I'm Buggered

Started out my day at 5:30am checking all the commotion outside thinking someone must be out of a paddock with the sheer volume of the pounding hooves. They sounded so bloody close. Turns out it was just Molly and Saffy sorting out the pecking order, and Dumpy haring around his adjacent large yard/small paddock in response. Binky and Jack were also racing up and down their communal fenceline making fierce looks and gestures at each other, but everyon was where they should be, and otherwise fine.
I gave those in the yards hay, and came online briefly, cleared lastnights emails, mostly re Jack, then went out to bring Crystal in from out the back at Don's, taking Saffy out in her place. Mouse and Whisper went out into the hill paddock for the day, and hubby took Darky out the back and brought Bronson in. the days hardfeed was made up, everyone fed breakfast.
I trimmed Crystal's hooves, then a mate showed up with her big black beauty, recently off the track, but having spent long enough fattening up in a grassy paddock to have fattened up and look stunning. Only her third time on his back, and she came on him, I rode Bronson, and a friend of hers rode my Crystal out along the beach, up through the forest and the dunes and back along the beach home. Quite a few offroad motorcycles and quads out in the dunes, but the boys were impeccably behaved despite being somewhat worried. Crystal was her usual lazy unenthused self.
My mate rode Bramble before she left, who proved what a little toerag she can be by behaving herself as soon as she realised she had an actual rider on her back, rather than a hopeless kid, so we'll have to see how she goes as we bring her back into work.
I trimmed Molly's feet and washed and iodined a bit of rainscald on her back. She was an angel to trim, and with any luck will be as good when I saddle her up.
Went and checked Megan, Indi, and Toby up the road, as I am checking Megan every day for signs she is waxing up. She is due more or less any time now.
Came home, had dinner early, went and lunged Poppy, fed everyone again, brought Whisper and Mouse in for the night, and I am now about ready for bed. Tomorrow is my "easy" day as I go to town and do a morning at the Salvation Army in the kitchen preparing a lunch meal, and while everyone here still needs to be fed, only Poppy will be worked, and I'll do that in the evening.
I'm off to bed now to swot up on the rules questions for the oral part of the licensing test I hopefully will get to do on Thursday. I still have to work out how the hell I can manage to get my oldest daughter to Pony Club on Sunday afternoon, given that Poppy will probably race early in the afternoon. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it maybe, I'm sure we can work something out. At least being this busy I'm keeping out of trouble ;)

Jack Frost

Jack came home about a year ago, bought from the partner of a work friend who had had him as a petting feature at a tourist lodge.

He was friendly, but had not really had anything done with him.

I took him to PC and let him have a look around while my daughter rode her pony, and found him to be very calm.

He stared out with no problems on the lead rein with my oldest daughter aboard, and she attended a couple of PC rallies on him when her own pony was lame.

He made the transition to being ridden off the lead with ease, and spent several months with a good local instructor, being schooled under her supervision by her daughter, and several of her pupils.

He attended PC while with her, started jumping, and showed a talent, and liking for games.

He has a super ground covering walk, and genuinely forward without being a puller or taking off. His trot and canter are also reasonably quick.

He will best suit a confident child with some experience. He does not require a huge amount of talent, or skill, but is not suited to an absolute learner.

He has just been returned from trial as the people who took him decided he was too small,(I'm thinking he hadn't shrunk since he left here!?), and has unfortunately come home with a nasty skin infection on his face and ears , and 2 pressure sores on his wither, so as a consequence will be unavailable for 2-4 weeks while they heal.

I have $3500 on him, and if you come and see him and like him, 50% deposit will allow you to take him on trial for 4 weeks.

The balance is due if you decide to keep him at hte end of that 4 weeks, or if prearranged, then he can be paid off over a maximum of 6 months.

Crystal

Crystal is a mustered in Kaimanawa, (feral horse from the North Island of New Zealand's central plateau), who has spent almost her entire life since muster in a trekking establishment packing tourists and occasional riders who often had barely seen, let alone ridden a horse before, through sand dunes, forrestry, and down an open beach. She is a nose-on-the-tail-of-the-horse-in-front type that carries cargo willingly, as opposed to actual riders. She is rather lazy, and more interested in getting her head down to eat than doing any real work.

She is naturally a pretty good doer, and for most of her life has been in good weight, however we had a drought last season, and her owners failed to ensure adequate supplementary feed, which meant when we bought her 3 months ago she was somewhat underweight, in fact there was almost a clear 2" between her upper hindlegs.

