Merry Xmas Everyone

Judith Does JUMP!! Evidence!!

Well here you go. Judith actually jumps. What was she thinking?? It took a glass of Champagne and much urging. It was the first time Judith had jumped in a competition (if you could call it that??) in 10 years! The jumps were a huge 70cm at the most and you can see that Finn is making such a huge effort to make sure Mum is holding on tight (look at his ears - Are you sure you are OK up there mum??? ) Judith on the other hand is overdoing it somewhat. I wonder what Dale Pederson would critique this as??? Haha. And we were third in the Walk trot canter Jump. See you at the next Olympic SJ?? :)

Auckland Dressage Champs

Its very annoying that I cannot get these pictures to publish in order but this is the famous run out. To the left my nice canter circle, above, The shoulder popping as we come around the corner and the third, The Famous I am leaving! All caught on film by my son. Not funny at the time but funny when I look at the pics and see how it happaned.


Our first test was an absolute cracker. Finn felt brilliant. He was soft, forward and obediant. I knew when I finished that it was a beauty. When my score went up I was over the moon. 75.385. At that point we were in first place and I was very excited. But of course some of the better horses were after me and we slipped to 4th place. I was pretty chuffed at that as there were some very nice horses in the class. We had an hour and a half break before the second test and I warmed up conservatively. The ground was rock hard and it was hot. He was a little less soft than the first test but Ok. We started our first canter circle and all good and then the shoulder went out and next minute he was jumping out of the gate at A. I sat outside the gate in absolute horror. I have never ever had a horse do that to me before! Norty norty Finn. I had absolutely no idea what happaned until I saw the pics my son had taken. Evidence! Its really clear in the second pic that his shoulder popped and I did nothing to fix it. All my fault. Lesson learned!!!!
Sunday we had an early start and this was our Challenge test this time on the bark arena. Finn was warming up nicely and I had 5 minutes to go before my test when an official came onto the bark and stopped me in the middle of a canter and bawled me out for being on the bark too early! WHAT?? Apparently they were running late and I was supposed to know that! There were only 3 horse in the warmup and one of them was the horse before me. I was not supposed to be in there until she had started her test. How the heck were we supposed to know that they were running late. I was really upset and Finn picked up on it and started to jack up. He completely tensed up and refused to go forward. I had 5 minutes to calm down before my test but it was gone. We went into the arena Halted at X and ran backwards at a rate of knots, we then turned left instead of right. My head was completely in another space. The rest of the test was abyssmal with lots of mistakes and a huge amount of tension.
Berlyddy Bitch that did this to me. 51 % Ouchies. Even the judge said It was entirely uneccessary of the official to do this to me. It completley ruined my test. Of course I should not have got upset but she really went on about How I was supposed to know they were running late! How I have no idea. There were no announcements.
Oh well write that off and get on with the next test. I had 4 hours to calm myself down and it took me at least two hours to get over my fury!
For the last test I hardly warmed up at all. Finn was really feeling the ground by now and was tired. It was all I could do to keep him going forward in the test. 64 % and 9th place out of 31 so not too bad really.

It was great to catch up with Shiwon and meet her lovely boys Da Vinci and Gosh.

Henrys First Foal

Born to Viking Koru (Percheron/Stationbred) a Filly Foal 8/12/08

A lovely very inquisitive and 'in your face foal' Shes going to be a real beauty.

Congratulations to Anna Low Rus Owner and to Ru too of course.

Welcome to this World 'Dramatiker' (Tika) Born 6/12/08

A lovely Orange Hanoverian Filly. Sadly the Foal Fairy Forgot the chrome but shes a lovely correct Filly so no complaints. Mother and Baby doing well.
last Pic is of her Dad Dreamboy.

Henry Has been Busy. Warning Horse Porn

Henry has been busy with his 'new' Girlfriend of late! He rather thinks shes a bit of a spunk and she gives him no trouble at all.

