Thankful Thursday

#1 here. I would like to start by thanking all those who sent good wishes for Heloise's birthday yesterday. I did go and see her and she came over as son as she heard me, as did Mama Hotesse:

She got lots of apples, carrots and horse treats, as did all the other horses in her field. It was a proper birthday celebration!

Heloise is on the right in this shot. Ollie was also there for the celebration.

We are also thankful that we are all still doing well. Yesterday, I put up our "Koi Nobori", a Japanese practice to fly paper or cloth carps in celebration of the boys in the family (Boys' Day is on May 5th). This is our Koi Nobori:

It's not very big compared to the huge ones some people in Japan fly, but it's ours. And we decided to adapt the idea a little. So... the rainbow windsock on the right is for our Rainbow boys, Ikkyu, Sen-Chan, Yuu-Chan, Tommy and Da Beebs. The big grey one is for Vidock, the red one id for Ollie, and the blue one is for Genji! We hope that, like the carp flying in the wind, our boys will stay strong and healthy.

Wednesday Birthday Whinnies!

On April 29th, 2017, in a beautiful field in the Perche area of France was born a very special Percheron filly!

Her Mama, Hotesse, was a already 22 years old, which is a grand old age for a Percheron horse, so this was her last foal, and it was a girl! She was also a half-sister to Violette!

She was cute as a button! And her name was HELOISE!

And mama Hotesse was a real pro at motherhood!

A few weeks later, they moved to another field, right next to Poupounette Central:

Heloise loved romping around:

An she got into snuggling very young!

During her first year, she mostly lived with her Mama and with her older sister, Doucette:

Heloise's Daddy (they say "sire" for horses) was a black champion stallion called Titus, and he passed his colouring on to his daughter:

TITUS

By the time she was a year old, Heloise had grown into a lovely young filly:

When she was 15 months old, she was sent to school at Ms. C's for a couple of months:

She learnt things like giving her feet for the farrier:

And was admired by all who saw her:

She was best friends with The Big V:

And took part in her first show:

After that, she came back to her field next to Poupounette Central, and there she turned two:

It was around that time that she declared to #1 that she wanted to move in with her...

As autumn got under way, her future, and that of Mama Hotesse, increasingly became a concern. The owners had already sold off Doucette to a meat buyer in the spring, and the possibility that these two would end up in the same way was growing stronger. Something has to be done. That something was a Go Fund Me campaign to which so many kind people contributed, and which made it possible to purchase both mares after lengthy negotiations on price. On the 4th of March, the two mares were finally moved to Ms. C's.

Less than two weeks after the move, France entered a period of strict confinement due to COVID19 an it became impossible to visit them until this past weekend.

And so, today, we celebrate Heloise's THIRD BIRTHDAY! She has grown into a fine mare. There are still question marks concerning her future, as the current crisis is seriously impact the revenue stream at Poupounette Central. The one thing that is sure is that she will always be well looked after and loved!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET HELOISE!💖💖💖

Tama-Chan Tuesday

Tama-Chan: Greetings, Dear Friends! I confess that I don't have any exciting news for you today. Our routine has been pretty much unchanged, enjoying sunpuddles and #1's company. We do have some rain in the forecast for the coming days, though, so #1 and Ollie might spend a little less time in the garden.

Window whiffies have continued to take up a good portion of my time.

"Hello #1. Let me pose nicely for you!"

"Oh! Was that a lizard?"

"Sorry, #1. One does get distracted sometimes..."

And I continue to work diligently on my upward dangles and my cuteness:

Don't forget to join us again tomorrow as we will be celebrating a birthday!

Manly Monday

Vidock: Handsome Neighs, EveryFriend! It's Vidock, aka The Big V, here with some new photos of my handsome self!

Here I am, catching up with #1. You can see what she has in her hands, can't you?

Genji: I think I look very manly in this portrait that #1 took.

And she also took another good GloBat pic!

And another sunpuddle shot as I sat next to her on the sofa:

Ollie: Here is a great pic that #1 took at Ms. C's of me with Noelle and the Big Black Dog!

And I have a couple of fun pics from my outings at home:

We wish you all a good week. Stay cool, stay strong, stay healthy!

Snuggles on Sunday

Hotesse: Neighs, Everyone! It's been a long time! Guess what? #1 came to se us! And we got brushies, and apples and carrots, and snuggles! We will share more photos with you later but here are our snuggle pics. I got to go first:

Heloise was so keen she shoved #1's cap out of the way

Vidock: Violette and I are in a different field so #1 came to see us afterwards. It was so good to catch up on snuggles!

Violette: Well, he can talk! That great big lump kept shoving me out of the way every time I tried to get close! So, Ms.C had to distract him with a treat and take photos at the same time, which was not easy!

Tama-Chan: It was nice to see just how happy #1 was after her visit with the horses! And young Ollie was pretty excited because he got to see his friend, Noelle, again!

Needless to say, the usual snuggling has also been taking pace at Poupounette Central:

Genji

Me

Ollie

We wish you al a snuggly and safe Sunday.