21/11/2023
Head boop approaching….
Champy and Morris
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- Champy and Morris
Champy & Morris an unlikely duo who are best friends. They live in northern NSW Australia.
17/11/2023
I moved the horses to a new paddock today, unfortunately I still don’t have a permanent home where I can live with them and have Morris back with Champy but how stunning is this place!
They’ll be happy here until I find a permanent home.
I’m still looking everyday but the housing crisis doesn’t seem to be getting any better. I know several people that have been looking for a few years as well and they don’t even have animals and are still finding it impossible. But we keep looking 👀
It’s so funny watching horses in a new paddock they run around checking everything out, said hello to the horses next door. Gorging themselves on the new grass, which isn’t so funny I really have to watch Champy and Dustys weight they’re really prone to getting way too fat. But I have 3 happy horses today and Morris is cuddling on my lap as I write this so life is good.
I’m very blessed to have found this place for the horses and will start to share more of their adventures with you all.
Thank you for your ongoing support and prayers 🙏
12/11/2023
Volume up ⬆️ Who’s the loudest eater? Champy or Dusty?
Check out the different eating styles, I always knew Dusty liked to savour his breakfast and take his time eating but when I compared maybe Champy eats like a pig 🐽 he doesn’t even come up for air 😂 head in his bucket 🪣 the whole time.
Champys also the messiest eater.
10/11/2023
It’s Cocos birthday today she’s 19.
She doesn’t like sharing her breakfast with anyone including chickens 🐓
10/11/2023
Dusty showcasing his newly trimmed hooves. All the horses got their hooves trimmed a few days ago, thank you to everyone who donates towards this. We all very much appreciate it 🙏
08/11/2023
When you’ve got your own lookout security system 😻 there’s nothing to worry about.
07/11/2023
When you just need to be close to your buddy.
30/10/2023
Trick or treat? 👻🎃🐈⬛
Show me your Halloween pics 👇 did you dress your pet up?
25/10/2023
Do you need a rainbow 🌈 today?
24/10/2023
Morris trying to groom Champy but making a bigger mess 😹 Champys very accommodating lol
22/10/2023
Anyone getting ready for Halloween 🎃?
Champys got quite a sweet tooth so he’d love some treats.
17/10/2023
Happy Global Cat Day from Morris 😻
Post a pic of your cat below 👇
10/10/2023
Leap of faith 😻
09/10/2023
Morris shows off his skilful balancing act with a bath whilst on horseback. He makes it look so easy but my other cat Winston has such terrible balance he falls over trying to clean himself on solid ground. If you’ve got cats do you think they could manage a bath on horseback or are they more like Winston?
05/10/2023
This is Morris’ version of how he met Champy (I shared Champy’s story last week).
Morris- I was born at the rescue shelter and no one wanted me until Jennifer walked in one day. I couldn’t take my eyes off her and knew I was going to a new home. I was about 9 months old. When we got to my new home she took me outside for the first time sitting together on the front verandah then this big chestnut horse came to say hello. He introduced himself as Champy and stuck his nose right in my face to say hello, I was a bit nervous and hid behind Jennifer but he wouldn’t go away and kept trying to groom me. Everyday we went outside the same thing would happen and I’d hide behind Jennifer, by day three I realised he really wanted to be my friend and so I became brave and jumped up on his back. He wasn’t shocked at all, he was totally relaxed and happy about it like he’d been waiting for me to jump up. I noticed Jennifer was a bit surprised though. I’ve been best friends with Champy ever since. He was the first horse I ever met and I was the first cat he’d met. We’ve had so much fun together and we’re really lucky to have each other.
1st pic is Morris at the rescue shelter, 2nd and 3rd pic besties forever.
