Sunny and the disappearing splints

Sunny with splints Ferrymead ODE 2005 with Sharpie riding him

Sunny now - no splints.

Sunny in our hay day. Fantastic day hunting!!

Gus has arrived

Well He certainly is huge!! Our average 17HH look tiny compared to Gus. Sharpie is 6'4" standing next Gus he looks about my height. Ayla the little bay is 15.1HH Will get more photos over the next wee while - here are some to get started with ...

RIP Jazz

Had to make the decision to put Jazz to sleep. She was ready and while it is never a happy occasion she went peacefully with her family around her. I choose to have her cremated and met a lovely lady in Tai Tapu at Loving Tributes that did the cremation for me.

Once the weather warms up and the mud clears up we will scatter her out around the jump paddock and the arena. The day will make itself known when the time is right. In the mean time she has pride of place on the end of the island in the kitchen where she can keep an eye on us.

Sunday Riding

Not a good photo but record of day 1 Cruise!!

Just little L and me but boy did we get some horses ridden!! Started out with Bo and L on Sun. Had a fantastic plod round the 8k block. Manged to keep Bo's head all the way and no jogging home - very pleased with that as it has been my pet hate for years. Not to say he won't jog next time but if we can do it once....
Had some spaghetti, hash browns and bacon for lunch to give me strength to do some hooves. Did a tiny tidy up on Bo and took a pile of bar out of Cruise. He has good feet just (IMO) too much bar.
Saddled up Cruise and Minty, just a doodle round the farm block. P came with us on JJ. Have a wee way to go with Cruise - some communication issues - my right is his left so we has some trouble understanding each other. Something to work on in the evenings in the arena. He was good on the stones which impressed me. Will take him a wee bit to work out he feels better with out the bars and that we can play together nicely. Looking forward to our next ride!!
Last but not least we saddled up Lady and put L on Ayla. L has done such a good job of getting Sun back to a ridable horse I thought she could start on Ayla. Had a lovely doddle round the farm block. L started out a bit nervous but figured that when she had trouble getting Ayla to even walk out that she was not going to have too much bother. Good start to their partnership!! Lady good - have bid on a smaller saddle for her. The big ones are way too long in the back for her. Something I have thought about for a while...

Fantastic Riding weekend

Might be missing S but have kept busy. Brother and SIL down from Auckland came out to visit and meet new horse Saturday affo. Had a plod round the block. I was on Bo. SIL on Solly the mountain - who has an new admirer, L and her friend on Minty and Sun. Good ride. Came home and had a play with Cruise the new boy - interesting!! Then bought Lady in while Bro and SIL visited the girls next door. She went well, Mum (taxi for Bro) thought she was coming along well and hopped aboard. Very privileged, thinks our Lady might hold her own in the cob ring next season. Plan is for me to take her to a few and check out the young horse then Mum has promised to think about taking her on and doing a few shows with her. Gives me motivation to make an even better job of her. Would be delighted if all comes out in the wash and my Mum was happy to show one of my horses. Go Lady!!!!

BIG Weekend!!

Friday night was Mum's 70th birthday, good time had by all. First time the whole family has been together in a long time. Good to catch up the ones from Auckland!! Did not stay as long as we could have as had to get home to finish getting S ready to go to Singapore.
Got him away - very pleased he can text and ring me, am missing him quite a bit. We also have a new camera and I understand I have some fancy jewelry ... tax free day in Singapore and the jeweler had a half price sale..... go the credit card!!!
Unfortunately - or otherwise there don't seem to be any saddlery's over there... bugger.
After dropping S off I picked the a new horse. Yes friends and supporters I can hear you from here - another one!! Bought him from the same lady as Bo and while this one is in no better condition he is still rather nice. He had my vote when we loaded him on the side of the road in the rain and he felt like he was going to run me over to get into the float. S has the camera so have taken a pic on my phone. Will try to get it on here. Bought him without seeing him - got bitten last time so a bit wary when I went to get on him - figure he might do for A and / or her boyfriend - now I have ridden him I have created a family feud. I think he feels a 'possible' with a bit of feed and some muscle tone. As I understand it he has not been ridden for 6 months...

Lady update

Have been riding Lady lately. Is good to be able to get on her and she copes with my weight. For a start she struggled with my weight and her being so small (150cm at October measuring). Compared to the others she is soooo small. Anyway I have found our issues were mostly caused by me not using a wide enough saddle on her so we now have the same gullet size for her as we use on the 17 handers - she is VERY wide for her size. She loves to hack out - does a 4km hack no trouble and ponies off the big ones for a 10 km hack.
Her schooling in the arena is mixed. She is much happier out hacking. Mostly we have a good session in the arena but her stubborn moments are slightly more frequent in the arena.
Pretty sure she is ready for more and have booked P to do a bigger hack with us as soon as we get a fine free weekend. Probably not this weekend looking at the forecast!!