Part One: A Pony Named Lightning
http://www.ispyhorses.com/ispy_new/journal/714

Part Two: Old Bill

“Old Bill had cobbered up to me. He’d be way up the back feeding and he’d hear the truck coming and he’d know it was me. He’d come cantering down the paddock calling out to me and he’d stand at the fence and wait. Then I started riding him. I’d ride him down Valley Road and back up again. Bareback of course. Then the couple who owned him were having problems and they split. But I got to keep Bill. And I found other grazing for him.
I already had another Clydesdale that nobody wanted, and he was called Clyde. I had Bill and Clyde. So Bill had his Clydesdale mate and I had the two of them. I got them into harness and a friend of mine who was the president of the NZ Clydesdale Society, he went to school with me, he came up and we put harness on Bill. A collar and chains on and we had him pulling logs up in Valley Road and then from there we put him in a sledge and he pulled that. But he was a bit too quick so we flagged that and I ended up with him just as a riding horse.
I owned Old Bill for many, many years. Then I lost my grazing and we shifted him out to a farm where he was an ornament horse. Just a nice horse to look at in the paddock. He was very old by then and he was happy. I kept visiting him to do his feet. He was great Old Bill. He was a wonderful old horse. A real character.”
© iSpyHorses 2015

Part One: Old Bill

"Old Bill was what we called him. He ended up living quite near to where I had my forge. He was originally from Tokoroa way. He’d been battered and flogged as a youngster when they were making him pull the heavy logs out of the bush. They were clearing the land and tree felling. Thinning out the bush and making forestry blocks. They used horses a lot down there in the seventies anyway. And eighties. That’s when he would have learned to mistrust people. Very much so!
Someone had him on Waiheke Island after that and they couldn’t handle him. They probably bought him as a riding horse or maybe to pull a cart and they couldn’t manage him. Then he ended up grazing near to me where I had my forge. The lady who bought him couldn’t get anyone to do his feet. They called me in because they could only get the front feet done and he wouldn’t let them near his back end. He’d just lash out at you. I learned to handle a horse when I was young. From when I was twelve year old I could break it in and mouth it and teach it to go in harness and drive it. You got to get their confidence. So once they’re confident in you and they know you’re not going to hurt them, they just give themselves to you. And that’s how I got round him.
He’d let me do his feet. He’d pick them up for me when I’d click my tongue and hold them up. Strangers couldn’t get round him though. Even when I got hurt one time, not by him, and I couldn’t do the trimming, I’d hold his foot in my lap and I’d get my farrier mate to come round the back and he’d be able to snip from the back. It was OK by Old Bill so long as I had his foot in my lap. Then he was fine. But no one else could hold it."
© iSpyHorses 2015

"He's twenty now and I've owned him since he was born. I was just a kid when I was given his mother. I was washing her down after a long ride over the farm and I noticed she had a really big udder. But I was only twelve and it meant nothing to me. The next day I went to catch her, and this guy only a few hours old came out from under the trees to meet me. The mare had foaled with a cover on as well. Thankfully everything was fine. He's been the most amazing horse and his mother is still going. She's along the road teaching a young girl how to ride."
© iSpyHorses 2015

Photo credit:Unique Moments

Christmas this year, holiday away across the river with all of the family.

Photo credit: V.Holmes Unique Moments

Kiwi country kids familiarization with horses generally begins early.

Photo credit: V.Holmes Unique Moments

NZ city girl at a family and friends catch up, picked flowers, had a swing, looked at the farm animals, found a horse, jumped on and rode for hours. No need for a bridle and saddle.

Photo credit: V.Holmes Unique Moments

A Kiwi country kid without Wi-Fi

Photo credit: V.Holmes Unique Moments
 

"I would like people to tell me how strong I've been when I can't see it. Mainly, I just require people to be uplifting and to also talk about normal, trivial things with me that I would have spoken about before my accident. If people understood that it’s perfectly normal when I've done a lot and get tired, I should go straight to bed and have a nap. Then if I have a confidence crisis and think how embarrassing and pathetic it is for a 21 year old to get so tired, people would reassure me and tell me this is normal and that I'm doing much better than most. It would make me feel less isolated as I would understand I'm not strange or odd, just recovering from a life changing and very serious injury and that it will pass with time. If people understood that as horrible as the symptoms are, they are temporary and I will get back to how I was. Their understanding of this would give me confidence and it would remind me that people don't think of me any differently, even if I am limited currently. I just want help to be there when I ask for it. I don't want to feel patronized or belittled. Yes I am ill but I'm not stupid. Some friends have read up about head injuries so know what symptoms I have and how amazingly I'm doing. They make the effort to do fun activities with me and just enjoy spending time with me regardless of what we are doing. This makes me feel like myself again and gives me the chance to be young again and have fun and forget this summer and what I'm dealing with. This is invaluable."
© iSpyHorses 2015