She is looking much better now but still seems hollow below her point of buttock, and her neck is still not as I remember it a few years back, but I suspect it will take work rather than feed to remedy them, as it is more to do with muscling than fat cover.

She is reasonably "over" people too unfortunately,(I think I would be too given her job description for the last 8 years), and I am contemplating breeding from her this season rather than using her under saddle, and bringing her back into work once the foal is weaned, hoping she may have a change of heart in that time.

Crystal was not a cheapy, in fact is the second most expensive horse I have ever purchased, however I believe given what she has done already, and how useful she still potentially is, that she deserves a good forever home where she is well looked after.

She is not likely to ever become available for sale, but will probably be used for lessons here, if not now, then certainly in the future.

KC

KC was given to me along with her dam Gloria about 2 years ago. She came home on a cattle truck as she was 8 years old and had been more or less untouched. being a TB she had been branded early on, but other than saying hello in the paddock that was more or less it.

I haltered her, and taught her to lead, have wormed her regularly, trimmed her front feet, and she now also floats easily, thanks to some lengthy sessions of walking through my walk-through float.

She will be leaving us shortly to take up residence in Nelson, and should be the first mare to carry a foal to our perlino Section A welsh colt Binky (Brecon Bach Paladin).

Of course nothing ever goes exactly to plan, and KC having never had an injury in the time we've had her has managed to wire cut a hind cannon shortly after her move to Nelson was confirmed. This has however meant that she is now quite good about having her hind legs handled, where she has always been pretty awful about it until now.

She will depart from here once she has been scanned as in-foal, and we will be watching with interest to see the level of quality of the foal she produces.

This is what happens...

when riders spend too much time playing with standardbreds.

Saffy, taken the day I decided to try her in the rather small pony jogger with full breastcollar harness complete with breeching, rather than the standardbred gear and workcart I normally work her in. It hasn't been done since as while I find her very trustworthy, I'm not really keen on sitting quite that close to any horses arse!

I bought Saffy (Sapphire and Steel) as an unbroken project pony just over a year ago. I wasn't the first to have done so as the woman I bought her off had bought her intending to start her under saddle, but had become pregnant before getting started.

Funnily enough I discovered I was pregnant the day after I had been on her back for the second time, so again her education was interrupted. I decided rather than leave her sitting in the paddock to send her out to be backed elsewhere, and friends took her on upon her return. She was somewhat contrary and stubborn initially, and clashed with the friend who had her so I asked another friend who is a wonderful instructor with a lovely approach to green horses and ponies to take on Saffy and Jack as by this stage I was getting fairly large, and slowed down somewhat.

She returned to me following the end of my pregnancy going nicely under saddle, but I had put so much weight on I was not sure I really should ride her, and as she showed enormous interest in the workcart I had on out trotter mare when on the hitching rail beside her, I thought "Why the hell not?"

It turns out she is absolutely unfazed by the cart, has no issues with crupper, breeching, in fact any of it. I suspect she rather likes the idea of rolling my fat arse along on wheels as opposed to having to actually put up with it on her back.

When I advertised her at Trademe I added some workcart photos thinking it was an extra string to her bow, and it turns out there was far more interest in her as a cart pony than for riding.

She will be heading off to Tauranga next week for my standard 6 week trial, and with any luck will make a great little carriage pony.

A relatively productive day

We took Poppy to the track this morning for fastwork, and returned home just in time to present Saffy to a prospective buyer.

Poppy will have her first racestart back this Thursday, and Saffy will go north Monday week to embark on a new career as a carriage pony in Tauranga.

Jack returned home last night, 5 weeks into a 6 week trial, on the basis that the (non)buyer decided he was too small, and has unfortunately come home with a nasty skin infection over his forehead and ears which has originated from a fairly severe (and probably prolonged)sunburn. He also has a couple of saddle/pressure sores on his wither, so will need a few weeks off before he is marketable again. He will however be available once those issues have healed.

We will take Indi out to the alternate grazing today to get some better grass into her, and bring Molly back to start preparation for backing her.
Molly is a 14hh 4 year old standardbred bred to trot but simply too small.
Hopefully we can convince her that being a lessons pony is a far cushier life, and worth cooperating for. She is not a resale prospect as if/when we no longer want her she is to be returned to her breeder.
We picked her up a couple of weeks ago and have had her turned out on some pretty specatacular grass since, so she is looking more like a plump pony than a trotter now.

Experimental First

Testing, testing,1,2,3

Because I am too cheap, and generally too computer illiterate and incompetant to actually sort a proper website I am going to cheat and us this instead.

By the way that is Poppy taken a couple of months back, still damp from a washdown after work.