Off to India

Life is going to be a whole new level of crazy soon. In three days I'm off to India, not for a holiday but to work with animals again. Specifically working animals and help educate locals into better animal welfare practices. It's going to be as little crazy...

So before I go I thought I'd give everyone an update on the wild horses which I have been so slack at writing about recently. I feel like I've almost got my own little herd of them currently. With Bear, Fern, Matariki, Oscar, Sonny, Shy Boy and Miro was here until a week ago, I still see Matai a lot to. So from the top heres a little bit about them all.

Bear who has been ten months out of the wild, is still a quirky little horse. Tame, and well mannered, he still has days where everything scares him. But he copes more and more. Hes good for the farrier, and has had his teeth done by the dentist, and accepted it all happily, I can ride him, and handle him as i would any other horse, but he much more alert and tense than the other ones. New people sometimes scare him to. But deep down in his tense soul Bear is a lover, he nays to you as you go past the paddock and will come and present himslef  for a scratch, not cuddly like the other but a quiet slow backscratch while he's loose in the paddock, and he's a happy horse.

Matariki, the newest wild pony, is gorgeous, and a genuine sweetheart. He's gone from being a nervous, worried creature, to completly relaxed and one of the quietest horses on the property. I've ridden him and worked with him a lot , and he just have the most beautiful attitude always so focused and dying to please, a quick learner and super intelligent as well. Currently one of my favorites to work with.

Oscar, just continues to be the most relaxed, quiet and easy of horses. The horse that is every little girls dreams as he just loves cuddles and attention he stands around happily relaxed for hours while he's showered with affection.

Sony is huge. He arrived from the 2010 muster still in his mother belly, and was born on the farm. Fern, his Mother was big for a wild horse, and Sonny is even bigger at only two years old. He's also a very polite and well mannered young boy, his mother did a good job raising him. He is a sweet and stoic chap, who all the ladies want for themselves as a riding horse when he's older.

Shy boy is only here on a diet as his owner is grazing one of my horses that needs fattening up. He is the moivie star, with the longest, thickest flowing mane and tail, dark mohangy coat he's one handsome boy. Still shy, but lovely to handle and not wild at all.

Fern, my lovely grey mare is sick. She's missed almost the whole competition season battling a lung infection, that keeps reacurring. I'm hoping I've finally healed her with yet another course of antibiotics. It's been scary though, the hottest driest summer I can remember and my tough, stoic little mare sounds like she's breathing through a water filled hose, a gurgling rasping sound. Fern is never sick, never lame, never has a bad day, so to watch her cough and gurgle for months is not a nice thing.

Miro & Matai from what I've heard and seen are both doing excellant. Both have gone to fabulous little girls who love them and are doing a great job riding them. I'm really excited to watch there success in the future.

Miro's Story

Selling horses is awful. Once they leave, the horses are out of your control forever, endless hours of training,time and effort passed into the care of someone else. New owners can be a nightmare as well, because no matter the training, and how good the horse was when it left you care, horses are animals and there behaviour depends largely on the way they are handled and ridden, they react to the people and there behaviour can change quickly and suddenly, ending up not to be exactly how the new owner wanted. Dealing with irrate new owners is horrible!

But today for one of the first times in my life, I'm truly excited to have sold a horse. Miro has gone to a new home. A beautiful farm home, with a little girl to love and ride him. Even better I know his new owners well, they have brought a horse off me before, and taken marvelous care of it, I'm sure they will do the same for Miro.

But I think there is even more to this that I find lovely and heart warming. The  girl came to see the wild horses when they arrived ten months ago from muster. Since then she has been saving every penny, her weekly pocket money and anything extra from doing odd jobs and put it into a fund to save for a Kaimanawa pony. She wanted to save a wild pony to.

Miro wasn't actually on the market at all,  I was going to keep and compete him before selling, but when I heard these people were looking for a new pony, I new it would be a perfect home, and to good an oppurtunity to pass by. They were actually looking for a more experianced pony, and I'd told them about another one I had. So they came to look at both, and trying not to sway there descision I kept quite to which I wanted them to buy. They came back twice unable to make there mind up...

But luckily in the end it was Miro who stole there hearts. I think he will be a perfect fit, the kid is a kind compassionate and capable rider and Miro is a a laid back, easy going, but talented fellow. He's come along way in ten months, adapting and excelling domestic life.

So the kid paid for some her new pony, while the parents made up the rest, and I know she was super excited about getting to ride and train her own wild pony! Which I think is really sweet.

For his last day on the farm I let him wander where he pleased as a special treat. Thinking that he would graze the lovely green grass on the driveway. But he didn't, he took himself up to his stable, and stood in his favorite spot, peering through a gap, and watching the coming and goings of all that happens on the farm. He hung out ther by choice all day, every so often coming out just to check the the feed bins were still locked, or having a sniff and a cuddle. Before I loaded him up adm took him to his new home.

