Hay there!

Hay lelujah! The most stressful week on our annual farming calendar is over. The hay is in!!! It was a funny cut this year. The hay is lovely (thank God, no wet bales this year!) but we were expecting a lot more in the way of bales. After last year's appalling growing season, we still managed to get close to 500 bales whereas this year we were closer to 400 bales. Maybe they are more densely packed because they had dried better? I have no idea but right now I am just thrilled that they are in the shed. We got about 440 I think, but need to check with Nick.

Felt sorry for the contractor as he was having real baler issues but felt less sorry for him when time came to try and pick the darned bales up - the first 2/3 are quite loosely baled and were really hard to stack. Two of our helpers took very stylish tumbles off the truck as the hay decided to abandon ship! Fortunately contractor gave up with troublesome baler in the end and went and collected another. The last 1/3 are much better bales and were much easier to stack.

They were baled on the hottest day IN RECORDED HISTORY in Masterton too! We were very lucky and managed to rope in some friends to help us heave the bales and they were all, bar 35 bales, in by Thursday evening. Now I am sitting here looking at the big heavy rain clouds and just praying that they drop their load somewhere over the top of us! Somehow, goodness knows how, our house water tank is empty. We have checked everywhere for a leak but nothing so can only assume we have been using more than has fallen so, it's water restrictions for the family Wilsden or we will have to buy in water which is something I am absolutely loathe to do!

Have just got off the phone to our friend and neighbour and they're more than happy to come to some sort of arrangement to help us top up our hay cut should they have excess so that's making me feel a lot more comfortable. I like to have at least 500 bales to hand for the winter so, with a bit of luck, we will manage that.

Today's photos are of, of course, the hay (in the shed - it was so hot after baling I just could not bring myself to take photos of it in the paddock!!) and my lovely boy, Hamish.

Bay 4

Bay 3 Bay 2Bay 1AirbornPretty faceG'day Come here HamyGliding

Lagan and Aimee at Equest PC Teams Event - Final Day

I'm so proud of my boy and of Aimee! What a lovely team they make. Unfortunately an expensive and silly rail in the SJ (norty boy Lages, I know the jumps were quite small but really, you could've picked up those hooves!) saw them drop a few places (they were 3rd in the dressage) but an overall placing of 12th is fantastic! The Heretaunga team finished 5th out of 19. I have some stills of the SJ round but am still trying to figure out how to get them off Gwen's camera!

Focus and concentration before their round

Team sash
All done
Trotting a lap
Lagan's future mount perhaps?
Video of the round

Lagan and Aimee at Equest PC Teams Event

What a treat today was (aside from the 35 degree temperature!) as Aimee and Lagan were down here to compete at the Equest Pony Club teams event at Clareville. They did a very nice dressage test for a score of 23 and best placed of their team after dressage.

XC was hot, hot, hot. Gwen and I hid under the shade of a tree the entire time and nearly died of heat exhaustion so I hate to think how those poor riders were feeling, not to mention their horses! Lages was a star, of course. Clear XC with Amy just taking the one option at the water to be safe.

So, going into the show jumping tomorrow, Aimee's team are in 5th place overall and Aimee and Lages are lying 6th individually (88 competitors - not bad going!). I am supposed to be going down to the show jumping to support but am terrified I will jinx them.

Here are some pix:

My handsome boy Enter at 'A'

Canter
Pretty as a picture
All done - Nice job
Splash down

Roll top

The chair - giving it a little air!

Video

Little Bo Peep

has lost her sheep. But I found them today!

Silver Fern Captain Courageous

Watch this space! Stunning sport horse in Australia - FOR SALE!

Just set up this blog to advertise my friend Deb's horse in Australia.

San Barbados - One of my lifetime horses!

Nine years ago I bought a 19 year old semi-retired Eventer/Show Jumper for Nick to hunt. His name was San Barbados and he was by well respected sire of jumpers, Superstud. I had someone I knew look at Bados for me and confirm that he would be ideal for our needs and, within a few days, Bados was here. Bados never really got the chance to be Nick's hunter because I stole him off him when my horse at the time, Murphy, went lame. That, as they say, was that! Bados and I have done heaps together, jumping to 1 metre and generally having a blast and he's spent time with friends of ours being a schoolmaster as well. He's had a quiet couple of years now but he's still loving life and getting ridden semi-regularly.

Bados is quirky, far from perfect, full of his own self importance and can be a real ratbag at times but he is also just about the most fantastic horse I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. He celebrated his 28th birthday on the 1st of January 2009 and today we cleared out some cobwebs and Gwen and I went for a wee ride around the farm on Bados and Strawberry. Gwen is from Bremen in Germany and is with us for a week. It's really nice to have someone around to ride with and I think we all had a lot of fun - unfortunately the camera batteries went flat so only two photos.

Yehar'ing!

Posing