Waitemata Dressage Champs

Sorry no pics. Took Camera with a flat battery :(

The verdict on Pumpkin on the vets visit on Tuesday was no Champs for him. He still had a 0.5 lameness and although that was likely to resolve by Saturday it would leave no time for working beforehand so scratchies for him. It was going to be up to the Mighty Finn to keep up the side for us. He was still not up to his normal self so I did not hold out much hope of greatness and on Thursday both of his hindlegs were like balloons. Oh Shite I thought Looks like no horses for Champs. My suspicion of him getting too much sugar and protein from his feed and spring grass was confirmed. I had been weaning him off the sugary feed but he had been on a grassy paddock and the sugary spring grass had got him. So it was off the grass altogether now. Much to his dismay he was locked in his yard with hay and just a little pick at night on a small bare bit of grass. I iced his legs like mad and he stole the magnetic boots off Pumpkin and I spent the next two nights twirling on the rosary beads. Friday verdict was Yes I would start him but it was probably going to be hit and miss. We would do our tests and see how it went and scratch on the day if necessary. Saturday dawned and the legs were much reduced but still a bit puffy.
He warmed up like a unfulfilled employee who had been out on the booze the night before and had to drag his backside into work. He shuffled through his first test with no real mistakes but totally lacking any motivation to do anything but just get through it. A score of 57.5%. I jumped off him for a bit before my second test and
gave him a bit of a break and then climbed back on hoping for the best.
I only warmed him up again for 10 mins and hoped he would have some gas left in the tank to get through it. The wee rest had obviously lifted his spirits as he came down the centre line like the Finn I used to know! Sadly in the third movement I had a slight brain fuzz and instead of turning left at E and doing a 20 m circle at X I started my 20 m circle at E. Arrgh. We started that bit again but he had lost a bit of the joy we had from the great start. Never mind. I did not think the rest of the test was that brilliant but apparently the judge did and scored us a 66.9 %. We got 8s for the first two movements at least. That gave us 5th Place.
Back home for more leg icing and mag boots and the hope that the later start the next day would bring a bit more improvement.
First test on Sunday was a stunner. I was smiling very widely when I came out. I had my Finn back again. I have not felt him like this in weeks. Clearly being off the grass was making a huge difference. The judge liked it too and scored us 68.4% for 4th place. But seeing the score board and who we had come 4th to made it even more special for us. All the three above us were very fancily bred imported or imported semen Warmbloods. To come 4th on my carthorse was very special. :)
Last test was the Challenge and I had great hopes. I wanted to be in the line up in the prize giving! This was the only test on the grass and we were second to go.
Its the area behind the main arena and where all the X country fences are. The only time hes ever been in this area before was to jump X country. His eyes were on stalks and he was grinding his teeth so loudly I am sure everyone could hear him from 10 m away. The horse before us was going absolutely nuts and demolished the arena before retiring. Oh shit now it was our turn. The judge was in a box so she would have been able to hear his teeth from there! We did our best to hold it together but he was really really tense and it was not our best effort. He broke in his lengthen and was quarters in on one of his canters. But we made the line up for the PrizeGiving managing a 5th place. All in all I was absolutely thrilled with my boy. Hes been so erratic for the past few weeks with sugar and protein overload and I think I now have it sussed. Pity I had not twigged earlier and kept him off the fresh paddocks as well as cutting out the sugary feed. So from now on its bland food, hay and bare paddocks for this boy!

Arrgh Why Me

Its been the most disasterous week. After Pumpkins fabulous performance on the weekend I was pumped and looking forward to Champs. But what happaned? Monday night some dipshit behind us decided to let off fireworks. The next morning I found Pumpkin with a very swollen tendon. I spent the next 3 days icing it several times per day and putting a mag boot on at night but sadly it was not much improving so today had the vet out. He reckons its just the sheath. No core damage fortunately. But probably the end of the road for me for Champs. For the next 4 days its nitrofurazone sweats during the day and mag boots at night plus some heavy duty anti inflamm paste. Vet back on Tuesday to scan and give verdict. Being ever the hopeful he said I might just get to Champs anyway. If he gives the all clear on Tuesday that will leave me 3 days to get him back up to speed. I think that would be very hopeful.:)
I had a good lesson on Finn today. His contact has become very uneven and we are doing our best to get it sorted. He is going to the WAR Dressage on Sunday as a Champs Warmup.

