Kia Ora

galaxie · Kia Ora

hello lovely people

firstly, thanks Bit for getting me this address before her final swansong over at the savvy club. what a woman. i love you, Bit! and not just because i've got your bunny.
i have spent some few recent hours reading and lurking here, and am so delighted to have all the wonderful, spirited, sincere opinions to read from my favourite friends that i missed much 'over there'.
i can see this forum is going to be so addictive!

so, here's some stuff about me. warning...i post infrequently, but prolifically. i don't mean to create mile long posts,but once i start have trouble stopping...story of my life really. i could even stop now, having said that, but you guys want to know about the horses, right? and i refuse to start a relationship with a performative self-contradiction. so, grab your cuppa, settle down and i will share a tale.
i was born in the UK, lived in London til i was nine. always loved horses, had a simarlarly afflicted mother so got to ride at Willow Tree Riding School for an hour once a week. (i googled them a while ago, the place is still going!)
when we came to NZ my ma wasted no time finding me a place to ride. Rona Fraser's was different as could be from Willow Tree. back there, i arrived, a pony was produced all 'good to go', i was put on, and trotted in a circle in a round pen, nose to tail with 10 other ponies and an instructor in the middle. things like 'Heads up, heels down,hands down, shoulders back, use your legs, shorten your reins' were shouted.
here, i arrived, was given a halter and lead, and told 'the horse's are up in the field. you're riding the piebald.' i had to catch, groom, and tack up my own pony! it was heaven. my first glimpse that being with horses was 'way more than ridng'. this was the first time i picked up a hoof. do my own barefoot trims now

(i actually bumped into Rona at a CTR event recently, 30 years on, and gave her big hug. dear lady. she helped shape my life)
the rides were epic. we trekked over the Kaitoke ranges, through farms, explored disused railway tunnels and waterworks, even rode over the incline track over the Rimutuka mountains, sleeping in barns, and staying at the Teherenikau (sp?) race course in Featherston (not far from you Hertha!)
my first pony was a pinto ( we called them skewbalds back then) called Robbie. she was a darling, taught me so much. ma and an aunt started a riding school, and suddenly aged 13 i had 15 horses and ponies to play with. i had outgrown Robbie by this point, and acquired Polly, my beautiful 7/8s Arab mare, who was a RBE/LBE, tricksy and fast and glorious and beautiful. every teenage girl needs a bay mare like Polly! i loved her so much i wanted to be her

yes i know...it s a worry.
my first job out of school was at the riding school, then i started in the racing industry. a lifelong love affair with the NZ TB ensued. i worked on a stud farm to start with, then in training, then pre-training and in preparing yearlings, before i bought a home, and had to get a real job that paid realistic wages.
there was a nasty period of 4 years where i had no horses at all, while i went through and eventually got out of a violent, abusive relationship. it was towards the end of that period that someone gave me a tb 4 year old filly because they couldn't afford to get her trained. i had started youngsters during my racing period, and leapt at the chance of having a horse in my life again. What i didn't realise was that at this point i was a thin, flaky emotional wreck, and in no state to deal with a spoilt, exuberent LBE who was dangerously aware that she was waaay bigger than any human she'd ever met.
anyhow, i was a mess. in a move that has tortured me ever since, i sent her off to a guy that was highly recommended at the time. i was 23, a barely there survivor with zero confidence, and really needed to regroup myself. i had been going backwards with my filly by trying to fix her, when i was so broken myself i had no idea how to be a leader any more.
i remember watching the trainer load her into the trailer. it was awful. every cell in my body was screaming at how wrong it was, but my parents and supporive friends all said it was for the best. none of us knew any better

i had to get her away from that area because my psycho ex was staking out my paddock and i couldn't even go visit her there. this 'trainer' took 5 hours of ropes, tie-ups, pulling over, bashing, and screaming to get my finally beaten, utterly broken filly into the trailer. you know, i was so dead inside at that point that as i looked at her, lying exhausted on the ground after her ordeal, and i couldn't see the co-relation between my own state of being and how she was acting it out. I now know she had gone catatonic and literally expected to die that day. how often had i felt that way at the hands of the psycho?
our horses are our mirrors.
anyhow, that poor filly never came back from the trainer. he said she had run into a fence, tore her foot so badly she needed to be put down.
years later i met a drover couple who had witnessed her last days. what really happened was he had tied her without food or water for 2 days, and she had got her foot stuck on the rope and damaged herself so badly trying to save herself that he had needed to shoot her.

