Equine Life

Kaipaki Horsemanship Clinic

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– Look at this rock star –

Birdie and I had our first outing last weekend and spoiler alert, it went AMAZING. I am so proud of my little girl and how she dealt with everything. She really did so well. I’m not going to recount every detail of the day but I thought I might write about some of the main things that happened. 

I should start by saying that Kaipaki Horsemanship is run by Murray Riches, based out of Ohaupo, Waipa. He was the clinician I talked about in my Equifest post here. His property is just out of Hamilton so super handy for me. Just to be straight up, Murray is a friend of mine and I’m totally biased towards him.  But he is also an amazing horseman whose techniques I really respect. 

Murray put the word out about the clinic a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to come. I said I would love to but since Birdie doesn’t float yet but I’d love to come to watch. Instead, Murray offered to come over the night before and load her and then she could have a sleepover at his place and be ready to go in the morning. Which was so kind of him. 

– Ready for an adventure –

So after work on Friday, I rushed over to my grazing to get my float hooked up and the truck packed and waited for Murray to arrive. Instead of bringing Birdie down from her paddock ready to be loaded, I decided to leave her be until Murray got there and could see her herd-boundness. To be fair to Birdie, she was pretty good this time but it did help to have him there giving her some encouragement from behind. 

Once she was down, Murray took over and started to load her. I won’t go into the tiny details about how he works, a lot of it is my Equifest post, but it comes down to making the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard and giving a release as soon as the horse makes a step in the right direction. This basically cumulates into asking Birdie to move forward, rewarding her with a release as soon as she gives a try and chilling with her in that space so she knows that this place is a easy, chilled space to be. 

It took a few back and forths but she was on within a few minutes. We put the ramp up and with a few kicks from Birdie, I was on my way to Ohaupo. Praying that Birdie would not be too stressy on the journey. 30 mins later we were at the property and unloading Birdie into a yard before moving her into a paddock next to a friend and giving her some hay and her feed. I left her relatively happy, knowing if she was going to do something silly that at least Murray would be the one to deal with it and I wouldn’t have to haha. 

– Standing-by-the-float champ –

 I was up early the next morning to head back to the property and give Birdie a good groom. I hooked the float back up and parked up in the paddock where the rest of the participants were going to be parking. This was Birdie’s first time being tied up next to a float for a long period of time and me expecting her to behave. This is something she’s going to need to do when we go to shows so this was a relatively quiet environment that she could learn how to do this in.  She honestly did so well. She was a bit antsy at the beginning but the rest of the time she was tied up, she was a champ. Ate her hay, drank her water and just chilled out next to the float. I was so proud of her. 

We started the day with a bit of theory, with Murray talking about how the horse’s nervous system works and what state of mind we want the horse to be in to enable us to teach it something. Then it was onto ground work. This was what I was really looking forward to for Birdie, she is still learning her manners and learning how not to push you around so any help we could get for this would be great. There was about 8 of us on the clinic so we all spread out around the arena with our horses of all sorts and sizes including a brand new broken in baby, a little pony and some large half clydies. And my gorgeous OTTB of course.

– Personal space established –

The first exercise had us starting with establishing our personal space and asking the horse to exist outside our space. Nervous horses often want to be in your space (or don’t acknowledge your space at all) so getting them okay with holding their own space is important. We did this by asking them to back up and chill out away from you. One of Murray’s favourite mottos is “Ask as loud as you need to but as quiet as you can” so we first started with giving them a cue, mine is ‘Back up’ with a shake of the lead rope, and then amplifying that until the make a try in the right direction. It took Birdie a few good tries to get her to step back and I had to be really loud with my cues at the start but by the end of it, she moved back and held her own space with a quiet word and shake of the lead. I was so stoaked with her ability to handle herself in this new environment with a bunch of strange horses around. 

Next it was on to putting new buttons on the horse to have them move their shoulders and hindquarters away when asked. Murray showed us the cues and we practiced until they had got it. Birdie was awesome again with this. Really chilled out but listening and able to keep her attention on me. 

– Birdie loves a camera –

By then it was time for lunch which was a ham and cheese scroll from the bakery and a muesli bar. For Birdie it was a small feed, some hay and a little of that same muesli bar. When I first got Birdie, she wouldn’t eat treats. I tried the old favourites of apples and carrots but she was having none of it but a couple of weeks ago she ate a carrot one of my grazing mates offered her so I thought I would give the muesli bar a try. She sniffed it for a long, long time and then finally ate it. She did her funny lip thing she does whenever she tastes something new and then looked for more. What a cutie.  She chilled out next to the float for the rest of the lunch.

