Weiti Sport Horses

I have finally made contact with Ratamill Steve! Yipee, he was so wild we were starting to think he was a bit of a lost cause, but one day he looked at me and sighed a long sigh as if to say ‘this little freak isn’t leaving me alone so I suppose I’ll humour her’. I can catch him in the round pen and he leads well, touching was tricky to start with but now I can pat him on his head and neck.. so progress at last!

The last few weeks have seen two of our yard favorites sell, both to friends who will graze with us which is awesome. Indoctro mare Ngahiwi Indestructible (Mumma) has found the mother of her dreams in successful show and dressage rider Jane who grazes her saddle hunter Milla with us already. Mumma is no show hack but has excellent movement and trainability and Jane has big plans for her career. Ratamill Geoff who I must admit I was sad to be letting go so soon has been sold to long time friend and client Charlene who plans to do a bit of everything with lovely Geoff.

The dreaded drought is starting to crack, we had about 20mills a couple of weeks ago which sent the Kikuyu grass away again, and there are some showers and rain around over the next few days, so that takes a little pressure off.

So glad we had out little HOY get away, was so worth it to see a kiwi snatch the big class from the Aussies again especially as there were so many and some were all class, The fact that it was our idol  Maurice made it all the more exciting! Some Weiti ponies performing well down there in Showhunter, Showjumping, Dressage and showing. Weiti Pheonix took out Pinto Horse of the Year for Carl and Lisa and also won the versatility sash for points across the suitability classes, Pheonix has won 3 supremes for 6 shows this season and won 5 from six suitability for Showjumping classes.. very cool!

Another season is over, had a great time with the youngsters all making good progress.. I’m looking VERY forward to next season where I should have the best ponypower yet!

We are half way there with breaking in our six Ratamill charges.

Ratamill Geoff of coarse was the first, being the only one who was handled he was easy as can be and is now going beautifully on the flat and starting over jumps. He is such a sweet horse with an out there character, full of funny tricks like throwing empty feed bins at unsuspecting passers buy and staying laying down in the paddock while you scramble aboard!

Ratmill Eric the little grey arab has been a star. We were ready for Eric to be the hardest to get through to by far as he is 7yrs old, but to our surprise right from day one he has been the first for everything from being able to be caught in the paddock to being backed. He is still pretty jumpy on the ground but to ride he is a joy! Great movement and attitude.

Then came Ratamill Gerko the lovely rangy chestnut, Gerko is the quietest of the 5 wilds by FAR, he was never spooky of flighty however wild horses without the flight instinct often have the fight instinct! And Gerk did. We did all his initial handling in the crush so his bites and front foots only damaged the railing rather than me! We had to be respectful but never scared of him and above all never get mad with him, he was only defending himself the same way the others were in running away from us. Anyway within a couple of weeks his guard came down and that was that, We are mates now and I can jump on and go for a ride, he is lovely and quiet and learning fast.

We are thinking Ratamilll Rodrigo the 4yr old grey is not far behind he is quite quiet and has had his gear on and been lunged, Ludgar too is starting to come around, we can get right up to him and he is calm in the crush. These two are out in the big paddock having a breather at the moment. Then there is Steve.. Steve is a bit feral, we can’t really get up to him yet even in the round pen, he is flighty and distrusting however he has no aggression and is not a fence jumper under pressure which is a big bonus! So slowly but surely we are getting him used to having us in proximity.

So we are happy with progress, especially seeing we are flat out with other horses and they don’t get enough of out time!

Waiting for the draught to break! Aren’t we all.

Looking forward to a wee break at HOY this weekend, HOY doesn’t normally spell R and R for our team so should be nice!

