Everyone is moved

Well we brought the other mob of horses back to the farm on Wednesday and we moved Alice back today.
Considering she has only lightly ben handled she is so cool. She got her halter on (the only thing she objected to) and then led fine and loaded onto the float with a wee bit of encouragement. She was leading the big 14yo horse on. And while he dicked around she stood like a wee star.

KC was the mare that was a pain in the ass to load this time round. It was peppers turn last time. She was fine this time (as we decided to take her in the first trip) and Kase was the moron.

Good old Choccy and Rose literally ran up the ramp by themselves and made the job so much easier.

So we now have all the horses at the farm ready for worming, feet and the start of the season.

I got the local calendar for the season and it looks like the first show is in Early October and we have measuring on the 13th so am hoping to take 3 to that, Binky, Kenny and Blondy.

Blake went away with Toby to be schooled so they will also go to measuring.

I have a ride sorted with my friends on Wednesday so I cant wait Kenny is looking better, still not flash but he is getting there and I hope he will be ready for the season ahead.

Well seriously I am hopeless its official

Missy looking happy NOT Blerk this is why he wears covers

Crystal doing what she does best

Blondy

Kenny looking better, a wee bit I am told :-)

Its been forever that I have updated this thing and I am a bit embarassed about that but I guess I have been busy.... or not but thats the only excuse that sounds plausible.

Horses here are all doing well, I have a new big horse called Kenny he is a massive big TB but sadly is underweight and I am feeding him HEAPS to try get the weight on so I have a horse to ride through show season. He is getting his teeth done tomorrow and got shoes on today so he will be away and racing.

Blake is going away to be schooled for 6months (or close enough) I will have him back to maybe do Rai on?? Depends on how brave I am by then, and Im not willing rip him away from the person that will be doing alot of work on him.

Binky is now rugless and in a paddock by himself awaiting his first mares of the season. We have had a few enquiries with people interested in using him but nothing set in stone yet. He has a few of our own mares here so Im not too worried what he brings in from outside mares.

Toby is out with Kenny, looks rather entertaining with the big horse and little toby. I brought Mecca back to the farm as she is on the list to have her teeth done as well. She is in with Kenny and Toby and sadly they dont like her so unless Kenny needs a scratch they stay away from each other.

Choccy, Rose, Pepper, Miss, Whinny and KC are around at the runoff but we are hoping to bring them home in the next week or 2 and Alice will be coming home as well.

Blondy has put on a heap of weight from the first pics I took of her and I am hoping she gives us something special from Binky. She is in with Blake, Rewi, Dy and Crystal.

Rewi is still very wary. He is awaiting a truck to take him up north. I have got the farrier coming back out as he had foundered and the last people to have him didnt do a good job of his feet but he is fine to have the backs done but goes ape for the fronts so we will deal with that before he goes to his new home.

I will try to update this more as the season kicks off. I am hoping to take Binky whereever I can to compete him this year but we will see how we get on... Watch this space.

Well thought I should update again

Binky needs a bigger neck

My halo has slipped somewhat with the promises that I will update this thing every couple of weeks. As my archaic computer drives me up the walls that has fallen by the wayside a bit. Hopefully the new computer should be here in the next couple of weeks or I will be forced to throw this old thing out the window.

Anyway I doubt people want to read about that crap when this is a horse blog.

Anyway there is really stuff all happening on the horse front. They are all looking good. I have secured some grazing across the road from our place for Alice and Mecca. Only for the fact that they need a bit more and they can eat to their hairy little hearts content. And in the case of Mecca she needs it, being coming up 30 and all she can afford to be a bit podgy. So I am wondering if I can try that for myself I will be 30 in a few years so I am allowed to be fat HAHAHA.

