My laptop is charged and online! Thanks to the wonderful farm manager, Annet, who happened to find a spare universal adaptor. Yay! Thanks! So now I can spend endless hours surfing the web (not really). I just can't believe I'm finally here at Summerhill. I've been watching videos and looking at pictures for months now, and it seems so unreal to be here in person. Let me just say, Summerhill lives up to its reputation 100%. It certainly is a world class stud farm. What makes it so unique is the location. South Africa is stunning. When I got my first glimpse of South Africa, my plane was landing in Durban and it was a particularly cloudy day. The clouds eventually broke and I couldn't believe what I was seeing! The beautiful Indian Ocean and these amazing rolling green hills. When you think of Africa you don't normally think of a lush green countryside, at least I didn't before I got here. The Kwazulu-Natal region is known for agriculture because of its lush green and fertile environment. I don't think I've ever seen the living hues of green that are here in Natal. There are the most vibrant lime greens to the deepest of dark greens. Rolling hills, mountains, lakes, and the most exotic birds create the most spectacular landscape. Oh, and of course to top it all off there are HORSES!!! Its like a dream being here. If ever there were a paradise for horse lovers, I think I've found it! Summerhill spans an impressive 3,000 acres and is home to over 800 horses. I've only been here three days but I've been given several tours and it seems like each time I see something new. Some of the paddocks are so large that you can't even see the horses. Yesterday morning I was doing morning rounds with Annet to check the mares and foals and we reached one of the paddocks and the horses were no where to be seen. All of a sudden you could hear pounding hooves and suddenly about 25-30 mares and foals came galloping into view! Spectacular!
So far, the weather has actually been quite grey and rainy. The pictures I've taken just don't do the countryside justice. I'm sure it will clear up in a few days and I will be able to share some of the spectacular views. I've spent my first few days just getting acclimated to my new surroundings (and timezone). My accommodations are noting like I expected. I live smack dab in the middle of all the action. There is a very old house located just behind the stud office that used to belong to the former farm manager, and I have the whole place to myself! I've claimed one room as my home base, but there are probably 7 or 8 rooms here in all. The house it set up like a rat maze with rooms that connect to another room and then another and then another. The best part of the house is the porch. I can sit out on the porch and eat my dinner while watching Traffic Guard (one of Summerhill's top stallions) grazing peacefully nearby. Gahh! I'll be sure to post pictures in the next few days :) My internship officially begins tomorrow. One little task I've been invited to help with so far is naming the foals! How cool is that? I could potentially be naming South Africa's next big racing superstar! Now, I am off to get some homework done before bedtime and try to come up with a few catchy racehorse names. Goodnight!
One last thing- if you want to see a true marketing masterpiece follow the link to Summerhill's Sires Film. Its worth every minute!
Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhkAVs2DauY
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