04/10/2023
True Love True Friendship
29/09/2023
I went to have a look at a house today - don’t get excited it was a terrible experience like so many I’ve looked at. I don’t normally make posts about this but I was so frustrated today. How does a housing/ rental crisis really affect people? If you’re not looking for a rental you probably don’t know of many things going on with this situation- for example- the owner only put the add up yesterday he already had 6 people ready to look at it this morning. When I got there he told me he’d been offered nearly double the amount for rent if he gave it to one of the people, this was over the phone they hadn’t even seen it yet. I would have been struggling to pay rent at the advertised price but when people do this it makes it impossible. This is becoming more common unfortunately. What people involved in this probably don’t think about is they are creating the rent rises everywhere, there are many factors but this certainly contributes. It has a huge knock on effect and in the long run will also affect the tenant but he created the rent rise in the first place. It’s a pretty sad situation. Now what landlord is going to say no to that and then prices just keep going up and up. I never thought in a million years we’d have rent biding in this country but here we are. Sorry for the sad post but this is what I’m dealing with all the time. I’m incredibly grateful for this group that keeps me going through all of this. It’s hard not to lose faith in humanity but I’ve met some wonderful people following Champy and Morris that restore that faith. Thank you all. Morris knew I was upset when I got home and gave me extra cuddles.
27/09/2023
A picture of Champy and Morris in the chicken coop. At my previous house there was an old chicken coop that they both loved to hang out near and as you can see from this pic also inside. Morris loved hanging out in there and Champy would go looking for him, he could only just squeeze his head in there. Morris is laying on the horse rugs I used to hang in there. When I first moved there before Morris came into my life I was thinking about getting some poultry but decided not to and I was always glad I didn’t because these two loved this area. Unfortunately it blew over in a bad storm we had and the last few years we were there we all missed it. It was just the right height that Morris would leap from Champy’s back onto the roof of it, it was an amazing playground for them both. The 2nd pic is Morris sitting on the roof of the coop.
26/09/2023
Happy 11th Birthday to Dusty! He and Champy are one year and one day apart, so they always celebrate together. The 2nd pic is Dusty closing his eyes for his birthday 🎂 wish that we can all find a house soon.
22/09/2023
This I believe is the look of defiance!
Note the glimmer in his eyes and the one claw threatening to touch Champy’s rump. Every friendship needs to have boundaries and Champy set some claw boundaries with him early on.
Sometime in the first year of their friendship Morris had jumped onto Champy ba****ck and was laying across his rump playing with Champy’s tail. I was sitting on the verandah watching them when Morris must have been getting a bit too enthusiastic and Champy must have felt a few claws. There are so many different responses Champy could have had but the one he chose was surprisingly tactful, he simply dropped his hip and turned himself into a large chestnut slippery slide 🛝 Morris had nothing to grip onto and went sailing off his rump. Morris won’t ride ba****ck anymore and I believe this incident is why. People often ask me about why Champy’s always wearing a rug, it’s mainly to give Morris something to grip onto. I’ve seen Champy making sharp turns and Morris digging some claws into the rug to hang on, but he knows they can only go into the rug not any further lol
20/09/2023
Story time
I’ve told this story many times from my perspective but here’s Champy’s version.
Champy- I’m a social butterfly so although I had a big 15 acre paddock I loved spending time close to the house and being involved in everything! I would introduce myself to anyone that arrived at the house, I’d usually greet them at their car, stick my head in their window and say, Hello I’m Champy, who are you? So one summers day in January there was a new arrival at the house, Jennifer came outside carrying a little black cat. Now because I’m the official welcoming committee around here I immediately introduced myself to him. I stuck my nose towards him to say hello but he backtracked a bit with fear that I might eat him, he’d never met a horse before but all I wanted to do was feel his soft fur. He was the cutest little thing I’d ever seen.
I found out his name was Morris and every morning I’d arrive early at the front verandah and wait for him to come out with Jennifer. I’d never met a cat before and I was smitten. Morris was a bit nervous around me for a few days but I was determined to be friends and on day 3 he just jumped up on my back and we’ve been besties ever since. I love having him ride around with me and I’m the only horse here that has a cat friend, I think the others are missing out. But that’s ok because I get to have Morris all to myself, which is good because I get jealous easily.
Morris will share his story next.
Pic is of Champy and Morris on the front verandah.
