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Baluna foals a filly!

January 5, 2014

Our leased mare Baluna van het Appelsvordehof  has foaled a huge filly, "Oaks Con Balu MSH", by Contenda at Oaks Sporthorses in Australia! We all wish we could be there to meet and see her - it's hard having her in a different country! She looks everything we could've hoped for; correct and strong, and so stamped by her sire. Baluna is by Kannan (sire of 2012 Olympic gold medal winner Nino des Buissonnets) out of a Zues x Furioso II dam. We reckon that these unique and high class jumping lines crossed over Contenda should prove a very interesting mix with big talent. Baluna was imported from Europe after winning her freejumping mare test as a 3 year old.

Thanks very much to Natalie and Alice and the rest of the team at Oaks, as well as Justine at Wimborne Park Stud, for allowing us to make this happen.

20% off Contenda Semen!!!

December 10, 2013

Contenda semen arrives in the country on the 12th of December and as a celebration special we are offering 20% off his service fees if paid for by the 31st of December 2013! This is a huge discount for a quality stallion. 

Contenda is available under two options: 

Option 1: $2,950+gst includes semen for 3 mare cycles if required, 24 hour LFG -  less 20% $2,360+gst

Option 2: $1,450+gst for 1 dose only, no LFG -  less 20% $1,160+gst

Follow the link to Contenda's page for  photos and more info. 

Voodoo, Calagro and Spitfire update

December 6, 2013

Our very cute homozygous coloured warmblood colt has settled in very well. He is very leggy and we are all in love with his unique bright blue eyes! He should mature into a very striking horse.

Calagro, our Calato x Gradina colt becomes more and more impressive every month; there is certainly no ugly yearling stage here! He is everything we could've hoped for with that cross and has a lovely nature. 

Spitfire, our pony stallion, is revelling in the joys of summer and is looking magnificent in his beautiful chrome liver chestnut coat. We are looking at covering him over some outside pony mares as he is a very sporty type and I believe he could produce great jumping ponies; there aren't many ponies that you see out there with this little guy's looks, type and spunk! Follow the link to his page to find out more.

Winner at Northland Sports Awards

December 2, 2013

Another good Young Rider class at Woodhill Sands with Clyde jumping clear through to the jump off, and Ru jumping out of his skin but a slight concentration error from me resulted in the back rail being tipped off the second to last oxer. Danny continued his great form and jumped superbly all weekend. I thought that we'd had pretty good luck with the weather at the shows so far this season, but that went out the window with the horrible Saturday weather; jumps being blown everywhere, getting sandblasted and thoroughly wet all in one day!

On the Friday night before the show, I attended the Konica Minolta Northland Sports Awards where I was the winner of the Equestrian of the Year. It was a fantastic night out and was very well run with some great speakers. 

We now have a couple of weeks off before Christmas Classic at Taupo.

Photos of Ru and Clyde courtesy of Ned Dawson and Ana Rattray.

Busy month!

November 28, 2013

We've hardly been at home this last month travelling Pukekohe, Hawera, and back up to Woodhill Sands, as well as fitting in some good training time in Cambridge. Ru jumped great in the 2* Young Rider at Pukekohe with one unlucky rail at the end of the course keeping him from the win, and finishing in 3rd. Clyde unfortunately was seeing stars all weekend as he kept hitting his head on the roof of the very low stables. 

This last weekend at Woodhill Sands was great, with both boys jumping clear in the 2* Young Rider, some silly mistakes from me in the jump off finished Clyde in 6th. Danny jumped a lovely double clear in his class on Sunday morning for 5th, Clyde jumped double clear around the very competitive 1.30m Championship, and Ru jumped a super clear with 1 time fault to finish 5th in the 2* Horse Grand Prix. It was also great to catch up with Hayley-Jane from Pryde's on the Sunday.

We are off to Woodhill again this weekend then three weeks off before Taupo Christmas Classic and Christmas!

Embryos from our mares for sale

October 30, 2013

We are very excited to be offering ova or embryo's from our top quality mares! 

Gradina: 16.2hh, classified Holstein foundation mare. Registered ACE, AWHA. Garth (Grannus II)/Falkrich/Fremder/Fierabras XX. Produced a big striking colt by Calato last season. Huge elasticity and scope.

Wimborne Constanz: Contenda (Contendro I/Bolero/Lugano) x Gradina. 16.3hh. Power, type, and movement. 

