Kaimanawa camera

I have always loved working with horses, as do most people who start in the industry. However the world of equines, especially when you get into the professional and competitive side of things, is pretty fraught with drama, intrigue, and politics. What to outsiders seem like pretty trivial issues( how you shoe your horse, training methods, using bits, breeds, disciplines,competitions, results etc etc) can between opposing membears of the equine community become more heated than a debate between differant religious parties. Consequently you can run into a lot of opininated, sour, scary, and shameless self promoters, within the industry.I'm pretty open minded and sit on the fence about a lot of issues, try to listen to all sides and make my own mind up on what I think is best for me.

However navigating through the murky waters of trying to run a buisness, make money, do what's best for the horse, riding competitively,and trying to not make to many enemies, I sometimes run out of time to enjoy the things that led me down this career path. It's a competitive industry, and in a recession where everyone is struggling, it can be a bit cut throat.So any moment I have to go back to just enjoying my horses I treasure, and it alway reminds me why I continue working with them and gives me the strength, to smile and ignore any of the bullsh!t that I come across, when I I'm sloggin away, to earn a few dollars the rest of the time.Today was one of the "let's go out and enjoy it" days. I had my two original wild ponies back and went for a ride on the beach all day, I felt like a kid again, some local boys on their horses challenged us to a race, and we couldnt resist. Galloping headlong down the beach with sand splattering in your face as you try to overtake, is just as fun and adrenaline packed as it ever was. I know I'm adult, and another year older as of yesterday, but I was in no mood to be responsible,or set an example, I'm never one to turn down a challenge either, the teenage boys may have had the faster horse, but I think we all came away pretty happy! Jumping you horse over driftwood logs washed up in the sand, has equally not lost is appeal. I'm going to introduce what I'm now calling "Kaimanawa cam" thought I'd try and share the fun of the day...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzPyK511TBQ&feature=plcp
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Differances

So as per usual for this time of year, when I have lots of horses that need breaking in and training, I'm trapped unable to ride or do much outside, due to the constant rain. Not that I'm a delicate flower, and just don't want to get wet, its that the mud is so deep it literally sucks the boots off your feet to walk in it, and even feeding t hay you come inset splattered head to toe in the wet, sticky, freezing stuff. Not having an arena, there is no point riding on the paddock as it rips whatever grass may be left to shreds, and it's more like slipping and sliding across the surface than it actually constructive riding. So I'm left moping around the farm catching up on other chores, or sitting inside trying to do bookwork. Which means blogging time.

It's hard to get my head around the differance between the five stallions from this muster, and the mare and stallion from the 2010 muster. The
condition of the horses, the state of their hooves, the amount of internal parasites, the list goes on. Why are there such differences? Is it just good management of the wild herds, and having there numbers down, or was it just a particularly good season on the ranges. The thing is I don't go to the muster, so I don't see all the horses that come in, or where they come from,maybe If I did I would have a better idea, I'm not sure.

Two years ago, I could not beleive how skinny the horses were when they arrived at my yards. The little stallion was literally skin and bone, while the mare had a big belly from pregnancy, she certainly wasn't carrying any extra weight anywhere else on her body. Yet this year, all the boys arrived in really good shape. Bear you could see his ribs, but he definetly didn't look to be starving. Its nice to see the horses come off the range in such good shape, there's no point in allowing them to be wild if they are only barely surviving from year to year, but these five boys clearly had thrived.

People go on and on, and get really heated,about how bad domestic horses feet are, and how wild horses have the ideal hoof. I scoffed to myself two years ago, when both horses had such terrible feet, not at all the ideal foot, or a good model for how a horses hoof should look. In fact the mare was lame within a week of arriving, and each of her hooves was misshapen and split into three sharp claws, looking more like a set of talons than anything equine. But, this year the five boys have really good tough feet, not perfect, one or two of them have hooves that flare outwards, but nothing dramatic, they look like how you envision a wild horses feet would be from runing on the moutains. Why the differance? Is it because they were mustered from differant areas? Maybe this years lot were form a rockier area, meaning the hooves got worn down more and stayed healthier? Or does it just have to do with better genetics? Overall health in general?

These horses didn't have near as many worms, as two years ago, or any lice at all. Again I'm not sure the reason, or which came first, they have less parasites so they are healthier, or they are healthier anyway so not so susceptible to parasites?

