I flew out from Heathrow around 11am and arrived in Nairobi around 10 pm Kenyan time. I jumped in a taxi and got taken to another airport to stay the night. The taxi cost me 6000 dollars, which I thought was a bit steep, but not knowing any better, I paid it. 

​

The next day I had a 4 hour road trip all the way around mount Kenya. I then waited at a coffee shop in Liapikia, where the local British army base was which meant most people here spoke English. I waited for a 4x4 to take me the next hour and a bit as there were no roads, and they weren't joking, the "road", was like Mars! My back was hurting and I hadn't even seen a horse yet! But I arrived at Borana house and it was a gorgeous place built in the middle of nowhere. I got introduced to everyone and got settled in very quickly. That evening, I went out with the owners sons for sun downers, which is an excuse to drink while the sun goes down. Then back for an early night ready for a busy day visiting and shoeing lots of horses.

​

I started early before the sun got too hot as it's unbearable around midday. I went through with the farriers, in which none of them spoke English, and we looked at different horses they shod recently. They only use race plates as that was the only thing they can get ahold of out there. They weren't too badly shod, but when I asked to see their tools, I was completely taken back! They didn't have an anvil, they used the front of an old trailer to open, close and level shoes and that was it! So I had my starting point, to get them an anvil, show them how to use one and how to get the most out of the shoes they had to use. We shod all morning, doing one horse at a time, mainly looking at ones they were struggling with.  We had a break at lunch then got back to it till the evening. Once we had finished that evening we went out for a ride on a safari.​

 

The following day, we went out on to the yard again, this time we had an anvil to use. The guys were getting used to fitting and trimming so they could see hoof balance and correct it with the trimming. I found out the main reason for lameness were corns on the horses hooves - they would mostly fit shoes too tight at the heels and not have a big enough shoe on and this would cause bruising in the seat of the corns. Some of the bruising was bad, but they can't risk them losing a shoe due to being so far from the yard in such terrible ground and predators.

 

That evening I went on a Safari in a 4x4 with our guide Malawi: he was brilliant and fearless! He had scars on his arms from being attacked by lions and yet he still goes out every day looking for them. We got to see a rhino and a lion, which was less than 5 ft away from us, and Malawi thought it was funny to roar till he got annoyed and wondered off. 

​

The next day I went to Rose’s house, who is the founder of Borana and the owners mum. She has another yard and house an hour drive away from where we previously were. At Rose’s yard, they have all youngsters and a few older ones that don't do much. Whilst I started with the shoeing, I could tell I was no longer in England; the third horse we did had a huge chunk of its neck and shoulder missing. When I asked Rose what this was, she said the horse was attacked by a lion and just about got away - it missed the jugular vein by millimetres. Out here in the middle of no where, the nearest vet is normally days away so lots of first aid is done by the grooms at the yards. These horses were shod very well compared to the others, but this farrier had better kit and an anvil to help which clearly showed a huge difference.

​

I then set off early with Malawi again to go to the next door neighbours yard - this was another 2-3 hours drive on a bumpy off road track, but it was a great opportunity for seeing wildlife. I was due to stay 2 nights at Lena house - this was a lovely place, as before I was staying at someone's house, this was a resort with a swimming pool, my own private villa but it's all open to wildlife so you have to remember to shut the windows!

 

That day I went and met all the farriers - there were 5 at Lena and around 100 horses. I looked at every one of them, and picked the worst to do over the next 2 days. At this yard, there were 2 horses with broken knees from the dry ground - the ground becomes very cracked with lots of holes, so when the horses flee from predators, they unfortunately sometimes fall which results in them breaking their knees. Some people may think this is cruel to keep them alive, but they have the view it's nature and it's natural selection, and the 2 horses with broken knees were some of the fattest there, but they were moving fine, they just couldn't bend it as it was just like one long bone the whole way down the leg. They hadn't trimmed it in two years because it couldn't bend its leg, but I showed them a way of holding the limb in a comfortable way for the horse so it can still be trimmed. 

​

On the return from Lewa early one afternoon, we got a call on the radio that a cheetah had been seen, so we raced over to where it was to find two cheetahs lying in the shade, a mother and her older cub. The cub was really curios and was jumping up at the Land Rover, which I must admit was really scary. But we then headed back to Borana lodge where we would travel to and from different yards for the next couple of days.

​

The next day I went out early on a safari with Malawi who found us another cheetah that had just killed - this was unbelievable to watch, we couldn't keep up in the land rover till it was all over, but we still managed to get some great pictures. This was nearly the end of my trip and it was my last safari so it was amazing to see.

 

The following day, I was heading back to Nairobi for my late flight home at midnight, but on the way back they were desperate to make me see a horse on a plantation that grow flowers for the English. They had a pony with  one ringbone and wanted the shoes off  to make it more comfortable. Then it was the long road trip all the way back. I got back to Nairobi about 5pm with the owners, and then it was just a quick drive around the corner to the airport for my flight home. I left all the tools I took with me over there as they had nothing for themselves to use. I arrived back at Heathrow on a freezing cold morning at 6 am, which was a bit of a shock to the system compared to the heat I was used too in Kenya.

 

My trip over all I found amazing - from the places I stayed, the food, the people, the service, the learning and just the landscape it’s self was mind blowing to be able to work in such a beautiful place.