Perfect if you do not own a good mare, but are interested in breeding a top class foal, and do not want to pay the extravagant prices for well bred youngsters. Both mares are based at a showjumping operation, and have jumping talent, however their movement and types are equally suited to breeding to dressage. 
Embryo transfer programmes average around $5,000. Constanz will begin more serious ridden work later in the season, and Gradina will be put in foal for our breeding programme, so be in touch sooner rather than later.

First show of the season - Northland 2* SJ

October 28, 2013

It was a great first weekend out at Northland 2* Showjumping, with fantastic weather and some good courses. The horses jumped easy clears around their warm up classes on Saturday morning followed by 4th and 5th in the Young Rider class with Detailed and LR Ruegar. Ru was 6th in the Grand Prix the next day, and Clyde was jumping really well until an unfortunate gear malfunction. 

Fred the team goat also managed to make a day trip to the show on Sunday - she was so happy to be out with the horses again!

I now hit exams with my university studies, which will put me out of competitive action for the next few weeks. 

Wimborne Constanz

October 13, 2013

Some video and photos of Wimborne Constanz (rising 5yo mare) this morning. She really has matured into a big, scopey mare, and I'm very excited about her future!

Chloe is out of our number one broodmare, Gradina, by Contenda. We are NZ agents for frozen Contenda this season, so contact me if you'd like to breed to this stunning stallion. 

New developments...

October 12, 2013

The old tackroom has had some major renovations and is now much more functional and tidy! We also have been busy with the planting of lots of new trees around the property, and most excitingly the big new sign at the gate. This will definitely mean that we cannot be missed on Purerua Peninsula now! We also have a few more new fences in for the big paddocks over the road, and the beginnings of my little lab!

A few more new jumps up on the arena, complete with water jump, are making the arena look much more like a showjumper's sandpit! 

The sunshine of late has been fantastic - it's really starting to feel like summer. We're already all worried about how dry it's getting though!

Contenda wins at Eventing Equestriad

October 2, 2013

Contenda, ridden by Shane Rose has won the CCI* class by a margin of 10 points. This result was impressive in more than 1 way. Shane has been competing in Europe for the last month and only returned to Australia a few days before the event. Contenda has been spelling at Wimborne Park Stud in Shane's absence and only returned to work 10 days before the competition after 6 weeks off work.

If you are interested in breeding to Contenda, his frozen semen is available in NZ this season. Contact for more info.

We are now an agent for CONTENDA! - **first time available in NZ!** 

September 17, 2013

Schoolers update 

September 10, 2013

Our first stop was to visit Justine at Wimborne Park Stud. This is where we purchased our treasured broodmare, Gradina, and her Contenda filly, Wimborne Constanz from a few years ago. We also currently have an in-utero foal in progress in Australia, also sired by Contenda. It was fantastic to finally meet Contenda himself; what a lovely character he is, and a stunning individual; he loves having his tongue pulled! There was some lovely stock and all had really been stamped by their sire.

Next stop was Alice at Oaks Sporthorses. Alice owns our imported leased mare, Baluna van het Appelsvordehof (more info on our mares page), who is currently carrying a Contenda foal for us. What a big, imposing mare she is! Alice's quantity and quality of youngstock and mares was astounding, and her facilities and property were stunning. It was nice to spend a couple of days with her, and I even got some riding time in on some of the breakers before heading north. I didn't half look silly in my blingy boots! It was also interesting to see a horse in the front paddock that I had seen, and loved, online a few years ago in Holland; Chicago, imported, owned, and competed by Chad and Bec Donovan.

After the long drive north, we made it to Kerri's beautiful property, Cera Performance Horses. Once again, I was very impressed by the quality of the mares and youngstock. Unfortunately Cassiago was away with his rider, but there were certainly plenty of other horses to have a nosy at!

Before flying back home, we even managed to take a day to be tourists in Sydney and visit some of the famous landmarks. 

NZ Young Rider Team winners in Queensland!!

After flying into Brisbane on the Thursday, we started competition at the Gatton World Cup Show on the Friday, with a win, plus a bonus point, for day one. The team then put in two more solid performances to take the win for both following days of competition. This resulted in us taking out the overall competition, 3 wins to us 0 to Australia. I jumped double clear both of the first days and was lucky enough to pull some nice horses. Day two saw me ride the imported Grand Prix horse Cumo Z (Cumano), owned by the Langbecker family; I'd have happily brought him home to join my team! 

This was the first time in seven years that a NZ team has won a Young Rider Trans Tasman test on Australian soil!

Winter holiday - wild Kaimanawa horses in the snow!