It's really interesting to me all these differences, and why it's like that? Its something that intrigues me, is it just that I maybe got really skinny horses last time, maybe they weren't all like that, or maybe they were, but now that there is less population pressure two years later the horses are healthier. Maybe they were just captured form a different area? Or was it really just a good year and in two years we are going to see skinny horses again? I would love to know more, about this, i may have to do research into it over winter, someone somewhere surely has some stats and information about his kind of thing??

It does remind you though to not make judgements to quickly or without the right information, two years ago, I had a very different opinions as to how the horses were coping in the wild, now I would save they are thriving, two years ago that would not have been my answer.

So see if you can tell the difference between the condition of this years horses and 2010s horses...

Sad goodbyes

These are the two faces that greet me every morning, and today might be the last time I see them together. Miro and Shy Boy, two of the stallions from this years muster, wild less than a month ago, could give a clock lessons on timekeeping, they are waiting at their gate, at the top of the hill, every morning on the dot, to be brought into the stables. Horses are creatures of habit, and like to stick to a routine, and these boys do that without fail. Every morning when I go to catch them I have a little smile, looking at these two eager faces, and can't believe that these are my wild boys, I don't think they would match the image of a wild stallion in anyone's imagination. Most people think I'm joking too, they cant be wild,as both these boys come straight up as soon as they see people,then especially with Miro, wearing his bright green cover, at least the other stallion, has his wild mane showing, small proof that his heritage lies in the rugged mountains of New Zealand's central plateau.

But today I'm kind of sad, Shy Boy is due to leave for his new home, and he is a horse I really love and will miss greatly. It's a funny thing, but the nice easy, straight forward horses, the Miro, of the world are the ones that fly under the radar, quietly achieving, and surpassing expectations, with little fuss, I've even sat and ridden Miro around the paddock. But it's the unusual ones, the challenges of the equine world, I seem to grow most attached to.

I'm not sure why, maybe because they teach us more, or we feel stronger emotions with them. But when I start talking to people about this years wild stallions it's Bear and Shy Boy, that I go on and on about, the ones that spring most vividly to mind.

Shy Boy especially, I love, not that I don't love them all, just that, if I had to pick one, he stands out. He's has changed so much, and is such an emotional, expressive horse, you get a lot out of working with him. The super aggressive stallion, is now the sweetest, mildest, politest and most affectionate horse I know. Out of all my wild horses, you get the sense that this horse wants to be with you, not for food, or a dry stable, just that he craves the leadership and companionship we offer. So when he goes this afternoon, I really will miss him, and will be genuinely sad to see him go, as horses like this don't come around very often, any interaction you have with them should be cherished

One of the stallions went to his new home last week, i got his new owner to write up a little bit about him, and her experiences.

I have for many years wanted a kaimanawa pony, but was worried what i was going to get myself into. Then when Chloe had a amazing offer to get the pony delivered to her house and do the 1st handling with it, I jumped at the chance.

The suprise of not knowing what you would get was quite a buzz. I went up a few times to vist my ponies progress and each time i was so suprised at how far he had come in such a short time, Many thanks to Chloe's great horsemanship.
I picked him up on wed he travelled like a dream, Got off the float to be greeted by 5 excited people and he didnt bat a eyelid so much better than my domesticated horses when arriving at a new place it was AMAZING I was prepared for chaos.

He has been with me less than a week and i have taken him over things, on things, through things,that you just couldn't do with a normal horse for the 1st time. The wild ponies just take everything in their stride, never say no, and never bat a eyelid even when you ask them to go strange places (like on the deck). He now follows me in the paddock, comes running for his hard feed has sussed the feed shed (they are very smart). Im in love with them.
Will definitely be getting another from the next muster im sold on the wild ponies.

This is why I love working with wild horses, taking a horse that was wild and turning into a calm domesticated horses with a future, this is the goal happy people and happy horses. It is so rewarding when it goes like this. Great for the wild ponies as well the more people that love them, the more that can be saved.

Here are some pics of this pony, from arriving in the stockyards,to exploring the front deck of his new home.

Another rainy day...time fo an update on the action.I have caught up with some truly inspirational people in the last few days. Old freinds and people, I known but have never actually had time to meet properly. Since being in Egypt, where the poeple I met and worked with there, really inspired, it's been great come into contact with more people closer to home that are equally inspirational.

