MarLou Stud

11/08/2024

Our not so little babies, finally weaned. Fergus and Kash are being good babysitters ❤️

03/08/2024

We welcomed a new addition to MarLou Stud on what is universally noted as a horses birthday - 1st of August! Never did I think we’d have one born on that exact day but alas our beautiful Carinya has proven me wrong! By our gorgeous Arab JenaLea Azraf out of the lovely Waler MarLou Carinya welcome MarLou Solstice we are so thrilled to meet you ❤️

05/07/2024

An afternoon with the dentist! Thank you Zoe of Murray Valley Equine Dental Vet for giving our boys their annual checkup and routine maintenance. Had a lovely afternoon. Such a fascinating process to watch. This time round we got our 4 year old Waler Stallion Legacy treated, he was so well behaved. I am so proud to have bred such a gorgeous soul. We also had Billy boy, Cas and Kash done. I forgot to get a picture of Billy (he was arguing too much with me 😆) but remembered the other 3. They were all really well behaved and I’m happy to report had no major issues (phew)! Love our boys! ❤️

05/07/2024

A few weeks ago Mum and I enjoyed another brilliant clinic with Josh of Knights Equestrian. It was a Horsemanship clinic which was a bit different from the previous Liberty but still thoroughly enjoyable learning new skills and always improving. Of course Mum took her little man Cas and again had a wonderful time learning more with him. I love seeing the connection between these two! He has come such a long way in trusting and relaxing and Mum has done a fantastic job developing this. I took our homebred ArabXWaler man Kashmir across and in usually Kash form he behaved beautifully. He got a touch hot and bothered when he thought we were leaving his bosom buddy Cas but for his first outing in an enclosed arena with multiple other horses in close proximity handled things superbly. We are already looking forward to our next one!

15/05/2024

Love Kelato Animal Health products. Recommend the read!

Winter is coming and with it we horse owners and our equine companions face new challenges like muscle stiffness, muscle soreness and building muscle.

Delve into how the colder weather affects muscle performance in horses and get some practical tips for maintaining muscle health during this time.

Read our full article on maintaining your horse’s muscle health during the colder months via the link below! 🍂❄️



https://www.kelato.com.au/equine-articles/maintain-your-horses-muscle-health-during-autumn-winter

30/04/2024

Farrier day today! 26 horses trimmed, moved to fresh paddocks and settled for another few weeks. A great day spent with Mum and always fun catching up with Warren.

28/04/2024

Finally got a chance to get some work done in the paddocks over the past few days. Always love having Mum down to help, makes the work a lot less dreary ❤️ The cattle must have had a tough day watching us… 😴

22/04/2024

Saturday morning Mum and I headed out for another go at Cowboy Dressage. We had Cas and Billy Boy in tow for this one. Was such a wonderful day learning with the very knowledgeable Jen Hawkins. I cannot recommend her clinics highly enough! She is patient, kind and adept at explaining different techniques in a way us newbies can fully understand. We had a lot of fun but it wasn’t without some arguments from Billy 😆 before we got to where we needed to be. Love him like crazy but he does sometimes make me crazy 🤪 Mum and Cas throughly enjoyed building their skill set and connection. It is wonderful watching them learning together ❤️ Great catching up again with Vanessa McFarland, her and her boy are brilliant to watch together! Already looking forward to doing it all again at the next one!!

*If anyone is interested in learning about Cowboy Dressage or giving it a go send us a message and we’ll put you in contact. It is a really fun activity to do with horses of any type!

Kelato Animal Health Hygain

15/04/2024

We are enjoying a lot of firsts this year at MarLou Stud… this time a weekend away learning the fundamentals of Liberty Training from the very talented team at Knights Equestrian. Mum and Casablanca did such a fantastic job together, connecting and learning whilst Fergus and I tried our best to continue to build on our relationship. Both horses behaved beautifully and we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Looking forward to practicing what we learnt and hopefully building further with more clinics in future. Thanks Kookaburra Park Equestrian Centre for having us and also Meagan Harrison for organising such a fantastic weekend!