– Look at that flexion –

After lunch it was ridden work. Most of the ridden work involved getting the horses to loosen up and flex their necks from one side to the other so they better use their bodies while being ridden. Birdie found this difficult. I really think I need to get someone to come and do some body work on her for one but she also found the concept hard. She obviously has been taught that moving her head means moving her body which is not the right aid. Moving a horse should be moving the head PLUS putting the leg on. We finally got there but it took quite a few times doing it for it to stick. 

– Really, really loves that camera –

Once we had the flexion we added leg, getting the horses to step up under themselves. Birdie got this one fine haha so we kept going back to just the flexion to remind her of that part. We then tried doing it while moving in a straight line e.g. a shoulder in. Birdie found this confusing and we probably only got a few good steps of it. I decided to stop trying after that because she was getting pretty worked up over it while having all the horses move around her. It still was a good ride. 

– After Murray did all the hard work –

 

We ended the day at about 3pm. I had had some good conversations with some of the other riders throughout the day so we swapped facebook names and agreed to ride together one day. After everyone had left, Murray worked on Birdie’s float loading some more. While he was doing it and watching her react to his cues, he mentioned that he thinks she is very sensitive (my thoughts exactly) and probably was bullied through a lot of things in the past since she really takes a while to come down a level to chill out and digest what she is learning. Once he had her going on and off the float pretty well, he got me to give it a go and work on my techniques. She did really well so we took her on and off a few times before it was time to leave properly. I said goodbye to Ryan and Murray and toodled off home.

She did really well the whole trip back until we were back at the grazing. She saw me through the window as I got out to open the gate and started calling like crazy. Once we were up at the sheds where her friends happened to be tied up, they started calling back and all she wanted to do was get out of the float. One of my grazing mates came to help me get her unloaded since the sounds of her kicks were resonating for miles. I made sure to warn her to stay off the side while she did the ramp and unhooked the bum chain which was great because Birdie didn’t stop the kicking until she was backing up. Apparently it was quite a show. Oh well, she did great the rest of the time. 

– Back with her besties –

I put her to bed and left totally buzzing and ready for a hot shower and something to eat. Kaipaki Horsemanship is going to have more clinics coming up so hopefully I can get along to more! In the meantime, we’ll be working on some of the skills we put into practice at this one. 

 

Falling

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– Here lurks danger –

See that arrow there. Pointing to an innocuous patch of long grass. Don’t be fooled, it is not what it seems. There is where the horse-eating pheasants live. Legend has it that many an innocent pony has wandered too close to that patch of grass and were never heard told of again 

Not to worry though, Birdie was ready for the horrid monsters and spun faster than you would even think possible when they made their sudden attack (or you know, just flew away). She wasn’t going to let the pheasants get the best of her and become another statistic. Unfortunately she forgot that there is no “I” in team and left her trusty rider flat on her back on the ground, ready to be devoured by the pheasants. 

Kudos to her though, she didn’t gallop away to save herself. She bravely stood her ground as I pulled my rickety old body off the ground even though I had let go of the reins in the fall. Thankfully we both survived the encounter with the pheasants and lived to tell the tale. I’m sure Birdie went back to her herd to spin yarns about her bravery in the face of certain death. 

– Birdie, survivor of the dreaded pheasants –

And this is how I had my first fall off Birdie. I got right back on with no injuries and we thankfully didn’t encounter any more horse-eating monsters that day. 

 

 

A new life for us

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Shammme. Shammme. Shamme. Shame on me for my woeful attempt at keeping up this blog. It’s been so long since I’ve posted and my only excuse is I upped and moved my whole life 3.5 hours north in less than 2 months. Which is not the worst excuse ever but still shame! 

Birdie and I have been in our new hometown of Hamilton for just over a month now and things are starting to feel slightly settled. I’ve found a flat with a great flatmate and started my new job. I decided to truck Birdie up to make the trip nicer for her and bought all my stuff up in my float (in two trips). It took her a bit of encouragement to get her on the truck but she travelled well and arrived safely which was a big relief. 

I found her a spot at some grazing run by one of the local pony clubs (but not at an actual pony club). The grazing has a small arena, lots of places to hack and tack sheds! Woo! Its amazing how excited I get about having my own space to keep my stuff and organise how I want. Birdie is being herd grazed with a band of mares and it turns out she is pretty much at the bottom of the herd. Poor thing. She’s got some nasty bites to prove it but I think things are settling down now. I’ve put a cheap cover on her so it will help protect her a bit and it won’t matter if it gets destroyed. Her introduction to the herd did go surprisingly well though. We taped her off from the rest of the horses and she barely looked at them and went straight to eating when she arrived. We were going to integrate them the next day but when someone arrived the next morning, the other horses had pushed through the tape and integrated themselves so that was handy. 