Anyway I digress again I took Binky and Toby to the Nelson youngstock show I decided actually Alice couldnt go as she would have had heart failure and thats not how I would like a foal to have her first outing. So the dependable little welsh boys went out. I played with the idea of clipping Binky out as he really did resemble something out of the welsh marshlands (or whereever they come from), and I was the moron that clipped a chunk out of his shoulder when I clipped Toby out so really he did look rather not like the showpony he was meant to be.

Anyway we plaited Binky and left Toby unplaited as the weather came over really bad and we left the boys on our lawn for the night. I roped in a mate for the leading and away we went. As the doc said dont do the show, there was a heavy rain warning out for Nelson I was sorta thinking that I shouldnt really be competing but there we were on a fine morning.

Binky was fantastic as ususal he didnt act like a colt at all and was quite happy to stand by the float and be primped and preened by me :-).

He won the movement class which I was really pleased with as it was a big class and won 2nd in the manners, 3rd in the head class (against some very nice ponies), um 2nd in the welsh class, Res champ pony of Breed. So Binky and I got our res ribbon hehe, sadly the judge didnt like Toby tob, but she did say he would make a lovely childs pony but if I am honest Toby's Manners left something to be desired as they were appaulling. Suz did a great job of handling him when he was being a right prick. One would have thought he was the one with Balls.

All and all the day was a good one and I was pleased with both of the boys but stoked with Binky as people either love him or they dont. And its showing that a few people do like him which is great I will heavily campaign him this year stand him to a few outside mares and then open his book right up in his 4yo season. He is a delight to have in the paddock and is really cool, a right houdini and you dont realise how inadequate your fencing is until you get a welsh colt in the paddock and they find every little hole.

As for the others, Missy has put on weight, as has Blondy, Pepper is looking amazing, Blake is an idiot but is coming back into work, I am aiming him and Pepper for the Winter Woolies show at the end of June, Pepper inhand and Blake inhand and under saddle but I dont know how successful I will be. Need to actually get on the horse before I can compete it. Where are those concrete pills. All the other horses are looking and doing well I cant wait till they start having foals and we start serving in sept/oct should be exciting. Im sure Binky has a thing or 2 to teach me hehe.

Man Im updating this quite a bit hehe

Miss after coming back from stud

Rose with Dys face in the way

Whinny letting down after racing

Dy with Crystal looking on

KC the grumpy old tart

Crystal looking as happy as ever

Isnt choccy cute, poser!!!

Blondy with her rug on

Blondy with a new hairdo

Well today the new mare arrived and Miss arrived back from stud.

Miss has lost a bit of weight but appreciated the feed that I brought for her and Blondy.

New Mare is a chestnut TB mare by Beau Zam out of a mare called Garnett Court. She raced under the name Zablond Coup. As she has a rather blonde mane and tail that is no big suprise. She is a bit light in weight but I doubt it will take long for her to pick back up. She came off the truck like an idiot but I bet I would too after being cooped up for awhile in a truck. She was really good for me to pull her mane while she ate her tea so Im hoping for a lovely foal out of her from Binky. He really wanted to test out his baby making equipment today when she got off the truck so Im guessing that he will think all his christmasses have come at once when breeding season starts.

Miss was a bit wobbly when she got off the truck. The driver had sedated her for the trip with her travelling badly. So when she got off the truck she looked rather pissed if I am honest.

I have decided that I will at least update this thing every couple of weeks over winter with regular pics of the horses. So here are the first few.

Wild Steed has now been tamed... sorta

Binky (left) is now a led rein pony

Alice (left) Whinny (Below)

Toby doesnt have a bung mouth really (left)

Pepper (below)

And the choccy mare (left)

Over the last few days I have moved people around as Choccy is the size of a goodyear blimp and she doesnt need to be on the dairy grass. I only had her on the flats as a mate for Alice. So I so charmingly shoved Mecca in the paddock in the vain hope that she would be Alice's best mate. However that wasnt meant to be and though she isnt nasty to Alice she is a grumpy old bitch.

