Fantastic Sunday

Awsome day. Got Solly's hooves sorted first thing - was supposed to be Connor but the primary interested party couldn't get herself out of bed so we made other plans. Solly looks good and he and his mates spent the day lawn mowing. Rather enjoy lawn mowing with the 4hp mower
Seeing as we had the lawn mowing under control DH and I decided to take a ride on the bike. Been a while since we managed to get out. Had to find all the necessary bits, jackets and helmets to get started.

Lovely day - I even had my jacket unzipped and I never feel that warm on the bike. Headed up the back country to show DH places he had not seen before. Managed to find some places I had not seen before too. Beautiful lakes and mountains. DH kept pointing out places we could park the truck and go treking out in the wilds. Look forward to it - if we ever get there!!

Pretty late home so just threw ponies in to have a paddle. Max in typical man form is taking up more than his fair share of the bed!! First time we have had 3 in. Once we get them settled will try adding 4 - there is enough room, just depends on whether 4 will play nicely together!!
Tea time - see ya

After Christmas

Well thank goodness Christmas has been and gone for another year. Don't get me wrong, I like the break just not the hype!! Since I last posted - I have had a couple Christmas beak up 'do' things - over them. At best they have food at worst I get to watch people don't know nor care about getting rolling drunk. Nice to see some work mates outside work for a while.

Christmas day was drizzley as I predicted :->>> Had a lovely quiet day at home with DH.
DH kids came to visit and my girls went to visit their father.
Anyway enough of Christmas - have not been able to get near the computer, DH has some new games and has been playing every moment he gets. Good on him. Have formated the lap top so maybe I can use that - I don't need the big whatever he needs!! So long as I can put a photo or two on it I will be happy.

Boxing day was lovely - was not sure if the weather would clear but it did.
Mum came to visit with the youngest neice and nephew. Lovely to see them. Pony paddling pool came in very useful for entertaining the young ones. Warm enough to be nice paddling but over cast enough not to fry in 2 minutes.

Rode OT out with younger daughter on JJ - just a doddle round the farmers block. Next ride was Ayla out with DH on Solly, had a nice hack around the 8km block. Had to get past some lambs on the side of the road - dumb animals. Would not stand still so had to do a bit of a blat to get past them. Think DH has got a taste for speed. Had to have a second blat down the road just because!!
Then out again on Max. Good ride on him round the farmers block and a bit extra as he was feeling rather nice thank you. Got to be a good day when you can get out on 3 of them!!


27th Dec 08.
Had friends bring their horses over this morning for a jumping play in the arena. Have the jumps set up in a circle approximately 30 across. Maggie was really enjoying them this time - last time she tried hard but could not figure out why there were no straights and her rider had trouble looking at the next jump soon enough. Today they had no trouble doing the whole circle beautifully.
Minty really enjoyed herself too. A smaller nippier pony so she had no trouble managing the circle. Will be very happy when mine are sound enough to have a play!!
Maggie had to go home early - small child.
Minti and Ayla had a bit of a hack round the farmers block. Very nice day for it. Nothing exciting just a nice gas and giggle.

Did the OT JJ thing again. JJ coming along nicely. Doing a bit more trot work. Still a bit hesitant but not had much work coming up to Christmas - life too hectic. She is looking good - she has a very loud neigh!! Working on giving her other things to think about. Rider felt JJ was starting to feel a bit more confident - that she was lining up to be taken out for her doddle round the lane.

Went out with DH on Max this time. Max started pretty slow so about half way round told DH to have a trot / canter to ease the backside. First trot Max just picked up his walk. Second time he was off after Solly at a spanking trot. Third time there was a buck and a fart and we were off down the road at a reasonable clip. Pretty certain it was not pretty!! Think Max may have done his dash as it was a walk the rest of the way home. Still I was pleased he felt happy enough to get up a bit of speed with sufficent incentive. Think I will try upping his work and see how he copes. Ayla was a bit quieter today after her dash yesterday but not too bad.

On the plan tomorrow is hoof care - never bloody ending. Connor first on the list and Em pretty close behind him.

All in all I guess another good day. Took some photos of the girls jumping - won't put them up as I forgot to ask if it was ok with them. Still no photos of mine - I'm usually too busy working with them to take photos ... best I fix that!!