I've just got back from a great weeks holiday away in the snow! I was lucky enough to meet up with Major Hibbs at the Waiouru Army Camp again, and along with some friends, we got in to photograph the herds of wild Kaimanawa horses in the snow. We were even luckier, as a big storm had only just passed through, so there was heaps of snow on the ground. Because of this we were only able to stay fairly close to base camp, but we still saw 30-40 horses, and were able to get very close to them.

We also made it up to the Turoa Ski Field for a fantastic day snowboarding on the fresh powder.

Click on the link for the complete album of my photos.

Voodoo O.L.

We have just purchased a weanling colt, sired by young, coloured performance sire, Vivid O.L., out of the very well performed, Dunstan Mumu. Voodoo is very different to anything else that I would usually breed or purchase, with his two standout, bright blue eyes. He is a real powerhouse type, with a real presence and spunk, and has also been tested homozygous for colour.

Voodo's dam, Dunstan Mumu, jumped very competitively to World Cup level in NZ under Katie McVean. She was known for her huge heart, and was the winner of the 2002 7 year old series, 2002 7yo Horse of the Year, and the 2004 NZ World Cup series final.

Voodo's sire, Vivid O.L., is a young warmblood sire, combining colour with pedigree and performance. He is sired by Copabella Visage (Limbo (Concorde)/Latano (Landgraf)/Fabio (Fernando)), who was imported to Australia from Belgium, where he competed very successfully at World Cup level, before returning to Europe. Vivid's dam, Belcam Cordelia, was imported from Australia to NZ, and is by Contango II out of a mare by Aachen, who is by the great Argentinus.

We're very excited about Frankie's future as a showjumper, as well as his memorable look!

Breakers go home

The two mares that have been with me for the last 6 weeks, have had their first rides with their owners, and have now gone home. Both were super and the girls did great - I look forward to seeing their progress.

With these two mares gone, I now have a few slots open to take horses in for schooling. Contact me for more details.

Breakers update

The two 2yo mares here for breaking in, have been progressing very well with their under saddle education, and are due to go home in a few days. Attached is some footage of their work today.

Update - busy times!

It's been a hive of activity with the new arena in. At one point we had 16 horses here, with a large number of them being worked. There have been a few people coming and going for lessons, as well as some for breaking in, some for schooling, and of course my own team of jumpers, that after a quiet season didn't require much time off! 

I've also been very busy with lots of clipping on the go, and University assignments ever present in the background.

Vinnie 3 months

Our Calato colt, Vinnie is now coming up 4 months, and is developing into a super colt; great conformation, light springy movement, super friendly temperament, and handsome looks! 

Fancy is an amazing mother, very patient, caring and protective, and yet has never shown any animosity to people at any time handling Vinnie, right from day one. We had planned to put her back in foal again this season, but a couple of setbacks meant that we will now have to wait until Spring, when I plan to put her to a Casall la Silla/Jadalco/Corrado colt. 

Contenda on a winning streak

The sire of our 4yo mare, Wimborne Constanz (out of our mare, Gradina), and also the sire of our in-utero foal in Australia (Baluna van het Appelsvordehof), has been having huge success in eventing, after returning to training with his rider Shane Rose, after a lengthly recovery from a meniscal tear to his stifle in 2011/2012. He was recently the winner of the International 1* Event in Sydney, and also took out his class at the Albury International Horse Trials.

A Contenda son (from a Gribaldi mare) also recently passed through his colt classifications with ACE and AWHA, being the first progeny from this young stallion to do so.

Baluna update

Our leased Kannan mare in Australia, Baluna van het Appelsvordehof, is progressing well in her pregnancy, and her current foal at foot (by Baluga (Balou du Rouet/Carismo)) is growing into a very cute filly! This filly recently scored very highly in their recent warmblood classification tour. It's always great to see the photos of them when they're so far away.

It was also great to see Baluna's half brother, Nino des Buissonnets, finish second in the FEI World Cup Final in Gothenburg!!

New arena is rideable!!!

There is now sand down on the arena so I have been able to take the first horse for a test drive on it, and it is fully functional! Just like a bought one! There is just a few more prettification tasks to happen, like finishing off the black stain on the perimeter fencing, as well as the second half of the irrigation.

Because of this I am now able to take bookings for horse schooling over winter, as well as lessons. I am also available to clip, within area. Contact me for more info.

