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.