Goodbye.

Well a lot has been happening in the past few weeks and its led me to make a very difficult decision. I've decided to move back to Auckland... this coming Tuesday in fact. Its been on the cards for awhile mostly due to financial problems but a recent health scare pushed me to make the final decision. Unfortunately I won't be bringing Toby to Auckland with me as he is needed here for camps in the Summer and it would mean bringing him back from Mid-December to Early February. This cuts into the eventing season which I dont want to do and so he stays here. Since Red is retired (and thats where I think he should stay) I won't be riding when I go back to Auckland. I'm neither in the right financial place or state of mind to look after a horse at this stage.

I didn't make this decision lightly but I believe its the right thing to do for a lot of reasons. And so with the end of my time as an equestrian, so comes the end of this blog. I may raise it from the dead one day if (and I hope I do) I get another horse.

Thank you to all those out there who have supported me throughout this endeavour by reading my blog. I really appreciate it. I enjoyed the time I spent getting to know you and your gorgeous mounts through your own blogs.

May God bless you all.

Happy Riding and Happy Trails.

Love from Katie, Red and Toby

Out on the farm

For some reason the gods have decided to grace us with nice weather on two sundays running (why they choose not to do it on a saturday I'm not sure). Anyway we took advantage of the break from the rain and went for some nice hacks out on the farm. My friends took some pics and video of Toby and I doing our thing. The video will be published in the next post since I'm having trouble with Blogger uploading it. You can see in the video that Toby is fighting the whole way in, he was full of beans that day and he just wanted to "go go go!" I even got a few bucks out of him which was suprising.

Anywhere heres a picture of us doing the little log. Toby is a mess at the moment with his yellow tail and shaggy fur but he still looks cute.



And one of us doing one of the big log

A Glimpse of the Past

Just thought I'd show you some awesome pictures of Toby and my best friend Sarah-Anne in action at Timberlands 2007. Don't they look great?! That will be me next season.

I Ride a Wooly White Mamooth

Winter officially arrived on the first of June. It unofficially arrived here early last month. I'm an Aucklander, I come from the warm north. We have cold winters but its nothing compared to Taumarunui winters. Its already been colder here at the start of winter then it ever gets in the dark of winter in Auckland. We live 45 minutes away from Mt. Ruapehu. An active volcano, its also the site of one of the biggest ski fields in New Zealand. Snow started falling on it last month and on Sunday the snow went to the foot of the mountain. The mountains due to open to skiers and snowboarders in three weeks. Reports are that this winter is going to be earlier, colder and longer then other years. It would happen the year I move down. I didn't get much of a chance to acclimatise. At least the skiing is going to be awesome, not that I can afford to go skiing with the petrol and feed prices the way they are.

Toby's coat has grown full pelt even though I've had him well covered since last April. Hes become a shaggy mammoth and I've affectionately dubbed him Wilbur the Woolly Mammoth. Hopefully I'll get him clipped soon.

Somehow he got the memo about the harsh winter before I did.

Say hello to Toby

Well my laptop still hasn’t arrived so I’ve decided to bite the bullet and continue my blog by using one of the local café’s computers. It’s going to be hassle. But I’m committed. Anyway.

I’d like to introduce to you a very special friend of mine…

This is Toby.

Toby is my new eventer. Well I don’t own him. But I take full responsibility for him, and I’ll be bringing him with me when I move away from Taumarunui (whenever that may be).

Toby is a 16.1hh flea-bitten grey, ¼ Arab, ¾ something else gelding. He’s the grand old age of 18. Toby is a seasoned eventer with lots of the big pony club competitions under his belt. He’s grumpy, he’s mean but he’s really just big softy at heart.

I started riding him after I turned Ghost out for the winter. He’s the best bareback ride I ever had and I would spend hours roaming the farm with only a halter to control him. In a bridle he can be hard to stop, but bareback and with the halter I would just use my seat and a little hand to bring him back after a gallop. I took him to the last pony club rally of the season. We did flat work and he rocked! The instructor even used us as an example of a balanced canter. Two weeks ago I show jumped him for the first time. Previously I had done a few of our logs bareback but they weren’t much. I started small with the jumps so we could get a feel for each other and by the end of the session we were jumping 90cm easily. I didn’t realise it was 90cm until Sarah-Anne came home and I told her that I had done some small jumps on him. Later when we went to feed the horses we measured the jumps and I was flabbergasted to see that they were that big. A couple of months ago I would have been scared to jump something that height without an instructor. Obviously Toby has been great for my confidence.

Since its Winter Toby and I are just moving along slowly, getting to know each other before the new season which starts in September. We might be doing some Winter Dressage and some dressage lessons but nothing too challenging. Next season I’m hoping to do my first training on him, and also get to Masterton and Timberlands on him (which are two reasonably sized Pony Club competitions).

Sarah-Anne is going to give me a lesson tomorrow if it’s not too wet, so I’ll get her to take some pictures while she is at it.

I'm back... but only temporarily

I'm back!

But not for long since I still have very limited internet access in Taumarunui but I'm in Auckland for the weekend as a suprise for my mum for mothers day... and boy was she suprised when I showed up on the doorstep tonight!! It was great!

I'm riding Toby at the moment (he features in the photographs in this post). He's a flea bitten grey cross breed thats a pro at eventing and so is awesome for me to learn on. I'm concentrating on getting him fit at the moment since he's been out of work for almost a year. He's a grumpy old man (much like Red) and I love him lots! I have lots of fun rides with him.

Anyway here are some pictures from a photoshoot I did with Sarah-Anne and Toby last weekend... enjoy!