The grazing is great and the people are awesome but Birdie is… herd bound. Very herd bound. All she wants to do is be with her girls and she does not want to do anything else thank you very much. You think with the bites she’s been getting, she might not want to be with them all the time but nope. As a result, we have been doing lots of groundwork to get her focus on me and get her back to looking to me for safety and guidance and not her herd. It’s gradually getting better, consistency is definitely the key. I gave her one day off and let’s just say that she didn’t improve when I bought her in the next day. My friend who is an awesome horse trainer is going to come out to help give me some more skills to help her along so hopefully she feels a lot more comfortable being away from the herd soon. 

– Take me back to my mates –

We’ve only ridden a few times since I arrived since most of the time we’ve been doing ground work. Our first ride was with one of the other grazers and we just did a wee hack around the property. I don’t have a saddle at the moment so it was bareback and I tell you what, my legs were so sore the next day. At one point Birdie did a massive spook and spun and I somehow, miraculously, managed to stay on and go with her. The other grazer and I were both shocked. I’m trying out a couple of saddles this weekend so hopefully we can get back to riding properly so we can actually start making progress. 

So there’s a quick update for you. Now that I’ve got my life under control a bit more I’ll be able to get back to regular blogging. It’s good to be back. 

 

A visit from the vet

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– Still needs a bit of weight on her –

Well now that the Equifest recaps are done, we can now resume normal programming. This vet visit happened a wee while ago now but I’m behind on the normal life updates with the extra stuff I’ve been posting. 

With Birdie’s never ending abscess still going and also guessing that Birdie needed her teeth done, I booked the vet to come out and do a two-for-one (actually a three-for-one because I wanted him to look at this random bump she has on the side of her stomach too). We also booked two of my grazing owner’s horses in to get their teeth done too so really it was a five-for-one. Actually thinking back it was actually a six-for-one because she had a little bit of swelling on each side of her face that I wanted his opinion on. 

The vet arrived in his ute full of tricks and we got to work. Birdie was up first and I gave him a rundown what I knew of her history (not much) and her current problems (a lot). We started off by getting her teeth done which meant a sedation shot because if she acted anything like she does with back hooves, I knew it wouldn’t be pretty. Birdie was not happy when she saw the needle coming towards her which makes me think she has seen one before and wasn’t a fan. 

The vet went to put the needle in her neck and Birdie bolted to the side of the yard, knocking the needle out of the vets hand. The second attempt worked much better once I had rescued the needle and he got her sedated. Thankfully she was pretty chill while he floated her teeth. Her teeth were in pretty good condition actually, she had one sharp ridge on the right of her mouth but otherwise she didn’t need lots of work. 

– I’ve got my serious face on because I actually felt so bad about Birdie and her needle hate –

Once her teeth were gleaming and her smile was back to normal we had a chat about her mysterious swelling. It had popped up a few days before and started on one side of her face along her top jaw and the next day was on the other side in the same place. It wasn’t sore to palpate at the time and of course had gone by the time the vet arrived. The grazing owner and I had postulated over what it could be. She thought it was her sharp teeth ridges causing the inflammation but I thought it was either a spring grass response or was a result of her silly halter leaning behaviour. When she doesn’t like what you are doing, she goes to the end of the lead rope and leans on her halter to get away from you. She’ll stay like that for as long as you are doing the thing she doesn’t like. In this case she had been doing it because we were trying to treat that annoying abscess. She had rubbed the hair off her face where the halter had rubbed too and the swelling was pretty localised to that area. The vet ending up thinking that it probably was the halter and advised switching to a wider halter which I had already done. 

– Stop rubbing your face off Birdie –

In terms of the abscess, he confirmed it probably was an abscess and if she wasn’t letting us treat it he could either come out regularly and sedate her to treat it or let it run its course. He thought that the abscess probably would be over soon given it had been going on for a while so I opted to let its run its course for a few more days and see if it got better. Spoiler alert: It did! 

Lastly I asked him about the little hard lump on the side of her stomach. It sits a few cm behind the girth line so thankfully the girth doesn’t interfere with it but I am always concerned about cancer given she’s a grey horse so wanted to get his opinion. He had a look at it and palpated it but giving it a good pinch which she did not like AT ALL. She woke up out of her sedation, scooted to the end of the yard and kicked out at the vet (picture me face palming at this point). He said “Wow, she did not like that” which made me laugh because that was very obvious. After he got another (non-pinchy) look at it, he said it was a bit of cartiledge that had developed after some sort of injury she had suffered. Because it was not being interfered with by the girth and shouldn’t get any bigger, he said we could either get it removed or just leave it since it wouldn’t give her any trouble (unless a handsy vet pinches it). So I’ll keep an eye on it and probably leave it for now unless something changes. 

