My First Horse Riding Lesson (in Malaysia)

On my birthday (Saturday), I woke just after the sun had risen to go to Malaysia for my first horse riding lesson with my friends. They were Christian, Ekklesia, Ariel, Ecclesia, Seraphina, Anastasia (a baby) and Noah (a toddler). The riding school we were going to was called Riders' Lodge. We had a long ride in our friend’s car. During the journey, we talked mostly about horses.

When we reached the riding school, we went to the stable to look at the horses. There were horses in every stall. The horses were of different colours. We saw that some horses were outside being ridden. We went out to look at other adults ride their horses while the smaller kids went for their pony rides.

We went to the reception area to get a drink. It was cold and sweet, just nice for a warm day. We drove out to find a coffee shop nearby to have lunch. When we came back from lunch, we went to the jacuzzi to play. I had a fun time playing with my friends.

After that we had a snack of biscuits. We went to look at the horses again and to write down the names of the horses. I found that the horse I would be riding was Snappy, Bailey's was Impian and mummy's was Kimba.

Snappy was a white-coated horse, Impian was brown and Kimba was white too. I was very scared not just because the horse was tall but because we saw a stranger crying and hurt. She had fallen down from her horse and was talking about her broken tooth. I was a little worried because Snappy sounded like a horse that might snap at me!

I got up Snappy by climbing up two steps on a wooden stair. At first, an instructor walked beside me. He gave me a whip to whip Snappy and then I controlled the horse alone. The instructor told me to sit up straight and hold the reins up. I had to kick Snappy with my heels to make him walk. I felt very tall, taller then Snappy. The instructor told me to stop the horse from walking by saying "whoa" and tugging at the reins at the same time. She told me to make the horse turn by kicking the opposite side and pulling the reins on the side I want to turn.

One by one we went to the centre of the corral (the fenced up area where we had our lesson) to practice trotting. We needed to stand up and down while we trotted. I was very wobbly. Snappy went very fast around the instructor. I felt like if Snappy went any faster, I would fall off!

In between our lesson, Seraphina had another pony ride. When she came back, we were not done with our lessons yet. So she went to feed the horses. Before we ended the lesson, we went out of the corral to ride around a pond nearby. Then the lesson ended.

When we got off our horses, took off our helmets and were walking back to the chairs beside the jacuzzi where the father s were siting, I saw Seraphina crying. Mummy told me that she was bitten by a horse on her arm when she wanted to feed it. That horse's name was Arterial. He is known to be very moody. We went to a room to comfort Seraphina and to put aloe vera on her bruised arm.

We drove for a long time to a restaurant and settled down to have a delicious dinner. After dinner, we played catching at a playground. Then we drove back home to Singapore. I enjoyed the day very much.

Centipede

Centipede

I am slimy.
I am tiny.
I'm a burrower.
I’m a wriggler.
I’m a segmented, many-legged,
Shiny armoured, mighty stinger.

People hate me.
Want me dead!
Stamp their feet
And hit my head.
So I scare them with a bite,
From my poison claws all right!

West Indian Locust Tree

The West Indian Locus Tree is a tree that has a fruit called the "Stinking Toe". It's very very very very very stinky, but people like to eat it because it's very very very sweet. It's flower is pollinated by a Nectar Drinking Bat. People use a liquid that ooze out of the trunk, called resin for a lot of things like violin varnish. The wood from the West Indian Locust Tree will not be attacked by fungus and termites so it can be used to make things. Sometimes when you are walking around some where with a West Indian Locust Tree you will see bats pollinating the flowers at night. You may also notice holes on the tree. These holes are made by woodpeckers.

My Nature Trip To Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Today I went to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve with my usual homeschool group, mummy and Bailey. When everybody had reached, we walked one of the trails in the park. I saw many Golden Web Spiders in the middle of their orb webs ...



... and a few Monitor Lizards basking, crawling, sleeping and swimming. I even went up close to one of the monitor lizards. I was just an inch away before I could touch it! But I couldn't go closer because it scrambled away.



We walked, talked, played games and drew. I drew one Great Egret and a Cotton Stainer Bug in my notebook.

How to Keep Guppy Fry?

Last night, Mummy was in the balcony and found some Guppy fry. We were very excited because we have never seen a Guppy fry before. Daddy also came to see. We saw the fry hiding under a rock. Later, we found more fry.


We separated the fry from all the other bigger fishes. You can read more about what we did that night in Bailey's Basking Bay.

