Thursday 21 January 2010

Enya on the move

Today's offerings are of Enya - A couple of fairly bad videos and some photos.













Tuesday 19 January 2010

An example of why we breeders prefer to hide our yearlings ...

OK, so there is a lot not to love about yearlings. They're gorky and gangly, downhill and ewe necked, round of belly with annoyingly obvious ribs and pointy of rump and I could go on BUT there is also a lot to love about them...

We can catch glimpses of the swan that will eventually emerge once the ugly duckling down has been shed and we can enjoy their engaging and enquiring personalities as we watch them interact with the herd and, meh, who am I kidding ... yearlings and should be hidden from view, period, haha!

Here's Rory today, aged 15 months. Um, enjoy ...

Noble steed
Still my little boggle-eyed boy
Ew
Walking (and looking like he might fall over)
Red goes faster
Broad chested boy
Downhill boy trots downhill
And a reminder of just how cute he was ...



Aww, who am I kidding, he's still damned cute!

Monday 18 January 2010

The Wairarapa Welsh Pony & Cob Show 2010

On Sunday, with a good dose of stomach flu, I went pony showing. All I can really say to start is thank God for my lovely HelpX girl, Jenny! If it had not been for Jen, I doubt I would have made it and I certainly would not have been able to show Maxi. I felt (and probably looked) like death! The weather was disgusting! I mean truly hideous - it rained on and off ALL day and the southerly wind whistled around the show grounds. Blerk!!!

Maxi was such a good boy - There were a lot of ponies, and many of them were not very well behaved! In fact I can't remember being out and seeing quite so many naughty equines all in one spot! Thankfully Maxi was not one of the naughty ones and, apart from having a wee fidget and talking a bit, Maxi behaved impeccably.

First class of the day was 'Section A Gelding 4 years & over'. There were 8 in this class and Maxi was placed a very creditable and pleasing 2nd over a gorgeous grey gelding by Ascot Pernod.

Then it was a very long wait in very trying, cold, wet conditions until the next class which was after lunch and was 'Best Head Purebred Adult'. Maxi placed 4th in this class (12 entrants).

'Classic Welsh Action Purebred Adult' was the next class for us and Maxi kind of fluffed his workout and was unplaced but it was another big class with 14 entrants and I am sure he was very close to being in the ribbons.

After the action class came the colour class and Maxi was again unplaced, but, knowing what I know now, I don't think I would really bother entering him for this again - his colouring is very pretty but he has quite a few white hairs throughout his chestnut coat and, as it was 'solid' colour class and the horses that were placed were all good strong solid colours, I realise that he is probably not really a candidate.

Our final class for the day was the mane and tail class. I noticed a lot of pulled manes and banged tails on the day and was quietly confident that this might be a good class for Maxi who has a beautiful silky mane and tail. He did well and was placed 2nd although I know now to be sure and pull out any stray tail/loose hairs before putting him in the ring as it seems that this was the decider for the judge - his tail hairs came out, the winning pony's did not!










Post script: Maude scanned in foal to Hamish this afternoon - DD late November. Outside mare Lucy scanned with foals last week, one was pinched and she was re-scanned today - all good! Two more TF babies due next season, yay!