– She got the good stuff –

Anyway that was our eventful vet visit. I took Birdie to the other tie up area so the other horses could come in to get their teeth done and hung out with her until the sedation wore off. She was back to normal pretty quickly and gave me some good head nudges while we hung out which is something she’s really into at the moment. 

– Naughty pony doing her naughty nudges

The good news is that the abscess has dissipated (I don’t think it actually burst in the end, I couldn’t see anything) but the bad news is I took her for a ride the other day and now she is lame on one of her front legs – face palm again. We’ll have to save that for another post I think because this is getting depressing. 

Equifest 2020: Sunday

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– Photo by PlayCreative –

This is a recap of Sunday of my trip to Equifest. You can read about Friday evening and Saturday here. Or check out my shopping haul here. 

We woke up to a cold and wet day on Sunday but thankfully we were snug and dry in my SUV. Did I tell you how much I love car camping now?! It’s definitely going to be a good option for future horse shows. 

-Wet and Wild day at the show –

We were a bit late getting up so arrived just as Vicki Wilson was finishing up her session in the round pen before Murray presented. Lilly was on her toes today with the weather and the umbrellas around. Much more so than yesterday. But Murray again worked his magic and took lots of time getting her focused on him in the session before moving on to bridling. Lilly was a champion again and accepted the bit and the bridle with little fuss. She is such a lovely horse.

One of the main points that Murray reiterated over his sessions was something that really made sense to me – he said that because horses are prey animals they seek peace and relaxation over rewards such as pats or treats. Humans, as predators, seek reward (such as catching a prey animal) to release all the happy chemicals in our brain but that only happens for horses when they can relax and chill. The happy chemicals are released when they are safe. So as humans, we need to create a safe space for them and be a safe space for them if they are going to trust us. It also means that instead of praising horses with pats, rubs or treats like we might think is a good thing, we instead praise them by letting them chill out. You do that by taking a deep breath which they can then also do, allowing them to drop their poll and start licking and chewing which releases the dopamine and gives them the reward that makes them want to do it again when you ask.  

– Look at that poll drop. She is so relaxed –

It’s a lot more complicated then what I’ve written but creating a safe space for them to look to you as their safety involves asking them to concentrate on you as the leader and not look at the things around them. You want their concentration on you and you want them to understand that they dont need to worry about the rest of the world because you will keep them safe. You do this by giving them a job whenever their mind flicks away from you such as backing up. Once they have backed up and they concentrate on you, you take that pressure off, take a deep breath and let them chill. Eventually they are looking to you only for their safe space and not worrying what’s going on around them. This gives you the trust you need to start training them. I really don’t know if I explained that well but the concept really stuck with me and made sense. 

– Beyond the Barriers competitors even get matching show shirts –

Anyway, by the time Murray’s session was over I was freezing despite my big rain jacket so I popped back to the car for more warm clothes and then went to watch some of the Beyond the Barriers showjumping competition. If you don’t know, Beyond the Barriers is a competition series that is set up for off the track thoroughbreds who are being retrained as sport horses. It’s designed to showcase the versatility of the thoroughbred and encourage people to take on the challenge of retraining an OTTB into a new discipline. Hundreds of thoroughbreds are retired from race work every year and need a new life instead of being culled so this competition is an incentive to encourage people to do that. Watching the competition really made me want to enter with Birdie next year so if things go well, we may be able to. 

It was then off for a bit more shopping. I had seen that prices had dropped even further thanks to the show coming to an end so I scored two more riding shirts for half price – such a bargain. I’ll write more about them in my haul post. 

– Back with my baby –

By then it was lunch time and I called it a day since I wanted to stop by to see a close friend in Taupo before making the drive home. Unfortunately I got a migraine on the way home so I had to pull over to sleep for an hour before continuing on. Thank goodness for my bed in the back of my truck. By the time I got home it was almost 8pm but I went out to feed Birdie and give her some pats before collapsing in bed. 

Overall I really enjoyed Equifest, the organisers did an amazing job of putting on a big show within a year and doing while COVID was happening. I cannot wait to go back next year and maybe bring Birdie with me to compete in the Beyond the Barriers competition. 

Equifest 2020: The haul

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– Shopping shopping everywhere –

You can read my recap of Equifest here for Friday evening and Saturday here. Sunday’s recap will be out later this week. 