A very excited girl met me, and Miro just casually stepped off the trailer looked over his new surrounding before going sticking his head down to graze. I stayed around and took a few photos as the girl took him for his first ride. Miro really couldn't have looked more relaxed about the whole situation.

It was a nice feeling when I left, to know that there was a happy kid and happy pony. I can't wait to watch there progress and I'm sure I'll be seeing more of them, as they are already booked in to come in riding camp in April.so for for the first time ever it's really nice to feel excited about selling a horse. Now to get working on the rest of the wild ponies sitting in my paddock!

Here are some photos, some at his new home and the other from when he arrived.

Muster

You  never stop learning. It doesn't matter what you do, what your profession is, there is always more to know and discover.

In the last few years, I've worked with wild horses, show horses, kids ponies, riding horses. I've run riding camps and worked in some of the top barns in Europe and here in New Zealand. But there is still much more, and so many aspects of horsemanship left for me to discover.

I  just spent the last four days mustering horses in some of the remotest parts of the country. Crossing rivers, climbing mountains and taking a herd of horses where I never thought any horse could go. I learnt a lot, and a lot of what I already know came in handy over four very exhausting days. 

Most importantly that cans of Nestlé condensed milk and coffe in one, are life saving on the mornings you wake up underneath a tree. Sweet goodness & caffeine in one hit equals bliss!

I learnt what is really involved in mustering a herd of horses, from horse back, with dogs and more people on foot. There we little things I understood but wouldnt have thought to do, that made the whole operation run smooth. Like leaving a shirt hanging from a tree to stop 30 horses taking a wrong path .

Some of it wasn't pretty, but I understood for the job at hand how it worked. One or two horses in the mob, most likely to want to run, or turn, or cause genral chaos were roped and haltered and made to drag ropes on the way out, so if they ran they  would stand on the rope and it would slow them down, stopping them form setting the whole herd stampeding,essesntial in areas where your negotiating a goat track along a cliff with no room for error.

Something i knew but came  even more apparent to me, not all aspects of horse riding cross over. You may be able to ride a beautiful workout in the showring but doesn't mean you know how to ride a horse down a mountainside. They are different things, although in the perfect world you should be able to do both. There are some really good riders I would never let do the sort of riding I did the last four days, because they wouldn't know how to do it.

I was lucky I grew up riding across farms and taking my ponies across what I thought until this weekend was steep hills, and deep swamps. I know a horse knows best where it's feet are, and on that kind of country the horse is best left to its own devices, leave its mouth alone and it will negotiate the trail just fine. To many times a rider tries to interfere and more than anything unbalances the horses. However this is someone a lot of riders theses day don't have any experiance with and don't know how to do.

Horses are tougher than we realize to, I rode a borrowed horse and it was a 32km hike out, and that little mare, with her four month old foal tagging a long, carried on just fine. Climbed up landslides, along goat tracks and swam rivers, never got upset , never wore herself out, just got the job done and was ready to do it all again the next day. Working animals like dogs and horses,  i think are actually some of the happiest animals you come across and certainly the most no nonsense.

Anyway here's a couple of pictures from my adventures more to come

National tv

Hey everyone, I know I've been slack on the blogging front lately but here's a little video that aired on national tv last week about some of the work I've been involved with during the previous twelve months, and yep I even mak an appearance in some photographs....

http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/police-dog-handler-s-overseas-role-video-5345444

The new wild one

It's been a busy summer, running riding camps, trying to keep my horses in work, organize the next trip overseas, which involves all the, normal travel stresses plus the added headache of fundraising for vet, farrier and dental supplies for the animals we will be caring for. There is  my normal business to run on top of this, I'm not really complaining its been a great summer, but having a spare second to sit down and type anything has been non-existent.

So now on a rainy Monday morning I finally have the chance to tell everyone a little bit more about Matariki, my newest wild horse.

Matariki did not come straight from the wild to me. He was mustered two and a half years ago, and ended up much further south down the country from me. I don't know the exact details, but as a freshly mustered colt he was far to wild for the people who adopted him. I can only imagine what he must have been like, he's a a horse with a lot of presence about him, the looks of a mustang and coming straight from muster, terrified of people, with a snort that sounds like a gun going off, I can see for someone with less experienced he would have been a bit intimidating.

It wasnt  working out where he was, there was talk of trying to tranquilize him as a means to tame him. Luckily others intervened and Matariki changed hands. A man managed to start handling him and did some basic work with him, so Matariki became a little less wild. Eventually he changed hands again and the wonderful people of the Kaimanawa Hritage Horses took him under there wing. He got lots of patient love and care, and this is where I herd about him, so eventually he's made his way up north to me. 

Although I heard a lot about him, the first time I saw him he was coming off the back of transport truck on my driveway. The  thing that struck me about this horse, is that he has presence, something that's hard to quantify exactly what it is, an elusive x-factor that makes you stand up and take notice,and draws your eye to that particular animal even when in a herd of others. Even his stance said "look at me , here I am" but had an edge about it, a wildness that showed any wrong move and he might decide to leave the area, quickly.