Some more lovely pics of Tara and Rachel from the Huapai ODE

Photos by Michelle.

Woodhill Sands Dressage

Today was Pumpkins first registered competition since August. Its amazing how time goes. I was absolutely rapt with his first test. He was a bit messy in one transition from freewalk to medium walk to canter transition. He knew the canter was coming and resisted into it. His stretchy trot circle was not as good as I would have liked either but all in all a good test. The judge liked it too and placed him first. By the time the second test came around he was a bit over it. It had been a long day for him hanging around since early morning waiting for his turn and then a gap between tests. His second test was no where as good as the first one. He hopped and resisted in one 10 metre canter circle and was starting to really dive on the forehand at times. He was hot and tired and getting shitty towards the end. Not good
enough for top spot this time but still second place.
Finn unfortunately was not having a very good day. Hes been spooky and a bit over reactive for a couple of weeks. I think the batch of Asia Mix is to blame. Its really dark and looks to be so full of molasses. His white nose has become stained orange theres so much in it. I think its just one really mollassy batch and its clearly way to sugary for this soul. Time for a diet change me thinks. His first test was abysmal. He was resistant in his transitions and I really struggled to keep him straight. His second test was better and he managed to pull off 2nd place. So not a bad day all in all. Next weekend is WRC Dressage and the following is Waitemata Dressage Champs. I need to get Finn and his sugar highs sorted before Champs.

Bye Bye Sebby. You will be missed. Last Rides.

Vanessa and Zoe with Seb.

CTR Three

Last Wednesday was the last of the WAR CTRs. I had a great partner in Karen who with her lovely Arab/QH mare had done a 60 km the weekend before. Karen set a cracking
trot pace which Finn had quite a job to keep up with. Because he was a bit tense and excited he would not lengthen his trot to keep up with Karens mares power trot so cantered to keep up. We felt like the Massive heaving couch potatoes trying to keep up with the lithe athletic Gym bunny. Fortunately in the second half he got the idea and relaxed so we were able to JUST keep up at the trot. We came in with just two time penalties and a line heart rate of 60. After his half hour rest period his heart rate had dropped to 36BPM. And we won! Wahoo. I was gobsmaked. Tracey came in with a HR of 57 and resting rate of 36 but had more time penalties so she came in second. Karen was third. Berluddy hell. Both Karen and Tracey are professional Endurance peeps and I beat them on a hefty Irish Horse. Go the Irish. Such a versatile Boy. :)

Just a little pic here of Vanessa giving Henry a lunge.

WRC Dressage

As Pumpkin has been out so long I decided to forego the registered Dressage at Clevedon and do the Unregistered WRC day instead. It was a great chance for Pumpkin to get his feet wet again and its just as well we did it at an unregistered day because he was horrible. He was falling on the forehand through the transitions horribly. Not nice. and falling on his nose. Judges comments - Lovely Boy but just struggling a bit today. No kidding! He still managed a 3rd and 4th but not our greatest moments. Being an unregistered day I decided it was a chance for Finn to have a go at Novice. Pity his first test was the horrible 2.3. Its a test I absolutely hate and would rather ride most of the Elementary tests rather than it.
Finn did an admirable job though for 62.08 %. The second test was the much more flowing 2.1. He flew through this one with the greatest of ease. Pity about the rider though who did not know the test and got 2 course errors. He still managed to get 2nd in it though with 70%. Go Finny.

The Boys kicking back at Home

Henry surveying His Domain.

Taras Diamond

Michelle sent me these pics of Rachel and Tara. Rachels having a great time with her and loving her personality!

