions were coming to see Arwen at the same time!

In the end, it was Dan Maffia (Son of Maffia) who was chosen because of his merits and linage (true Nigerien barb, not an import).

As soon as he saw Arwen, he called out for attention and reared.

Arwen was interested too, and had there been time to get to know each other, it could have been a very pleasant experience.

After a bit of fighting, and a bit of human help, the match was finally made-

and everybody started laughing!

As for the final results (if there will be any), I'll let you know in about a year's time...

Ishtar