Kelato Animal Health Pam Martin

20/03/2024

MarLou Stud experienced another first over the weekend, attending an Introduction to Cowboy Dressage Clinic run by the very experienced Jen Hawkins. I pulled big Kash man (MarLou Twiggy’s Kashmir) out of the paddock, dusted off a few cobwebs and off we went. After a sit down session going through the fundamentals of Cowboy Dressage we then went out and started learning different techniques and movements we would need to master the discipline. Kash having been spelled since last August handled everything so wonderfully, finishing with a session under saddle to bring our days learnings all together. It was such a fabulous day, spent with beautiful like minded people and horses and learning from one of the best in the industry! If you are looking for something challenging, fun and engaging to do with your horse we would highly recommend having a go at Cowboy Dressage. I think Kash and I have found our next passion for the year 😊🐎❤️

03/03/2024

Piranha ATTACK!! Our cute little puppies have grown so quickly. They are absolutely gorgeous, so interactive and playful! Can't believe this is Benatar's last litter. She is such a phenomenal Mum and just adores her babes but alas she has now aged out of her childbearing days. She will be fixed up later this year to enjoy the rest of her days as our gorgeous and much loved Benatar.

27/02/2024

So on the weekend MarLou Stud stepped out of our comfort zone and tried something new! After dusting off the cobwebs and adding a bit of polish we took 3 horses across to Rochester’s Great Northern Show. We are looking to diversify our expertise and having never shown we thought we would try our hand at entering the 3 more experienced boys - Billy (WalerxArab), Fergus (Arab) and Cas (Arab) in a couple of the led classes. Well what fun we had!! Billy won his first Led Open Hack 15hh ne 15.2hh, Fergus came 2nd in the Purebred Arabian Gelding 4 years & over and Cas & Mum walked away with a 3rd in the same class. Due to scheduling Billy was unable to go for Champion & Reserve Champion Led Hack (the Arab class was on at the same time). Billy and I also did the Arabian Derivative Led class Gelding any age over 14hh walking away with a smile and another experience under our belts. All 3 boys behaved very well considering the environment and we enjoyed a very wonderful morning. Now I must dust off the old jodhpurs and start training Billy to become a proper show pony 😆 Thanks so much to my beautiful friend Belinda from Azzabelle Park - Equestrian Coach and Horse Educator who helped bath the boys and plait Billy for me! So much to learn. Thanks to Jen for letting us borrow your stunning Arab halters and for your guidance and advice leading into this first show. Thanks also to my gorgeous husband Ryan for again driving us and my lovely Mum for the support and company. Was so great she was able to enjoy herself with her beauty also!!

P.s. if you’re reading this post and think you might like to also show a MarLou beauty please don’t hesitate to get in touch!! These fellows are the old guys, we have some very handsome youngsters ready for their next adventure in our paddocks… they could be your next Champion😊🐎

Kelato Animal Health

16/02/2024

Farrier day yesterday and the spectators were out in full force 😆 MarLou Stud

25/01/2024

Snuggle bugs ❤️

15/01/2024

Doing a wee bit of fencing after work today. Ensuring we get all of the grass we can!

03/12/2023

Received my gorgeous Winton to Longreach completion prize on Friday!! Absolutely stunning and brought back so many memories of this amazing ride!! I still can’t believe we did it sometimes!!! Thank you Julie Renner for organising these!!

13/11/2023

What do we do in the off season… we garden of course! After a huge weekend overhauling this veggie garden, we finally got our goodies planted. Can’t wait to start eating the fruits (veggies) of our labour 😊

28/10/2023

We had a huge working bee today at MarLou Stud! Clearing a fairly treacherous area of paddock that had been overrun by suckers, a tree had fallen, some holes had opened up and the fence was a bit of a mess but 8hrs later and with the help of Ryan’s beautiful Mum, Dad and Sister we got it all cleared and cleaned up and how FABULOUS does it look 👀?? Thanks so much for the help! Really does make lighter work 😊🥰

24/10/2023

We’ve had a new addition to MarLou Stud. A different type of four legged beauty! We are so excited to meet our first ever calf. So cute 🥰 ❤️

