EQUISTERIAN ISSUE 9

DOWNMEMORYLANE
FEI WORLD CUP JUMPING
My Life in the Bush
The early days at Colcheccio Ranch
In 1978, my husband, Jimmy,
was given the job of managing
Colcheccio Ranch. (now known as
Loisaba).
At that time, the ranch
consisted of 60,000 acres of bush and hills,
with a few thousand head of cattle grazing
throughout the farm. The owner, Count
Anciliotto, had built a lodge there, which
was unused so this became his house, the
manager’s house and the office.
In those days there were no fixed line
or mobile telephone, simply an ‘over over
’ wireless, which seldom worked! We duly
arrived along with our four horses, plus an
assortment of dogs, cats, chickens, goats
and Biggles the parrot.
After the first week there, I wondered if
I would ever be tough enough to cope with
this new environment. However, the wilderness,
beauty and the sheer challenge of life
in the bush, quickly took hold and we grew
to love our life there, so much in fact that
looking back, it was amongst our happiest
times together.
About three weeks after we arrived
there, Jimmy headed off for a few days in
Nairobi leaving me in charge. He had only
been gone a few hours when one of our
guests ran in saying “An illegal grazer was
firing poisoned arrows at us all and he has
just been shot and is badly injured. Please
come quickly and help..” I ran back with
him to see the man, who was still alive, but
only just. I considered the prospect of driving
him 40 kms to Rumurutti, but realized
that all those bumps would surely finish
him off.
The late Jimmy Caldwell
The wilderness, beauty
and the sheer challenge
of life in the bush, quickly
took hold and we grew
to love our life there, so
much in fact that looking
back, it was amongst our
happiest times together
Rose Caldwell
So, I left someone to look after him and
keep the hyenas away and set off with a
couple of farm guests to the nearest police
station, two hours away, over a terrible road.
When we finally reached the station it was
empty. We searched the area until they
were eventually found.. in a nearby bar.
We invaded the bar, extracted the two
who appeared the least inebriated and
headed back to the ranch. At which point,
the heavens opened and we got well and
truly stuck. The two policemen remained
firmly seated while we struggled to push the
car out of the mud until I gave up and said:
“I am really sorry, but you two gentlemen
will simply have to help push or we will all
be spending the night here.” With some
reluctance, they got out of the vehicle
and we eventually got going. The journey
took a good five hours and by the time we
arrived back, the poor fellow had died. The
police gave him one hefty kick to make
sure, turned him over and announced.
“shot in the front, self defence , no case”
and thus ended my first day alone at the
ranch.
We built stables for the horses, but the
game had destroyed all the fences and so
the horses were free to roam happily over
the 60,000 acres. Generally though, they
were too apprehensive to stray too far. The
ground was rock hard and stony and I was
in a dilemma as to how I could ever get a
surface to school the horses on, let alone
The E.A. Equestrian ■ OCT-DEC-2015
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