The Pinky Pony

Brennan's first girlfriend arrived last week. She's a very sweet little cremello (albino) mare. He thinks she looks wonderful, she on the other hand is rather nonplussed by him. Poor Brennan.

The Container is in situ and now has a fair amount of my tack in it but is sorely in need of shelving so that is the task for the coming days. I have some shelves in the old shed but they are built in so will require Nick to 'attend' to them.

Robbie is still on the road but should reach his destination tomorrow morning around 10am so I am waiting to hear from Sheree that he has made it in one piece. Poor boy had a very long trip on Wednesday when he went to Bulls, via Wellington. I believe he was on the truck for something like 10 hours!

I have decided to pull Enya off the market once her ad runs out. With Rory's unexpected sale, I am in the wonderful position of being able to keep her. I just don't know when or if Maude will produce me another filly (and, at 21, she is no spring chicken!) and of course Reilly is now gelded so keeping her allows me to keep both bloodlines alive and as both Maude and Reilly are very special horses to me, it seems right that Enya stays on here at Talisman Farm. And, she is absolutely stunning and I would probably never be able to afford to buy myself a mare as nice in the future!! I do hope to get her under saddle and out under a deserving young rider in the coming years.

The Pinky Pony

Off to pastures new

Robbie left us this morning. I can't really write very much right now as I am pretty upset. I know that selling him was the right thing for him but his departure leaves a huge gap in my life (literally and metaphorically) and I just feel kind of empty. He was excited to see the truck because he assumed it meant he had a lady come visiting but once he realised he was going in it, he was not quite so sure. He dug his toes in a little but it didn't take long to coax him in with a bucket of mare nuts (shhh, don't tell the other boys that Robbie likes girl food!). Now he is on his way to Oamaru via half of the NI and probably a not inconsiderable amount of the SI as well - sounds like it is going to be quite a long trip for him. I hope he's ok. I will worry.

Who? ME?

A wanderin'

Bye bye beautiful boy - Love ya lots, miss ya for ever. Be good.

We must me getting something right ...

... because this week I sold a horse and he was not even on the market!

A few weeks ago I was approached by a young woman who was looking to buy a nice young horse to tuck away for a couple of years on the family farm. Having admired Rory from afar for the last 18 months, she bit the bullet and asked me if I would consider selling him. To be honest I had not even thought about selling him and, had it not been such a nice home, I am still not sure I would have considered it. But, at the end of the day, I am a horse breeder and, much as we would love to, we just cannot keep them all and, realistically, as a gelding, he was really not going to be of a lot of use to me in the future. So I said that yes, I would consider selling him and it was arranged that she drive down (quite some considerable distance, from Auckland) to meet him and we would take it from there.

The visit went well (and I am sure she will agree that I went to some lengths to try and put her off the purchase!) and my darling, sweet, gorgeous little Rory (the owner of the eye in my blog header) will soon be heading to a new home. I won't lie, I am genuinely very sad to have sold him but it is a selfish sadness borne from knowing that I am going to miss out on having his adorable personality in my paddocks as he grows up.

As a breeder it is very rewarding to have your horses in great demand. Right now I have a queue of people interested in horses that I have not even bred yet!

I still have Ror's lovely Mum (Hooty - currently back in foal to Coalmans Touch for my friend Annika) and am going to have another go at breeding her to Coalmans Touch myself to see if I can breed myself that elusive filly foal.

With Rory sold, there is less pressure on me to sell Enya and I am beginning to consider removing her from the market and buying my breeding partner out and retaining her as a future broodmare. She is a superb type and, with her mum being 21 now, I cannot guarantee I will be able to breed a replacement filly from her in the next couple of years and Enya might be my only chance. Add to that the fact that her sire is now gelded and it seems an incredible shame to have to sell her. It would be very exciting to retain her and hand her to a rider in 3-4 years time for a few years of performance and then breed some future superstars from her. We'll see... I have one interested party at present but they have yet to commit to coming to meet her and had one other person arrange to come and see her and then not turn up (or reply to texts or emails, very frustrating and, to be honest, bloody rude!). This is the side of horse selling that I do not enjoy but fortunately it is not something I have to deal with very often considering most of my youngstock tend to sell nowadays in utero or through word of mouth.

I am beginning to make my decisions regarding next season's breeding so if anyone has any specific requests, do let me know. I am hoping to put my TB mare Bella to Brennan, and this foal will be for sale (cheaper if purchased in utero), Maude back to Hamish (have not yet decided whether this foal will be for sale), Hooty to Coalmans Touch (if a colt, will be for sale) and Twinkle to Hamish (this foal will be for sale). I was going to breed Meg and was considering John Brodie but four foals is plenty for us. That said, if I can make some more definite in-utero sales, I will still consider it...

In other news (ha, how silly does that sound?!), Robbie is leaving us tomorrow. I told Sheree to ring Majestic after the NI contact for the SI company she had organised to shift him completely messed us both around (Peter Scaife, sorry but you have lost any potential future business from me as well as any recommendations!) and Majestic have come to the party and will be collecting him tomorrow morning. I am going to be very sad to see him go but am thrilled with the home he is going to and I know that Sheree and I will maintain a regular contact which makes the good bye that little bit easier (well quite a lot easier really as I know I will be kept up to date with all of his adventures and that's really important to me).

Today's job is to start organising the new tack shed which I should really go and do now - just in for a bite to eat and a drink and it's back to it!

Photos to come later today ...

It's HERE!!! I have my new tack shed!

but it's arrival took about 10 years off my life. I could not watch quite a lot of the time so the video is very much just highlights. The truck driver is a legend and the consummate professional - Am impressed, very impressed!!!

Masterton A&P Show 2010

The sun shone on Masterton for the Annual A&P show this week and today was the turn of the Heavy Horses to strut their stuff. It was pretty hot down at the showgrounds and the flies were out in force - I have never known flies like it and the horses were NOT happy!

Meg started in the turnout class and came away with a pleasing 4th place. She had poo'd all down her legs when she entered the ring which was a bit of a shame and her feather is not particularly good this year (for some reason her spats have broken short) but she looked a picture and it was a big class so nice to be placed.

The mare class was her next class and this year she was again up against Taungatara Luscar's Joanna who, of course, being the drop dead gorgeous mare that she is, won. But, as I stood on the sidelines biting my lip, I was absolutely thrilled to see the judge award Meg second place. Meg, at three, still has a lot of growing and filling out to do so it is awesome for her to be placed so well against mares so much more mature than she is. That ribbon is probably our most rewarding to date!

Footed and walking were always going to be challenge and Meg was not placed but I was pleased with the way she walked out, when she was allowed (lots of horses in the class and some not quite as enthusiastic about going forward as our Meg meant that we would often get jammed up, forcing me to hold her back). Her feet are a great shape but quite small by comparison so this let her down in the footed class.

Meg was asked to stand by for the judging of the Championship class and was called in for re-inspection but not quite ready yet. I am more than happy to be beaten by Joanna and Hamish (Taungatara Supreme's Hamish) though and the judge commented very favorably on her. It was lovely to see Hamish out again - have not seen him for many years (since we took Debi to be bred to him). I'll always be incredibly sad that Deb lost her foal by him - I am sure it would have been an absolute cracker!

Also pleasing was to see Robbie's son, Lanarkshire Amos, do well in his classes. Again, a very young gelding up against much older horses but still able to hold his own. Awesome!

Here are a selection of photos from the day:

Meg

Meg - turnout 4th

Meg - Mare class trot

Hamish

The gorgeous Joanna

Amos & Pippa

Amos

Amos

For more photos, please check out my facebook album: HERE