Riding Lessons

On Thursday Terry came and gave me riding lessons on Echo. I was to have had them on Legend but unfortunately he was lame. I am not normally one to go for lessons but as Legend has only just been broken in I felt it was very important to try and get it right for the sake of the horse.

I am sure Terry found dealing with me quite hard but at least I didn't argue with him. ( his major dislike ) My wife took these pics and I have to say I look a lot better than I thought I would. I have only ever had lessons once before in my life.

I found riding Echo very useful as he has been doing this stuff already and knows what to do so long as I give him all the right aids.

My thanks to Terry. Next time it will be with Legend.

Before and After

Before and after photos of a badly broken hoof. You could take this hoof in both hands and the hoof would bend in your hands.
The horse was quite lame. After about a week he was running around like a two year old. I hate to say it but this was just a case of neglect

Shearing Time

One of our ewes loosing it's clothing.

Not very nice but something we have to do twice a year. These pic's are of Colin our shearer. I don't know how a shearer can do this all day. One sheep would kill me. Such hard work. Colin did about 350 on this day and tomorrow he will do the balance of the lambs.

Marvae Gai Legend

And this is the second of our new boys ( Legend ) We bought him from Taranaki as an unbroken 4 year old about 2 months ago now.

We took him straight to Ken's place to be broken in. Ken got him going and rode him doing stock work and riding him through swamp etc.
At the end of this time I went over there and put a set of shoes on him ready for a 3 day trek.
The trek leaving from our place had about 30 horses and did 10 hrs on the 1st day and another 10hrs on the 2nd day and a further 6hrs on the last day. Ridden by Ken and left at our place after the last day. He was very light on condition and got nick named on the trek
" Bony Em ".

After returning back here we have been feeding him up and these pic's are after being here two weeks. Just before I took these pic's I had taken him out for the 1st ride and I have to say I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pleased with Ken's work. He is awesome. Hasn't put a hoof wrong. He has the best nature. I didn't ride him long. Just long enough to remind him what he is meant to be doing.

Sharm El Sheikh

This is Echo. ( Official reg name Sharm El Sheikh.)
Echo was born in Australia ( we'll try not to hold that against him ) and exported to new Zealand as a yearling. He was sold to a young girl who used him for pony club and show jumping. We bought him about a month ago as a 9 year old.

At this point he has only been riding in the arena and for short ( up to 1 hour ) rides down the road and up the back of the farm.
Until a week ago he has been on his own with the older horses in the paddock next to him so he has spent a lot of time hanging out over the fence. He has quite fallen in love with Hoki Poki but is not allowed in with them yet. He has a most wonderful tail.

Two New Horses

We have now two new horses. Both are pure bred Arabians. The grey is ( paddock name ) Echo and the bay is Legend. Both are Geldings and hopefully will be Endurance horses. I will write more about these two boys shortly

Tahi as a baby

To anyone who was watching what happened to Tahi I am sorry. It has been soooooooooo long since I have done any blogging. I will try to make it up.

I am also sorry to have to say we finally lost her. She was diagnosed as having Uvitis and the question was what caused that. We were managing her blindness quite well but after a while she also lost her hearing which led us to think she had a brain tumour. This became quite dangerous. Going into the paddock with a horse the could not see or hear. She almost kicked me twice, upended herself in the river, and ran into a power pole . So in the end the best thing to do was to have her put down. I am still struggling with the loss.

To end the blogs on Ta I have scanned a couple of old pictures of her as a baby with her mother Hoke Poki. Ta was something very special. On the morning she was born 16th December her mother came running up to the fence and calling out. Running back to Ta then back to the fence again. She took us to see her baby. She was born jet back with white socks and a white blaze. Quite different to the more recent pics. She was named Tahi because she was the 1st animal that we had anything to do with born after buying this property. From that day on she was always there, a real peoples horse.

Over the years we have done a lot together, Trekking, Endurance Riding ( up to 80km ) Ta never had the attitude of her mother so never made a great Endurance horse but she was still the best horse in the world to me.