See Full Article on News and Views

"What I can say about competing at Fair Hill CCI3* is that I had the eventing community, my family and all of my friends holding me up. People said I would feel Dylan's presence when he passed. I felt so incredibly sad, but the position I was in, competing here, was one I'd dreamt of being in my entire life. I had flown home just the weekend before to visit, Dylan, as he wasn't doing well. As I left to fly back east, I kissed his head, said I love you and he said, love you too....and win, Tam. I said, I will! I never imagined when I left anything about winning. Dylan has followed and supported our sister, Heather, and me, from the beginning of our careers until the very end. At the beginning of the 3* show jumping the sky darkened and it started sprinkling. As Phillip, the competitor before me, finished his round and I entered the ring, the rain stopped and it got a little brighter. I felt Dylan. I took a deep breath and I rode just like I always would. My heart is broken, and I honestly can't really feel anything about winning Fair Hill CCI3*. All I can say is that I want to win a lot more and it feels good to know I have Dylan right by my side."
© iSpyHorses 2015

Tamra Smith
Mai Baum

“Working with Eric can be like working with a 12hh pony stallion. He’s very cheeky but he puts a smile on my face. Sometimes he’s a real clown. He can be bolshy and pushy. And he’s a bit of a biter. No teeth but the occasional nibble. And he hates being told. Everything has to be his way or not at all. So you have to make him think it’s all his idea. He’s a chatter box too. From when I appear in the morning until he gets his breakfast and some love, he constantly whickers or even shouts to me.”

© iSpyHorses 2015

"Lily's not a horsey girl at all. But Grandma keeps trying. She took her down to see the new foal and it was quite cute the way they related to each other. But Lily has a motorbike for now. It's the easiest way to get around the farm."

Photo credit: V.Holmes Unique Moments

“Oh I’m never going to be able to keep up with the hunt at this rate!”

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"I was five years old when I saw a sign ‘pony rides for 50 cents’. I can still recall being hoisted up onto that pony and the light travelling through my body. It was bliss. And I was hooked.
My parents were immigrants. They travelled here to escape the war and real hardship. They had their own trauma and were consequently very strict and secretive. They hid their problems. Nobody wanted to be judged. Anxiety and depression could be seen as bad behaviour. The hypocrisy normalised a way of being and I always felt that I was wrong. There’s been alcohol and eating disorders and mental instability. I only just told my parents about the sexual abuse.
"It’s only now that I understand. My behaviour was a perfectly normal reaction to a very abnormal environment. I came across as angry and out of control and naughty. But I was emotionally bruised and terrified. I walk my horse along the beach for us both to feel the freedom. There are no barriers here. Unlike working your horse in an arena or keeping them fenced in and using harsh bits and spurs and whips to control them. At the beach we just be. I’d let her off the lead and of course she’d follow me but I can’t because there’s a chance of idiots in cars.
I’m on a journey of finding out who I am. There are parallels. My horse is feisty but also so gentle. She’s been judged as rebellious and defiant. I say she’s spunky and opinionated. We both come from a generation that doesn’t always value or even recognise other’s opinions.
The horse world can be cruel. My horse has taught me about the power of cooperation in a relationship. Rather than domination. Rather than rule, I show leadership. We communicate without words and we trust each other. There are parallels between us. We’ve been bruised and misunderstood. We are a product of our environment and we are often judged as being naughty and unruly. Here we are free of the structures and control that life imposes on us. It’s just me and her together. Working out our personal issues."
© iSpyHorses 2015

Photo credit: V.Holmes Unique Moments

"Rusty was thirty years old. He's been gone a year now and it's only in the last few weeks that we've been able to say his name without Olivia getting really upset. She hasn't ridden since. Rusty is very hard to replace."

Photo credit: V.Holmes Unique Moments

"We were following the hunt but of course we got left behind. So we stood on the hill to watch. The girls had been very excited the night before and were too late to bed. Only 45 minutes in they ran out of puff. We just needed a cuddle and to rest a bit!"

Photo credit: V.Holmes Unique Moments

"Tell us what you were thinking when you were up in the air?"

"What saddle can I use? I need a new one right now!"

Today in micro fashion.

"It's the challenge of teaching and reward of them learning".

"They speak to you without words. Benj gets an appreciative nose twitch going when I scratch him around his ears and gives death stares if I get the wrong spot".