19/09/2023
This is following on from the previous post that not every horse loves Morris. Every horse that Morris has met has had a different response to him, mostly fear - except of course from Champy who absolutely loves him. These pics are of the few occasions Morris jumped onto Dusty and Dusty stood frozen in fear and wouldn’t move till he got off. And then there’s the pics of Champy looking really jealous that he was on Dusty but I’m sure Dusty was saying ‘He’s all yours! Take him back!’ Morris doesn’t realise the power he holds in those little paws.
Dusty is happy to say hello to Morris but Morris trying to ride him is a step too far. Morris has been spoilt with so much love and affection from Champy that he was always surprised and disappointed when the other horses weren’t interested in being his friend. You’d assume from all this that Morris is the friendly one who started the friendship with Champy but it was Champy who initiated it. Many long term followers know the story but if you haven’t heard it or want to hear it again let me know in the comments.
15/09/2023
Has Morris ever been bucked off? Yes! But not by Champy.
After being such good friends with Champy, Morris had become overconfident that every horse loved him.
He’d try to jump on the other horses and they would tolerate him but then one day he jumped on Ruby. Ruby was staying with us for a short time, I’m not sure if she’d ever met a cat before, she was curious about Morris and had showed a bit of interest in him but Morris trying to jump on her back was a step too far.
I was standing on the front verandah with Morris, Champy and Ruby were close by. Morris leapt from the verandah straight onto Ruby without any warning. It all happened in a split second but when something is unfolding before your eyes that you can’t stop and your heart is in your throat it seemed like it was in slow motion.
Morris went from the verandah onto her rump facing backwards as he often does he didn’t have time to even sit down when Ruby promptly swung her head around to glare at him with an expression of HOW DARE YOU! In her mind she hit the eject button, she bucked as hard as she could and Morris went flying through the air and I mean flying he must have been over 20 feet in the air as he reached the maximum height and then when he started his descent I think I stopped breathing. I couldn’t even run over to try to catch him it all happened so quickly I watched him coming back down to earth, he hit the ground on all fours with incredible grace and walked off calmly like nothing had happened. I couldn’t believe he was ok I ran over to check him and he was totally unfazed by it all. Then the relief hit me and I couldn’t stop laughing and wish I’d been recording it. Although he wasn’t hurt and he played it cool that day he’s never tried to jump on any other horse since except Champy.
Pics are of Ruby saying hello to Morris and lulling him into a false sense of security lol
13/09/2023
That feeling when you’re on top of the world.
10/09/2023
Just a selection of rainbows 🌈 to brighten everyone’s day.
06/09/2023
Morning snoozing in the sunshine is the best.
05/09/2023
When you know you look good 😽
03/09/2023
Sunrise sunset
31/08/2023
Morris sharpening his claws and Champy hoping it’s not for him.
Fence posts had multiple uses.
We’re still looking for a home 🥹
Many people have asked me if our government is doing anything, there is currently a national inquiry happening to the worsening rental crisis which I was able to share my story to yesterday. Unfortunately these things take years for any change to happen. But we keep praying 🙏 and I’m incredibly grateful for everyone’s ongoing support here.
28/08/2023
They always looked so good in silhouette.
22/08/2023
A rare moment of Morris facing the right way, was the view better in that direction? Not sure what inspired this but I think he looks really funny only because I’m used to seeing him face backwards.
20/08/2023
Just having a chat, what were they talking about?
19/08/2023
Morris was snoozing on the fence and Champy wanted to join him.
16/08/2023
I used to grow sunflowers 🌻 for the horses at my old place, along with pumpkins, watermelon 🍉, celery and a whole herb garden. Unfortunately I can’t do any of that now, I’m sure the horses are missing those treats.
These pics are from when Champy and Dusty busted into the sunflower patch, I walked outside one day to find them both in the middle of the garden having a great time.
Morris used to help me garden, he loved exploring the garden and hanging out with me there.
The last pic was harvesting the sunflowers for the seeds and showing just how big they were growing.
I spoke with someone over the weekend who had applied for over 50 houses 🏠, that’s not uncommon now, I know many others that have applied for nearly 100 before they got something, it sounds unbelievable but it’s what’s happening. If you do have a place rents keep getting bumped up to astronomical amounts. How is any of this sustainable?