Dressage Days 4 & 5, CTRs, Sebs Big Day Out

Its been a Long time waiting for this update to be done.
Pumpkin had a relapse with his abscess and missed the final two days of the WHS Dressage Series. He only came completely sound last weekend so theres lots of catch up to do. We had planned to go to the Dressage at Clevedon on the 4th of next month but have decided that we will pass on that and do the Unreg WRC Day which is on the same day. It will be a chance for Pumpkin to get himself back into the swing of things and I thought it might be a good opportunity for Finn to have a crack at Novice. Finn did the 1.6 on the last day of the WHS series and nailed it with 69%. Its the old Novice 2.1 and it rode really well. So its time to get our feet wet with Novice. We will continue to do the season at Prelim of course but play at Novice at the WRC days.

Last week was the WAR CTR 2 and as Pumpkin was still out of action we decided it was a good chance to take Sebastian for his first Big Day out. The week before he went for a hack down the road but apart from that hes never been ridden outside of the gate so going to the big Forest was quite an adventure. Because I was going to be going fairly quick with Finn Vanessa paired up with 2 others who were going to be going at a more sedate pace which suited the fact that Seb was not that fit.

As it turned out the two they paired with were complete fruitloops. It was reported that Seb was the sense of reason amongst the two nutters who were spinning spooking and generally being stupid. He was completely composed and did not bat an eyelid at the best efforts of the silly fools.
They came in only just a little over time recovering at 42BPM which I was absolutely gobsmacked at. For a young horse on his first outing in strange surroudings and with strange riding partners it was absolutely brilliant. Had they come in earlier he would have placed. Gotta love the laid back boy.
Finn finished in 4th place with a heartrate one beat over Sebs!

Awful Weather, Getting Lost on the CTR & WHS ODE

The past couple of weeks the weather has been absolutely revolting but its not stopped us getting out and about. Last week we went to the Riding Clubs CTR in Woodhill Forest. Unfortunately we got horribly lost so ended up just having a bimble around the forest. On Saturday Vanessa our current HelpXer from the UK rode Finn at the Woodhill Sands Mini ODE. She'd not jumped him until a few days before so it was a bit of a baptism of fire but they both handled it very well. The course was all portable jumps set up on the sand as the grass areas resembled a paddy feild. First up was the dressage test and apart from a couple of minor oopsies it was a good test to end up in second place. Then the showjumping which was clear and straight into the Crosscountry. There were 8 jumps set up and you had to jump the compulsory 8 numbered fences and then 2 of choice. The bigger the jump the higher the score.
Vanessa started out on a the little Intro option for the first fence and then was away jumping the Training options. She was very pleased to finish 1st overall. Finny is such a star.
His coat has come right now and hes put on heaps of weight but this weeks Pumpkins turn to be 'off' Hes been a bit shortstriding for the past week and I thought there was an abscess brewing. Despite poulticing what I thought was the offending foot nothing appeared and there was no heat anyway. Baffling. Today James came to reshoe him and upon taking off the shoe found a teeny tiny little blackhead under the shoe. I was on the right side but it was the back foot not the front one I had been poulticing Doh!
There was just a teeny bit of liquid coming out so it was soaked while the other shoes were put on. He then put on some Keratex Nail hole disenfectant onto the hole and reshod him and presto no more shortstriding. Instant success. This weekend is Woodhill Sands Dressage Again. Pray for a nice day for us. We have been drenched on for all but one of the days thus far. Pics of the ODE will be posted once my Handy Dandy Picture poster person comes back from a business trip. Silly me relys on him so much that I still don't know how to put them on the 'puter!

Woodhill Sands Dressage Day Three. Pumpkin does his best test ever !

Finn has been suffering from a case of the 'Winter Blues'. He pulled back a couple of weeks ago and was still suffering from some tightness in his neck and back.
Then he inexplicably lost alot of weight and developed a skin condition. He was miserable and manky looking and hardly fit to be seen in public. So out came the lotions and potions and he had the right royal treatment of daily massages, extra feed and even a worming to try and restore him to his former Star self !
He was responding well and starting to look like his former self again but still had
some residual back tightness and was tending to twist in the neck.