Horse of the Year

After the turmoil that has been our life at home for the last two months or so, I was certain that we weren't going to make it down to Horse of the Year! The horses were very unfit as they only had two weeks of work (at the most!) before heading off to HOY, and this work was not ordinary schooling, but waiting until nearly dark when I had finished driving my dump truck for the day, then working in one of the hay fields, jumping a few haylage bales that had missed being picked up! But after missing so many shows during the season I made the decision to go, start with some smaller classes, and see how things went. Both boys jumped clear day one and well day two, so I ended up starting in both Lady Rider of the Year (1.45m-1.50m) and Young Rider of the Year (1.35m-1.45m). Clyde jumped super over a big and technical Lady Rider track, with two down in what was a class of major carnage, countless faults, and many ambulance trips! Both boys also jumped really well in the Young Rider, with Ru just missing the cut to the second round by two pesky time faults. 

All in all, it was a great show and I caught up with a heap of friends, as well as spending some quality time in the Pryde's tent with Tina, Matt, and Hayley-Jane. Thanks very much to Pryde's which have really stuck by me through such a slow season, but hopefully there are now only better things to come!

There had always been a lot of pressure on this season, with me being at home full time and not going to school anymore, and it really has turned out to have been quite a flop! However, the work that has gone in behind the scenes has set me, and the farm, up with a more secure foundation; we had to take a bit of a step back to progress forward again. Now all the pressure's on next season!

The arena has now got all of the blue/brown metal down and we're just waiting on a compactor before sourcing and spreading the final riding surface. I already have a busy winter lined up for it with a number of horses booked in for breaking in and schooling, as well as all my own, which have always fallen behind every winter. All the young horses, which have not even had a chance to get out this season, will also be putting in some serious hours.

I will be taking horses in for schooling over winter, as well as lessons and clipping. Contact me for more details and availability.

As soon as I get some accommodation organised, I will also be looking for some keen working pupils/grooms to help me out with a bit of the workload! Flick me an email, text (022-089-9813), or Facebook message if you're interested, and I'll keep you in mind for when I get myself properly organised!

Baluna confirmed in foal to Contenda!

We were very excited to hear the news from across the ditch in Australia, that our leased mare, Baluna van het Appelsvoordehof, has been confirmed in foal to Contenda (Contendro I/Bolero/Lugano I)! 

Thanks very much to Justine Donohoe at Wimborne Park Stud, and Alice Cameron at Oaks Sporthorses, for making it happen.

Gradina has foaled!

February 1, 2013

A great birthday surprise for me when Fancy foaled a gorgeous black (will go grey) colt, three weeks early at 320 days! "Vinnie" is by the holstein sire Calato, one of very few in the country. He has inherited his mothers uphill build and looks as though he's going to grow into a big boy! We are very pleased with him, and Fancy, who is a fabulous mother, is very pleased to have a foal at foot again. Pictures show his first foray outside at 36 hours old.

Lease of Australian mare Baluna van Het Appelsvoordehof 

January 18, 2013

We are very excited that we have managed to secure the lease of Australian based mare, Baluna van het Appelsvoordehof (Kannan/Zues/Furioso II), for the 2013/2014 breeding season! Baluna is by Kannan, who is growing in popularity offshore, especially after one of his sons, Nino des Buissonetts, won the Olympic gold showjumping medal at the recent London 2012 Olympics. After winning her freejumping test, Baluna was imported from Europe to Australia to compete, but an injury in transit meant that her valuable bloodlines could be utilised as a broodmare. Baluna is now based at Oaks Sporthorses in New South Wales.

We are planning on putting Baluna to the young sire Contenda (Contendro I/Bolero/Lugano I), who is also the sire of our 4yo mare, Wimborne Constanz.

Waitemata 3*** SJ

January 15, 2013

A good weekend down at Waitemata 3***, especially considering the circumstances leading up to the event. Ru jumped super in the 3*** Young Rider class (1.35m-1.45m) to pick up 4th place. 

Arena works progressing

January 4, 2013

Work on the arena has been slow with the bad weather over the christmas break and with us now all having to go back to work! I'm currently trucking horses 45 minutes in and out of town every day to try and keep them on track for the upcoming 3*** show at Waitemata, which frankly everyone's a bit over! Because of this only the top priority horses are in work at the moment to try and ease the load. We now have all the top soil off so the next task is to put in some retaining walls and start shaping - it will be so fantastic when it's finished! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

December 30, 2012

After some rain over the Christmas break the sun is now shining and we're all enjoying lots of swims down at the river under the pohutukawa trees - it's feeling a lot more like summer! Pictured is Kaimanawa pony stallion puffin on a walk to the river.