Well I won another stupid cow award cos I shoved Choccy back out on the hill with the rest of the broodies and tried to move Alice thinking that she would just follow Mecca through the paddocks. Well you know what thought thought, thought thought his arse was out of bed so he got out to put it back in. Alice said you can get stuffed on that idea and lets just say that it took a good 1 1/2 hours to get Alice across 1 bridge and 3 paddocks. However we got there in the end. I got my wee 2yo (actually she is HUGE) out of the broody paddock and put her in with Alice andthey have buddyed up really well. So now in the yard paddock we have Mecca, Alice and Pepper.

My reason for moving them all is that I would like to put enough work into Alice that I can take her to a show in the middle of may. As she is a wee feral beast I thought best I start now. Day one saw her come into the yards with Pepper and learn that actually I didnt bite. In the end she would stand in the yard so I could pat her. And I took her broken halter off her. Day 2 was much the same and yesterday I didnt do alot. It makes it harder that she has NO IDEA what hardfeed is so I cant bribe her like I do everything else hehe so I need to dig deep into my bag of tricks so Alice likes me for me not cos I am the one that brings all the feed lol.

When we went there today I put her in the yard with Pep and then took Pep straight out, Alice ran away once and then was fine to stand while I patted her, she is still rather feral in the paddock and I cant touch her out there but she wont run away at a million miles an hour now. I put Binkys halter on her and tried some leading lessons. She clicks on really well and now "walks on" when asks and "stands" when asked so that is awesome. I even took her out into the main paddock and she was still fantastic so I was really proud of her.

I now have Mecca, Pepper, Blake, Toby and Binky winter rugged. I try to take them off during the day when the weather permits as its pretty grey and shit at the moment so they have had them on for the last 3 days so here's hoping for some covers off weather so they can have a big roll!!!

Am going to get Toby, Binky and Alice ready for the youngstock show and see how they all go. Its a bit had trying to show both the boys when they are in the same classes but hey I can do it.

Marlborough Breeders

I thought that as the boys were such stars they deserved their own posting after all the rest of the ingreats.

I took Toby and Blake to the Breeders show over in Blen and they both looked and went SUPERB. I def think that giving Toby a tickle up with the whip before entering the classes was a great idea. He was forward and very well behaved. Blake started off acting like a right wanker and by the time his classes were over he was going very well and was rewarded by a 3rd in his manners class (shall we not tell him that the little black man won his mannered class ssssshhhhhhhh). Blake placed well in all his classes and the judge, whom is known for being a VERY hard judge commented to me that he was a very nice horse just lacked a few manners.

Toby however was a bloody wee star. He won Champion Saddle Hunter Youngstock, then went on to win the Champion Welsh Youngstock - Purebred. So I am so pleased with him. He also got a welsh rosette for his movement of which he placed 2nd in a very big class. The lady that was judging me (after 4 classes of which one was his champ class) asked me at the start of our 5th class with her oh is your pony clipped. Well hat off to the observant one!! We have only been in 4 of your classes so well done for noticing so quickly *rolls eyes*. Anyway she was a great judge and liked Toby so it was great. Blake stood at the float really well while Toby did his afternoon classes and at the end of the day it was 2 very tired horses we loaded back onto the float to go home. With the 2 wide purple ribbons!!!!

Seeing the photos of our showing expliots has shown me that I really need to stop eating!!! My god good year blimp here I come Im surprised that Greenpeace wasnt called (as we were showing at the airfield) with concerned people ringing up about the beached whale flapping about (you cant call what I was doing running).

However I am debating what I am going to do next show as its a youngstock show and I am hoping to get Alice together to take her in the foal classes then have the boys there for the afternoon classes but I dont like my chances of having Alice, leading, tying, and generally liking me!!! So it might just be Toby and Stinky that go out. I havnt sung yet so its not all over!!

Until next time.............

Heaps has been happening....

Right here is the update just for Nessie haha.

Starting at the start since last blog publishing thingee.