Pumpkin has been feeling the effects of the new grass growth and has been a monumental prat. Hes been like a madman on speed with no brakes. Efforts to restore some regularity and rythmn tended to end up with him getting extremely tense and pulling like a train. We had a lesson the day before the competition and he did his absolute worst. For 45 minutes he pulled,leaned, threw himself on the forehand in transistions and kicked out at the leg. I was in absolute dispair. I was aching and exhausted. Had it not been a lesson I would have just given up and thrown him back in the paddock! Bastard!!!!

So competition day dawns with me feeling not so confident. First up was Finn. He had been fabulous in his lesson the day before but he had left his best work at home.
It was a very mediocre test with me just teasing him along. We finished in 5th place. The second test was pretty much the same as the first with a 4th placing. Pretty ordinary but expected.

I joked that because Finn has obviously done his best at his lesson the day before and done pretty ordinary tests that Pumpkin who had been a prat needed to pull it out of the bag and do well. I did not really believe my own spin but Hey You gotta Keep the spirits up some how. Well Blow me down if he did not pull one out of the bag! It was the best test he has ever done. Soft and completely on the aids.
Where did that complete Prat from yesterday go?? I was smiling from ear to ear. The judges comments said it all ' Horse seems to be enjoying showing off what he can do" 2nd Place!
Unfortunately I blew the second test. I did not know the test and as a result was tense which made Pumpkin tense too. I was so mad at myself that he had done such a great first test and now I had let him down badly. We managed 5th place.

Woodhill Sands Dressage Day 2

After the bad week of nursing the sick ewe,feeding orpaned lambs and a very sore back I did not hold out much hope for today. :( Finn was first up and right from the minute I got on him things were not good. A lack of work all week had not put him in the frame of mind for competition. He was so behind the leg,leaning on the bit,crooked and just downright not in the mood. His first test was very ordinary and he managed a 5th place. The second test he had just given up entirely. It was all over the place. 13th place. How embarassing!
Pumpkin was up next and was surprisingly not too bad considering his lack of work all week. But he seemed to have completely forgotton how to do travers so we had to do some last minute schooling. So in our first test we had lots of travers (at every gait) offered even though it was not called for. :( Pretty ordinary test all up though for 2nd place. The second test was a heap better and we managed to do both travers very nicely for 7s. Another second place so he at least made up for Finns bad mood. The back held up reasonably well with me well primed with painkillers but in the rider comments on one test the comments were riders back lacking suppleness. Hardly suprising really. Lifting 80 kg sheep is not recommended for back health!

I am officially over Winter !!!

Its been a bad week the last one. The sheep have been lambing and although all have been doing well with twinning births one of the ewes went down on Monday and could not get up. Liam and I hoisted her onto and trolley and ferried her down to the stables where she was nursed through the week. On Thursday she produced twin lambs but showed no signs of getting up. All efforts to entice her to eat were fruitless. I tried everything I could think of and apart from Ketol and molassed water she ate nothing. On Friday I hauled her back on the trolley and put her outside on the grass hoping that might entice her to eat what was around her but sadly she did not. Today Sunday we had to make the decision to put her to rest. I have been feeding her twin lambs since birth as she had no milk even if she could stand to feed them.
With all the nursing and lamb feeding riding time has been difficult added to the fact that I wrenched my back picking her up and putting her on the trolley. I could only hack on Friday as my back was too sore and as I had a show to prep for this weekend things were not looking promising.

Winter YUK.

There has not been much to report in the last week. It was planned that we would go to the Showjumping at Woodhill Sands yesterday but as it hailed 5 times on Saturday we decided not to go. A pic of Babe just because theres nothing else to post.

