In 2002 the first foal arrived which marked the beginning of a passion for breeding sporthorses.
My goal is to breed athletic, talented, sound horses who are attractive and a pleasure for their owners. My operation is only on a small scale due to career commitments as an equine vet, however from a handful of horses which are now at competition age I am rather proud of their achievements and look forward to watching more of my youngsters go out and make their mark in years to come..
Back home and the ponies are back into the swing. Last weekend was 2 x XC lessons and 1 x SJ. This weekend an outing to Fullerton Cove with a friend. Socs was a good loan pone for the day so Jen could have some fun. We did have a bit of excitement meeting some motorbikes and mini quads on a trail (Donny seriously considered throwing himself into a lake to escape 😂) but otherwise it was a relaxing 11km ride through the sand..
Flexi day expedition prep adventure- tried to go for a beach ride and didn’t get far (resisted the urge to pop Donny over the gate 😂) so re-routed to Fullerton Cove and had a lovely time playing there instead..
Flexi day outing with Houdini to Stockton. Rode for 3hrs and covered just over 25km. Perfect weather and tide so I just had to go for it 🤷♀️😁.
Houds and I did something different and joined Upper Hunter Working Equitation for a training day. We had lots of fun, learnt plenty and have some things we can work on, but the little guy really tried (once he realised the aim of this game is not just to jump all the things 🙈😂).
10km trail ride at Fullerton w Carly on NYE- no photos cos my phone was in my pocket when I went for a ‘bit of a splash’ with Donny.. Turns out the lagoon drops away suddenly and is quite deep (and Don can’t swim 🤦♀️😂).
Donny a few weeks ago- thought we’d try ‘lunging at liberty’ for the first time and he absolutely nailed it. He is quirky, but is also a very switched on horse if his person is aware enough to listen- he doesn’t suffer fools (he’s taught me plenty lol). He does try so hard bless him. And yes he is too fat- his rider being injured isn’t helping that so we have to find other ways to keep this metabolic horse somewhat active 😬🙈.
Temporarily out of the saddle/bareback pad waiting impatiently for an rsi injury to settle.. Just hanging with the ponies is good for one’s soul ♥️🐴
Musings from Fullerton..
You can tell the hackie vs the event rider 😂😂.
Carly and Socs all lightness and gracefully dancing over the water, meanwhile Carey and Donny going for a charge with maximal splashing 🙈😂. Though Soco is definitely capable of a hoon too with his slightly wild mother on board 😝.
Fullerton cove Aug 2023.
Last minute idea to go for a nice Sunday trail ride, in perfect winter weather 😍. The boys were good kids and we only saw a few bikes who gave us plenty of room- makes me more confident to head back and enjoy it more in the future. Hopefully some more rain to fill up all the little water holes, it was much drier than 12 months ago but still beautiful..
Golden child Socs has whacked a leg and needs a few weeks holiday, so he came along as moral support at the float over the last few days for the other 2 boys who had to step up 🙈😂.
Both Houdini and Donny managed 80cm x country on Friday and 80cm SJ today. They aren’t taken out much, and are both in their teens and jumping the biggest fences they’ve ever seen. They enjoyed themselves and I’m proud of the old boys trusting me. Plenty of tlc over the next few days and I’m sure they’ll sleep well tonight!
Many thanks to Wildfire Equestrian going out of their way to run clinics and protocol days for us in their already extremely busy schedule- much appreciated!
Socs at Denman Horse Trials July 2023 winning our EvA 80. Love this little horse he is all class and loves his job ♥️. We don’t get a chance to get out much so I got all the photos 🙈😂.
Thanks again to the sponsors of the class Tozer Air Conditioning and Electrical.
Jump club July 2023.
Socs jumping the biggest fences he has ever seen (105cm) and the rusty jockey trying to nervously pilot him- well out of her comfort zone 😂. So very proud of him, he was a little taken aback by the size lol, but he dug deep, stayed straight and kept jumping all day. Love my little horse with the big heart ♥️.
A bit delayed but finally got a celebratory photo with my clever pony after we won the EvA80-B at Denman Horse Trials on the weekend. My main goal was to have a fun weekend and a happy relaxed horse and we absolutely hit those goals, and bringing home the rug was the icing on the cake! Many thanks to the sponsors of the class Tozer Air Conditioning and Electrical- the support of these classes is very much appreciated!
