The last few weeks have been a bit crazy, some of my best and brightest and infact my very best and brightest have been finding super new homes.

A quick story about my feisty but much loved Ngahiwi Teletubby (Granny) who has gone down to Gemma Booth this week, I remember when we went out to Ngahiwi the day before the big sale in 2010 to have a look at the horses to be auctioned. Gran was Lot 1 (always sacrificial as it takes a few lots for the bidders to get brave) the horses were tied to the fences around the yard waiting to shy furiously at the next well dressed Aucklander to come along and try to pick up their feet or feel their legs, one horse not getting much attention but taking it with outstanding good grace was Granny.. A horrendously bum high roman nosed beastie with a long beard to accentuate her good looks. The comments in our auction book beside her Lot number were “V tame, V ugly 15.3hh?? Don’t buy” My father however being a livestock auctioneer himself simply has to run up the bidding on everything and is a notorious buyer of Lot 1! So that’s how we ended up with Gran, I was secretly pleased as she had done a marvelous jump over the teatree stick set up in the race! Anyways I’m so glad to have had her the last couple of years and hope she does great things in her new SJ home.

My starry homebred Weiti Aubergine is cerainly one of the most exciting jumpers I have had the pleasure of competing with her outlandish style and pitbull attitude! She has been a very enjoyable horse to bring on and certainly helped draw a few eyes to our station from the SJ world, Auby will carry on her awesomeness into the junior and young rider classes with her talented new owner.

But the biggest gap left in my string will be that left by Weiti Eros, Eros has been an absolute hero right from the word go.. Not only has he proven himself to be an outstanding young showjumper over the past 3 seasons, he has also been ridden and adored by countless people from some of the best riders and trainers in the country to young nervous kids learning to jump. I am confident we have more youngsters in our paddocks now with ability like Eros (which is why i could bare to sell him!) but I would be surprised to find many more with a temperament quite like him! But in saying all this I think he has found the perfect home! with a talented young rider making the transition from ponies to the junior and young rider classes… His true value lies in his quiet, kind nature and super rideability in the ring, I think this coupled with his talent makes him perfect for a young rider to make a smooth transition onto hacks and experience success right from the start! I know this partnership will rock and he will never want for anything with his loving new family! Go patches and Sally

Also sold the last few weeks is talented Pico Bello mare Ngahiwi Picalilli and lovely coloured 4yr old Weiti London.

Lucky we have so many new babys coming up!

Weiti Eros

Weiti Aubergine

Ngahiwi Teletubby

We have been keeping plenty busy enjoying this marvelous weather! What summer lacked in sunshine is being well made up for now in what is historically a time of encroaching mud. The farm is looking awesome and ofcoarse that means so are the horses and cattle, however dear I say we are really in need of a bit of rain now.. just a bit.. please.. at night

Horse sales are in a healthy climate, lots of clients coming in to see our good showjumpers which is great (and a bit of a bummer!) plus everything in between.. we have had a couple of sales on behalf recently that haven’t even made it onto the site, so keep your eyes on the website if you are looking for a horse!

Also great to hear from people who are enjoying their Weiti horses (all you guys out there, we want updates!) here are a couple of pics…

Alison Fellman and her 'Drag Queen' Weiti Smudge laying the drag for Waitemata hunt

Lisa Gately's gorgeous 3yr old Weiti Pheonix, aiming for the saddle hunter ring in the coming season

All is well and good at Weiti. My ribs are on the mend but are taking a bit longer to settle down that I expected, maybe I’m just not as tough as I used to be! I’ve managed to work a few horses over the last couple of days but have mostly spent my time on the end of a lunge line and having alot more of a social life than usual!

Today we brought our colt Kingswood in for his first stint of stable life, Kingswood is from our 2010 crop and is out of Corland VDL mare Lacey by Indoctro VDL colt. We were never planning on having another stallion but Kingy is just outstanding in everyway, not only is he the perfect tall and elegant modern Holsteiner type but he also has an amazing temperament, He is so settled and well mannered for any 2 year old let alone a colt.

We are very excited about this fella.

I wish I could say we all made it back from HOY in one piece!