Woodhill Sands Dressage Day One

Today was the first day of the Woodhill Sands Winter Tournament. It was Finns Debut as a registered horse and Pumpkins second Elementary start. It was the most crappy rainy horrible day but we trucked on regardless expecting to get soaked. Finns tests were first and it absolutely pelted down during our warmup but stayed bright for both of our tests and amazingly stayed fine for the rest of the day. After Finns exciting day jumping yesterday I found the brakes were rather faulty. Non existant in fact! I dispaired of finding them at all but when it was my time to do my test I just thought Oh well here we go. We entered the arena and the Finn Star came to the fore. Ok he said No jumps involved. I know what to do and the Brakes miracuously reappeared. He was still however a tad stronger than he should have been. He did two pretty outstanding tests and won his second test and was 3rd in the first one. Great percentages too of 68.2 and 65.2. There is nothing more satisfying than starting a fresh new registration book and being able to add 12 of the possible 14 points available and $60.00 prizemoney! A great start for his career as a dressage horse. Pumpkin decided to be Mr Cranky Pants half way through his warmup. He was squiggly and resistant. He did two very ordinary tests and I found out when I got back to the float why he was so cranky. He was busting to Pee! Stupid boy. He got 3rd in both tests by default of the fact that most of the good Elementary horses decided to stay tucked up in bed away from the rain!

Finn and Zoe @ the Vaughan Jeffries Clinic

Photos thanks to Michelle Horan.

Tara and Rachel @ the Vaughan Jeffries clinic

Today Rachel and Tara attended a clinic with Vaughan Jeffries. Photos by Michelle Horan

This Week

Wednesday we had another beach ride. This was a club day so I took Finn. It is nice when I get to ride him as Pumpkin is so competitive in a crowd and not much fun. We had a lovely ride and a shared lunch at the end.
Thursday evening was Club Prizegiving and it was a bit of an embarrasement of Riches.
Both Finn and Pumpkin have been great this season and we came home with 4 trophies,2 dress rugs,2 bottles of shampoo,and a pooper scooper. And to just continue on in the jamminess I won the raffle. A first for me but I was determined that it was going to be mine.! So I am also now the proud owner of a BJ Merino swallow tail dressage pad. I don't know how I am going to better that season!
Friday I had a lesson on Pumpkin and we seem to be getting to grips with our walk pirouettes. Trot Half pass is now good so next step is to progress to Canter half pass and flying changes. The first of the Woodhill Sands winter series is in 2 weeks so its onwards and upwards.

This Week

I have been very sick all this week so not much activity on the horses front. But Tara has a new lease home. Chloe was finding it difficult with 7th Form and winter so had to reluctantly let Tara go. Huge Thanks to Michelle Horan who emailed me within half an hour of me putting out the word that Tara needed a new home. Her friend Rachel is now Taras new mother and a fine pair I think they make too. Rachel has already booked in for Vaughans next clinic and has great plans for Tara. It will be great to see her out competing again.

This week

Finally I got around to clipping Finn and Pumpkin. To celebrate I took them both to the beach on Wednesday. I like to take them for a good gallop at least once a month or more if I can. Life at home is rather boring and they love their blasts at the beach.

We set out early and the racehorses were still galloping on the beach. Two went out about 5 mins before us and Pumpkin could see them in the distance. Being his usual ultra competitive self he was reefing and jigging and generally acting like a prat.
Finn of course was his sane Irish self. We trotted off for about a km with Pumpkin doing his best extended trot and Finn struggling to keep up. When I saw the racehorses ahead slow to a canter and turn to trot back towards us I thought it was a good time to open them up for blast. We were doing a pretty good half pace when I spotted Linda on a racehorse coming up behind us at a full gallop. I yelled out to Kati on Finn to be aware she was coming up in case she got startled as she had never galloped on the beach before. Linda flew past us at a rate of knots and Pumpkin decided it was too much to bear. He did an almighty spook sideways which caused me to lose a stirrup and next thing we were bolting flat out after the racehorse. He decided it was about time he showed me just how fast a Great Grandson of Sir Tristram could really go. :) Stupid me in a dressage saddle and with stirrups way too long and now with only one stirrup found out the hard way that it is not easy to stop a bolting horse when you are not firmly secured in a solid position.
Because hes very scared of the surf I turned him slightly towards the water but that just made him swerve and sway all the more and I thought there was no way I wanted to part company at that speed. After what seemed like an eternity I managed to get some control and pull him to a trot. I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest it was pounding so hard. Finn had decided in his much more sedate 'Irish way' to join in the race too and Kati took a bit to pull him up as well. Pumpkin and I have galloped pretty fast on the beach before but this was a whole new gear. I did not think he had that much speed in him! Next time I will make sure I am in a jumping saddle so I have better security and might just take Linda on. :)

