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.