Taupo 3*** Christmas Classic 

December 20, 2012

It was a long way down to Taupo to compete only two horses in two classes. Ruegar picked up a 6th in the 1.30m University Challenge and jumped super all the way around the 3*** Young Rider (1.35m-1.45m) until an interesting mishap at the water kept him out of the ribbons.  

Pukete 1* SJ

December 4, 2012

Another good weekend at Pukete with yet another wet and miserable grand prix! Ru put in another great performance in the Young Rider class, and came very close to two from two with the quickest time, but an unfortunate second to last rail in the jump off relegated him to 4th. Clyde also jumped a great first round but an unlucky rail saw he didn't make the jump off. Ru also jumped very well the next day when the weather packed up for the Grand Prix class, and finished in 6th. 

On to Taupo Classic next - lets hope for a dry one!

Puffin update

November 28, 2012

After our trip up to the ranges I thought I'd put up some more recent pictures of the wild stallion. It's hard to look back and believe where he was when he arrived and yet he still seems incredibly slow to grasp domestic life and become "normal" - there are still so many things that he cannot do. Covers are not acceptable, and neither is things like haltering if he doesn't already have one on, as well as just exhibiting "wild" behaviour from time to time. In saying this, he is actively seeking out the company of those that he knows, and I really don't think that he would survive without his Pryde's feed now - he starts squealing if feed time is late! He also doesn't like being rained on at all, which is a bit ironic. 

At this stage he is still entire, in my mind he fought for and won his status in the wild, and at this stage I don't feel inclined to take that from him. He does not prove to be colty at all, so at this stage it does not present a problem. He will now allow all four feet to be picked out daily and he has been trimmed several times. These photos are probably about a month old now but he certainly doesn't look like anything running around out on those ranges! He has come up a very interesting colour; a chromey liver chestnut with a bit of roaning - its a shame about all the battle scars!

(Please excuse his dirtiness, like I said he won't have a bar of wearing a rug at this stage, and even though he lives in at night he still manages to stay a bit dusty!)

Kaimanawa Ranges Trip

Mum and I were lucky enough to get two seats on the bus to head off into the Army training ground to track down some of the herds of wild Kaimanawa horses. It was great being able to see where Puffin had come from, and also to meet some of the people involved. Although it would've been nice to spend more time quietly getting closer to the horses for better photos it was still a great day out. 

For more photos click on the link.

Although it was a late start to the season it was a good one! LR Ruegar took out the rather moist Young Rider class on the first day with Detailed picking up a 5th in the Grand Prix on Sunday with a fence down in the pretty atrocious conditions - people had to hold the jumps up in the wind and rain as us mad riders went out to jump! Astek Danzing also jumped well all weekend, going double clear and picking up a 4th place in one of his classes. 

Gradina is looking fabulous!

Fancy is 8 months pregnant to CALATO today - I think she looks super - a real advocate for Pryde's BioMare Cubes :) 

We're all very impatient to see the foal in February!

2012/2013 Sponsors

Work, work, work

There has been some major changes happening around the Maverick property! After running a team of warmblood, showjumping horses behind tapes for about 9 years now there are finally fences going in! This makes me HAPPY!!! I don't think some people realise that everything here is here because of hard work alone! Once finished the property will be much easier to run and I think its going to look pretty swish. Because everyone's hands on deck working flat out on the property, the horses are having a slow start to the season. I'm hoping to have some out by the second Woodhill 1*. I'll post pictures when it's looking a bit more polished! 

Very exciting 3yo!

First off, I apologise for the lack of updates, the website has had a massive overhaul and it has taken me this long, with all the other jobs around the place, to get everything finished off and ready to upload! 

I thought I'd share this picture of Chloe (Wimborne Constanz) who looks to be growing into a very quality mare. My plans were to have her broken in by the end of winter, but due to the atrocious weather we had for months on end, I ended up turning her out again. She is just coming back in now and I hope to have her under saddle by Christmas. 

Her dam, Gradina, is progressing well in her pregnancy (she is currently in foal to Calato) and we are very excited about this coming foal! 

There is a wild pony in the yard!

Somehow I'm such a soft touch that I signed myself up to take one of the 180 ponies that would be coming out of this years Kaimanawa Muster! I'm not quite sure where this fits in with my future plans but my moral side took over and even though I know I can't be a sanctuary you just sometimes have to do your bit. Hopefully I can produce a quality sport pony for someone to have success on. 