Like any good big show there were a whole lot of vendors at Equifest with some awesome bargains. I wasn’t planning on buying any big-ticket items but put aside some money for small bits and pieces. 

All the big shops like Saddlery Warehouse, TackShop and Canterbury Equestrian were there as well as small, independent retailers. The options were amazing. 

One of the big things I noticed at this show is the change in fashion since I was last competing a few years ago. Bling is all the rage. Helmets, show shirts, bridles and saddle pads are dripping in it. I’m not super into bling, I prefer a cool coloured horse with more subtle saddlery then the other way around so I steered clear of it. Le Mieux is super popular too with so many people riding with those saddle pads. I prefer saddle pads with big quilting rather than small quilting but I really love the matching boots and bonnets they are known for. 

– All the bargins! –

Anyway, here is my little haul! I am stoaked. 

– Look at this gorgeousness –

Here’s the rundown:

  • 1 x black Enzo saddle pad – $20
  • 1 x merlot Roma saddle pad – $30 (down from $70)
  • 1 x white no brand saddle pad – $15
  • 2 x 2L White colour enhancing shampoo – $9.95 each (down from $20 each) 
  • 1 x Prima Safety Ties – $7.99 (down from $9.99 each)
  • 1 x Horze Short Sleeve Show Shirt Navy Blue – $28.00 (half price)
  • 1 x Horze Short Sleeve Show Shirt Bright Blue – $35.00 (25% off)
  • 1 x Horze Long Sleeve Show Shirt White – $32.50 (half price)
  • 3 x white grooming chalk – $2.99 each (down from $6.99)
  • Schooling whip – $10.00 
  • 3 x cohesive bandage – $1.99 each (down from $2.99) 

– Horze Paige Show Shirts –

My favourite buys are probably the Horze Paige Show Shirts. I was actually hoping to find the long sleeve version of the bright blue shirt before coming to the show because I want it as my cross country shirt but they didn’t have my size. But I love the colour so I got the short sleeve one anyway – well actually its technically my Christmas present from mum so I have to wrap it up and put it under my Christmas tree. 

The other two shirts were the best bargain I got on the Sunday. They were down to half price which was way better then the 25% I got off the bright blue shirt the day before so I snapped them up. 

I was also pretty stoaked to get all that shampoo for so cheap. Its technically expired but I don’t think that matters and you need as much whitening shampoo as you can get when you have a grey horse.

– My poor whip lost its fight against the car door –

Sadly my schooling whip went up against my car door and lost – it wasn’t in the car fully and I shut it in the car door a few times before I realised and it broke near the tip but it’s still usable so oh well. 

So there you are, my little haul from Equifest. I’m going to need to start saving my pennies for Horse of the Year in March – the shopping there will be even better.  

Equifest 2020: Friday and Saturday

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– Equifest at the National Equestrian Centre –

This past weekend was the inaugural Equifest at the National Equestrian Centre in Taupo and it was amazing! 

Equifest was created in the gap that was left behind when Equidays was canceled earlier this year and was full of competitions, seminars clinics and demonstrations to cater for all horsey people. And shopping, lots of shopping.  I posted a bunch on my instagram stories throughout the weekend so if you want up to date updates in the future, make sure you are following me there. Here’s the link to my account. 

I was lucky enough to win one day pass from Vicky Wilson, one of the Equidays Ambassadors, and bought a second one so I could make it a weekend. I even managed to get a ticket for Friday night show before it sold out. I would have loved to go to the Saturday night show which was apparently amazing but they sold out super quick.  

The event started on Friday morning but I decided I would just go Friday evening so I wouldn’t have to take a day off work since I’m using those for my summer holiday. I did work some extra hours during the week so I could shoot off a little early on Friday afternoon and packed my horse mobile Petal for the trip, Taupo is about 3.5 hours from New Plymouth and the trip went quickly. I’ve been wanting to try out my SUV as a camping option for future horse shows (because I’m trying to be more budget-conscious so I can put more money into fun things like clinics and lessons) and it was great. It fits a double air bed perfectly and I had the best sleep the two nights I was there. I’m going to sort out some curtains and other bits and pieces to make it even better but it was a great trial run.

When I got to Taupo, I checked in at the campsite and then went straight to the National Equestrian festival for the Friday night show. It was speed night with a Table C showjumping competition with a pony and horse class. It was a hard course and the arena was tiny thanks to the grandstand taking up lots of room. The distractions were numerous too which lots of the horses had issues with. The majority of show jumping is done outside in New Zealand and many of the horses were obviously having a hard time with an indoor arena full of hundreds of people. The big screen in particular was causing issues, It was right next to jump two and almost every rider took their mount near it before they started to try to get them used to it. There was one slightly controversial moment when the screen was turned off when one horse was really losing their mind over it. The combo went on to win the class so there was a lot of mumblings of the unfairness of it all in the stands.

