The Magic Pony has arrived.

My new horse Stonedale Magician arrived yesterday while I was away at Nadines clinic.
Today was first day of school including beautification. He has not had a lot of handling in the past 14 months so I just did some groundwork and then gave him a bath, trim, worm and covered him. Poor boy must wonder what has struck him.
Tomorrow we will start on the lungeing again and hopefully it won't be too long before he can be backed.

Nadine Francois Clinic

I have just completed a 4 day clinic on Henry with Belgian dressage rider Nadine Francois. Nadine trained for a decade with the late Portuguse maestro, Nuno Oliveira, regarded by many as the best dressage rider of the 20th century. Nadine's approach can best be described as classical, and closely mirrors Oliveira's methods, including the in-hand work. Her approach is softness of the horse.
Without a doubt this was the best clinic I have ever attended. It really opened my eyes to how bad I have been riding of late. By the end of the 4 days Henry was so unbeleivably soft and forward it made me feel so bad for how badly I had been riding
Finn and Pumpkin. Now I just have to keep up the work and hope I don't ruin it until Nadine comes back again in October. In the meantime I need to change my trainer back to the one I was using 4 years ago. I had stopped using her only because another trainer was more convenient. Its something I now regret. No pics sorry.

I have a new Horse!!

Welcome to Stonedale Magician a 5 yr old unbroken Welsh CobX by Millcreek Valiant out of TB mare Cautious Leigh. 15.2 ish.
He was started about 14 months ago but then his owner and her husband took over a farm management job up North where there was lots of work and no time for horses. No flat land either so not conjucive to finishing a youngster. So Magic got left.
So I have a bit of a job on my hands to get him back to where he was and then finish him off. Hes been hardly handled in the last year so there will be a bit to do.
But I am looking forward to this new project. Hes going to be a lovely horse and will be my fun horse for the times where its not practical to be taking out a stallion.
Hes not coming for 2 weeks as he is being delivered in a truck so until then I have to wait!

Unfortunately I have issues with this new computer accepting photos so until I get it sorted here are his pics.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=162573&id=767997968

Henrys Big Day Out at Bethells

Today Henry went for a big adventure to Bethells Beach. Thanks to Anna/Ru and Jenny/Cruise for being his babysitters. We started out up the dunes following the stream and back up the dune up to the Lake. Wow what a view. The Lake was so clear and glassy the reflection did not look like water at all. It looked like just a big canyon of grass and hill. Absolutely awesome. Back we went up the dunes and headed for the beach. A canter up the dunes and by this time Henry was breathing a bit hard. Hard work in the deep sand. And so onto the beach via the stream and a great paddle up to his belly. We walked to the end splashing in the tide and then headed back. This time going for a canter. At first he was a bit unsure and we lost our steering and brakes but when he was beside Ru he was happy to canter alongside. We finished up back at the stream on the beach where Ru and Cruise wallowed up to their bellys. This time it was i nWe had got up to our belly on the way up but of course Henrys belly was a lot lower than Ru and Cruise so we did not go back in the deep end on the way back and waited till we could be back in the lower end again.
We then went back and unsaddled, took them for a roll and then went and ordered coffee at the cafe. What a fantastic Day. Henry was such a star. I was so proud of him as for a first day to the beach and only the second day in the company of strange horses he was pretty well behaved.

Amaethon Vanquish aka Shelby goes to the Kumeu A & P Show.

Shelby had his first big show. His mother went to hold his hand but even so he yelled out alot.
He had his first washing exercise the day before and was a bit concerned about the rain that was coming out of a curly thing.

He did very well in his classes taking out.
1st place in the Partbred Welsh Section and then in the Sporthorse ring 3rd Youngstock 3 yrs and under,2nd colt suitable for breeding and 3rd for Suitability to be a show hack. Congrats to Shelby and Carolyn

Finn is Sold

It was not planned at all and was rather a shock.
After Champs I was very very sore. On the Monday I had shooting pains in my hips and a very stiff sore back. Coralie my trainer has said "Judith he's way too big for you. You need a smaller narrower horse" With the level of injuries I have it is just so hard for me to keep Finn forward and straight. I pondered it for a few days and had my usual lesson on the Thursday where he went amazingly well. We were doing shoulder in to half pass back to shoulder in, simple changes. He was forward and awesome and I thought No way can I sell this horse. I will never own one like this again. Several people had known about Coralies thoughts and on the same night as my lesson someone phoned and said they wanted to come look at him. I nearly threw up! But as it seemed that fate was also telling me I needed to sell him I went ahead and let the person come to see him. As it turned out they liked him and made plans to buy him. I was devastated. Long story short which I will not go into the person pulled out of the sale. I was so relieved as it was not the sort of home I wanted Finn to go to. Several days later Shirley came to look at Finn. She rode him loved him and said she wanted him. Shirley has ridden to Grand Prix but has not ridden for a few years since coming to NZ for work so he was the perfect horse for her to get her feet wet again. And the best thing is that she is local so Finn would be staying in the area. 2 days later I delivered Finn to his new home at The Friesan Stud in Muriwai. He is the only bay horse there amongst all the lovely black Friesans. Shirley said she was not interested in competing anymore but now thinks she just might. So I will look forward to seeing him out and about. Shirley is 6 ft 4 so a much better size for him. Pic of Shirley and Finn.

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!