Late Monday evening a very cute little chestnut pony colt arrived off the stock truck. He has the most gorgeous little face and has started settling into domestic life really well and has no problems with lights, quads, spraying helicopters, dogs, goats, generators, cranes, trucks and cars! I have been sitting in the hay pile in the yard while he eats around me so I don't think he'll take that long to become well socialised! We decided to call him Puffin as the name is just as cute as the pony, I'm looking forward to getting a halter on him and starting work as he looks like a very cool little dude.

Open Day a success

Earlier in the week I decided to hold a bit of an open afternoon where I could introduce myself to some of the local equestrian community (it seems that more people know me in Christchurch than Kerikeri!). I rode the two grand prix horses and talked about everything from breeding and training right through to my experiences so far in the industry and what I look for when riding, schooling and competing a horse. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I certainly did so I'm very glad that I decided to put it on and that I ended up with a good strong turn out. Thanks very much to Amber Tamaho and Russell Jones for kindly giving me the use of their arena for the afternoon.

Gradina confirmed in foal to Calato!

What a stellar start to the week with our talented jumping mare Gradina (Fancy) confirmed in foal to the super-sire Calato. We can't wait to see what this cross will produce!

Horse of the Year!!

We struck some bad luck after arriving home from the south island as Ru came down with a light cold, putting our preparations for Horse of the Year on hold. This also meant that I couldn't take the horses to compete in the Series final show in Hawera which usually provides a great lead up, this probably wasn't suck a bad thing given the wild weather that attacked the show! Luckily we managed to get Ru right just in time to head to HOY. I only took the two grand prix horses with me and the show started well with the horses jumping well, but pretty fresh, in the two warm up 1.30m classes on the Tuesday and Wednesday. I then jumped the pair of them in the Lady Rider (1.40m-1.50m), Young Rider (1.35m-1.45m) and Premier Stakes (1.45m). Overall I was very pleased with how the horses jumped and the improvement in them from just Nationals was huge! Every year I really enjoy jumping Leopoldo's courses, NZ is truly lucky that he will come to build for us and once again he built some great but testing tracks this year.

This was a year of stepping up to a new level and establishment for me, I'm very excited for next season now! With just the two horses with me the show was very relaxed and I had heaps of time for watching, networking and maybe a bit of shopping... I also finally managed to meet Peter and Sharon Pryde and it was great to be able to talk to the people behind this fabulous product and thank them for the help that they give me. The feeds really have kept my horses looking and feeling fantastic right through to the end of the season and the supplement Polished is the only thing that has allowed Ru's shoes to stay properly on all year as he has had particularly brittle hooves in the past. 

Now that I have made the decision to ride the horses full time I will be able to spend the winter putting some hours, that just didn't exist before, into the horses. I will also have time to give more help to others or take more horses in for schooling. Contact me for details. Lets just hope it doesn't keep raining like it has been for the past week! We were lucky to make it home from HOY as there was a great amount of road closure!

South Island trip

We began our South Island adventure with a stop off in Tauranga for the world cup final show where I started Ru in his first 3*** Young Rider and he finished with two rails down. I was very pleased with this as he has only just started to step up to these classes and it was a fairly solid course. We then traveled straight to Foxton on the Sunday night and across the ferry on the Monday morning arriving in Christchurch, at Astek stud, on Monday night. This gave the horses a few days off before heading to Mclean's Island on Thursday evening for the National SJ Championship show. During the week I was lucky enough to be interviewed by Rob from CTV's, Rob's Country, which was a great experience. Nationals was a hugely tough show for me, and the horses, as I ended up jumping two rounds of 3*** Young Rider and ten rounds of Horse Grand Prix and they were most certainly not built soft! This show did wonders for my experience level and I was really pushing the envelope jumping in a class of this calibre as I'd only jumped in four rounds of Grand Prix before heading south! I ended up 9th and 10th in this class and a close 7th in the National Young Rider championship. Every year I have loved heading to the south island as there are some great shows and the contacts that you can make is great, it's also good to catch up with Tina from Pryde's and my good friend Sue Fowler at Astek Stud.

Pukete SJ - 2nd and 4th in Young Rider

The weekend started well for me as I got two horses through to the jump-off of the Young Rider class; Ru jumped clean and fast to take 2nd and Clyde finished in 4th. Ru also had his first Grand Prix start on the Sunday and jumped extremely well to finish in 7th. I also took two young horses, Gymkala and Danny, who jumped well in some of the smaller classes over the weekend.

