Gauteng Smallholder December 2015-January 2016 | Page 29

From page 25

Realistically, the child will not
have time to ride much in its
matric year, and riding while
at college or university is also
problematical in most cases.
So if the child starts with the
“Daddy I want a pony”
wheedling at the age of eight
and you put her into a riding
school for two years, you will
have, at most, seven years of
active riding (from age ten to
17, in Grade 11) whereafter
her level of involvement will
likely drop off. Furthermore, if
your child competes at any
decent level you will have a
change of horse midway
through the process as he or
she outgrows the pony (less
than 15hh) and moves to a
horse.
And there's yet another factor
to consider. Two years of
lessons does not make a fully
competent horseman. Lessons
will have to continue and if
you have the horse stabled at
home you will require an
instructor to come to you,

LIVESTOCK
Right: Alpacas, a South American
member of the camel family,
are small enough to keep on a
smallholding and there is a growing
demand for quality-bred
animals in South Africa.

rather than going to the
instructor at a riding school.
The individual tuition is very
much more expensive than
lessons at a school, and the
cost of the tuition is compounded by the cost of
providing suitable arenas and
equipment to facilitate the
lessons, such as a dressage
arena, fixed and moveable
jumps, bending poles etc
(Gauteng Smallholder,
November 2015), not to
mention the cost of a stable,
tack and feed room.
K Finally, alpacas are a
suitable animal for a smallholding. Kept for their wool,
these South American relatives
of the camel have become
popular in recent years and
breeding them for resale, as
well as keeping them for wool
can be lucrative.

27
www.sasmallholder.co.za