anyhow, with hindsight and a lifelong regret about her fate, i lost a lot of trust in any form of horsemanship that forced the horse to be what we wanted it to be. i took horses that no-one else much wanted and made them my herd. my mates thought i was wacked because i wouldn't compete at all, and just about all my riding was done alone with my horses. it was a spiritual thing for me, and i couldn't enjoy it unless my horse was having fun too.
of course this didn't always work out in the real world, and it would upset me if i couldn't get that element right.
i had always been after the relationship wth my horses and had always loved being as natural as i could,riding bareback and in a halter. however, i rode ottbs, extroverts with issues, and invariably had to resort to saddles, bits, and even martingales to stay alive.
there was an Aussie dude, i think is name was Brendan Davies? someone Davies, anyway, who did a video showing his version of NH. he was one of these guys that could start a horse in half an hour and end up standing on their backs (da-da!) he got my interest, then Monty Roberts. i had shied away from Parelli for all the usual reasons: i didn't like being marketed at; it was soooo expensive; it seemed cliquey and jargoney and i was skeptical. but then i noticed a couple of the local girls riding in rope halters, doing some cool stuff with their horses. Parelli girls. soooo,
i bought Pat's book. i didn't get his way of communicating at all. i found his style too vague and meandering (haha i can talk) and didn't get his analogies. why was he going on about baseball, and carberettors? that didn't help me understand my horse at all. but those girls were doing great with their horses....so i bought the red level 1 pack. that would have been, oh, 18 months ago? since then i audited clinics, bought the level 2, LHB i got free with my Success Series, and the Patterns was my last big purchase.
rereading Pat's books after exposureto Linda i found i could understand him better. i persevered, auditing more clinics and doing two with my little partner Apache. i've just sent in my online level 1/2 audition, and have self assessed to level 2 so far, with some forays into level 3 online and at liberty.

so, now for the horses. i promised horses waaay back at the start, didn't i? i'll start with the biggest, and work my way down.

Sam is an ex racehorse. 12 years old. he was a superstar, in his glory days he was a group 1 winner in NZ and Aus. and his last great triumph was winning the Adelaide Cup in 2003. he is an utterly gorgeous light bay no chrome at all. he's approx 16.3 hh, and is built like a giant Arabian. long legs, really long neck, small head, short back, bit too high-headed, but with a great strong back and neck, no bad bananas. i am biased, but i think that his conformation is just outstanding. when he moves he leaves me speechless. he's like a William Blake poem with flesh.
he is an extremely high spirited LBE/RBE and the smartest tb i've ever personally met. he also has a lot of physical issues due to his strenuous career. i've owned him for a couple of years, and he's been out of action most of that time due to recurring issues with lameness, associated to an old back injury. he has a compromised immune system and flares up with infections at the slightest injury. i almost lost him a few months back to Cellulitis, due to an invisible scratch that got infected.
i hope to enjoy riding him again soon, he's amazing when he's well. meanwhile we play. he's the herd leader, and all my mares adore him. Favourite moment: when he lays down with me. i can sit on him, sit between his forelegs, lie on top of him. he is a clown and a trickster. he eats timber fences, pulls electric fence standards out of the ground and drops the fence for everyone to step over to escape, and sulks if he's not greeted first, and best.
Pearl is my lead mare. Camp Mother. she is 23 years old, 16.2 hh black station bred. she looks like a warmblood, big, scopey, good bone. i bought Pearl for my mum when she was only five years old. she has given us a lifetime of fabulous, safe fun riding, and bore a filly, Siani, who was my partner for 15 years before she was sadly taken to horse heaven. Pearl's is a RBI. she is now mostly retired due to athritis, she gets sore after riding or any strenuous, sustained work, so she doesn't play much. she is my oldest horse friend.
Sophie is a pretty black 15.2hh 13yo tb who has come to live with me recently. she's an ex polo pony with issues with head shaking, a terrible back with muscle wastage, ewe neck, and feet like chalk. she is a RBI/RBE who tries so damn hard she'd break herself with the effort. i've had her for 2 months. she's now barefoot. i took the bit out her mouth and she stopped head shaking for the most part, but she will revert in times of stress. she's great fun, although i have actually decided to rest her over winter, do some hill therapy and other exerciss to try and get her back better, and by July i would have paid of Sam's vet bill so will get her teeth checked out and see what's up in that mouth. her feet are getting better, starting to grow a frog instead of a shrivelled mushroom, and her heels are coming back to where they ought to be. she is starting to fill in in front of and behind her withers.
here's a funny thing; too. she has a permenantly flappy bottom lip. someone told me this could be due to nerve damage from vicious bitting-plausible i guess after a lifetime of polo- has anyone heard of such a thng?

