At the end of last year I had the opportunity to have a short tramping holiday in Nepal. What a great country and what great people. I enjoyed the whole thing and would recommend it to anyone. One of the big surprises was to discover rocking horses. They were all similar and one stole my heart. Of course I needed to bring one home. They are quite different to my horses and are covered in carving.
How do you bring a rocking horse home from a holiday. He is a small horse and stands at about 80cm to the top of his head.
There is really only one way to do it and that is to wrap it in your sleeping bag with alot of rope. First it needed to be cleaned as most things in Nepal are dusty. I knew he would be inspected by customs to get him into New Zealand so he needed to be clean. Always travel with wet wipes. Just incase you need to clean a rocking horse in your hotel room. By giving him a good clean I was also able to inspect him for any insect holes that may mean him would need to be fumigated. No holes found so that was a good sign.
I knew immediately that I would call him Ghoda. This is Nepalese for horse. All my horses have name plaques on them so I wanted to get Ghoda one while I was still in Nepal. I wasn’t sure where I would find an engraver but I went in search. Just around the corner from my hotel I found a gentleman making small signs for tourists with Nepalese words, greeting etc. I asked if they would take a commission and make a name plate for Ghoda. The writing on the right of the sign is Nepalese lettering for Ghoda.
The plaque fitted beautifully on the board between the rockers.
I declared one timber rocking horse as I came through customs. Following a thorough inspection him was allowed to go straight through with no fumigation. Ghoda has met the other horses at the palomino rocking horses and is proving to be a great asset.