Things are happily ticking over at the farm, the horses are going great and we had another good show at woodhill one star last weekend… The only tricky thing at the moment is the hard ground! We have to be much more careful with the horses, always wrapping legs to work them, mostly long slow work with short undiluted schooling sessions in the paddock.. no pounding around for an hour. And we have been taking the horses to Boord Crescent once a week to jump on the super soft surface there under Des’ watchful eye, and of course the Equissage machine is a god send at times like this! Keeps everyone limber and happy to work.

North Island Champs this weekend at Woodhill Sands, It’s so cool that Waitemata showjumping secured such a big show, not being bias because their our local but Waitemata always run good shows! So we are looking forward to competing and watching.. and mechanical bull riding I’m told, cool!

In other news Weiti Rosie (I cannot spell her long name) is proving to be a true Manuka baby, super forward thinking and great to break in so far! Lansing mare Lady has come back into work and is looking awesome, plus I just scrambled on after 3 months and she was perfect! Love her.

We arrived home last night from Tauranga after a great show. Admittedly it was a bit of a bummer not having any of my horses in the big ring but in saying that it gave the greenies the opportunity to go away and compete at a big show which they would not have other wise done this season. All four made a step up in height and jumped really well all weekend. Possum was super in the 1.20m classes even getting a ribbon in an A1 😉 Aglaia and Muma Mia moved up to ring two starts and were amazing both picking up prizes, and Penny Power who has only had 4months of work jumped in 1m-1.05m classes with style and confidence!

It was typically well run, they did a good job with the ground considering the drought, though I could feel the horses jarring up by Sunday. Courses were great, they had a nice BBQ and we had a cool show allround.

In other news the Ratamill horses are coming along, Craig is away with Eric now riding around the arena, I had walked Gerko around just before we left and he was very quiet and sweet. Rodrigo has been being caught everyday and can now lunge and be tacked up but he is taking a while to trust anyone an inch, though he does now trust hay, baleage and feed! Geoff is going beautifully, stunning on the flat and happily jumps anything I point him at, he is a really amazing horse. Steve and Ludgar are now in as well, Bruce Neil has been up to help us with their first handling and made some progress, Ludger is starting to think people might be okay but Steve is remaining VERY distant so we will work on them both slowly with the help of feed and long ‘catch me’ ropes on their headcollars.

Our 2yr old colt Kinswood is the proud father of three 30 day old foetuses! Belonging to Valient mare Frog, Handy Andy Filly Narnia and Fat Gabby. We are sooo excited to see his first progeny next season.

The drought has broken today! It certainly isn’t flooding the cracked ground but there has been steady showers all night so that’s something!

We had a great weekend at Waitemata Worldcup show this weekend, the horses went beautifully despite the stifling heat.

Possum stepped up to 1.15-1.20m classes with relish and Mumma and Aglaia both jumped perfect and clean around small classes after their long break. The two virgin show ponies were Powerfee mare Pennypower and Weiti Fuji by Handy Andy who were both outstanding, Penny who is a beautiful mare part owned by Des Lowe jumped double clear in the 95cm class both days and behaved impeccably all weekend and 4year old Fuji who just came the one day also jumped double clear in his class, he had never taken a step of Weiti in his life but he loaded traveled and jumped as if he had been doing it for years.

We managed to watch most of the the World Cup class which was awesome, The jumps looked HUGE! And Jake Lambert took it out in his first start at WC level, pretty cool. Sam McIntosh and her mare Claire was the standout for us, she is such a fantastic jumper the pair made it look effortless, very inspiring for little kiwi girl riders!

Gosh It’s been a while since I updated on anything.

WEITI SHOW

on the 29th of December we hosted our annual Weiti show! It was a great day with plenty of friends and family coming out to enjoy the beautiful sun and fun competition. Over all winner of the day was ex Weiti rider Rachel Mudge and her gorgeous bay Indoctro Ngahiwi mare followed by Jess Aislabie and her super eventer Weiti Tiberius, Awesome little jockey Sam Wakeling and awesome slightly bigger jockey Levi with her super meersbrook pony.

