"Prepare to Win" Seminar

For the last two days over the weekend I booked in and took Shell Fire to this seminar hosted by The Auckland Arabian Club with the venue very kindly donated for the weekend by Rhodium Arabians who now own the Isola Equestrian Center. The Seminar's speakers were Kate and Doyle Dertel from Future Farms over in Australia.

Saturday dawned cold and early....4:30am early. Yes, it was hard getting out of bed!

By the time I had loaded my already packed up gear, it was 5am. I headed off to the paddocks, fed the horses and turned the horses that were stabled out into their paddocks. I mucked out a couple of stables until it was light enough to load up Shell Fire (about 6:30am) and then set off!

About half way up the motorway I suddenly realised that I had left the directions at home *rolls eyes* Thankfully I have a pretty good memory and 2 hours later I arrived at Isola Equestrian Center.

I unloaded Shell Fire and put him into his pre booked stable. He thought he was VERY cool!






Shell Fire seriously thought he was sooooo cool being in a stable block of 20 odd horses!

I took some photos of the indoor and outdoor arena which is where the halter and ridden lessons would take place on the second day:




The first half of day one was spent listening and asking questions on how Doyle and Kate feed and condition their horses. Lots of very cool tips were picked up! Very cool hearing how they manage to run their very large barn!

The second half of the day was practical in that we saw how they plait and shave the ridden horses and head clip the halter horses faces. I wasnt too interested in the plaiting and tail shaving (I personally hate shaven tails!) and I feel pretty confident in my own plaits.

I was interested in how they clipped and shaved the face. I must admit that the face clip was cool, but the close shaving to get back to the skin around the eyes and muzzle really dont do it for me. I took the following pictures of the clipped head:



One the second day Shell Fire had his private halter lesson with Doyle. I was very impressed with Shell Fire with how he handled the day and also with Doyle who was so understanding about Shell Fire. Once I have had a chance to download the video and upload it to you tube, I will post a link on here.

Shell Fire's Big Day Out

The day dawned cold and a little frosty. I was a little hesitant to get up and out of bed, but when I peeped behind the curtain, I was delighted to find the sky looking blue and clear.... it was going to be a fine day!!

After giving a couple of riding lessons I then went and brought in the boy, groomed him and hitched up my vehicle to the float.

I was prepared for a possible 'discussion' about hoping onto the float, so I enabled my secret weapon..... a big bowl of food. I placed this up inside the float by the front bar as well as my shortened lunge whip on the outside on the float.

I went and untied Shell Fire who by this stage was sporting his 'Arab "Ooooo look at the scary float" Snort!' look and I stepped onto the ramp.

I turned and went to picked up the secret weapon. I turned back to find a face rapidly approaching with ears pointed so far forward they were almost touching. He was most pleased to greet me AND have food stuffed into his face.

Being slightly flabbergasted that Shell Fire had walked up into the float I stood there a little stunned for a few seconds while he quite happily munched away on the secret weapon. Gathering my senses, I tied up the secret weapon to enable Shell Fire to keep on munching, then tied him loosely, slipped down behind him, did up the bum bar, lifted the ramp, locked it into place and then went round to the side door. I was greeted by his nose and a dribble of food.

After tying him more securely and taking away the secret weapon (he wasnt too impressed about that) I sealed the side door, loaded the dogs into the back, started the car and set off.

Shell Fire travelled really well in the float. I hardly knew he was there. It was only about a 10min drive to Linda's place, but I still took it nice and slow (think Granny driving) so as to give him a good first outing experience.

We arrived at Linda's and unloaded. Bowie (Airthrey Highlander Linda's stunning 'real boy') was also there to see who was turning up visiting. While Bowie was very polite and called out a welcome, Shell Fire turned into a bit of a snob and just lifted his tail and stood looking around before finding the nearest patch of grass to stuff into his gob.

A few munches of grass, a quick change of gear and we were off down into the arena.

We took the slightly scenic route to the arena to avoid unsettling Bowie too much (only girls lift their tail round Bowie and Shell Fire was giving mixed signals doing his Ay-rab thing with his tail).

The sand in the arena wasnt too exciting so I lunged him for a bit before then attempting to do some obstacles with him.

