Aspen Hills Arabians emerged from Tarapuruhi Arabian Stud, bringing Tarapuruhi Silverling back and adding mares from the Napier breeding programme, Merdina and Racca. These mares were by Surur from Melriffa.

Silverling produced a filly by Shahrabi, a cross which was ideal for endurance, and this filly, Star-Ling, though small, went on to a successful CTR and Endurance career with Annette Lachenit, Susan Iorns, and then with Kirstin coming second on her in the Junior CTR Nationals at Glen Murray. Several of the full brothers to Star Ling were Champions in the Show ring, and one had a very promising endurance career before an accident cut it short. Silverling had two more foals, the lovely AH Requiem by AH Elegy, whom we hand raised when Silverling died, and a colt by Shalom La Ish which died.

Merdina had AH Gray Gun (Aka Corrin) who competed in the Wellington Show Jumping Circuit successfully and Mekaa who had a very successful Pony Club career and who is now doing CTR. Racca produced AH Elegy, by Shalom La Ish, a very well put together and masculine stallion who was great to ride and his sister AH Nada bint Racca, an open endurance horse who produced for us two foals, the gorgeous AH Pagan by Simeon Sapar and AH Isis by Byblos.

We used Shalom La Ish for his size and powerful movement. He had been successful in dressage in Canada and that also appealed. His foals have taken some time to mature, but they are now starting to appear successfully under saddle particularly in endurance with Windy Meadows Maria being almost unbeatable in Junior events in 2005/6 and Bint La Ish being exported after a good endurance career in NZ. AH Nada Bint Racca is an open endurance horse for us, and AH Gaia was a great ride placing National CTR events prior to her sale. AH Eclipse remains with us.

Two mares were acquired from Araleigh Arabians, both with "family" connections. AA Suzanne by Echolade from Araleigh Sue had excellent length of rein, a good wither, and wonderful skin and coat and strong powerful movement. She traces to Surur, that's the family connection, as well as Sindh, Silver Moonlight and Semna, a ¾ sister to NZ's premier endurance broodmare, Gipsy Maid. We have two daughters from Suzanne, AH Eclipse by Shalom La Ish, emerging as a very beautiful mare and AH Santa Ana by Wind in Fire, who has a lovely head and a big showy trot. The other mare was AA Katalina by Gai Cadet from Araleigh Kalina, by Claudius from Katina(she is the family connection). Katalina was a very anxious mare but she produced three fillies in a row for us, Gaia by Shalom La Ish, Concord by Simeon Shomer and Katafah bint Katalina by Wind n Fire. There are all great little mares, Gaia was the most athletic and acrobatic of mares - she loved movement and would exercise herself in the paddock while the others were asleep or grazing. Katafah is doing mounted games and has been in the ribbons in some jumping events.

Fantasy (Nisab x Jasmin) stayed with us for several years, she lost twins to Shalom la Ish and then foaled our lovely Starlight Express who bred three lovely fillies for us. The first is with Shane Dougan and Jenny Champion, AH Whistle at Me. The second was a gorgeous grey filly by Simeon Sapar. Dawn Chorus. She was on her way to the Royal Show in Palmerston North where everyone was in a big hurry to get her off the truck, she put her foot between the back door and the truck in a gap that should never have been there and shattered her leg. The whole family was caste into mourning as she was a favourite. The third filly was another people loving girl, by E. Light my Fire and she has gone to Tanya Harrison. Starlight Express is currently an endurance horse. She has won several 80km junior rides, including the 2006 85km Junior National Championship.

Sunnybank Anashelle was leased for some years. She did well at CTR and bred some foals for us. Her chestnut colt by RL Firewalker (Aspen Hills Shell Fire) was extremely eye-catching, being noticed by everyone who saw him. He was sold to Anne Marie Garcia and he is the sire of many foals already. Today his lives in Carterton and maybe we will use him one day. AH Farhanna by Elegy was third in the 2006 NI CTR championships and has started endurance

Anouk bint Repartee spent a year here and produced the elegant bay filly Nita Juanita. Her paddock mate was Waimeha Juana who unfortunately died before she foaled, so this filly is named after her. She just loves people and is so light on her feet. AA Bandette (Gai Cadet x Araleigh Bandera) was leased and foaled AH Brio, an extremely pretty and elegant bay mare very Crabbet in type and Bint Breeze (Dunwingiri Kahlil Au x Five R Breeze) also on lease foaled AH Balalaika.

Looking to retain some of the successful old saddle lines we bought Rosewood Marika by Kandahar ibn Kazra from Sherwood Athene, and Orica by RL Firewalker from Sherwood Adria. Both trace to El Daf and the good riding stallion Lysander (by Spindrift). Marika had a short spectacular endurance career and was shown twice for Royal Champion mare, and a first in her mare class. Then she has produced two very fine foals, one by NV Rouge Elite US and the other by Advocate AU. For the same reason Relko Jaffa came here for one year and produced a superb grey filly by Advocate. Jaffa is by Cyden Sun by WAHO trophy winner Ngapa Joussif from Frangipani, a filly my mother and I bred by Santarabia Bahran (Abiram x Quetina) from Riffaletta (Surur x Melriffa).

Looking to strengthen our riding horse qualities we have introduced some strong Polish stock into our programme. M. Eternity (Warranty US x Euni Pol) is a beautiful white mare, and Taliska (Arrival x M Chantilly Lace) is a strong well built and rare daughter of the Euni son, Arrival.

We were also lucky enough to obtain Advocate, by FameMaker R from Mulawa Aria (Arrival x Karmaa) Karmaa has been several times top brood mare in Australia, her stock have had phenomenal success, as have the FameMaker R stock. Advocate is a grey horse, about 15hh, with a stunning head, and lovely arched neck, set high, and good shoulders and body. And he has that FameMaker trot. He is well remembered at Mulawa, they showed him to East Coast Reserve Champion colt, and they believe he is bred to breed on. In his first season at Aspen Hills, he found life very stressful but he has now settled and is a gentle and affection horse who always greets you very loudly when he sees you coming with his feed. He has a mixture of mainly Polish and Spanish lines in his pedigree, tracing back to some very familiar horses, such as Bask, Shahzada (through the Spanish lines), El Shaklan, Euni, a sister to the Polish sire Eukaliptus, Bey Shah, Nabor, the fabulous Fadjur, it's a pedigree full of good moving horses and performance horses. Both Spanish and Polish breeders favoured good riding types and some purebred Spanish Arabians have been outstanding in horse trials and dressage.

Prior to the arrival of Advocate, we retained some fillies from outside stallions, including AH Olympia by E Light my Fire from DS Bint Narelle, AH Santa Ana by Wind n Fire, and AH Rouge Etoile(by NV Rouge Elite) from Dell Talia.

We aim to breed a riding horse Arabian, a horse that is as near the standard as we can, with a trainable nature and lots of talent. They won't all go into the same fields; Katafah is currently being a mounted games pony and loving it. AH Yamaha by El Kheir Galal is being kept as a colt for the time being and will be bred to a few mares.

With this in mind we ride many of our youngstock and our endurance team is a mixture of Araleigh, Pegasus Bay and Aspen Hills horses. We will always consider horses someone else has bred because getting to know them you learn some new things, and ways in which to improve. We will always have some young stock for sale to suit a range of futures, whether Pony Club or endurance.