The float arrived a couple of days later due to the ferry crossing so Ness was only here for what seemed like bloody hours, weeks and months, when it was only just over a day. However she did bring Whinny and Alice with her. We have put Alice in with Choccy at the moment so that Cchoccy can be a mothering influence to Alice though I was hoping that Mecca would do that job so that I could put Choccy up on the hill and not have her getting even MORE fat on the flats but Mecca takes aversion to that job so Choccy the "Mum" it is.

While Nessie was here we moved the mares from the runoff to the main farm as I was expecting some sort of problems from alot of the horses the only mare that we were definate that she would get on is the trusty Choccy. However the other mares showed us that we have no idea what we are actually talking about and all walked onto the float with no issues at all which was GREAT. You can bet on it that if Ness wasnt there however they all would have been shitheads and I would have had untold trouble with them all. Bloody horses.

I had the church next door ask me whether they could have an egg fight in the paddock with Blake and Rewi in. They failed to notice that there was actually horses in the paddock however I told them pretty quickly that was fine I would move the horses out of the paddock and then they could have their fight without upsetting the horses. Well I thought no problems however as we have learnt with horses the "no problems" part is not always understood by our good mates the "noble horse". Turns out I moved Blake and Rewi into the next paddock Blake went first and as its a long taped off bit I put him into he decided that actually he shouldnt have been sacked as a racehorse and that he would show us all how fast he was. Shame about the bloody wire fence he didnt see in his quest for racetrack greatness, he didnt see it until it was too late and has chopped up his leg a bit. The swelling has gone down a bit but still what a bloody idiot. Give me a dependable, dopey SB anytime.

Then we get to said "dependable dopey SB's, I popped them all from the flat paddock into the hill paddock the look that I got from all the fat bitches was "you run up there looking for food yourself fatty" so I meekly took off before they got the SB mafia out at the meer thought that I would make them actually climb their bulks up a hill looking for grazing.

The wee men, time for their update, all I have to say is my colt is a shithead and now I know what it means when adults say that teenage boys will go anywhere for a bit of skirt (normally followed by a wink and a nudge), Binky decided that the paddock that I had put him in wasnt up to his furry little standard and that actually he quite liked the grazers paddock and her well in season filly, so he went across country through hill and dale (and gorse bushes, barbed wire, blackberry, you get the drift) to get to "his bit of skirt" so now we will have a vet bill to PG the only mare on the place that is NOT his and never will be!!!! In his quest for rooting he got a few surface wounds and looked like he had gone 3 rounds with Mike Tyson (right down to the chunk taken out of his ear) which normally wouldnt have bothered me a great deal but as he was due to go showing in less than a week I found it rather a piss off!!!!

So poor Toby was dragged in from the backblocks (ok I lie there is no excuse for him looking like some form of bloody yak) and he had to endure the clippers, of which me being the onto it horse owner I am hadnt thought to get the blades sharpened and did a mercy dash to the saddlery and managed to borrow a pair from Clinton, I was very pleased at how Toby turned out. He looked FAB.

Not alot happening

Well we have one more show until the winter hits. I am debating on whether to enter my youngsters in the youngstock show that is going to be run on the 17th May.

The horses are good as gold all looking rather fat at the moment. The mares at the runoff (crystal,dy,rose and Choccy) are all looking infoal when only Crystal is. And KC at the main farm is looking rather porky as well. I would rather them be a bit fat coming into winter than be underweight.

Got given a Kai gelding who at the moment is testing my paitence quite alot. He is great but a real prick to catch and I wonder what has happened to him actually as he is jumpy about everything. He is getting better but is still a nightmare to catch.

We have Marlborough Breeders on at the end of this month and our new float arrives next sunday night so we have the fun job of going and picking it up at 1am. That means leaving here at 11pm and possibly by the time we offload the horses that will be on the float it will be about 4am by the time we get home however I cant wait to finally have our own float. Now for a truck hehe and we are away. So its only Binky heading over to Blenhiem at this stage. Was hoping to take Blake but after his drama of yesterday Im not sure I want to take him out in public. Read my other blog to find out what he has done :-)

Right I guess there is bugger all for me to write so will zoom off to bed and update when something interesting happens!! If it ever does hehe.