Another delayed catch-up for Zen. This time from March at Camden’s training Hunter trial. We jumped the 80 sj and 95 cc. He did well for a not naturally brave pony!
Indy’s first ridden outing yesterday- we went to Belford Fun Day.
Other than one explosive moment when she spooked at another horse and added a few extra moves (her signature style when she has hooned and played in the paddock as a youngster- just glad she left the aerial spin bit out that I know she’s capable of 🙈😂) she was very good. Anyone who has met her would know she couldn’t have a first day out without expressing some sort of opinion 😂. *she wasn’t disciplined- just a young horse (who has improved a lot with maturity but does still struggle with emotional regulation!) we just ignored it, carried on quietly and she relaxed. Lucky Carly stopped in for a visit- photos or it didn’t happen lol.
This week’s catchup- jump club Feb 2023. Took all 3 on my lonesome, and all of them stepped up in height (mainly as I was running late and it snowballed- so it was brave pants day 😂). They all did well and the rider had a fun day with all the handsome lads 😍.
Another flashback- atleast im up to this year now 😂.
Jan 2023 Sydney X country clinic with Zen.
It was super steamy, drizzling rain and very warm but we had fun anyway! He was actually a star- a lot of fresh horses at the start of the season and he was impeccably behaved despite riders being deposited on the ground regularly around us lol. Got to run thru the course in the afternoon at mostly 95cm- the last rider of the day and the heavens opened about 3 strides from the last fence so damp drive home 🤷♀️😂.
Another belated flashback- Sydney 80cm sept 2022. Where everything went wrong but we still managed to end up 2nd 🤷♀️😂.
Started off by offending the judge just before our dressage (don’t warm up too close to the arena in a break!), do try and walk the SJ course before you have to ride it (so you don’t balls up the tricky corner into a related line and have a rail) and don’t get lost x country before the final fence and end up with time faults (and slightly scaring a spectator as you gallop at them clearly not where you’re supposed to be 😂).
‘imagine how well you can do when you get your s**t together!’ - coach Jess 😂😂😂.
Thanks yet again to Carly for getting out of bed stupidly early to help me on a whirlwind Sunday trip. Also to Socs for putting up with his pilot and doing well anyway lol. We did have a fabulous time while at it! ♥️
Thanks to Elegant Exposures and Oz Shotz
Sandy Hollow Charity Ride 2023
They said dress up- so we did 😈😇 lol! The ponies were good kids, handled the 30km well and plenty of fun was had. Probably only about 20 people dressed up (out of maybe 150?) but trust the vets to take not being serious seriously 🤷♀️😂- life’s too short not to have a laugh 😂😂. Thanks to Carly for piloting Socs for me too!
Doing the time warp- back to August 2022 🙈😂.
The season/getting sick/super slow internet at home meant I got really really behind on professional photos! I’ve tracked them down from various things, and will try not to flood the internet too much and just post now and then lol.
This was an awesome day out- Houds having an outing for literally the first time in years and being in work maybe 3 weeks 🙈. I was grinning, he was jumping his heart out over those tiny fences bless him! Socs was kind enough to take Carly for her first jump out in a lot of years too, and she did a great job as pilot. We had super show mum Cathy there bringing the baked goods too- life was good that day!
Jump club April 2023.
Was a bit of a ‘fail’ after entering for 6 rounds and riding 2.5 lol…
Houdini felt tired after his 2 rounds, so decided to finish while we were both happy and not do his 80cm round. Zen wasn’t himself, a bit footy with recent trim and firm ground, and so I only jumped half a round and called it a day. Socs had the weekend off after jumping the two weekends prior- his legs have earnt it and no point pushing him mentally either to step up in height if his body was in any way fatigued (he still came as emotional support pony and hung at the float merrily eating all day lol).
So I still got a day out, rode (a bit lol) and got to spend time with other horse mad people and watch lovely jumping- and there will be more jump clubs! Hopefully the ponies appreciate their mum looking out for them ♥️.
Photos by Dianne and Sarah- Sarah was an excellent cheer squad/groom/photographer for the day!
Last bit of Socs at Tamworth spam I promise! You can see how wet it was (and see him look at the mud in front of a few fences like mum you’re crazy!) but he handled it barefoot the clever little pony and we had a blast! We confused the cameras on the last where I went off piste and jumped a skinny on an angle- classic Carey 🤷♀️😂. Much thanks to An Eventful Life for providing videos for the winners- great memories and also a handy training tool!