next up is Apache! she's half arab, 1/4 tb and 1/4 appy. she's a varnish roan, wth appy hooves, dotty muzzle, specky eye scleria etc. so most people think she's appy at first glance. once someone asked if she was a POAs as she's very short (under 14 hands). she is beautiful. her build is mostly arabian (her mum was full Arab, and a squirt, hence Apache's lack of stature). Fine but deep ribs and chest, awesome neck. her horseanality is glorious and complicated. she has dots everywhere! even some got on the horseanality chart heheh!

Apache was born and raised in a herd situation in Taupo. she was bought as an untouched, pregnant 4 yo by the family i got her from. they were getting back into horses, the husband is a Monty man, and used join-up to start her. they wanted her for their 11 yr old daughter. anyway she gave birth to Tepuna Magic, and was started at age 5 when Magic was weaned. i was actually looking at Magic as a potential future partner when i met Apache. at that point Apache had 4 trail rides under her belt and, from her behavior whe i saw her ridden, a bit of arena drill. she was too green for her little girl, which was a shame because they really loved each other.
first impressions on seeing her ridden got me thinking LBI. the girl kicked her to go. Apache kicked the girl back with a clever hind-flick that missed her own belly and aimed for the human foot. the girl kicked again. Apache swung her head round.
'she knows about lateral flexion' was what i thought. well, no, she had grabbed the girls foot in her teeth and was holding it. ears pinned, black looks. i don't know if the mum saw it, she was on the other side, but i don't think it could have been an isolated incident. the girl squirmed helplessly, trapped by th gumboot. a standoff. it must have hurt but the stoic child didn't say anything...i reckon now that she really didn't want mum to know that Apache had bitten her foot. they had communication problems, but that girl really didn't want Apache to be sold (she still emails me and i send them pics)
anyway i was interested to see what would happen next, would Apache release the foot, or was she really a pit bull? but then the dad flew around the corner on his mower and Apache let go, leapt athletically to the left, swung round snorting. to her credit, the girl was still on board.
'can i do some jumping?' she cried, while mum shooed dad away and i watched. kick kick kick, Apache and the child kicked each other to the caveletti and a definite refusal.
my mum was with me and at this stage was into breeding children's ponies. she mentioned that she thought Apache was beautiful (not surprising, everyone can see that)and would throw great foals to our Welshie stallion. so we ended up buying both mare and weanling.
Apache wormed her way into my heart and is my first Parelli partner. she is quadpolar, but is medium spirit so has never been to extreme in any direction. she's a LBI if you have food, or if she doesn't respect you and you're trying to tell her what to do. she hates that. she's a RBE when scared, great at spooking. she can be RBI if overwhelmed by the environment and in some learning situations. she's a LBE when relaxed, happy, engaged, playing and most of the time. se has amazing stamina. i started riding her because i was smitten by her quirky character and she seemed way too young to just be a broodmare. i started off trying to find a good child rider for her, then got over my fear of being too big as her strength and stamina became apparant. i weigh 56 kg and i read somewhere that you should be no more than 20% the horse's weight. i estimate her to be about 300kg?
(please don't tell me i'm too big. this is my greatest fear. i'm sure i fit her better than Pat fits his Magic)
anyway, she has been a miracle to play with. i adore that pony! now we have overcome the impulsion issues (thanks to PP Russell Higgins) she is smart, fast, eager, opinionated, crafty, sweet, loving and a total flirt.

Tepuna Magic is now 2 1/2 years old, about 14.3 at the mo although the butt is 15hh, and is a bay roan tobiano. she is tripolar. LBE/LBI/RBI. no RBE behaviour at all so far. and this Good Friday as been the Best Friday for us because i have sat on her for the 1st time! i have to admit i was inspired by the SC DVD on fear that was the March offering. although the DVD was about the human's fear, Linda was talking about treating the human just like a horse with approach/retreat, and mentioned that the process that they were doing was the same way they start young horses. so thus inspired, Magic and i spent 2 hours paying 'come to the fence' and freindly game until we achieved 15 glorious seconds sitting upright on her back. we've now accomplished this 3 times, and she knows to come to me when i climb the fence and expects mega friendly game. she likes that she can use her whole human as a giant back itcher

i must add that the family that i got these two from really gave Magic a great start. the mum saved her life and possibly Apaches by untwisting Magics leg when she got stuck in the birth canal. she inprinted Magic and the filly is the most trusting youngster i have ever had, including the three i have bred myself in days gone by.