15/08/2023
Can you caption this?
14/08/2023
I don’t think I’ve ever posted this before but a few years ago I put Morris’s cardboard cat scratcher on Champy as kind of a little saddle and Morris loved it 😺 I had to put it facing backwards of course, his favourite position.
What do you think? Does he look even more royal ? 👑 Champy just needs his purple rug on and it could be a medieval royal entourage.
13/08/2023
I’ve showed photos and videos of Morris grooming Champy, they definitely have a mutual grooming session, here’s Champy returning the favour.
09/08/2023
Happy International Cat Day 😻
06/08/2023
If you google ‘friendship’ all the references talk about mutual affection between two people. Clearly animals have friends as well I think it should be updated. 😁
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Videos
It’s World Kindness Day! Even though Champy and Morris think that’s everyday. #unlikelyanimalfriends #worldkindnessday #bekind
Volume up ⬆️ Who’s the loudest eater? Champy or Dusty? Check out the different eating styles, I always knew Dusty liked to savour his breakfast and take his time eating but when I compared maybe Champy eats like a pig 🐽 he doesn’t even come up for air 😂 head in his bucket 🪣 the whole time. Champys also the messiest eater. #horses #breakfast #asmrvideo
It’s Cocos birthday today she’s 19. She doesn’t like sharing her breakfast with anyone including chickens 🐓 #horsebirthday #chicken #breakfast
When you just need to be close to your buddy. #unlikelyanimalfriends #cutecats #horse
Happy Halloween 🎃 Champy and Morris celebrate Halloween 👻 #unlikelyanimalfriends #Halloween
Morris trying to groom Champy but making a bigger mess 😹 Champys very accommodating lol #unlikelyanimalfriends #funnycats #funnyanimals
Morris shows off his skilful balancing act with a bath whilst on horseback. He makes it look so easy but my other cat Winston has such terrible balance he falls over trying to clean himself on solid ground. If you’ve got cats do you think they could manage a bath on horseback or are they more like Winston? #unlikelyfriends #funnycats #bathtime
Pony Party! Champy celebrates his 12th birthday today! #unlikelyanimalfriends #ponyparty #funnyanimals #cutecats #horsesbirthday
And that’s how it’s done ✅ #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #horse #funnyanimals
Morris the hairdresser #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #horse
The verandah where they first met, notice Champy nudging Morris and trying to groom him, he did that for 3 days straight before Morris caved in and became his bestie, he suddenly decided to leap up onto his back and the rest is history. So Champy basically pestered him until they became friends lol and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #catlife
I got asked yesterday - When Morris first got on Champy did he jump up himself or did I put him up there? This story has been told many times over the years but here it is again - the short version- for those that don’t know. I adopted Morris from a cat shelter and when I got him home I let him out onto my front verandah, it just so happened that Champy often hung around the verandah too. Morris was quite intimidated the first time he saw Champy, he’d never met a horse before and Champy being extra friendly decided soon as he saw Morris that they were going to be best friends. He walked straight over to Morris and stuck his head across the verandah as Morris started taking a few steps back, Morris wasn’t so sure of this friendship idea. Each day I sat with Morris on the verandah and Champy would make a bee line over to say hello to him, he would try to groom him, play with his tail and just gaze at him. Slowly over a few days Morris got his confidence up, he realised Champy was always being friendly and on day three Morris just decided to jump on his back. He didn’t even hesitate, he just jumped straight on. Champy barely even blinked like it was the most normal thing. I was the only one shocked at the time, I hadn’t even ridden Champy at this point as he was still quite young. I never captured it on video because it was the last thing I was expecting. I also thought I’d probably never see it again, I had no idea this was the beginning of such a strong friendship. Over the years they’ve been featured on TV, newspapers, magazines and lots of digital content. If you do a google search for Champy and Morris you’ll find this story and much more info. National Geographic did a feature about 8 years ago that’s been shown all around the world that goes into detail about their first meeting and their friendship. This video is from the first few months they were friends, and shows Morris jumping on from the verandah. Champy has grown so much since