We didn't know how to keep them alive so Mummy went on the Internet to check this out. This morning, I read the information she found and tried to answer some important questions. Here they are.

How to know that a female Guppy is pregnant?
It's belly will be big and it will have a gravid spot on it's abdomen.

How to know that a female Guppy is going to deliver?
The female will try to find a hiding place, or stay around the aquatic plants in the tank. It will rub it's head up and down on the sides of the aquarium. The female may have difficulties swimming and also will not eat much. It's Gravid spot will be darker than usual.

How often does a female Guppy give birth?
It will give birth about once every month.

How many fry is delivered at one time?
8 to 25 fry may come out at one time.

How big are the fry?
The fry is about 7mm when it is born.

What should you feed the fry and how often do you have to feed them?
We should feed the fry crushed fish flakes or cooked egg yolk mashed with water. Feed them about 4 to 5 meals per day.

My Aquarium Full of Fishes

Last Friday, my brother, mother and I went to the fish shop to get some fishes.

We walked around the shop which was at Clementi. My mother saw a pail of water that had fishes in it. She saw Guppies in it. I liked the Guppies because it gives birth very often and it looks very beautiful.

We bought 4 Neon Tetras, 2 Black Tetras, 5 Male Guppies, 3 Female Guppies, 2 Black Mollies, 2 other fishes (that we didn't know the names and that we accidentally caught) and 4 more that were caught by mistake (they looked like ikan billis). So we have 22 fishes altogether.


A few days later, one Neon Tetra died. We thought it was because there was still too much chlorine in the water. Today when we were taking photographs to put in this post, we noticed that a female Guppy died. We were so sad. Now we are left with 19 fishes.

I'm hoping that the female Guppy that was pregnant would give birth so we will have more fishes.

The Gnu

One day, when I was at the zoo, I drew a gnu. Here is a picture of it.


The gnu that I drew was the fattest of all the gnus in the enclosure. It was very difficult to draw the gnu because it kept moving and turning around from side to side. It was also very difficult because it was all black so it was hard to see. But I did it in the end. I used my mummy's watercolour paint to paint it. I succeeded the first time!

Feeding Goats at the Zoo

Last Friday, I was at the Zoo. I went to Kidzworld then we went to see the animals. On the way out it happened to be goat feeding time. The zookeeper tied some Jackfruit leaves and branches on a stick beside the goat pen. The zookeeper said that these goats only eat Jackfruits leaves and branches.


At first I only fed the goat leaves, but later I noticed other people feeding the big branches, too. I tried to feed some branches. The goat stuck it's big pink tongue out and slurpped. When it could reach the branch, it bit the branch, but it didn't chew. It pulled the branch into the fence before it chewed and ate up the branch. Then it dropped the branch just in time to butt it's horns in the neck of another goat who was trying to snatch the branch from it. It didn't take the branch back to eat but instead, it went on a rock and didn't eat anymore!

At the end when the zookeeper came to take the branches away, one goat wanted some more, but it bleated something like "EEEnOUgh! EEEnOUgh!"

To that the zookeeper shook his head and replied, "Ya. Ya. Enough!"

A Sungie Boloh Wet Land Reserve camp.

One Friday morning, I woke up very early to go for a camp at Sungei Buloh!

I went to the train to Bukit Gombak MRT station. My friend's mother gave us a lift to Sungei Buloh. He was also attending the camp.

When we reached Sungei Buloh, we were divided into four groups. I was in a group called Blue Wolves, my brother in one called Orange Orang Utans and my friend who brought me to the camp in a group called the Pink Panthers. The last group was called Purple Dinosaurs but none of my friends were in it. After awhile another of my friends came, he happened to be in the same group as me!


First we played a game called Hunter, Fire and Tornado. It was very fun. After awhile they gave us breakfast. I enjoyed the part of the camp nearing the end when we made a clay mudskipper. I also enjoyed making a Tailorbird's nest. Too bad, I lost both of them!

Points were awarded during games and quizzes, and also for finished worksheets and for spoting animals ourselves.

My team had the most points so I was very exited because we could win prizes. My team was really the best so we got a goody bag! Bailey's team was the second but I was surprised that the prize was the same! After that we went out side to take pictures. My team was the last to get our photographs taken because we were the best. We got four badges and a certificate. Here they are.


I really liked this camp so much that I would want to go for the same camp next year!

It was very fun. What an interesting day out with nature.