Socs being cute as pie during a very muddy x country last weekend when he won the 80-R class at TIE. Thanks to for the photos and Sandhills for sponsoring.
Tamworth March 2023 Socs finally got the result he deserved in our 80cm class ♥️🍾. I seem to have got my competition anxiety back to a manageable level and didn’t throw it away on him with dumb speeding fines this time! I had a lady bug 🐞 land on me before x country- figured that was a sign lady luck would be riding with us lol.
He was a star, lead from the start and won on 23.7, me just riding a bit quick then overcompensating and slowing down a little too much lol and adding 1.2 time to his dressage.
It was soooo wet and muddy! ☔️ Wild weekend of rain and storms but lots of fun! Plenty of official photos to come and we also won our x country video from eventful life. Many thanks to the sponsors Sandhills Equestrian for supporting the class and giving us the chance to have a fun filled weekend doing what we love!
Zen and I headed out to Cudgegong Jump Club on Sunday for some x country schooling. He was a good kid just back into work in a new place, popped around some 80cm fences. Got a cool off in the dam afterwards- horse and rider a touch unfit 😅. Even though it was quite the drive (pretty scenic atleast!) everyone was lovely and hopefully we will make it out there again at some point!
Zen and I went for a bit of an adventure yesterday to ride the Archers Trail via Mt Tomalpin. Due to a combination of his wiggly meandering and my hopeless navigation skills we somehow added an extra 3k onto an already 15.8km ride 🙈😂. Didn’t see another person and just got to enjoy 3.5hrs in the bush. The exercise for Zen to get travelling on his own and handle the varied terrain was perfect. Glad I dragged my tired body off the couch to go solo adventuring somewhere new- honestly a bit of Facebook inspo helped me to be brave and motivated..
“Blessed are the curious for they will have adventures”
“You know all those things you’ve always wanted to do? You should do them.”
Carly and I recently trying out some local trails (or lack of trails!). Definitely overgrown, finding the track was an adventure and the ponies were wondering what we were on about when trying to convince them it was a trail 🙈😂. Managed to get Carly slow motion wiped out on a broken overhanging tree which once I realised she was fine brought about tears of laughter (about the 3rd round of hysterical laughter- the end of season crazies!). Embracing our inner children for sure with a bit of bush bashing (where it was the bush bashing us lol!). Ponies were excellent especially considering they have barely been ridden for the whole of spring 🌼 . End of breeding season means more time for them going forward ♥️
Great little Sunday adventure checking out a new trail with Carly (and Socs and Zen as the tolerant mounts of some big kids enjoying having a play 😂). I feel just being out and about is as rewarding as competing, fun was had by all, it was beautiful to boot, we will be back!
Tamworth 2022- Socs being a legend. Super dressage (19.1), rider rail SJ and rider speeding fines x country (4.8)- so despite his handicap of his pilot making poor decisions he still managed 3rd and only 3 penalties behind the winner. He was an absolute pleasure and did me proud. Big busy event and a new venue for both of us. Hopefully one day the rider will calm her nerves and stop speeding and he’ll bring home the rug he so thoroughly deserves ❤️.
Still waiting on the official event photos from Tamworth Horse Trials- Soco was amazing (and certainly made up for Denman not being our day last month). He did a fabulous dressage test for 80.56% (we were only in the 80cm class, but it was the top dressage score for the whole event so we’ll take that!). A rider rail in the showjumping (still in front due to the awesome dressage) and then the rider unable to keep her head straight with competition nerves and somehow chased him home to get 4.8 speeding fines, dropping us to 3rd in the end. Still he was an absolute star, especially considering I was away the week leading up to it at the Bain Fallon conference (thank goodness for Carly taking him for a spin on Wednesday for me!). He was calm and rideable in all phases, the x country starter even commented how relaxed he looked! I’m very lucky to have such a fabulous pony to call mine (even if he flooded his stall daily in protest about being caged when he considers himself a Qld brumby who only does paddocks😂).
Puppy also experienced his first horse trials- he was awesome and thoroughly enjoyed himself. Learning to be a proper eventer dog early in life 🐶.
Hopefully some horse photos to follow!
Cudgera Creek, NSW
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Fullerton cove Great Nomad prep ❤️
A little video of Donnys ride last week.. We will get straighter, stronger and more balanced in time but we have come a hell of a long way together! A bit of fun while in light work in the bareback pad in the howling wind 😂.
TF Development & Performance Horses
Cudgera Creek Road