– Friday night speed event with the dreaded screen in the background –

It was an entertaining competition though with lots of disobedences, crashed into jumps and a few falls. No horse or riders were hurt though. There were some amazing saves too when riders almost fell off but managed to scramble back on and keep going. There were quite a few retirements which I think was mostly due to the atmosphere and the worked up horses. I don’t know why it worked out this way but the majority of the pony class were appaloosas which is not the most common breed in NZ and the horses were mostly dark browns (probably thoroughbreds).  Amanda Wilson was one of the commentators for the night and also competed her World Cup gelding Showtym Cassanova but didn’t go clear. I called it a night after the Table C competition and headed to the campsite instead of watching the polo match since I was pretty tired. 

– SA and I in our Kaipaki Horsemanship Cheer Squad tees –

Saturday was a stunning, sunny day and I got there before the gates opened. I slathered on the sunscreen but decided I didn’t need to do my legs despite wearing shorts which was a bad, bad idea because I got so burnt thanks to sitting in the sun. The gates lead you cunningly straight into the shopping area so I had a quick look before deciding to come back later. I headed off to the indoor arena to watch the vaulting demonstration which was amazing! Those riders (and the horses) are fantastic! I kind of want to give it a go sometime but I’m not sure about how flexible my 31 year old body is these days. I bounced around between a few of the other clinics and competitions before meeting one of my oldest and best friends to spend the day with.  I also managed to fit some shopping in and got some awesome deals which I’ll do a haul post later about. After the shopping we went to watch Russel Higgins who was doing an Introduction to Liberty educational session. He was amazing and his horses were so in tune with him. He ended up showing us some liberty work with three of his horses at once which was wicked. Really made me want to do one of his clinics one day. 

– The vaulting was amazing. They made it look easy which I’m sure st very misleading –

One of the main reasons I went to Equifest (apart from embracing my true horsey self) was to see and support another of my friends, Murray, who was one of the educators. Murray runs Kaipaki Horsemanship in the Waikato and specialises in starting young horses, schooling and coaching, drawing together the fundamentals of dressage and horsemanship to do this. He also breeds some amazing sport horses out of his Clydesdale stallion Saint Clifford Bay. 

– Murray with the gorgeous 3 year old Lilly –

– Murray is so kind when training, This is Lilly’s first time with a saddle –

He ran three sessions over the weekend educating people on his methods for starting a young horse which are so gentle and kind and really focus on working with the horse and not against it. He bought one of his Saint Clifford Bay babies Lilly to show his techniques with. She was fresh off the King Country hills and had only been lightly handled before Murray started her at the show. I wasn’t there for the first session on Friday but most of the session was spent getting her locked on to Murray and look to him for leadership and safety in the midst of the massive show. On Saturday she was soft and locked on quickly which meant Murray was able to introduce the saddle and get on her. She was such a generous and chilled out horse on Saturday but Murray is so kind and experienced that he got her to that stage fast. He reiterated multiple times though that this was just a demonstration and it usually takes at least 6 weeks to get a horse started and Lilly was being extremely generous. He was careful not to push her just for the sake of the demonstration.  It was a great session and it was awesome seeing Murray doing his thing. 

– Spot the Katie in the crowd –

We headed back to Murray’s stand after the demonstration to congratulate him and hang out for awhile. We had a look at a few more of the stalls and I ended up talking to the NZ racing people about Birdie to go into the draw to win a prize which turned out to be a great experience since they were able to find some videos of Birdie running (and losing) some races before I got her. It was so exciting to see her before she came into my life but I felt pretty sad when I saw her jockey whipping her lots in one video. I’ve got the videos for myself now so I’ll do a post about it at some point. 

We were nearing the end of the day by then so a bunch of us who didn’t have tickets to the night show ending up going to one of the many hot pools in Taupo for a chilled evening and then to dinner at one of the houses. We reminisced about the old days and had an awesome evening before heading to bed. 

This post is super long so I’ll do another post to cover the Sunday at Equifest. It was a cold, wet day but it was still lots of fun. Right now I need to head out into the bad weather to feed Birdie.  

Hoof angst

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The never-ending abscess is mostly gone, I think. I hope. I hopped on her on Sunday for the first ride in weeks and I might have felt a misstep or two but I think we’ll be back into it properly over the next week or so. 

