Snorkel is for sale. It is time for her to find a new home with a confident young rider who will produce her further and give her the opportunity to be the superstar we know she can be - Judging by these most recent photos, she has a great future ahead of her! She has just spent a week with the ladies at Eventstars (highly recommended thoroughbred rehoming program - We currently have Charlie, a lovely Volksraad filly, sourced through them) where she has been put there her jumping paces. I have stolen all these photos from Eventstars!
Snorkel (TF Special Delivery) is a 5 year old 14/14.1HH crossbred pony by TF Hamish and out of Glen Cree Liberty High (Tyn-E-Cae-Rival x Seamist of Miltondale/Rosevean Master Mcredy). If you are interested in more information, please contact Amy. And, if you buy her, please stay in touch with me!!!!
Today Caitlin and Snorkel (TF Special Delivery) had their very first ridden competition. Five months under saddle and Snorkel is out in the big wide world and showing everyone that not only is she ready but she's more than capable of getting her boogie on and being super competitive too! What a fantastic start! I can't wait to see what this pair get up to together - I have a feeling that this is going to be a very special partnership. Yay!!
Today I was sent these beautiful photos of Snorkel and Caitlin by Caitlin's mum, Amy. These images were captured by the talented Debbie Stevens of Debbie Stevens Photography. It's so lovely to watch these two progress. Love my Hamish babies!
Today Ailbhe was feeling very fresh on the lunge and each transition was accompanied by a squeal of glee from himself. In the end I just unclipped the lunge line and let him have some fun. Here's the result.
Note, no jumping lane or feed in poles, just the jump which he jumped, from both directions, for fun. No running out, no stopping and minimal encouragement required from me. Took the top pole once when he was getting tired but was finding his own stride and thinking he was really very clever, hehe! He may not be a GP prospect but he's super enthusiastic and always tries his absolute best. He's a good boy!
The weather has not been great so work with Albs has been sporadic and all in hand. Today I put out some poles and a couple of jumps and we mixed up our lunge session with a little jumping. He seems to really enjoy the idea of jumping and seeks out the jumps and locks on to them. I'm sure that when the time comes to jump him under saddle, he will take to it like a duck to water. Of course, as he is only three, there won't be any jumping under saddle for a wee while. Better get the hang of walking, trotting and cantering first anyway!
Here is a wee video and a couple of screen shots - I think you'd have to agree that he's pretty damned cute!
So when I set out to breed a foal, my ultimate goal is to produce a horse with the "Three T's" - Temperament, type and trainability. I'm not breeding for the professional rider and I don't breed horses that I expect to perform at the highest levels of equestrian sport (although that's not to say that it could not happen). I am instead breeding for people like myself, people who simply want to have fun and enjoy their four legged friends. Usually I don't keep the horses that I breed - at the end of the day the stud is a 'self funding' hobby so youngstock must be sold in order to allow me to continue what I do. So, instead of keeping them I must content myself with following their journeys in their new homes with their new families (and I LOVE all the updates and news I get) however, Ailbhe is one with whom I am enjoying the complete journey.
Ailbhe really has the BEST temperament. Three years ago he was introduced to the horse float and he had two very long truck journeys when he was 6 months old. As 2 year old he went to some grazing off the property for a few months so was trailered again and since then he's been nowhere near a horse float or a truck. This is what happened when I dragged him out of the paddock today to see what he would think - BOOM, self loading! And I didn't even teach him that, it just kinda happened. LOVE LOVE LOVE him!!!
Today was Ride No. 8 and Ailbhe experienced three 1sts. His first bitted bridle, his first ride outside the arena and his first canter. I really couldn't be happier with him.
Ailbhe definitely has a sensitive/spooky side and we've always known that BUT once he's had that initial WTF reaction/jump, he doesn't let the flight response kick in and will just stop and think about what has just happened. There are a couple of barrels up against the fence in the arena, with a pole resting on one side and jump cups on top. Ailbhe always eyeballs them a bit when we ride past so today we spent a bit of time focussing on that area. Once he'd had a good look and been ridden past close a number of times and realised they were not in fact going to eat him, all was good. The 'scary' barrels are against the fenceline that runs along the race and the race was today's big adventure. We started by walking down to the end gate and back and then we headed down to Brennan's paddock following the fenceline with the scary barrels. As we passed the tree that they are 'hiding' behind on the race side Ailbhe realised and had a wee panic which involved a slow motion spin and stop. OK, no drama, just turned him back around and asked him to go forward, step, by step until the barrels were back in view. We then stood next to the barrels for a minute and contemplated our navels and when I felt he was fully relaxed and happy, we walked on. He didn't even blink walking past them on the way back. I totally expect him to spook at them next time too but forewarned is forearmed and I'll just make sure that I have my 'go forward' legs ready :)
I took him back to the end of the race a couple of times and we had a couple of trots and then I thought I would have a crack at getting some real forward momentum to see if we could perhaps fall into canter. Watch the video and I think you will agree that Thelwell would've been proud of me and my flapping legs, haha! But, by jingo it worked and we had half a dozen canter strides. This just makes me silly happy.
It won't be long and he will be ready to venture right out (with a friend) - Truth be told he's probably been ready for days, it's just me who needs the confidence.
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