16/10/2023

Our little slice of paradise ❤️

10/10/2023

Settle in with a cuppa and enjoy the read…
Our trek to the 2023 Victorian Endurance State Championships wasn’t without its perils. We hadn’t started the year with this event in mind however, for those of you who don’t know back in June after an alarming incident we took our beautiful Sangah Sahreen back to MarLou Stud. Evident in the initial 4 pictures of this post and unable to be hidden by an atrocious clip job Sahreen’s overall condition both physically and mentally had taken quite a hit during her absence from us. It’s difficult not to get hung up on blaming yourself for entrusting a situation that ultimately caused such demise but to instead try to remember you thought you were doing correct by all parties involved. As such we needed to continue forward as Sahreen deserved greater success. After a veterinary assessment to ensure Sahreen had no permanent damage, in the initial weeks of her return we focused on rehabilitating and recalibrating her both physically and mentally. We achieved great results through correcting her diet, easing her physical pain through the magic hands of Pam Martin and improving her overall posture via the incredible work of Warren Beale. In just a short 7 weeks Sahreen had improved tremendously and we were able to attend the Ararat Endurance Ride. She successfully completed an easy 20Km on the Saturday but alas pulled a shoe in the first 40Kms of the 80Km event on Sunday requiring me to withdraw her. This ultimately indicated further work to improve her balance and evenness was required. Unfortunately during her time away she had overdeveloped her dominant lead making transitions difficult and unpleasant for her in these early weeks. As we moved through August into September with ongoing body work, farrier and corrective training Sahreen continued to improve significantly, so we decided to set our sites on a VIC State Champs 160Km completion to finish out her season. I was fortunate enough to secure Sky Muir as her rider for this event as I myself did not have the want to achieve this ride and Sahreen needed a rider who wanted the ride as much as she did. It was a perfect combination as it was also a Quilty qualifier for Sky. As the event got closer Sahreen kept moving from strength to strength and before long off she and Sky went in to the Mia Mia countryside at midnight Friday night. Sahreen started the event in a bitless bridle and continued to ride all day in this without any problems. Both her and Sky worked so well together throughout the 160Km event, finishing in a time of 16hrs 36mins for 7th MWT and an encouragement award. Sahreens entire vetting for the event was 15mins total indicating how happy, relaxed and easy she was doing the ride! I couldn’t be prouder of both Sahreen and Sky and am so happy to have achieved this with my girl. It will be her last ride for quite a while as she transitions from Endurance Mare to Broodmare (she is loving this transition by the way). It has been such a journey this past 3 months and I can’t thank all those who helped get us there enough! A lot of lessons learned along the way but I am so glad we got the girl back in one piece and she was able to finish her season on such a happy positive note.
Thank you so much to the Mia Mia State Champs crew for organising such a fabulous event! You should all feel so proud of your efforts! We all enjoyed a wonderful time! MarLou Stud is now hanging up our saddles for the season and focusing on welcoming our new MarLou additions. Stay posted…

28/09/2023

After a few huge weekends it was back to relative normal for MarLou Stud. My new friend Ash joined me for a wonderful ride through the Killawarra's on both Saturday and Sunday. Sahreen was wonderful for Ash and Kash has settled back nicely after the incident 🙃 Kash absolutely loves to be out and about, he is definitely a work horse and I cannot wait to see what he has in store for his 2024 endurance season. It is also so wonderful that Ash has joined our crew! It is great having someone to ride with and we love sharing our sport and our beauties with likeminded wonderful people!

25/09/2023

The weekend was yet to be over after Eldorado and pups so MarLou Stud headed to Bright for a slightly different endurance event. My beautiful husband Ryan competed in the 2023 Bright Running Festival. He successfully completed the 14Km race, enjoying the beautiful views Bright had on offer. It was my turn to be the support crew, so like a dutiful strapper I held his water bottle, made sure he had his necessary equipment and clapped when he crossed the finish line 😆 It's such a different atmosphere at these running events. You cross the line, get your completion medallion and die if you want to... No strapping, no vet check, just crazy people running for fun! He did such a great job and it was a nice change of pace. 🙂