We’re back to the beginning with picking up hooves though, the abscess treatment has really caused Birdie to regress in her willingness to let me do anything with her hooves, especially her back ones. I mentioned in this post here about trying to poultice her hoof after the farrier visited and having to give up due to her starting to kick. Unfortunately, before we called it quits, she connected with my grazing owner’s ear with one of her kicks. At the time she said she was fine and it barely got her, but after a week with a mild headache that wasn’t ending she went to the doctor who sent her for scans and it turned out that she had a tiny fracture above her ear. I obviously felt terrible and apologised profusely and she was as kind as one could be in this situation but I still feel so bad about it. She has already healed and is fine now but it really drilled home how careful you need to be with a stressed horse who doesn’t want you touching her hooves. I now always wear my helmet when doing anything that deals with her hooves and will keep doing that until I’m absolutely sure she won’t do anything like that again. 

– This is what Birdie feels about having a bath –

It’s going to be a bit of a journey back to her getting over the angst around having her hooves dealt with. She’s not an easy going horse who will accept what you are doing quietly or be bullied into it. You really have to get her to trust you for her to allow something and to work with you. We have already had some progress though, I can now touch all over her legs and hooves with no issues as long as I don’t try to pick them up but as soon I ask her to lift them up, she starts getting stressed and paces all over the place. I can eventually get her to lift her front hooves but the back ones are still a no-go.

At one point while asking her to lift the back ones, I obviously pushed her too far because she pulled back, breaking the bailing twine and cutting the inside of her nose somehow in the process. I felt terrible again and was terrified she had done some real damage to herself but after I got her calmed down and irrigated her nose with saline I could see that it was just a shallow cut in her nasal passage. It clotted up quickly so I spread some antibiotic cream on it and gave her lots of pats and apologised profusely. It’s going to be a long journey I think, but we’ll get there. 

– What ya doing mum –

Like I said above, Birdie isn’t the easiest going of horses. She’s opinionated and tries to dominate and doesn’t trust easily. I’ve been doing tons of groundwork with her to get her to trust and connect with me and I think it’s finally starting to happen. Her ground manners (aside from the hooves) are so much better and she doesn’t pace endlessly when taken from her mates anymore. She actually wants to spend time with me instead of going back to the paddock and her friends. She’s also started to come over to me in the paddock instead of walking away and will leave her horsey mates and follow me around when I’m doing stuff in the paddock so I think we’re finally turning a corner. 

Stocking Stuffers for Equestrians

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Christmas is just around the corner so if you are a crazy organised person like me, you’ve already started thinking about presents (or even bought a few). If you don’t overthink everything and aren’t at that point yet, then this post is perfect for you. I’ve rounded up some of my favourite stocking stuffers for the horsey people in your life. Most of these gifts are small and relatively inexpensive so you’ll be able to spoil your equestrian and keep your bank account relatively healthy.

As a way to support local, many of the retailers I’ve featured are local New Zealand businesses but many of these offer shipping overseas if you’re one of my worldwide visitors. 

Horse and Hound Shampoo Bar

I love this citrus smelling shampoo bar and it does wonders for Birdie’s sensitive thoroughbred skin. The ingredients are all natural and the bar is antiallergenic, anti-inflammatory and antifungal with insecticidal properties so it covers all bases! The bar is equivilent to 1L of liquid shampoo so it’s resonably priced (which I always appreciate) and since its a bar, there’s no plastic bottles to pollute the land. Get it here from Forbes Co ($16.90) or here from Saddlery Warehouse ($16.95) 

– Eco friendly with so many great ingredients. Horse lovers will love this in their stocking –

Natural Goat Hair Body Brush 

Going with the no plastic theme, this wooden body brush is a dream. This is the brush I have for Bird and its so so soft. It does an amazing job of cleaning the coat and making her shiny shiny. It’s super affordable too at only $12.50 from TackShop 

– Beautiful and soft, horses (and their humans) will love this body brush –

Enzo Dual Ear Bonnet

Every good pony deserves a ear bonnet for christmas. These come in one size and fits Birdie so could probably fit a Cob or Full size horse. These come in Navy, Purple, Royal Blue and Purple and you can even get a matching saddle pad seperately. Get them here from the Saddlery Warehouse ($9.99).

– Spritz up some fluffy equine ears with this cute ear bonnet –

Treat (and poop bag) holder

While these are originally made for dog owners, these little pouches are super handy for horse owners too especially for ground training. Coming in two gorgeous colours, these clip on your belt for easy access. Also, most horse owners have dogs anyway so they’ll be doubly useful. Get it here from Kmart for $5.00.