There seemed to be a little grey cloud of bad luck following me around at HOY this year. The show started off really well, trip down was super and the boxes were great, The horses were all on perfect form and each did some awesome jumping in the week, Eros was 4th in the 1.25m which was nice. We got time to watch some cool classes all of which seemed to be won by some chick called Dunstan something?? She was pretty good. All was going well… I really hate to moan but Friday things started going a little wrong! My Iphone and wallet with lot’s of cash was stolen which I got over easy enough, then I came down with a nasty cold which would have been nothing had I not gone into Horse of the year with cracked ribs (coughing and cracked ribs don’t make a harmonious combination) Pain killers are a wonderful thing and Saturday I was ready to have a crack at my title classes Saturday night and Sunday morning.. Theeen I broke my ribs jumping Ruby and ended up in Hastings Hospital NOT jumping in Speed horse of the year!! Bummer.

So it really wasn’t ideal this year but still up until then we had a great time, my grooms Jess and Kelly were unbelievably good as usual, our friend Mel and her gorgeous dressage horse came down with us so we got to dabble in the dressage scene a bit! (When I say dabble in the dressage scene I mean getting almost disqualified by scary dressage officials for stepping one of our grazing horses into a deserted dressage arena at the polo grounds hehe charming bunch, real sense of humour)..

..Anyway I figure after this great dabacle we are in for some bloody garlands next year!

So with paddocks full of next seasons exciting youngsters waiting to come into work for the off season I am stuck doing nothing constructive. I hate it… They tell me 4 to 6 weeks for broken ribs, the Horserider translation I would say is 2 weeks… at a push.

Archy, keen but awesome in the 1.30m

Ever-chill little Ruby conserving her energy to give me a thrill in the jump off

Eros seriously getting his groove, not time faults.. ribbons!

Last weekend we hosted our Annual Weiti Show (postponed twice due to crap weather) it was a fun filled day though had to be trimmed a little as we were experiencing what was recorded our hottest day this summer (Ironic?) However despite the heat we had about 30 riders enjoying the beautiful day. Unfortunately we didn’t have a photographer this year which is terrible and there were many moments we would love to have captured, like Eros jumping 1.40m in the high jump with a tiny 12 year old on board or amazing Colombian trick rider Wan doing high speed acrobatics on one of our 4yr olds Yam who had never even been ridden bareback!

This weekend we have been jumping at our last competition before HOY, Woodhill 3* show. The team went really well, for Auby and Possum it was their final start for the season and they both jumped beautiful C rounds, Possum I feel is custom made for me, if I had to invent my own horse my imagination would not wander beyond her!! I finally discovered how to really ride sticky Eros while part way through a spooky round in the 7yr old class, and it was awesome! Little Ruby Tuesday is ready to win win win at HOY, she jumped fantastic both days.

Ngahiwi Possum, Love it

Young Levi warming up Eros for me while I walk the coarse

Ruby Tuesday racing around

We were given one of our friend Vicki’s beautiful Welsh section A ponies last year as she was suffering from horrendous Taupo Itch.. Poppy who was due to foal in March has popped already, the cutest little grey filly by Valentine (Imp Aus) called Adorable You can see how premature she is but very gorgeous!

Kiss from Mum

We had Waitemata 1* show at Woodhill this weekend, the team went well, Little ruby placed in all her classes and despite sustaining a minor concussion on Saturday (I can’t remember how but apparently it was spectacular!) it was a good show! Looking soooo forward to HOY.

We had Tauranga Showjumping this past weekend and it was so good to get back out in the ring again after the break after Taupo.  The weather was glorious (thank the lord after our last two slip slide shows)  and  the team were great. Ruby was a little orange grasshopper all weekend, winning the 1.10m and jumping beautifully  in the 1.20m and 1.15m champ. Archy was a good boy right up until the last fence we had to jump for the show! Awesome in the 1.20m and 1.30m the first two days, though we had the last rail in the 1.30m thanks to a close distance from me. But in the 1.30m on Sunday I was taking the term ’speed class’  a bit to seriously and ended up in the last oxer hehe, 8.30 was obviously a bit early for Archie to accept a longy! Eros jumped well, though the long break has not done his spookiness much good! he jumped out of his skin in all his classes and showed his scope in the 1.30m jumping above the stands. Little 5yr old possum was gorgeous, she adored being away, I came back from a class to find three little kids in her box smooching, they wanted to know every detail about her, she was in heaven! She is showing HUGE potential in every class she does, placed in the 1.05m champ on Sunday. Craig and David were both riding, Lillie is improving all the time for David and stepped up to her first 1.15m on Sunday with just a green rail so David was wrapped.

Waitemata 1* this weekend.