We all got home very tired and invigorated and Sebastian had his first ride in 2 weeks after his chiro treatment with Tommy Berhns. WOW WOW WOW. He'd been so stiff after his fall and he was back to the lovely loose loopy huge trot. It took a while to wipe the smile of my face after that. I am so thrilled at how laid back and quiet he is. A 4 yr old Warmblood and hes absolutely bombproof even after 2 weeks off. He never ceases to amaze me.

This weekend is Showhunter at Woodhill Sands for Finn.

Taras Diamond (Tara)

Tara is an 8 yr old Irish Sport horse mare by Kingsway Diamond out of Showdancer and is a full sister to Finn. She did just 4 registered Dressage competitions in 06 and got 40 points. She has been leased since and is currently doing Pony Club work with a Young Rider. She will be coming back at some time as a broodmare but until then she is enjoying life as a riding horse.

Brigadier Babe (Babe)

Babe is a 7 yr old TB mare by The Commander. She was bred by Augustus Park and had 22 starts for 1 win,2 seconds,2 thirds,and 4 fourths.

It was planned that she would be a wife for Henry but decided this year that a live serve was not for her. She had been served at the TB stud she was at but did not get into foal. Her experience we feel must not have been a good one and she took it out on Henry. So we decided to AI her to DreamBoy and she got in foal first serve. She has recently been examined by the Hanoverian Society and received extremely high marks. Her overall mark for registration was 8 which is exceptional for a TB.

StarStruck (Sebastian)

Seb is a 4 yr old Warmblood by GoldStar out of Showdancer. Seen here on his first ride last month. Sebastian is destined to be a dressage horse but has had his career delayed after a paddock accident. He is currently just being ridden a couple of days a week and will be hacked quietly over the winter.

LetzDanse (Pumpkin)

Pumpkin is a 9 yr old Warmblood gelding by Gibralter11 out of Showdancer. He has just started competing at Elementary Level. He has had a good season winning the WAR Novice Cup and placing well at Champs.

Into Finn Eire (Finn)

Finn is a 6 yr old Irish Sport Horse by Kingsway Diamond and out of ShowDancer. Although Finn was bred to be a showjumper he is showing that he already has what it takes to be a dressage horse.

He has been doing some unregistered dressage this past summer and has won both the Training and the Preliminary Cups at WAR. He has been registered now and will have his first registered start in June.

As well as dressage Finn also does some Showjumping, Showhunter and Cross country with my friend Zoe. At his first outing at a Cross country training day he flew around all the jumps without much of a look. We thought he would just go for a bit of a look and tackle some of the pretraining fences but it seemed nothing much fazed him and I was amazed to see Zoe bursting out of the trees and flying over Training Fences. Not bad for a horse that had never seen a cross country fence in his life!
Over the winter Zoe will be doing some Showjumping and Showhunter days at Woodhill Sands and I will be doing the Dressage.

Arawa Romeo (Henry)

2 yr old Section D Welsh Cob Colt by Tireinon Cadet out of Nesscliffe Ronda. He was bred by Jenny Davison who imported both his sire and dam from the UK.
Henry will remain entire and will as well as being a serving stallion be a competition horse. I am hoping he will have a great future as a dressage horse and is already showing that he has what it takes. He had one mare this year. A Percheron cross and we hope that the foal will be a stunner.

Hello Everyone

Well I thought it was about time I started my own blog so here it is.