Busy weekend

We spent saturday building a footbath and drying pen for the sheep. Last year another sheep brung footrot onto the property and weve been struggling with it ever since. So now we will be able to tackle it full force and get rid of it once and for all.


On Sunday Kate and I fired Jess on the truck and went out the Rough Island. We had arranged to meet with a friend and her son and pony. They did some very nice work in the arena, then we went for a hack around the estuary and forestry. It was the first time Kate has done this off the lead rein, and they had an absolute ball. Jess didnt put a foot wrong and had her ears pricked the whole way around. They even did some leg yielding!
Not great pics as I only had my phone with me

Rugby season is nearly here again so we are busy shipping the boys to practices and games will be starting next week.

Kate and Jess have pony club this weekend. Jade is loving riding and really looking forward to her first show in June.

Thats about it from here - better run, the girls want to ride before Liam has Rugby!

We had a Very mixed weekend

On Thursday we had to make the hard decision to have Strika and Emma both PTS. They were both 13 1/2. Strika had Lymphoma, a terrible heart and was very sore and weak in the back end. Emma was sore in a front leg and had what the vet suspected was bladder cancer.

It was very hard to do, but we thought best that they went together. Strika took us all over the country with showing in his younger days and did very well. Emma was from our first litter, and did well in the ring as a baby puppy but didnt come on as we thought she would. But she was valuable to us in other ways.

On Thursday night Blake had his first rugby practice, he had a great time.

On Friday a friend and I took her 2 horses out to Rough Island and went for a ride. Was very different riding another horse (Boom is still not 100%) but great fun. The biggest horse I have ever ridden, but very very safe and is a dressage schoolmaster so I learnt lots.

Saturday night we had a mates engagement party which was fantastic, we had an absolute blast. Drunk and laughed heaps which was a great way to forget about the dogs for a few hours atleast.

On Sunday my Father and Stepmother came and stayed overnight, and the kids had a great time driving grandad around the paddocks in the buggy.

And I even did some gardening!

Jess has had the last week off, lunged her yesterday and she was full of the joys of spring. I clipped her off last week so shes feeling a wee bit frisky LOL.

What a long weekend!

On Saturday morning I decided to try something different with Booms lameness problems and get front shoes put on him. Fortunatley my farrier came out that morning and did it for us. We couldnt believe the difference! We was immediatley 90% better - no head bobbing or shortness etc.

We were due to leave for the Marlborough Inhand Show that afternoon so I quickly bathed him and tidied him up as I hadnt touched him due to not thinking he was going.

We left here in the afternoon and had a bit of drama on the way over - the truck started thudding and shaking. I thought we had a blowout as thats what it sounded/felt like, but checked tyres and they were all fine. Could see horses standing ok on the camera so started going again and it happened again. So we ended up crawling to Blenhiem at 65kms an hour with me thinking there was something majorly wrong with the truck.

We got to the racecourse where we were staying and let the ramp down, and discovered the cover rack above the horses bums had given way and a heap of covers had fallen down, mostly on Blueys butt. The thudding must have been him scrambling, and because Iwas focusing on pulling over safely when it happened I didnt see him scrambling on the screen.

Anyway I got a mecahnic out to check the truck anyway, what a great guy - he was there within 5 minutes and tried to refuse payment!

Sunday was a great day. We loaded up early and moved out to where the show was being held.

Bluey was on in the morning and he won all of his classes, went Champion Youngstock Show Pony and won the NZPBS sash. The judge absolutley loved him and made lovely comments about him. I pulled him out after the main classes as the ground was very hard and rocky and I didnt want to risk his wee legs.

Boom and Jess were on in the afternoon, Boom went Champion SB and Jess and Kate won Reserve Champ Adult Purebred in the Welsh ring.

For Supreme, Bluey was placed 3rd and got a lovely big red and black sash. Boom unfortunatley stood on a rather large rock (my fault, I shouldve looked closer at the ground) during the trot out and went lame again so that was that.

I also picked up some photos taken of Kate and Jess at Flaxbourne a couple of weeks ago, their last show in Lead rein:

Havent been on here for a while

We are getting ready for the inhand show on Sunday. Unfortunatley Boom is still lame in the trot so he will be staying at home. We have spoken to the vets and will be xraying in the next couple of weeks to try to get to the bottom of this once and for all. Im dreading the results as I know his earlier life will catch up with him at some point.
Im not sure what I will do should he not be rideable anymore. Boom wont be going anywhere but I might have to look at either buying or leasing another horse.

Anyway Bluey got a bath and tidy up yesterday and was such a good boy. He has grown alot and I think will mature top end of ring B. He is looking really good, all be it abit too round so is now on a diet.

Jess will be bathed today, Kate and Jade had lessons last night on her so have left her until today to bath.
Kate had Pony Club with her last weekend and they had a blast. They are also entered for the winter dressage series which starts next weekend. Jess is enjoying Kates new love of cantering, and almost rolls her eyes when she has to turn back into a lead rein pony for Jade and Blake.

We have made the hard decision to put 2 of our older dogs down, Strika and Emma. Both are loosing control of their bodies and it would be unfair to make them go through another winter. They are both 13 and will be PTS together.

Thats about it for now

Well we had a good weekend. We went over to Flaxbourne A & P show for Kates last show in Lead Rein. Arrived on Saturday night and got next to no sleep - no I know why the side show people are always grumpy at A & P shows, cause they are up till 2am putting the damn ferris wheel up!
Anyway Kate and Jess won all of their classes except one and took the Champion ribbon. Low entries though which was disappointing.
But they both had fun and now looking forward to first ridden.

Only one more big show for the season - Marlborough inhand in 2 weeks where we are taking all 3. Will be glad once we can relax!

Hello :-)

Well Ive finally gotten around to making a blog. I guess I will introduce ourselves and our animals. We live in Nelson and have 4 fantastic kids - Liam(9), Kate(7), Blake(5) and Jade (3).

We have 3 horses - Boom (Boomtown Digger) who is my once in a lifetime horse:

He is a multi-champion in the SB ring and has also done very well in CTR's. He is a real dude, more human than horse and great for keeping young horses in line.

Next is Jess (Punga Jess) who is a Section A welshie currently ridden in Lead rein by our daughter Kate, she is also a Multi Champion. She is a real family pony and all 4 kids ride her at home. Kate will be venturing into the first ridden ring with her from June onwards, and then Jade and Blake will be sharing her in Lead Rein also, so she will be a busy pony. Kate is also starting dressage with her and recently had their first competition, coming 4th against all adults.

And finally is Bluey (Windsor Little Englishe Man) who is our baby. He is a NZ riding pony and turned 2 in November. He has only been lightly shown inhand but has been very successful. He took out Champion Youngstock and Supreme Pony at Motueka A & P in December, Champion Youngstock and reserve Grand Champion at the Arab/welsh show in January and reserve Champ Gelding at the Nelson H & P breeders show in Feb. He is a cheeky little so and so, and gives us many laughs. He will be broken in around this time next year, and will be Kates next pony.

We also have a small flock of Suffolk Sheep who keep me busy, wouldnt be without them though

And we have 3 English Pointers, they are Strika (13), Emma (13) and Brenna (10). Needless to say because of their age they have all slown down somewhat and are now just couch potatoes. Strika (NZ Ch Pinerock Strike A Lite) was a very good show dog in his day and took us the length of the country competing. We will be getting a new puppy shortly.

Anyway thats about it for this morning :-)