Welcome Kaimanawa Tora!!

He's here!! Our wild capture Kaimanawa has arrived!

Tora left Kaipara Kaimanawa's late morning yesterday and arrived safe and sound at Talisman Farm just after 7pm this evening. What a brave wee boy! I will get proper photos tomorrow but for now it's just cellphone pics and a very brief video. The driver is lucky he didn't get an eye-full as I was in the middle of changing out of my work clothes when Nick yelled to me that the truck had arrived! Eeek! So I threw on some clothes, grabbed my phone and ran out the door.

 

All the horses have welcomed him vocally and he is settling quietly in the yards, filling his face. He seems to have travelled very well and is taking it all in his stride. I'll get better photos in the coming days but for now the cell phone photos will have to do.

 

 

 

 

Brennan's Level 2 Debut

What a good pony! What more can I say really. A year out of the competition scene and only a handful of outings at Training and Level 1 prior to this and he went out yesterday and just ROCKED Level 2! First test was a bit flat - it was hot and he was a little unenthusiastic BUT he still pulled off a very polite and obedient test which scored him 64.853%. VERY happy with that! I gave him a feed of Fiberedge between tests and I think that may have helped give him a little more sparkle for the second test. Something certainly did because he was seeing ghosts behind the thistles in the neighbouring paddock, lol! He was VERY looky in the all weather arena (the first test was done on grass) but fortunately the horses are allowed a minute to work in inside the arena and Karen took this time riding him into the spooky corners and down the spooky long side so by the time his minute warm up was over, he was ready to rock 'n roll and rock 'n roll he did, right into a score of 66.25% and FIRST place! Woo hoo!! He really surpassed our expectations - not that we don't know he is capable but, to be fair to him, he's been off the scene for a long time and has not exactly had a lot of preparation but the quality of the preparation has been 5 star (thank you Karen!) and yesterday that really showed!

Here are some of the many photos I took on the day:

Warming up for the first test

 Cute pony is cute!

 A, enter at working trot

 Give the reins

 Show some lengthened canter strides

 Good boy!!

 Warm up for 2.3

 Pony has a bit more sparkle!

 Rangi plait job - Turnout was never my forte!

 A, enter at working trot

 X, halt, salute

 Proceed at working trot

 Change the rein in free walk

 Canter

 A picture of focus and concentration

So our next outing is in two weeks and this is our first affiliated/registered start at level 2 and since late last year. Brennan and Karen will be doing 2.2 and 2.4 next time around. Bring it on!!!!

Oops, nearly forgot the video!

Ailbhe the Supermodel

So dear sweet Ailbhe is a year old now and I reckon he is just getting better and better with age. It's very rare for me to take photos of my yearlings as inevitably they look like about 4 different horses all pieced together in a patchwork but Albs is one of those youngsters who just looks smart! He's wintered really well, especially considering the disruptive start he had to winter after weaning and he's never looked (or felt) better. I am so excited about this little guy and can't wait to be riding him in another 2-3 years. Next big event on his calendar is gelding tho, poor baby.

Brennan has his first competition this weekend in a year. Exciting! He'll be doing 2.1 and 2.3 at a local ribbon day. He's been practicing his new dance moves with Karen and the two of them are looking great. Hopefully the weather will behave and we can have a nice few hours off the property showing him off. Here are a couple of very rough clips I took with my camera phone last week:

The expectant mothers are now in the foaling paddock and waddling around looking fat and happy. I would not be surprised if both go a little early but who knows what they have in store for me wait wise. I'm so looking forward to meeting this year's babies. Hopefully Christmas will come early to Talisman Farm.

My next update will hopefully be Sunday after Brennan has been to the dressage.