RATAMILL UPDATE

The new arrivals from Ratamill are coming on really well. Geoff is now going beautifully under saddle and can be jumped on by anyone any time, plus he has the most amaazing canter! Gorgeous chestnut Gerko has has turned a corner very early on and is now just a pleasure he has had his teeth and feet done and I have lunged and backed him. Surprisingly Eric the 7yr old has been a standout, we thaught seven years untouched on the hills would make him the hardest but he is already able to be ridden! though he is still scared of most things on the ground he simply had no problem with people on his back! Rodrigo the 4yr old grey is living up in the yards and can be caught and handled. The other two four year olds Steve and Ludgar have been separated and turned out with some of our quiet youngsters as we don’t have time to do them all at once and they are suuper wild!!

FOAL UPDATE

The babies are all growing on very well however we sadly lost Frogs Lord Larino colt at two days old, he had a bad parrot mouth and though he appeared to drink well he must have had soft pallet problems as he died on his second night. We also lost our 21 year old foundation broodmare Butterfly recently, it was devastating to see her go in her first year of a much deserved retirement, however she had lost condition ever since we weaned her final foal almost as if she couldn’t bear not having one.. she was the most amazing mother and has produced a long line of stunning foals that have made us alot of money over the years!! She was amazing and we will miss having her leading the herd.

OTHER STUFF

The showjumping horses are going great but unfortunately my good horse Agastache is not feeling quite sound due to an old injury being aggravated by the ultra hard ground so is out for the rest of the season and though Ruby is on the mend from her facial fracture she is a way from competing again too, so it leaves me with a team of babies! but things happen with horses and the youngsters  are all coming on really well so we will finish the season quietly with them and look forward to next!! We are off to Waitemata worldcup show this weekend so will report.

A few bummers for us over the festive season! My favorite show the Taupo Christmas Classic is going to be a miss, my team are suffering from various ailments I was hoping to have them all up and going but we have had to scratch, which sucks. Also our last foal of the season, Valiant mare Frog / Lord Larino is a stunning grey colt but sadly has a parrot mouth, However the vet is confident he will be just fine so we are glad about that.

At Least the now LONG break from shows over Christmas gives me time to work on all the youngsters, The Ratamill horses are coming on well.. Ratamill Geoff is amazing and almost broken in after two sessions! Gerco who is so stunning is getting better to handle every day, he is very quiet just a little agro when pressured.. And Eric who Craig is working with is taming down really well amongst the action in the yard.

I have just brought the breathtaking 4year old Fuji back into work and he really is something else! And his little brother Westend (both HandyAndy’s) is sailing through his breaking in. Plus we have an exciting new addition in Pennypower, a 6yr old Powerfee mare we brought from Des Lowe, wait till I post a picture of it jumping!!

So anyway I shouldn’t moan! Though it is raining today.

Finally a colt! Gorgeous Singapore girl who is full sister to our awesome showjumper Weiti Eros (recently sold and cleaning up junior riders!) has had a beautiful colt by Watchamacallit LS (Watchman) who is yet to be named. Singy is a superb first time mother, she will be ridden next season and beyond and bred from again at the end of her career.

We showjumped yesterday at Waitemata mini circuit and the horses were super, Weiti Beijing had his first competition and was absolutely awesome.

Another filly! Lovely Ihungia mare Fat Gabby has had a surprise early baby, a really stunning bay roan filly by Handy Andy named Weiti Fandango!

The Ratamill horses are coming around to us! we just do a little work with them each day and despite the challenge they present as far as their lack of handling we are VERY impressed with their types.

Our six new charges arrived from Ratamill stud today, accept for one they have all had only the most basic handing so are understandably outraged by the sudden move from their birthplace via cattletruck.. however they seem nice natured and are all quality, correct types, we are looking forward to starting them and seeing what they are like. Being team Weiti we had to have a theme for their names! we decided to name them after some of our favorite showjumping boys! A vague introduction….