One of the few videos I have of Morris riding bareback, he used to ride bareback a bit in the early years of their friendship but they both have very shiny coats and he was slipping off too easily and there is a no claws rule 🤣 Eventually he would only jump on if Champy was wearing his rug, so I’ve often got the question over the years of why Champy is always wearing a rug - Thats why. When Champy is wearing his rug and he turns quickly Morris can dig his claws into the rug to stay on and not upset Champy with a claw into his rump. They’ve both set their boundaries with each other it’s quite interesting to watch, once Morris was getting a bit too playful with his claws into the top of Champy’s tail and Champy simply just dropped his hip enough that Morris slid off. There’s been many moments like that I wish I was recording. I had a good laugh when I saw that incident and Morris has never tried it again as far as I know so lesson learnt. The only time I see the claws come out now is if Champy is pestering Morris to go for a ride and he’s not in the mood which is very rare but he lets him know to back off and Champy let’s out a high pitch screech like a mare in season 🤣 it’s the only time I’ve ever heard him make that sound. If you’re watching this on a big enough screen you might be able to see a few kangaroos in the background and that’s also what Morris was watching. #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #horse
Morris’s tree climbing adventures, a few posts back I showed a picture of Morris in this tree and described how Champy waits for him, here’s the video I managed to find in the archives. #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #horse
Check out Dustys ears moving when he drinks 🤣 Thank you for your wonderful donations the horses all got their hooves trimmed on Monday 🙏 the farrier said they’re not as brittle as when he first started with them, it will still take many more months for them to fully recover after they got stuck in a huge amount of mud last year at a previous location. The whole hoof needs to fully grow out and can take 12 months. They’ve been in the new paddock now for about 8 months.
Petrol ⛽️ free lawn mowing service #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #horse
Bus needed refueling before the journey and Morris shows dismounting skills. #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #horse
Morris used to use Champy as a bit of a ladder 🪜 and would jump into trees from Champys back, it was so cute because Champy would wait for Morris to jump back down onto him. Champy walks past the house here and Morris is looking to see if he can jump onto the roof, he decided not to but he had a good look 👀 #unlikelyanimalfriends #funnycats #funnyanimals
Body language and friendship- here is a great example. Champy comes walking into the round yard and when he sees Morris his eyes light up and if you watch carefully his whole body language changes, it’s subtle but you can really see it if you watch a few times. Morris is obviously happy to see him and shows it with a few smooches and Champy drops his head to be at the same height as Morris. Right toward the end you can’t see it clearly because I’m on the wrong side but when Morris moves closer to his eye he’s actually playing with Champys long eyelashes which was a favourite hobby of his. Champy dropping his head to be at the same height of Morris was a really common thing he did and such a sweet gesture of friendship. So much affection between these two. What’s your favourite part of this video?
The Dodo featured Champy and Morris a few years ago, this is a little part of it. The whole clip can be viewed on YouTube if you search for ‘The Dodo Champy and Morris’ it’s got 1.4M views so far. We also have a lot of other videos on YouTube if you search for their names. Happy viewing! #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #horse
Champy getting a drink and he thought it was a great way to clean the breakfast off his face. I might need a waterproof phone 😆 Another hot day 🥵 #housingcrisis #summervibes #horse
A scorcher of a day today forcast for 35 degrees that’s 95 for you Americans. 8am this morning I hosed Champy down, he loves water and I know they’re all missing their dam they used to swim in. Check out the steam rising from him. They all got some chilled carrots 🥕 and bananas 🍌 #unlikelyanimalfriends #housingcrisis #horse
My Christmas wish is for Champy and Morris to be reunited. #unlikelyanimalfriends #cat #christmascat
An old video- they were going hunting for presents 🎁 #christmas #cuteanimals #unlikelyanimalfriends
Update on the housing crisis and Morris joined me for the video. Video went a bit longer than planned it’s hard to condense everything, thanks for watching! #unlikelyanimalfriends #housingcrisis #cat
A quick update on my snake bite and Champy and Morris.
Trick or treat?
Volume up for all the bird singing 🎶 Morris is definitely missing his bird watching days on the back of Champy.
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