The foals are growing into a marvelous crop, Orphan Danny is doing really well with his surrogate mother Bambi who does all but feed him and appears to love him considerably more than her own colt! He has three hardfeeds a day and hangs out in the yard as the riding horses come and go.

We were to busy to get photos at Tauranga but here are some updated baby pictures mum took while we were away.

Pegaso hanging out with his adopted brother Danny

Grand old Butterfly and her gorgeous filly Starlet

Fat Gabbys beautiful colt Westminster

My gorgeous 5yr old Tamarillo has found his new home in the yard of David Murdoch in California, winging his way there as we speak. I’ll be a bit lost with out Tammy, he has been my trusty mount for hangovers and nervous friends and family not to mention an absolute pleasure to break, school, showjump and hang out with, a superb and ultra talented young horse. It’s great for Jackie to see youngsters she has bred being shipped over seas for sport, very cool I bet he rocks.

Bruce Goodin has been in NZ teaching again over the last couple of weeks and I jumped at the chance for more lessons. I took Eros 2 days and 5yr old Possum 2 days, The lessons were great, Bruce found a mighty improvement since a saw him in winter which was awesome. The horses went beautifully and I have Lot’s more to go away and work on, hopefully it will all come together for HOY! Which we have recently had to sell our house, car, dog and my siblings to enter.. Exciting. Tauranga next week then a Waitemata 3* WH 1* then HOY.

Supple miss, Possum and I in our lesson with Bruce

Bye Tammy! ready to go

I know I spend alot of the time complaining about the weather but cmon! This is the yuckiest Dec/Jan ever. We were supposed to host our annual Weiti Show yesterday but it had to be postponed due to torrential rain/ deep and meaningful mud. We did manage to squeeze a ride down to our beach in on Friday which was luckily the one sunny day, My little cousin Tessa who is a beginner rider rode my special 5yr old Tamarillo, they both had a great time.. he is just the coolest horse EVER!!

Tam and Tess enjoying a window of sun at the beach

Anyway life goes on and the horses are going great despite the weather, We replaced the surface on our arena more than two months ago and have finally got it nice and level, It’s been an ongoing drama.. constant taking of and putting on of surface and a hundred million harrows! But I think it’s good now so happy days.

Ramona was our last mare to foal for the season and in typical Ramona fashion she kept us waiting well past her due date. The resulting colt by Handy Andy was worth the wait, Weiti Zephyr is a superb specimen and a fine way to finish a great season.

Weiti Zephyr

Our four year olds are slowly coming into their first proper work now and they are a really nice team. My favorite at the moment is Agapanthus, she is the most unfathomably willing and eager to please horse I have ever ridden, AMAZING brain. Another exciting one to have under saddle now is Mumma Mia, she is a 6yr old mare by the one and only Indoctro VDL.. she was destined for our broodmare heard and had a stunning filly for us last season but she lost this years foal quite dramatically as you can read in an earlier blog. Anyway we decided to give her a go under saddle and I have finally found time to get her going.. She is bloody hideous but man she is sooo powerful. Can’t wait to jump her.

Aggie.. very special

Jump Aggie... Okay!

Mumma Mia embarking on a new career

We arrived home from the Taupo Christmas classic yesterday afternoon after finishing our classes in the morning. A very unfortunately timed weather bomb made it an.. intrepid competition for us and the hundreds of other brave and insane riders jumping there teams in the challenging conditions, we still had a good time and the horses were all awesome, every one of them tried their hardest and jumped some great rounds.

Thursday was hard as it literally poured down ALL day but the horses all went super as they did for the duration of the show. Some really nice Clear rounds from everyone. And the sun came out for the most part of Friday which had everybody grinning (tho it was back by night time!)

The back of our truck was like a Chinese laundry in our efforts to dry clothes, rugs and wraps. My super grooms Kelly and Jess were great as ever and Craig was diligently there to help Davey and I at the practice fence every time! What would we do without them?

Photos were not really a happening thing in the rain but the girls managed to get a few….

Archy jumping with his standard enthuseasm in the 1.30m despite the going, such a cool horse

Davey and Lillie make their way to the ring on the sunny day! note the new wash bays in the background.. FINALLY!!

Granny finally got to go to a show, she did the 1.10m class each day two double clear and one with a rail, going to be an awesome horse.

Ruby enjoying the opurtunity to go fast! jumping off in the Rookie rider class yesterday