It's been a busy week. The wild horses have been in photo shoots, filmed for a documnetry, and one little stallion has finished his time with me and gone off to his new home. My Sunday afternoon was spent showing visitors around and letting them meet the wildboys, who loved all the attention and extra food, and were very un-wild looking. This is the goal though, to be able to show, in as many ways possible what fantastic horses these are. I have always want to show, how good these horses can be, and last week went a long way to proving that.

I am really passionate about good horsemanship. Not just good riding, or being competitive, but understanding and working with your horse, for the benefit of the horse. I hate seeing unhappy and misunderstood horses, being blamed for everything, it grates my nerves like you would not believe.This is part of the reason I started writing this blog, I wanted to show that horses do not come with all these "problems" that people think are normal for horses. They are not bad, bastards, idiots, mean, or naturally crazy, they don't sit in the paddock and plot ways to piss us off either. They are just horses, and react to what goes on around then. but we change their natural behaviour so much, or don't learn to understand them and we cretes all these problems, which really is how I make my money "fixing" problem horses. If some of these behaviour problems I come across, which people always blame on the " that's just the way the horse is", why don't the wild horsess come with these same problems? Don't get me wrong, the wild horsess could develop all these problems through bad handling, very easily, and very quickly. But they don't come with them, those are things people create in them.

So when I got the chance to sit down and talk with a girl, who is filming a documnetry about the wild horses, it was like a breath of fresh air, to talk to someone who has really similar veiws to mine. Interestingly enough I've known, and admired these girls, that are making the documnetry for years, we are about the same age, with a similar background, we live in the same area and probably all grew up, spending our days on horse back, growing up training our own horses. They were on tv a few months back, and there approaches to training and breaking in horses are very similar to mine. We both break in horses bareback first, as oppose to more traditional methods, and they like me want to produce happy, sensitive horses that's start their life riding across farms and beaches, before going on to specialize in other disciplines. In fact I saw photos of them taking there horses to the beach for a first ride, and it reminded me of doing a similar thing with Matai the little wild stallion two years ago...

So it was really nice to have them come up and film, my wild stallions, and interview me about my thoughts and opinions. Although it was really nerve racking being filmed, and trying to remember what your talking about and to look at the camera etc, it was all really good fun, and the wild stallions behaved themselves once they got used to the camera.

Shy Boy is the photogenic one, looking every but the wild stallion with his poise and thick flowing mane, and got to be filmed quite a bit. Bear has progressed in leaps and bounds and wasn't worried about the camera at all, being very brave and coming to sniff my face as I was talking, for him the is a actually a huge breakthrough as any interction is an improvement, on him being very introverted,and terrified of the world.

It was really inspirational to hear these girls goals for there documnetry and how they want to portray the wild horses, as it was like talking to myself in someways. They are doing exactly what i wanted to do, two years ago, but they have three working together filming and training, as oppose to just me alone.How they want to take them from the wild, and produce them into show horsees, and just in there approach to horsemanship, they are very similar. They even got permission to go and film ther muster, which will be great footage and will be able to show people what really goes on.

Was great talking to them about the muster process, to see that both them and myself are passionate to do even more to help next muster, and are already planing how to home more horses. I think it's fantastic that they doing it, can't wait to see the results. It's definetly a documnetry that need to be done, and I'm actually really pleased it's some local girls, who are really good horsewoman as well as film makers who are doing it. Cant wait to see the finished product!

Photo I love

Again so busy, don't have time to write, but really want to share some pictures of life on the farm with the wild horses .... And also of photo of me demonstrating how to get a horses attention, so they will pose for the camera.. Thanks to my amazing friend who came out and took these photos, if anyone wants a photographer, email me and I will pass on her details!

Just to add to the last post

Just thought I'd add to the last post, this is Shy Boy with his owner. He such a sweet horse, he had his first loading lesson today and happily walked straight into the horse trailer. Pleasing his owner no end. She's a really good horse woman like I said previously, and I think it's fantastic she can come work with him, and experience how easy these horses are to train first hand.
Anyway took a quick picture of
Shy Boy with his new mum thought it was nice to share and maybe you can see why I'm so happy with the home he's going to... They just look like friends, I think