Things Fall Apart....

With a show just two weeks away, I've been trying to do some jumping schools in our home boma. But it's not easy -- even setting up three jumps has become a challenge. First of all, the lovely plastic barrels I like to use for building an oxer have been requisitioned to hold water. We have a drought here in Kenya and water is strictly rationed, so on the days the water is on we need to fill the barrels to have enough for the horses on dry days.

Second, the termites! Sometimes I think if you could put Kenya on a scale and weigh it, then subtract the weight of the bugs, you'd find the country is about 50 percent soil and rock, 50 percent bug.

Third, my clumsy mare! Because of the termites, I bought PVC pipes to use for jumps and trotting poles about a year ago. They were too light, so we put some sand inside and capped the ends, and they have worked well. Unfortunately, I've discovered that with time, the pipes become brittle. Joya destroyed three of them in a single schooling session trotting and cantering over -- and sometimes on -- ground poles.

Because of the way they shatter, I have decided they aren't safe to use anymore...too many jagged edges.