Northland SJ Champs

We popped down to a smaller local show for the day to give some of the horses a jump around some smaller tracks before heading away on our trip down south for the remainder of the season, and we had a great day out with Ru jumping to 4th place in the 1.30m championship class and Tilly jumping in the "Show Cross" class, which was a combination of show jumps and cross-country fences. She had never seen a cross-country jump in her life and even with the inconvenience of throwing a shoe early on in the track, she still jumped super to also finish in 4th.

Astek Gymkala joins the team

The beautiful seven year old mare, Astek Gymkala, owned by Claire and George Houry, will be joining the Maverick team for the remainder of the 2011/2012 season and next season. I have had the pleasure of taking this mare for schooling before and I now look forward to getting her out around the country as a showjumper! She was bred at the same stud farm (Astek Stud) as my own five year old gelding, Astek Danzing and was imported, in-utero, from Australia in the Winterkoenig mare, Wullebulle, and by the stallion Gymnastic Star. See more info on the showjumping team page.

Woodhill Sands 1* - LR Ruegar wins the Young Rider!

We we were among the silly horse people traveling on New Years day down to yet another Woodhill show. Clyde and Ru jumped to 3rd and 5th in the 1.25m class on day one. Tilly started in her first Junior Rider on the second day (being only her third show out) and although a little bewildered, tried her little heart out and finished well. Clyde also jumped well in the Grand Prix but Ru was the star of the weekend, jumping a slick double clear to take honors in the Young Rider!

October round up

Well it's been a big busy month! My time with the horses has been very limited due to finishing off school as well as many other exciting opportunities and achievements that have been popping up, however we still made it down to the Waikato 3*** show held in Kihikihi, where we got to catch up with Tina and Jo at the Pryde's stand which was great! It was a bit of a mental step up for me and Clyde starting in our third, solidly built and very technical, grand prix on day one however he jumped great and I was able to take many positives away from the round. He also jumped fantastically well in the Young Rider, which was also built very honestly, but a couple of green mistakes from me kept us out of the ribbons. In the week leading up to Kihikihi I was lucky enough to spend two days on the Thomas Fuchs (Swiss olympic showjumper) course in Cambridge. The course was very tough and he expected a lot from us riders but it gave a all a great insight into more european methods. Earlier in the month I competed in the Northland Regional Council Top Energy Science and Technology Fair where I won the overall outstanding excellence prize along with a $1000 scholarship. From this competition I was nominated towards our national science competition, Realise the Dream, from which I was then announced as a top 19 finalist. This means that I will go away during the first week of December, touring around several science organisations, including the Liggins Institute, ending with the awards dinner on the 9th. It was also officially announced on November 1st that I am a top five finalist in the AMP study start scholarship (to the value of $15,000), to which thousands of people applied for from a vast variety of fields including film production and music to sports and science! This is very exciting for me and has taken up much of my time including photo shoots and filmed interviews, since I found out in August. The winner will be announced next week on Thursday 24th so fingers crossed! I have also received the Vice Chancellors High Achiever (Academic) scholarship and the Academy of Sport scholarship at Massey University where I plan to begin studying equine genetics next year. At a recent northland sports awards dinner it was also announced that I was the recipient of the ASB Youth Sports Achievement award. I am currently mid way through my end of year exams, which mark the final stages of my time as a school student and it was a great boost yesterday to be informed by Showjumping NZ that I have been selected on the Under 18 Talent ID Development Squad! After exams, the two upcoming awards dinners and all other happenings are behind me I look forward to getting stuck into the horses full time for the summer!

Woodhill Sands 1*

After not much work due to my exams and assignments filling all available (and unavailable) parts of my days, the team of five horses that I took to Woodhill were all very fresh but in regards to the circumstances jumped very well all weekend. Clyde had one down in the young rider and Ru jumped clear but with one time fault. It was Tilly's first show out and she coped very well; double clear in her 1m classes. It is now home back to continue finishing up my school year before our next show, Waikato 3***, in a few weeks. 

I took a team of four horses down to the first show of the season at Woodhill Sands and we had an excellent start to what's looking to be a busy season! Fancy jumped well in the 1.10m classes all weekend and Clyde and Ru both jumped clear in the 1.20m on Saturday followed by an unlucky rail on each on each in the Young rider. It was Danny's first show out and he coped fantastically with the traveling and show atmosphere, however I didn't feel that he was quite ready to start in the 5 year old series so he just jumped smaller jumps all weekend. He has really been impressing me with how his jump has been developing into something quite scopey and special. Due to there being no larger classes Ru started in the 1.20m on Sunday, jumping clear again. On the Sunday morning, I made the decision to enter Clyde into the Grand Prix and we had a fabulous ride being our first start at this level. I circled him off one oxer in a related line, showing a little of my inexperience and greenness at this height, however no rails fell which was really exciting for me. 

