Heartland KZN

14/11/2025

I WANT to clean my house. Really I do. But I NEED to ride my horse. Kinda like you need to breathe and need to drink water… very similar!! 🐴🥰😎🙌

14/11/2025

Become a Friend of Funda Nenja.
Every week in Mpophomeni, children and dogs come together to learn, grow, and heal—side by side. Behind every wagging tail and smiling face is someone like you.
By joining Friends of Funda Nenja, you become part of a caring community that gives monthly to support dog training, child mentorship, and family upliftment.
• Your friendship fuels transformation.
• Your monthly gift creates lasting change.
Sign up to a monthly debit order today and be the reason a child and their dog thrive together:
Within South Africa, click on this link: https://www.fundanenja.co.za/monthly/
For other countries click on this link: https://www.givengain.com/cause/fundanenja

14/11/2025

*** UPDATE *** Blessed 3 times this morning, and within the hour!
- Matthew 7:7 God is good all the time - The Heartland team are so blessed and so grateful - I prayed and posted this morning about the little pup and having to dip into otherwise allocated funds to allow for an urgent vet trip.

14/11/2025

14/11/2025

Protect Your Pets. Protect Your Community.

Join Dr. Kelly and Dr. Lee for a Free Rabies Vaccination Drive at Mathafeni Sport Field, Sankontshe (Cato Ridge / Hammarsdale)

📅 Thursday 27th November 2025
⏰ 3 PM – 5 PM

Bring your dogs, cats, and horses to get vaccinated against rabies — a deadly disease that can be prevented.

Why attend?

Free rabies vaccinations for your pets
Early registration for the upcoming sterilization campaign
Keep your family and animals safe
Together, we can stop rabies and improve animal health in Sankontshe and surrounding areas.

Don’t miss out – protect your pets and your community!

📝Link to pre-register
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCPvaT7uqWfyIxXo_lB397mxGqGCJIfFEf7wHcaxULVzl0RQ/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=111806881511674062642

📍Mathafeni Sport Field
Address Link - https://maps.app.goo.gl/ixXsSWPoAfpT8LTp6

Midmar Vet clinic Octavoscene Pty Ltd Heartland KZN I Love Mkhambathini

13/11/2025

What are the high risk areas in South Africa?
occurs in all nine provinces in South Africa and rabies in dogs is very common in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo. Stay away from stray animals, and do not pick up or take home animals you don’t know. When travelling with your pets, ensure that they are up-to-date with their rabies vaccinations and carry their vaccination booklets with you.



Image credit: Epidemiology sub-directorate, DOA

12/11/2025

Three people have died from rabies in KwaZulu-Natal this year, prompting renewed calls from the Rabies Awareness Body Eshowe for residents to vaccinate their pets and seek immediate treatment after animal bites or scratches.

Read on https://tinyurl.com/3bxyar7m

11/11/2025

Consent and Choice in Modern Animal Relationships

Imagine a world where horses—and all animals—are invited, not compelled, to be in relationship with us. What if our bond with them wasn’t about training or compliance, but about communication, respect, and mutual understanding?

This is the heart of Autonomous Horsemanship:

The focus is not on shaping animals to fit human agendas, but on creating a space where both horse and human can communicate honestly, and each retain the right to choose how they participate.

What Does Agency Look Like?

The horse can say “no” or “not now”—and that answer is understood and respected.
Consent is ongoing; every interaction is grounded in sensitivity to the horse’s communication and boundaries.

Instead of chasing compliance, the person’s role is to understand what the horse needs for their own well-being and comfort.

The emphasis is on finding shared solutions, considering both the horse’s and the human’s needs without coercion.

Why Does This Matter?

Reduces Stress and Builds Trust: When horses know their choices are real, trust grows and daily life becomes gentler for both.

Deeper Relationships: Consent and communication allow for genuine companionship, not performance-based acceptance.

Supports Well-being: True agency helps horses avoid the emotional shutdown of learned helplessness, and invites curiosity, expression, and connection.

Examples in Practice

Waiting until the horse indicates readiness to interact, rather than initiating contact based on a clock or plan.

Responding gently when a horse signals discomfort or uncertainty, viewing these moments as opportunities for understanding—not obstacles to a goal.

Prioritizing health and daily care as compassionate co-existence, not as “sessions” with requirements or end-points.

Embracing mutual presence, allowing time together to unfold with no agenda other than connection, care, and honest being.

Autonomous Horsemanship is about meeting horses as sovereign beings, honoring who and how they are, and building a relationship based on dignity, collaboration, and the shared miracle of presence.

The Big Picture

True connection isn’t about getting a horse to do what we want. It’s about listening deeply, honoring their boundaries, and supporting their right to be wholly themselves. Consent and agency aren’t buzzwords—they are the foundation of a more humane, conscious partnership.

When we let go of performance and embrace presence, we make space for relationships built on real trust—not just with horses, but with all beings we care for.

Ready to discover more? Explore Autonomous Horsemanship and experience what happens when horses are truly free to choose—with us, not for us.

11/11/2025

Abigail was euthanized this morning.

This situation was caused by the daughter who's 92 year old mother, Abigail's owner, had had a stroke. Instead of doing right by this elderly pony, she had a dealer come pick her up. The stress of leaving all that was familiar, her advanced age with all of her specific dietary requirements, caused the crisis that took place overnight.

We had arranged to have her picked up this morning at 8am but she was found down, too exhausted to get up. Cornell was called immediately but didn't arrive until 9:30. Susan, who was acting on Abigail's behalf, was waiting with her.

The vet found her gums purple, a temp of 97 and significant noise when listening to her breathe. She also examined her mouth; no insisors, only a few molars and a loose tooth that was imbedded in her cheek and was infected. I asked for an ultrasound which found fluid in her chest. After giving a full dose of Banamine, her pulse was still 108.

She suffered needlessly. If the daughter couldn't care for her at Abigail's own home, she should have done the right thing and had her euthanized there. That poor pony left with a stranger to an unfamiliar place. Giving away/selling seniors in their late 30s is irresponsible and certainly in this case, cruel.

For those who contributed towards Abigail, I'll have an emergency vet bill to cover but no transportation cost.

Thank you to Colleen, with Equine Rescue Resourse, who was planning to take her this morning, and, of course, Susan, as well everyone who cared and contributed.

Hopefully someone may read this and make a more humane decision for their elderly horse. Horses live in the present. Allowing a vet to let them pass surrounded by familiarity is kinder than the uncertainty of "giving them a chance" - even the slightest risk that they may suffer is not worth taking.

Most of the good rescues who are asked to take in horses 30+ years old will diplomatically recommend the owner put their horse down at it's own home - nobody wants to see any horse end up like this pony. As emotional as it is for us, you need to protect your old guys.

11/11/2025

11/11/2025

To the Horse Who Wouldn’t Yield

You frustrated me once.
I called you stubborn.
I thought you were challenging my authority—
when all along, you were challenging my blindness.

I see it now.

You were the mirror I didn’t know I needed.
Refusing to bend where my will was rigid,
you showed me the edge of my own misunderstanding.
You said “no” when I couldn’t yet hear it,
and in that “no,” you gave me the chance to grow.

Back then, I believed harmony meant obedience.
Now I know true harmony only exists when both beings are free to choose it.

You held your ground,
and because of that, I was forced to find mine—
not through dominance,
but through awareness.

You were my greatest mercy in disguise.
And now, every time a horse resists me,
I listen first.
Because resistance might just be wisdom
wrapped in courage.

🌿 Stormy
Learn more at https://stormymay.com