Weiti Station is situated just north of Auckland between the East Coast Bays and Whangaparaoa Peninsula.

At Weiti we aim to breed top quality horses; with temperament the number one priority, interesting colour our speciality, and superstar quality an occasional bonus. All our horses are bred and brought on in natural conditions. The mares run with the stallions, the foals are born unassisted in the paddocks and are fed and weaned on good quality pasture, with little hardfeed or additives. In general, our foals are handled at birth, then only handled every 2 or 3 months to be wormed etc. and have their feet trimmed. This produces youngstock that are not “overfamiliar”, and we find easier to break in when the time comes.

After weaning, the youngstock move “out the back” – over the back of the farm in one of our bigger blocks. Here they grow slowly and strong, and learn independence and surefootedness on the hills. They also learn submission, by being run in a natural state with a herd of older broodmares who let them know their place in the pecking order, whilst teaching them how to look after themselves.

I believe this is the basis for producing young horses that are sound in mind and body. When it comes to being broken in, they arrive at the yard with which they are already familiar and quickly become used to all the action of a busy working farm. The groundwork of lungeing, driving and backing takes place in the arena, and then they’re back out on the hills, this time with a rider on board and an older horse to give them confidence. We like, when possible, to give them 3-6 months hacking and stockwork before they return to the arena to start schooling. By then they should be forward thinking and used to taking ditches, mud, and logs in their stride.

This background, I find, makes a horse ready to find the competition atmosphere a breeze.