I have now come home to school mock exams so our next show will be the next 1* at Woodhill Sands in two weeks.  

The long drive home on Sunday night (I think I got into bed at 3am) was definitely worth it with the quality of coaching that I received in Taupo. Sam McIntosh took me for jumping and Bill Noble for flatwork, with both instantly picking up on all of my biggest weaknesses and helping to point me in a direction of fixing them. There were some cold, foggy mornings but the sun did shine through and the weather ended up being very kind to us; no snow! I don't know what they all complain about down there! Although a little fresh on day one Clyde and Ru both behaved really well over the weekend. 

The season is very close now with our first show being Woodhill on the 17th/18th September.

Young horses going well

The weather's really cleared up of late and given me an opportunity to put some work into jumping the four year olds in preparation for the fast approaching 5 year old series. 

Danny, as usual, is taking everything easily in his stride and Elmo is quickly becoming more established under saddle; I'm very impressed with the amount of natural balance that he's showing early on. 

Elmo certainly doesn't want to touch those poles!

Elmo has been going under saddle for a week now and is taking everything in his stride, staying soft and relaxed throughout the process. I have spent a lot of time preparing him for this stage as I've felt that he was the sort of horse that needed it, and it's paying off.

This has turned out to be our wettest winter yet! There's just storm after storm and the ground just isn't getting a chance to dry out. There's mud everywhere and you really start to get sick of it; bring on summer please!

Contenda has his Mini Prix debut

Chloe's young sire, Contenda, has had first outing for 2011 was competing in the showjumping at the 125th Castle Hill Show. After only 3 weeks back in work it was great to see Contenda and rider/trainer Chris Burton back in the competition ring.

It was a great start to the season. On the first day of competition Contenda and Chris jumped clear to place 2nd but a tiny 0.5 of a sec in the open 1.15m class out of 77 entries, before jumping clear again in he afternoon to place 4th in the open 1.25m class out of 65 entries.

The second day of competition saw Chris and Contenda again jump clear in the C Grade , followed by their debut in the 1.35m Mini Prix class. The course designer, Mr David Shephard, from Victoria set a challenging Mini Prix course that saw only 5 clear rounds from a large field of horses. Contenda had one rail down at the 2nd fence but showed a lot of promise in these bigger classes taking all other fences, including a big treble that challenged alot of other horse and rider combinations, in his stride.

Horse of the Year!!!

 Woodhill Sands 3*** SJ

Waitemata SJ - FEI World Jumping Challenge

Taupo Christmas Classic 3*** SJ

Contenda wins at the Summer Classic SJ Show

Pukekohe 2** SJ & Woodhill Sands 2** SJ

Freejumping

Northland 2** SJ

Woodhill Sands 1* SJ

Danny under saddle! 

Woodhill Sands 1* SJ

Horses going well

Contenda wins at Gunnedah

June 30, 2010

Contenda, Chloe's sire, has taken honors in the 1.05m-1.10m class at the Gunnedah Showjumping Festival being the only horse to jump a double clear round. Due to the large number of entries, the class extended into the night with the jump-off being conducted under lights. The following day Contenda jumped a first clear round in the D-grade Grand Prix, only to drop the last rail in a very tight and fast jump-off.

Horses back in full work

Contenda wins 1.10m class

Contenda turns heads at the Sydney Royal Show

Horse of the Year

Carterton 2** SJ Championships - Detailed takes out Junior Rider class

Holsteiner Classifications

South Island SJ Championships

3*** Canterbury SJ Championships

National 3*** SJ Championships

Gisborne 3*** SJ

Waitemata 3*** Showjumping

North Island 3*** Showjumping Championships

Taupo Christmas Classic Showjumping

Contenda performs well at the ISS SJ Classic

Tauranga 3*** SJ

Successful show at Woodhill Sands 2** SJ

LR Ruegar joins the team!

Fancy under saddle

Freejumping

Northland 2** SJ

Taupo Young Rider Training Camp

First show of the season - Woodhill Sands 1* SJ

 Australian horses arrive!

Mare and weanling filly purchased in Australia!

Emilio joins the team

Horse of the Year trip - home at last!