– Cute and practical – this treat bag is perfect for horse owners –

Horse Tech Breathable Glove 

This picture doesn’t do these gloves justice, the colour here appears a weird yellow colour but they are really a gorgeous light caramel tan colour (I should know, I bought these for myself). They are comfy, breathable and the horse shoe cut out design is vintage and so cute! They also come in black. A steal for only $16.99 from Saddlery Warehouse.

– Light and breathable, these gloves are perfect for summer –

Dreamers and Schemers Boot Socks

Boot socks are always a winner for stocking stuffers and these ones are SO CUTE. Punk Ponies is known for stocking some out of the box, fun items and these are no exception. I love this fox design and the horses with the glasses are another one of my faves. You can get them here at Punk Ponies for $25.00

– Spice up your favourite equestrian legs with these cute boot socks –

Brass Halter Name Plates

Every good horse deserves a custom halter or at least a halter with their name on it and these pretty little name plates are perfect for that. I love the traditional brass of these and they are a bargin at only $10.00. Get them here at Canterbury Saddlery. 

– Your favourite equestrian will love these for their favourite horse(s) –

Equine Eats n’ Treats Munchie Cookies 

Made with nautral (food grade) ingredients, these heart shaped treats are made right here in New Zealand and come in 6 different flavours of Mint, Garlic & Rosemary, Molasses, Rock Salt, Tumeric and Cinnamon! Support local and support your horses happiness and their bellies with these yummy looking treats. Get them here directly from the baker for $5.00 or here from Vet Post for $6.00. 

– Natural and delicious, these horse treats are a winner –

Hairy Pony Mane Sectioning Comb

This nifty little gadget is perfect for any equestrian that needs to plait and is even better for those who are multi disciplinary riders. The large part of the comb sections hair out for dressage plaits, the medium for show horses or dressage ponies and the small comb is for showjumping, hunter or western braiding. The gold colour is gorgeous too! Get it from Summit Saddlery for $15.00. 

– Practical and gorgeous, this sectioning comb has it all –

 

Electroplated Blunt End Spurs

Another great buy from PunkPonies, these gold blunt end spurs are gorgeous and with electroplating, the colour will stand up to the elements longer. They come in gold which is my favourite (are you seeing a theme here?) or rose gold and retail at $50.00. A bit more expenny then the other stocking stuffers but really, who can put a price on something as cool as these. Get them here.

– Your equestrians boots will shine with these gorgeous spurs –

So hit the shops (or their websites) and stock up on some awesome stocking stuffings for your favourite equestrian! Do you have any other stocking stuffers you love? Let me know and maybe I’ll do another post! 

Congratulations! It’s an abscess!

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– Poor baby with her weak thoroughbred hooves –

Welcome back to horse ownership Katie, where abscesses come in the spring and your plans don’t matter. 

So the farrier was out on Friday and confirmed my unofficial diagnosis of an abscess that probably originated from the seedy toe. She couldn’t dig it out since it’s in a funny place so she recommended poulticing it until the abscess burst and to try keep the hoof clean and dry… which is not the easiest thing to do in spring conditions in Taranaki, New Zealand. 

 

So once the farrier left and I finally managed to catch her (see video above), the grazing owner and I gathered together the many supplies that a hoof poultice requires. And then tried to put on her. And tried. And tried. And tried. And failed. Birdie has been getting more and more fed up with me messing with her hoof every day for epsom salt soaks and after the farrier used her hoof testers this afternoon, Birdie was determined we were not going to put that poultice on. She started kicking out and it was getting a bit dangerous so we called it, a poultice was not worth her getting any more worked up or one of us getting injured. 

She wasn’t very good with having her hooves picked out when she first arrived so we’ve been working on that and she was getting pretty good and lifting them up and putting them down on command before but now she’s taken a couple of steps back with this abscess malarky so I’ll spend the next couple of days working on that again and not actually doing anything to her sore hoof to get her used to it again. 

I’ve got the vet coming out on Monday to do her teeth which will mean a sedation so if we need something else done to her hoof, that will be the time. 

– The only photo I have with the mystery swelling –

Speaking of the vet, I’m going to need him to check out Birdie’s face while he’s here. She’s suddenly developed swelling along her upper jaw in the last couple of days, it started on one side and I thought it was because she leaned on her halter (enough to rub a patch in her face bare) to get away from the dreaded epsom salt soaks. But the day after her faced puffed up in exactly the same place on the other side so I’m not exactly sure what is going on. Could be spring grass thing, a tooth thing or something else completely so hopefully the vet can shed some light on that on Monday. I think the swelling has lessened today so hopefully it’s not a big deal. 

Oh horse ownership, my bank account has not missed you.