Riding with the African Painted Dog.

We are a small group of people in our Endurance Riding Club, called Letaba Endurance Club. And a few of us decided to do jointed run on Sunday to get our horses fit for the next race which is 17 March 2018.  We had such a blast, we did a round of 22km. It was very humid with a heavy rain storm building up.

On the reserve they all kinds of plains game species, and then they have an African Wild Dog also known as the African Painted Dog with the beautifully colored pattern they have. It seems that they could have been painted. But nevertheless, they are active conservationist in trying to save this species as they are extremely endangered and we are always lucky enough to pass by these camps on horseback. The horses where completely docile and quite curious of these animals jumping up and down along the fence line whilst we make our way passed the camp.

What an incredible experience!

The extremely endangered African Painted Dog.

Traveling on a budget to Singapore.

My sister and I love to travel and see the world, I have not been a ton of places but we are getting there:)

My sister chose our destination for our 2017 travel abroad adventure, and indeed a adventure it was!

We started off with air tickets via Singapore air directly to Singapore Changi Airport. The duration of this flight was 10hours and 25 minutes. We started off with a bumpy take off but all was absolutely spectacular from there, the service, the people and of course the food. The ticket cost R6900 around $587 p/p.from Johannesburg to Singapore with was not bad at all for us. We normally take a stop over because it's always cheaper, but not in this case. Happy to take a direct flight.

We arrived in Singapore in the early morning and the airport was breathtaking! We quickly exchanged money and headed out to get an uber. On our way to the hostel, we could see how clean and neat everything was, such a beautiful city. The uber cost us from the airport to the hostel $15 sharing, $7.5 p/p.

The hostel we stayed in was Cube hostel. Loved it! We only spent 3.5 days in Singapore, but we saw a lot of great things! The price for 3 days in Cube was $125 sharing, $62.5 p/p.

The city itself is as picturesque as you can get.

Things we did in Singapore in just 3 days!

• China Town Tour, which is for free at any hostel. You can take a ticket from the front desk and just show it at the start of the tour. Meet and greet at same point which will be given to you from your hostel receptionist. There are two different tours you can do for free. Ensure that you ask for both tickets.
• Make sure you try the Chinese Steamed buns with filled meat.  For me that was one of the highlights of Singapore!
• Gardens by the bay, we went late afternoon and left around midnight. SPECTACULAR!!! Ticket Pricing $28 p/p.
• Cloud Forest and Flower Dome which is inside a dome. I have never seen anything like this. Truly a wonder to the human eye. Such talent and awe inspiring commitment these people have to nature. Ticket Pricing $28 p/p. and the Flower Dome also $28 p/p.
• From there we went to Sentosa Island, we took the train EVERYWHERE! So cheap! We bought a standard ticket which you can use 6 times which we paid $5 p/p. for. We traveled to Harbor Front and from there we took the cable car to Sentosa Island, $20 p/p. And the day pass for Sentosa Island was $40 p/p. We only wanted to see the statue of Merlion and visit the Aquarium which was an additional $35 p/p. From there we too the tram back to the Train Station.
• The last thing we did was go to on a Night Safari. You take tram and pass all the animal enclosures which was so striking! The vibe and music Ade it feel as if we where in the middle of Africa going on a safari!Ticket Price $35 p/p.

Gardens by the Bay at night! Felt like something out if Avatar!

Chinatown Tour. Love the food!!

Cloud Forest. The first thing you see upon entering. Awe-inspiring!

Flower Dome. Inside it's like a Winter Wonderland. Loved every minute of it.

Cable car views to Sentosa Island.

Cable car views to Sentosa Island.

Merlion Statue on Sentosa Island.

Dinner, before we set out on our Night Safari.

We are not allowed to take any pictures with a flash. The tour is at night as you can imagine was extremely difficult. Unfortunately we weren't able to get any.

Until our next adventure!

Take Care!

Focusing on Equestrian Endurance Riding with a busy work lifestyle.

How do we balance a recreational lifestyle with a hectic career?

As an outdoor fanatic I love sports! Mainly running and Endurance Riding with my horses.

I am blessed to say that my career mainly involves outdoor work. And on the other side I run a Wildlife Veterinary program which is a 24/7 kinda job.

For everyone that has a active lifestyle knows that it is also as 24/7 job.

Healthy eating for me and my horses, making sure they have al the best available nutrients all throughout the year. You have to be fit and so your horses, which is double the work.

Running falls in great with Endurance Riding.

As you need to be physically fit to be able to ride these long distances. 

Preparing a horse for a Endurance Ride.

1.Long distance riding in a totally unfit state will take 2 months or more.

2.At every stage of training the horse must be fed in proportion to the work done.

3.Hill work to strengthen the horse.

4.LSD (Long Slow Distance work.) Some people say at least two years, and I follow a three year plan.

5. Working up to fast rides over a longer period of time.

6. No book can take the place of your horse to tell you how much, how fast and for how long you should go on a given training day.

6.Common sense, when this is missing you can cause the greatest damage to a horse.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE IT!

Here I will share a few tips on how to ensure you achieve your goals.

1. You will always have set backs, prepare for them, learn from them and build up from there.

2.Always have a goal. Doesn't matter what it might be, bettering a PB, putting in a extra workout session or running that extra mile.

3.Have a set out routine to follow during the week.

4.Never make excuses! Follow through not matter what!

5.Building up a horse for endurance takes a few years, but in the end it will be all worth it.

6.Cater to your own likes an dislikes, you will learn a new set of skills with every race.

7.Use every competition as motivation.

8.Track you workouts, for you and your horse. As workouts intensifies you can track the progress.

9.Make habit and lifestyle changes.

10.Learn to say NO! No the negativity!

Spend some time with me on Instagram @osmersjessica

Take Care!