Miro gets first ride today.

So today Miro had his first official ride. I sat on him once before but, today he was ridden properly.

In typical Kaimanawa fashion he was wonderful. Horses are not complicated or difficult, its only us that make it that way. Breaking in, doesn't have to involve bucking, stress for the horse or anything magical. Timing and taking time are as always the key.

This little wild stallion was happy and relaxed through the whole process. I had my working pupil around today and he was the one who actually got to ride, i was the one on the end of the rope controlling the horse. This little horse couldn't have been better behaved, everything went smoothly and here's the photo to show or it.

Bear jumps boat

So before everybody starts to think I'm a hooligan, just galloping my wild horses all over the show, I better update on their progress.

They really are coming along in leaps and bounds, literally. I do a lot of ground work with my horses. Mainly because I don't have an arena, or a round pen and i work alone, it kind of limits what you can do to start with on a young horse. But it means I do a lot more, including jumping, so by the time I sit on them they've done everything and progress quickly.

At the moment, the ones I have left, Bear and Miro, both will jump anything, they just aren't fussed. Barrels, logs, ditches, proper jumps, they just trot up up and pop over, no stress. This is how I like it, they learn they have to jump whatever I ask, and that its not a big deal and stay relaxed and happy about it, when it comes time to compete, they don't see anything strange and stay relaxed and happy.

Little oscar, is s healthy as a horse, pun intended. Being the baby of the group, he doesn't do the jumping, more just getting brushed and handled daily. He loves his stable, and sneaks in there, when ever the opportunity arises. Like any young boy, he has been through a naughty stage, an angel for the first few weeks, he then tried nipping, and not wanting to be caught. But a few corrections, and he's back to his angelic ways. This is like anything, despite what some people want to believe, happy horses are those that know there rules, and boundaries.

Although I've already sat on one of the stallions, I wouldn't say they been ridden. That's the plan for the next few weeks, starting with Miro. In the meantime here's a video of bear jumping out in the paddock at home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2TNrA-zNPo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Ok another Kaimanawa cam update!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4QTw0STIFQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

My younger brother who hasn't been interested in siting on a horse for years, has suddenly had a resurgence in riding. So to humor him today, we went for a ride through the forest, me on my wild mare, and him on an ex racehorse. Sibling rivalry was alive and strong, and of course it turned into a race. Fern has to be the best trail riding horse I've ever had, she just picks her speed and never falters, spooks or rushes. However speedy, would not be a word used to describe her, we lost, again. But to was fun nonetheless and it was a beautiful way to spend a winter morning.

Gelding, never pretty..

Last week Bear got gelded. Im a bit slow getting this post up.Just to make all men cringe, do you know what the use to geld horses these days? A drill, just a good old building drill, with a special clamp attached.

It's not the most glamourous job, drugging a horse, rolling its on it's back and drilling its testicles off but that's just the way it is. We also checked his teeth, while he was down,he's about five years old. Happy to say it all went well, Bear's fully recovered from the operation, back to normal, minus a few bits. Thanks to our local vets who again did a great job, and got to see how well Oscar had healed up since last time.

Photography

We all have those people, that just keep crossing our path, and influencing our lives. My friend Rachel is one of those. I have known her almost twenty years, and she would be my oldest freind,we went to school together, were family friends, rode ponies together as kids, had sleepovers, and definitely had our fair share of ups, downs and dramas. We sometimes fought and
drove each other crazy, but have always stayed friends, maybe this is the true test of friendship . As even though we lost touch for a few years after high school, I always remembered her, and saw what she was doing around the world via Facebook, or bumping into her mother or sisters around town.

So it was fantastic to catch up with her a few weeks ago. Gossiping, sharing adventures and making plans to save the world. It was like the years melted away. We even found we had a lot more in common, as while Rachel is involved in lots humanitarian work, im starting to do the equivalent with animals, so picked her brains about her experiences. It got me re-inspired, and was just the mid-winter kickstart I needed.

As kids I was always a little bit crazier on horseback, but Rachel was by far and away the artistic one. No matter how much I tried to force my artistic talents out during school art class,it was never something that came naturally to me, no so with my friend, Rachel always had the better paintings and projects, making mine look like colorful scribbles in comparison. it was really exciting to see her recent venture into photography, because well, she's really good at it. I was only too happy happy to help with her photography assignments, offering my horses and self as models. it was a great day on the farm, when she turned up with the camera, and we had endless fun , trying to get horses to pose and stay still, while we stomped around In the mud like old times.

So as a thanks to her great work, and a recommendation to anyone needing photography work done here's a link to her brand new website http://rachelbanfieldphotography.com

Also a selection of photos she took during our photo-shoot on the farm

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
.

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...