Hi All
Early last month I was invited out to the Swales Farm in Darwendale to witness the first public display of the 7 young progeny of their Arabian Horses.
“The Arabian Horse has historic roots in the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. “
A few years ago, the Swales family had the opportunity to import a few top-quality Arabian Horses setting up a world-class stud on their farm in Mashonaland North. Last year they decided it was time to breed a few of their small herd choosing artificial insemination instead of regular mating. This has turned out to be a very successful operation with seven young foals being born at the start of this year.
Each of the young foals were paraded individually around the paddock with the Swales teenage kids taking turns to walk/run/ride alongside them. Sean Swales gave us spectators an in-depth analysis of the foals highlighting the salient strengths of each particular one. It takes quite a few months for these foals to be weaned away from their mothers so the ever-watchful mares were led into the paddock alongside their babies. It did not take long for the youngsters to start whinnying for mom’s attention.
My question to you is how does each mare recognise that the sounds emanating from any given foal are those belonging to her particular offspring? They all sounded the same to me!
There are 2 other Arabian stud farms in this country, and they are holding their National Championships in Ruwa this coming Saturday 20th April starting at 8 am – entrance is free – directions – just after the Goromonzi Tollgate turn left by the group of signs- one says Damara – drive for 100m and turn right at the sign for the Hillcrest Equestrian Centre. Approx. 20 minutes from Msasa.
This promises to be an excellent day out – ideal for a family day out to introduce your kids to the Equine world. Highly recommended. Ciao Mike G.