21/09/2023

After our Eldorado adventures on the Saturday it was time to head home as we had puppies on the way and Ryan to ready for his event on Sunday! Our gorgeous Red Heeler Florence was kind enough to hold off her labour until we arrived home, with the first pup born around 6:30pm. It was all systems go from this time onwards, having a couple in quick succession becoming a little overwhelmed so I did have to help her a little. She handled the labour very well though with number 8 (the final pup) arriving around 9pm. Exhausted but so amazingly happy we cleaned up the labour ward and Florence settled into her role as Mum exceptionally well. The pups are now 2 weeks old and she is doing an amazing job, cleaning, feeding and adoring her pups! 😍 She has 4 girls and 4 boys. Their eyes have almost completely opened and they are starting to become very active. They are such precious babes and we are so in love ❤️❤️❤️

18/09/2023

MarLou Stud next ventured across to our home ride Eldorado. We again took MarLou Twiggy's Kashmir and Sangah Sahreen. This time Sahreen was partnered with the lovely Tina Manousaki whilst Kash was again stuck with me 😄 We enjoyed a lovely first kilometre or so of the 20Km Saturday Ride before we encountered a push bike. Kash had a slight panic attack which caused us to go backwards down a small slope before then a larger panic attack after his hind end started to sink in the mud and he could then no longer regain his footing. I made the conscious decision to part with Kash before I inadvertently pulled him over on me 😳Thankfully after I departed Kash was able to get himself back on his feet and of course go galloping down the bitumen road. During this time Tina had managed to dismount from Sahreen and after seeing his friend had not followed him on this wild adventure he turned around and galloped back to us. After catching him and fixing his boots we continued down the road, just leading to calm everyone down. We found a good stump a little ways out and I got back on but alas the ride was done. Kash had strained his hind end in the incident and Tina and I made the decision to turn around and head for home. All a huge learning experience for Kash and I am happy to say although our ride out this time did not go as smoothly as Ararat he was a lot more settled in the vet ring. Both horses vetted through well but the vet did comment we'd made the right decision as she thought Kash maybe a little sore and stiff the next day. All learning and nobody got seriously injured so a win all round I think! Thank you again Tina for riding with me. Also thank you to the Eldorado crew for putting on another fabulous event! The volunteers, vets, officials and everyone else involved in making this ride happen, thank you! Finally, I can't not mention the amazing team behind us - Kelato Animal Health for nourishing our beauties, for fueling our beauties, our amazing farrier for keeping them in shoes, my beautiful husband and parents for their never ending support and of course Pam Martin for her continued support in ensuring the horses are running at their best! Kash sure appreciated his treatment the following week 🥰

14/09/2023

Although MarLou Stud has been somewhat quiet on the media front lately we have certainly been keeping ourselves very busy behind the scenes! Just a fortnight after our journey out West we packed up again and headed to the Ararat Endurance Ride held the 12th & 13th of August. This time we had the new boy MarLou Twiggy's Kashmir and the original girl Sangah Sahreen on board. My beautiful friend Lynette partnered with Sahreen to es**rt myself and Kash around the 20Km Introductory Ride on the Saturday. After enjoying a fabulous ride around the Ararat bush both horses completed successfully. Next Sahreen and myself lined up for the 80Km event on Sunday. I enjoyed an absolutely AMAZING ride on my beautiful girl but alas after coming into base it was discovered she had unfortunately blown a shoe and taken a bit of meat out of her heel 😟 She had not shown any signs of this on track! After presenting to the vet and passing with flying colours I made the decision to withdraw her. Her heel has since healed very well and she is back on track for the State Champs 🙂 Thank you to my beautiful husband for coming with us on this journey and for being the best horse holder a wife could ask for 🥰 Thanks also to my lovely friend Lynette for holding my hand with the new boy 😘 A huge thank you of course must go to the Ararat Ride organisers, volunteers, vets and officials! It is always such a great ride and we can't thank you enough for continuing to host this wonderful event for us to enjoy! Animal Health thank you for the supplements that nourish our beauties, Hygain for the feed that fuels them and of course Pam Martin for the hands that keep them performing at their best!

31/08/2023

Sharing a special moment together or planning an uprising? Our superstar Billy with his superstar farrier Warren Beale.