Nelson Breeders Show

Toby did win ribbons and I didnt compete the boys in halters lol this was the end of a long tiring day :-)

Today we took the big jump of taking both welsh boys out to the Breeders show. I was rather nervous taking Binky out as he hasnt been out for a year and though he is awesome to handle in the paddock he has got balls and you dont know what he might do. Well it turns out I have nothing to worry about. He was such a good boy. The judge liked him alot but not so much Toby. The judge did say, about Toby, that he was a lovely pony but needed to work on his manners (not trotting out, calling out to Binky, and not standing) and put a bit more weight on. He got a 2nd in his age group gelding class and a 4th in Showhunter 2yo.

Binky however suffered from a stupid owner. He got 4th in turnout, the judge commented about the fact that he was spotless which is not easy on a pony his colour. He got 2nd in the 2/3yo colt/filly class and was beaten by a VERY nice welsh colt. Then I stupidly decided to go, as I didnt have any classes for ages in the welsh ring, and join my classes in the coloured ring. Well he got 2nd in his dun/buckskin/cremello class, then I wandered back over to the welsh ring. The steward came over to me and asked where I had been and I said over at the other ring. She then informed me that I missed out on the Res Champ welsh youngstock ribbon(the stallion that beat me in the age group won champ). I wanted to sit down and cry. They had held the class up for me while they looked for me but couldnt wait forever. So GUTTED. But all in all I am happy with how both of the boys went out and about. I just need to work on manners and trotting out with Toby at home. So looking forward to the next show whenever that is :-)

Oh yeah re the name

I had spoken to Hubby and we decided (ok me) on the name Willowdown Sport Ponies but he then decides the day we talk to the bank that he doesnt like it and wants to call ourselves Tasman View Stud so rather than make a drama out of it I said yip whatever hoping that our resulting foals can just have "T V" Added to their names. Might work but hey I get to chose everything else so I should give him his moment of glory hehe.

Better update this thing me thinks

Shit I hate these things I just typed out a big long speel and now its gone. Damn it all!!!!!!!

Horses are great, Crystal not showing any signs of coming back in season so heres hoping she gives us "our" first Binky foal next season.

We have entered the 2 welsh boys in their first show here next weekend being the Nelson Horse and Pony Breeders show. Super exciting to take them out and here's hoping that they take their lets move faster than a dead slow walk juice.

A mate asked me when Choccy was due to foal I had to respond erm she isnt she is just fat so here's hoping some of the weight comes off now they are up on the hill.

We now have the land which is great for us. We are moving a few of the horses there tomorrow and the others will follow after they have eaten the run off block down a fair bit more.

Welcome and all that Jazz

Well as I am hoping that Ness is the only one that will find her way to this blog it will be a rather tongue in cheek effort of my first year as a stallion owner/grazing owner.

On the early hours of sunday morning a few weeks ago I was thrust into the world of horse grazing ownership with a rather large wake up call. I went from having 2 lovely TB geldings (with huge amounts of issues) to having 13 horses shoved onto me over a period of a few days. First came a pile of SB broodies and a few added extras and then the colt and wee gelding and another racehorse THEN another couple of TB mares from chch arrived. So as the land doesnt go through until the 31st of this month (which is a whole nother story) we had to juggle horses around to fit everyone I am just lucky that the owner of the horses was pretty cool about the whole situation.

So in my tribe I now have Blake and Felix (my 2 "special" geldings) my pride and joy
Brecon Bach Paladin
Perlino Section a welsh colt

Flying Dynasty
By Flying Pegasus
Out of Dynex
A TB mare she is 6yo and although not the prettiest she is lovely to handle and a sweetie in the paddock and she is of a very nice build. We should get a buckskin baby out of her when we bred her early in the 2009/10 season.