Just showers now - rained on and off most of the night. Has given the ground a good soaking. We should get out on a ride today.
Ok a bit more of a photo record. The house... looking from the horse paddocks up to the house - can clearly see I am not a gardener!! Best part about the property when we came to look at it - no garden.

The arena - amazing thing - never had one before. Certainly makes schooling more enjoyable!!

Horse paddling pool - the latest addition. With Max and Ayla going barefoot using the Strasser method, this sure beats going 1km down the road to the creek each night. Have only used it once - then the rain arrived and have not stopped since. Wish I had known earlier that a soak pit was a drought breaker!!

Horses seem to like it ok - certainly happy to stand in it. Lovely to have a few serious horse toys available. At the top of the picture you can see part of the round pen - another lovely tool to work horses with. Mostly don't have trouble catching these days - they learn pretty quick that they will end up in the pen from anywhere on the propery without me raising a sweat - they sure get a bit hot - then they figure it all out - love it!!
Ok the girls have given the word - rain radar says clear patch happening - we are off for a hack!!

OK so the kids have gone home - it has stopped raining, horses are warm and fed and I have time to play with the new 'toy'. Have been wanting to do this blog thing for a while so here goes...

I live on 10 hectares (25 acres for those of you that still think that way) with my adult daughters and my darling man. Darling Heart (DH) and have been here for 2 years. The girls have moved back home in that time from different parts of the country. We have 9 horses here at home with us, 6 dogs (way too many), 3 cats, and lots of various types of goldfish. Some indoor and some out.

Some pictures to fill out the words. Very exciting - first digital camera and first blog!!!

First up OT aka Chunkey Monkey. Xbred gelding. Approx 8 years old, sexy beast in the words of my daughter. Hard case man with attitude!!!

JJ aka Queen of Hearts. 16.3 xbred mare - by a full Clyde stallion out of a Molesworth mare. 8 years old - in the process of being backed and ridden. Was started as a 3 yo then tried as a brood mare. Conceived twins - chemically aborted and not happy to get preggers again so we have her. Starting nicely. Same daughter rides JJ as rides OT.

Connor 11 year old IH. A Wicklow out of a TB mare. Fantastic school master - photo not the best but hey I'm learning!! Solly in the back ground about to start out on a hack.

You can see from their expressions how pleased they are I have found photography!! Solly is shared between these 2 - DH would rather race than ride but happy to ride on a good day.

Ayla - first mare I have ridden in years!! 10yr old xbred approx 15.1. Has been there and done that in the past - fallen into less than idea hands and come to me as not the safest ride. Have had her about 9 months. She has gone from a frightened stressed wee horse with a spinning rear into a buck or two to check you really want to stay on to the most fantastic wee horse I have ridden in a while. Still have a bit of repair work to do. Think we are supposed to be there for some horses and I am there for Ayla.

Will try to con someone into taking some ridden photos so I can prove I can ride... either that or I will get smart enough to pull some stills off the videos I have of some lessons / comps.

I also have Max a 17HH xbred. Not the most photogenic horse I have - will have to get at least one pic as soon as the rain stops. Some of Lady and Em (the babies) too.

Currently this is our 'quiet' season. In the summer I follow DH in his race car - all is fair, he follows me round all winter to support my attempts at eventing.

The car sits still so much easier to take a photo - not yet clever enough to take any of it in full flight!!!

These are from a race night - driver in the lovely orange suit!!! Can tell I am going to have to practice the shadow thing!!

Right that is a start. Will see what tomorrow brings.

Yet another blog - may it last

Welcome - it is finally raining long enough for me to be inside to try this thing. At least the hay paddock will grow now. The horses were feeling somewhat smart after the last few drops we had, it was just enough to start the grass growing. Just been out and fed out hay and put covers on. 60mm of rain in the last 24 hours. Really good for the well - it was getting dry and the grass should grow now.

Mum, sis, bro in law and kids came for lunch. Kids had a play with the camera. Pictures not bad for a couple of tinies.

Whoops I will need to get better with the photo editing. Mum's pic is a bit dark. Kids had fun. Will send copies to their parents. Got to love digital cameras!!