TF Life O'Reilly

Now that Kim has her truck back on the road I don't think there is going to be anything much stopping her and Reilly from getting out and about. So exciting! I am so happy to see Reilly being ridden so beautifully by Kim and I know he is in the most wonderful hands with her.

If you are new to the blog you may not know who Reilly is so here is a very brief bio:

Reilly is by Mighty Heights and out of a TB mare by Light Spirits called What a Lark. Reilly was born here at Talisman Farm in October 2004. There is a bit of a story behind Reilly's arrival and first few months, which you can read HERE.

Reilly remained entire until he was five years old and bred four lovely foals. I have retained one, Enya, who is out of my Kingsway Diamond mare, Maude. I hope she will have a performance career before coming home to be a broodmare.

Reilly now lives in Wellington with a friend who absolutely adores him. It seemed a waste having him sitting here in the paddock with me being such a numpty rider and I could not bare to sell him so Kim has him for as long as she wants him and he can come home and be a schoolmaster for Amy or even for me when she is done with him.

Last weekend Kim was able to take Reilly to their first competition - A one day event at Battle Hill. It was the first time he had been out since he was a three year old colt and I took him to a couple of unregistered dressage competitions (where he did very well) and he was a star for her. He did a very nice dressage test followed by a very green but extremely honest xc and then another green but honest SJ round to end up in overall second place - Not a bad start! If you have a facebook account, you should be able to view the video's below although you may have to join the Talisman Farm Group first - I have not quite worked that out.

Dressage

Cross Country

Show Jumping

and then today he went to his first gymkhana where he won the paced and mannered class and was second with Kim in the rider class (they just entered the two flat classes). Then he did a few rounds of Show Jumping where he showed his enormous heart and sweet nature by jumping round clear. There is a video below of one of the SJ rounds (not sure of the height). I think I see a bit of a future in show hunter ...

Show jumping round at Makara PC Gymkhana

I am super proud of my little Reilly and his clever rider - I am also very excited to see what they can achieve together. I hope to get to a few competitions in the coming season to get photos too.

Photos of Ailbhe today - Three weeks old tomorrow and getting more and more gorgeous with every passing day!!

Glenbriar Double Delight (shown three times for a Reserve, 2 x Champions and a Supreme) arrived on Sunday and came into season yesterday. She was served today and will be served again on Sunday, teased on Monday and, if receptive, served again. Tinks is by Apsley Backchat and out of a TB mare and is a full-size pony.

Glenbriar Double Delight - Tinks

In the coming week both Hooty and Cindy are due back in season - finger's crossed both are in fact in foal and will not return. We will have some scanning to do next week! Grand Prix SJ mare, Pukeake Hine who came down a couple of weeks ago should also be ready to scan next week so finger's crossed!!!

Pukeake Hine

Brennan goes to a Ribbon Day

Today Brennan, Karen and I trundled down to Solway for a dressage ribbon day. Brennan was entered in tests 1.5 and 2.2 (his first time doing either test and first time doing 2nd level). The weather was absolutely stunning - too hot really but lets not complain, we have had some pretty bad weather lately so this made a lovely change.

Brennan handled the step up to level 2 quite well, although he did lose canter impulsion towards the very end of the test which resulted in an accidental canter over the arena planks - Oops! He had never been in the sand arena either so was a bit looky but there were some really nice moments in the test so we were pretty pleased with him.

Test 1.5 was the afternoon test - It is a long test that feels like it is never going to end! There was a minor course error in a trot movement towards the end of the test and Brennan was possibly lacking a little bit of sparkle (it was HOT!) but he was very obedient and did everything he was asked and the test flowed very nicely - we could not be happier with him. He scored 69.5% and 2nd place in a class of 23 (he was the only pony) - AWESOME work Karen and Brennan!!

I have videos of both tests which you can view on Youtube here:

And, here are a selection of photos:










Well done Karen and Brennan! Another super day out.