next is Silver. he's a Welsh Mountain pony, 9 yrs old, and belongs to my mum although i look after him. he is a stallion and spends most of his time with his wife Lil Madge when she's not in season, as we dont want any other wee ponies. he is a true gentleman and never nags for sex if the ladies aren't keen. he visits with various lasses in his job, and is currently staying in the hills with his latest mare to get bred. Silver has a great temperement and lives a very social life. he even babysits weanlings when they need a parent most -when mums been taken away. another really interesting thing i've noticed is that he has never, ever
flirted with his daughter, Sage, who is 3. he saw her born and she grazes with him and mum Lil Madge when he's here. am convinced he knows she's his daughter. he scritches with her, cleans her eyes, licks her in a most avuncular way, but has never responded to her when she's come into season,alhough i do separate them in those incidences 'just in case.' he's 11.2 hh and a dude. never officially broken in, but he pulls a gig or a harrow, and is fun to ride when kids visit. he is a mild LBI/RBI.
Lil Madge was called Magic but when Tepuna Magic came along i had to come up with a way of differentiating. she's small (but perfectly formed) so Lil Madge she is. she's a chestnut with a flaxen mane an tail, although being a mini is registered as a 'silver dapple bay'. go figure. she's a RBI and utterly adorable. she's only 8 and has had mega foals. she was always looking for her babies, i thought when i met her, a sad, lost soul.
since we have had her she's only had 1 foal, Sage, and she and Sage are
best buddies and live together, plus with Silver when there's no hormones being sprayed around.
Sage was born blowing raspberries. she's a true blue LBE/LBI. she was palomino, but has greyed out and is going to be white like her dad. She's contrary. you say black, she say's white. of all my herd, she challenges me the most. yep, all nine hands of her.
my beloved (some will know him as 'Dear') has a special soft spot for Sage. he's her champion and protector. when i'm storming inside to cool off because she's pushed my buttons, he's the one laughing with her at my back. Sage is a great equaliser and brings everyone down to her level. or up to it, although at 9 hands there's not many below. here's a typical scenario. i want to trim her feet. she says, no. i say,if i wear a silly fluffy hat, can i trim your feet. she says, ok. so i'm trimming, she's chewin the hat. she fidgets. i match her energy, add 4 ounces, get back to it, repeat for each foot. hat suffers increasingly at each leg. she can even reach it while i'm doing the hinds. at last leg, she triumphantly rips fluffy hat off my head, stomps it underfoot, backs up over it, craps on it. smirks. Dear pees himself laughing. hat is ruined.
oh well. the price we pay for trimming contrary feet.

well folks i guess you've had 3 cups of tea already if you're still with me. thanks for reading

am so glad to be here. i am still a SC member and i use the site a lot, but the forum there is bland without you guys. i like all the debate and the controversy. and naturally when Bit said that she got to fart with exuberance when playing over here i was instantly attracted. Thanks Carol for being the inpetus behind this forum, providing the space for us to share.
that's it. i'm done.

PasoBaby_CarolU

WOW

I hereby award you the Pulitzer Prize for Novelettes!

Welcome to the board and I sure hope you enjoy it here...you can type subsequent chapters in their respective forums.

Glad you made it.

becky b

Well a great big Hello and Welcome! You ended your post "that's it. I'm done". Well I hope not. I feel like I know you and your horses now and don't want you to stop sharing your experiences, good times and bad with us. Glad to have you here.

galaxie

thanks guys

i'm definitely not that done!

Pyrgirl · Re: Kia Ora

Clarissa

Welcome galaxie! I'm glad I'm no longer the longest poster!! haha

bit · a

Hmmm, I guess you did MENTION bunny, but a bit more would have been nice. Galaxie is so appealing, my bunny (from cat hat dancing) hopped a plane, no doubt a stow away, to Austrailia to off dear, and take Galaxie for himself. He is a very bad bunny, of the stalker type. A level 4 cat hat dancing sitter, and he knows it. Sometimes the bunny picks you. He was supposed to be heading home, never arrived, and I suspect from your post, he is still there. Fine. I have a new bunny, and his room is now taken. All my best to dear.

Kia Ora

Re: Kia Ora

a