Waitemata Dressage Champs

WOW is my first impression. The fields are the strongest I have seen. Full of very very fancy Imports and well bred imports. Finn looked like a rugby prop in a feild of Ballerinas. But donot estimate the rugby prop. He beat a heap of those fancy pants horses. First test was the Challenge. He did the best test I think hes ever done. Right up until the last few horses we were 3rd. We ended up in 7th and the best of the non warmbloods. In fact there was only 3 non warmbloods in the class of 30 so not a bad result. Saturday was not so great. I had a German Helper here who was the laziest thing known to mankind. I had an early start so had to hop to it to get ready. I was bathed in sweat and had drips running down my face by the time we loaded. She stood watching me looking completely blank. I was seething and once we were in the car I told her off. Of course that did nothing for my calm prep for 2 dressage tests. Finn was a bit lazy today and as I was tense I did not ride well. We finished just above mid feild. Sunday my helper stayed at home. I did not want her around me at all. I could do the job quicker and was far more relaxed without her hanging over me and making me angry. It paid off and we once again did a really good test. Not quite as good as Friday but still good. We ended up 3rd overall in the Amateur Division and if there had been a prize for the best non warmblood Finn would have won it. The Saturday result cost me reserve Champion. Blast it.Just goes to show it does not pay to have someone around you that makes you really tense if you want to do well at a show!

Pumpkin Sold

2 weeks late with updating our blog. My darling son used up all our monthly allocation of Broadband and so its been so slow tyring to load pics and update.
Pumpkin has been sold to Para Squad Rider Rachel Stock. He will join her team for her quest for 2012 Olympic Qualification. No Pumpkin won't be going! Para riders generally use pool horses. So off he went in a big flash truck to his new home and condo. Rachel sent me these pics to show me how much he really missed us. NOT!

Steve Brady Clinic

This week Henry and I have been at a Steve Brady clinic which we enjoyed immensely. Well I did and I am not so sure Henry enjoyed it quite so much. By the end of the clinic he was so pooped he could hardly raise a trot. Steve did 2x 3 day back to back classes and we were booked for the second one. Henry went early on the first day of the first clinic to chill out and watch what went on with all the comings and goings. He got very vocal when we arrived and got very worked up being put in a box next to a mare. He threw himself around his box and broke the waterer off the wall. Ka ching! $$$ I was not amused. Steve worked him that evening so I was very priveleged. Sadly I did not get to see it.He was worked by Phil on the Sunday and Monday nights too so by the time I arrived for the clinic on the Tuesday morning Henry was already looking subdued. For the first groundwork session we worked outside of the arena (just in case) He was very good so for the second session we joined in with the other horses. Then it was time to get on. Thank god for Anna who I asked to give me a leg on. No sooner was I on board that he yelled out and reared. Annas quick thinking and reactions averted any further action as she flew at his hindquarters like a speeding bullet and disengaged him. He came down somewhat chastised. She hung onto his lead for a while at my request (yes I wimped!) and then when he had finally settled we were all go. Once he had settled he was a doddle and we worked outside of the arena away from the other horses. Day two we went straight into the arena for ground work and he was a good boy. No trouble today under saddle.
I was very happy with him. By the second ridden session he was pooping out and I was struggling to even get more than 5 or 6 strides of canter. I was loving a tired boy.
Day 3 was all good as well but he was feeling a bit brain dead and was switching off and not paying attention. He was so knackered he could not be bothered trying too hard. I could feel him just shutting off. He did some decent ridden work but was pretty dead and listless. All in all it was a fantastic experience for him and just what we needed to get him socialised. Bring on the next clinic!

The New kid on the block

No pics yet but Pidge was mean't to come to me even though I was not supposed to be acquiring anymore horses. :)

Pidge's start in life was very shaky and if it was not for one person he would not be here at all. I will not go into details on here due to the fact that there is a certain breeder who does not deserve to know where he is now and how he is doing.

He is a Welsh cob X by Lorien Elrond (Sec D) out of A. Best Kept Secret.

On researching Pidges family I discovered a link through his dam Best Kept Secret. She is by A.Premier out of a TB mare Whoopy Herself.
A.Premier was a 15hh TB X by Babaroom (TB) out of Deep Secret who was a 14.2hh 1.30 SJ pony.
On researching Deep Secret I discovered I knew both her sire and dam and worked at the stud where they both were in the late 70s. Deep Secrets sire was a brown TB called Mace and her dam was a grey Welsh cob X called Sapphire. I remember both of them vividly especially Sapphire who I rode.
So 30 years later I end up with Sapphires Great great grandson.
I did have a foal by Mace called Tartare but sadly she died at 14 months old. I do remember another filly called Saffron who was by Mace and although my memory is a tad sketchy I am thinking now that Saffron may have been out of Sapphire and that could have made her Deep Secret or at least a full sister to her.

Amazing how things come about.

Amaethon Vanquish @ 6 weeks

Today we went to visit Shelby (Amaethon Vanquish) He is such a stunning colt and I would have loved to have stolen him away. Unfortunately he would have been sorely missed by Carolyn. He is just too cute. As like Juno he is very people friendly and just loves to be scritched and get as much attention as possible.

Auckland Dressage Champs

Champs for me was a very mixed bag. We had an absolutely terrible journey to the grounds through very high volume Auckland traffic with bumper to bumper traffic in places from roadworks and trucks roaring up behind us the whole way. Finn was in a lather when we arrived at the grounds. When we arrived we found the new grounds for the Auckland/Manukau Dressage Group still very raw and scary. Rock hard packed clay from all the recent earthworks, lots of machinery still around, open drains with water in them having to be crossed to get to the arenas,and rattling generators just made things just a little more trying. Its going to be great when its finally all done but in the meantime its makes for a distracting environment. Finn was very tense and due to the ground being so hard I had a 8 minute warmup for my first test. He actually warmed up nicely but when it got to our first canter in his test he spent the whole time handstanding. 61%. Finn did not want to load for another journey in the traffic so we had a little altercation before he finally decided to load. Fortunately the traffic although busy was not as bad as the morning. Saturday we had a 10am start and the traffic was nice and easy. On the hard clay this morning and with a judge who hates Finn. Finn was still tense and after our counter canter had a little disagreement where he actually thought he might like to leave the arena. A very harsh and undeserved 59.5% but I have come to expect this from this judge. The afternoon test was on the grass again and this time judged by UK judge Mary Robbins who does not miss a trick. I was a bit freaked to say the least. He was a pretty flat and was really feeling the ground by this time but Mary saw the good and rewarded is with 4th place and 64% with the deserved comments of a little earthbound! :) Sunday just the one test and for this one finally on the Cushionride. Finn was finally calmer today but a bit tired. I was pretty happy with the test. His second canter was hollow but overall it wasn't a bad test. The scores were pretty close and we were not far off a placing on 62%. So overall not the results we would have liked but Finn being a suspicious beast and not being good on hardground (Being a clumper) it was as good as it was going to get. Next weekend its back to Woodhill Sands and a soft surface so hopefully we will have a better result.

Welcome to Amaethon Vanquish

Henrys first colt foal was born this morning at 4am. Mother Poppy is a TB.
He has lovely diagonal white stockings and looks like hes going to have a flaxen tail so will be a real stunner.