KC, Who I am inclined to call Keep Calm as thats just what we need to do with her
By Asti Bay
Out if Ten Pages
KC Is a 10yo TB mare that was basically unhandled until her last owner got her and her dam at 8yo and she is now a cool mare to have around but very much a baby type needing alot of quiet time and handling for her to get her confidence up. I am looking forward to what she gives me as she is a lovely mare to look at and has great conformation and movement and she should give us another buckskin when served early in the season.

Majestic Rose
By His Royal Highness
Out of Roses Forever
She is another 6yo TB mare and is just lovely. She is nothing WOW but she is again a lovely horse to have in the paddock and is one of the first to come up and say a big HI she is of rather stocky build so hoping to get a dilute solid foal out of her when she is bred.

Highbridge Times Two
By It's about time (GP SJ)
Out of Isis (Intermediate Eventer sold to Tahiti, Stationbred/TB)
Pep is a 2yo filly that is the most lovely horse to have around she is approx 15.1 now and has the most beautiful head, sadly as an 18mth old she sustained an injury to her fetlock and has got some rather nasty looking scarring that sadly would put paid to her "showing" days which is a shame as she is lovely. I am debating what to do with her as she is partly broken in so I am hoping to finish the job and see how she goes. Eventually she will be put in foal to Binky however I am going to get her out under saddle first. As a sport horse she has lovely breeding and both her parents a phenominal jumpers in their own rights.

I also managed to pick up for Aaliyah and her friends a wee old SB mare. She is 29 yo and she is reg as Rain Hall. She has spent alot of her years as a trekking pony and is ready now to take things slowly and just cruise. She is super quiet and loves the little ones and I am hoping that she will be able to teach Aaliyah a few things about how to act around horses. She will spend her last years here at Willowdown and when Aaliyah starts on Toby Mecca will be retired to be the nana of the youngstock that we will have gracing the paddocks. As she has a wonderful nature but yet will still put the other youngsters in their place.

I also managed to aquire (read BRIBE) a stunning (In my opinion anyways) Black Section A welsh gelding. The owner really didnt want to sell it so we have done a deal. The catch phrase of the week is "Have I got a deal for you" and when I hear that I am in two minds on whether to listen or run for the hills. Listening has proved rather beneficial to us so far so best I start listening a bit more huh.

Toby (the wee welsh fellow) will be Aaliyahs pony once he is finished getting broken in and I cant wait to take him and the colt out inhand and see if others like them as much as I do. Toby is by Llanfairbryn Best Man (imp) out of a nice mare Lorien Flowergirl who is by Glynmawr Elderberry. He is bred by the lovely folk at Verona Lodge so I am hoping that he does big things that wee man.

We have our first show with Binky (Brecon Bach Paladin) and Toby at Nelson breeders show on the 15th Feb 09. I went down to the paddocks yesterday to give them a big tidy up and pulled the young boys manes, I am really needing to get myself sorted on this showing welshies thing as they are shown au naturelle however I dislike long manes so much. Even the SB broodies that arrived have all had their manes cut off I just lacked the shearing comb at the time to finish them off so they look rather rude at the mo cut off.

Binky is lovely to handle which I am pleased about no fire breathing stallion here as yet. He loves having a brush though is quite keen on knowing where his mare is. However when told to stand his rather happy to stand there and be brushed and messed around with.

I was rather concerned about this learning the breeding game however I have been reading alot on the net and I have spoken to a few people who I regard rather highly in the breeding game and I am feeling confident that we can make a real go out of the breeding side of things. We will only have 2-3 mares foaling this season but next season its all go with the serving side of things and I am very keen to see what Binky will produce as we know he is tested to produce Buckskin. Pally and smokey black to mares that he serves so I am hoping that he will attract a good book of mares.