The truck driver handed me the lead rope and like every other wild horse before him, Matariki had to make the long first walk up the driveway onto the farm. For a horse that looked so wild, the whole way he stuck to me like glue, and anything that scared him, instead of turning and fleeing, he just snuck in closer to me and kept walking. Through a flock of the neighbors peacocks, chickens and ducks, across the creek and up the hill, he was great, mostly taking everything in his stride. Like a horse that been doing it his while life he marched straight into his new stable and settled in for the night.

Mostly he's been a dream to be with, every so often you'll hear a sound of a gun popping but myself and every other horse on the property has now learned its just Matariki letting the world know he's seen something suspicious. The snorts are seldom heard anymore anyway.

At first I couldn't put my finger on the  exactly what the issues were surrounding this little horse. He galloped around the the paddock like a completely wild thing at times before walking straight put to you and putting his head in your chest. From the moment the lead rope was on him he was by your side and the most attentive little horse in the world. To work with he was highly intelligent, willing and quick, and seemed to really enjoy it. Again when he did the right thing, he would let out a huge sigh of relief walk up to you and press his head against you.   He wanted security and yet was quite bold and afraid at the same time. Terrified of things behind him, yet turn to face it and walk right up to investigate what ever had just previously startled him. Something about him was so familiar though.

When I thought about to though, I realized that this horse was sjust like one of the stallions from last muster. Shy Boy, the wildest, spookiest and with that same presence,  but when he was haltered for the first time, melted and completely turned to humans for support and comfort, and became the most attached of all the stallions to people. Matariki would have been just like Shy, but unfortunately had a few bumps in the road to complicate things.

Horses are amazing animals, and Matariki is quickly adapting, once he learnt the rules and got over some of his anxiety he was happy out in a group of kids and ponies all going in ten different directions around him, calmly and happily allowing them to all come up and pat him.

Although its been a bit crazy around here I hope to get on with training and over the next few Matariki will begin his career as a ridden pony, for all his quirky way this is one Kaimanawa I absolutely love and think will be something very special in the future

Changes

When your used to seeing something everyday, you don't notice the gradual changes. Day by day littles thing happen, and they slide under your radar, maybe you notice but are oblivious to the whole picture changing, until some big event occurs to make you sit back,think and realize how big some changes have really been.

Last night I was unloading a small chestnut horse in the moonlight. The little horse just calmly backed himself out of the trailer and quietly walked back to the paddock with me. I took the halter off and he just stood there for a while as I scratched his neck and said goodnight.

This little horse takes everything in his stride, nothing to get upset about, calm, quiet and stoic, seems to be his motto. He's not stupid either but seems more to think about what's going on, weigh up the situation and react in a way that seems most logical to him. This scrawny little pony, who is still a baby at two and half, manages to bring this calm attitude and comfort to the horses he's around as well. So much so that he quite often is used as the baby sitter for the more brainless or highly strung horses on the property, despite his young age.

Over summer we have had School holiday horse camps on the farm, meaning each week a gaggle of giggling girls descend on us with their horses, for a week of riding, horsemanship and fun. One activity has always been to give some of the horses on the place a makeover. Washing, shampooing, brushing, hair spraying, plaiting, makeup (on the horse) and shining, the whole nine yards. Generally I don't use young horses for this, due to their unpredictability. But the little chestnut was different, and even though he's only ever had one person handle him before, stood quietly while a group of girls worked on him with brushes from all angles. He even seemed to enjoy it standing quietly and delicately sniffing the tops of the girls head as they crouched down scrubbing his white socks.

The reason though that I was unloading a horse with only the moon for illumination near the midnight. Is the little chestnut pony, is baby sitter to my colt, they are the same age, but the chestnut seems infinitely more calm and wise. So when the young stallion had to go on his very first ride in a truck to visit some girls, the pony went with him for support. While the colt trembled and worried about getting in the truck, the pony walked on and stood quietly waiting. Because of the pony the colt traveled beautifully, not even breaking a sweat. Arriving at the new place the huge young stallion at almost twice his size clung to the pony's side for security, and together they got to meet the girls, who completely intimidated the colt but not the pony.

We waited a few hours until the colt settled in his new surrounding. Loaded up the pony, and drove home again.

It was unloading in the dark that I really thought about it. This little chestnut pony, less than a year ago was a colt running wild. Eight months ago he was mustered off the mountains, put on a cattle truck and arrived on my doorstep. Six months ago he was still recovering from a massive head wound. Now he's the most trusted horse on the property, who is fussed over by little girls, babysits stallions, and goes on moonlit rides in horse trucks.

I never noticed before but little Oscar has come a long way.

Summer fun

Had to share this with everyone. There is more than one reason to have well trained horses, it not just to win ribbons at horses shows.

But so when you come up with crazy ideas like taking your horse to the beach and towing a wakeboard behind it, you can.

This is my best friend, her dressage horse, me and my dog at the beach on the weekend. Life couldn't get much better really......