Scariest by far was Lynda sitting on a bright green drum on its side. Not only that but it could MOVE and ROLL and Oh-My-Gosh it could Make-A-Funny-Noise-On-The-Sand and it Could-Possibly-Eat-Me and Roll-Towards-Me..... Took about 15 minutes, but in the end, Arabian curiosity got the better of him and he just HAD to touch it with his nose and then realise that it wasnt that scary after all.

Shell Fire was also very brave and walked over some tarpaulin (only if I walked over it first) and did some trotting poles (walking over them).

By far the funniest thing was watching Shell Fire spook at some barrels upended with Bowie laughing on the side lines making fun of the fact that he can just walk over that kind of height now!!

The day finished with Shell Fire again loading into the float and travelling very well back home, unloading well and being put to bed. He was very glad to be home. He gave me a cuddle as if to say "Thanks for the day out".

While it was a great day today with Shell Fire, I unfortunately do not have any photos due to
A) forgetting my camera, and
B) being hard to hang onto Shell Fire and take photos all at the same time.

Maybe next time :D

Really looking forward to getting this boy under saddle now and taking him out and about!

Some photos and more news about the hoof...

Well, it seems that I have managed to catch the infection in Shell Fire's hoof just in time. There was a concern for a while there that it had gone quite deep and was nearing the pedal bone. Not very cool to have an infection in the bone...

Thankfully, all is on the mend and while there is a lot of hoof to grow out, its nothing that time and some well fed supplements wont fix.

I have included some photos taken of his hoof and some of the 'pony' in general. Yes, its dark but those are the breaks in the middle of winter!

Stallion Parade

I have made the decision to not take Shell Fire to the stallion parade this year.

His hoof abscess is a lot worse than I initially thought. It has worked its way through the entire hoof capsule. Its going to take some time to get rid of the 'black crap' left from infection and for him to grow out the cut away part of his hoof.

While this is disappointing news, it means I can instead focus on getting him under saddle and prepare him for the Waikato Show. Will look at just doing the in hand with him at this stage for that show.

I am now looking at buying an Arabian Show Halter from First Choice over in America. I am guessing I will have to get a bitted one seeing how Shell is a 'real' boy still lol!

I am looking at buying this one:


Its called "Elegance" from First Choice Halters and I think it would suit him nicely.

I will be also getting these conchos if available:


and then a gold throat chain and chin chain, as well as a leather lead.

Fairly expensive exercise all up (total of almost $200US), but will be worth every penny :D

First day of work

Shell has now had his mane washed and loosely plaited to keep it looking nice. He still manages to get his whole head horrendously dirty. I decided yesterday to watch how he rolls. He stays balanced perfectly on his back upside down and then proceeds to rub his entire face, head and ears into this 'wonderful' dirt patch... *rolls eyes*

Such a typical boy.... loves being dirty and is quite miffed to be turned out in such a tidy state....I swear, stallions are such little 'boys'... lol!

Shell Fire is finally almost sound from his hoof abscess so I decided to have a play with him on the lunge today after bringing him in and cleaning the mud off him (much to his disgust).

I dont have a lunge cavesson small enough yet, so I just clipped the lunge rope to his halter.

It took Shell a while to realise that he needed to go round me at a walk and NOT sniff every poo he came across in the paddock.... (its currently the 'let off steam' paddock). Once he had figured that out, he lunged around at a walk and trot very well. He is just so lovely and such a quick learner!

Looking forward to riding this horse once we have built up our relationship a bit more :D

He's here!

Yes, I am very late with this post..... Sorry! But I have had a horse up for sale and with it being the weekend have had lots of people out to look at him, so havent had much time to grab photos.

I am so excited about Shell. He is so lovely and the photos will not do him justice as my battery was running out in the camera (if it isnt one thing its another).

I havent been able to get any moving shots of him as he currently has an abscess in one of his front hooves so he is just a bit too sore to run around properly. After these photos were taken I put some animalintex onto it, bandaged it and now will just have to see if I can draw it out. :S

Anyhow, here are some photos :D

Exciting news!

Haley emailed me yesterday to confirm that she will be bringing Shell Fire up this Friday.

I think this is a wonderful option as it gives her a chance to see the facilities (which I REALLY have to get onto taking photos of....) and we get to meet each other which is just lovely.

She will be staying the night with us and returning the next day. That gives her a chance to see how he settles in.

I am so very excited!