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November 16, 2004 I got a bit of a shock when I realised I haven't updated the website since July. Winter/spring is a bit like that; nothing happens for ages then you are too busy to stop and write about it. But it is Canterbury Show weekend and Pete has taken the girls up to the sounds for the weekend (I think he's mad, as I would find it hard to cope with those two little darlings on a 6-8 hour depending on stops trip in the car. However he was calling it a big adventure, it will be interesting to see what he calls it when they get home tonight!) so I am catching up on all sorts.
First of all people were attracted by the music, a mixture of Ravel's Bolero, Shakira's Ebony Eyes, Aranjuez Mon Amour and the Arabian piece from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Next they entered on a Persian style rug through a gold archway with dark maroon curtains into an Arabian tent, with a backdrop of sand dunes filling the far wall. Inside we had a TV and video running, showing Colorado, Tycoon, Arjai Summitt and River Oak Tabu; and three laptops, one with a photo slide show, one with more of Colorado's movement and the third with the website offline. The centre tent pole (also painted gold) had a small table round it and we were serving tea/coffee and munchies courtesy of the Rangiora Bakery. We had also revamped the stud brochure and had created a business card and a gift card, all of which were given to anyone who walked past. It worked well on two levels, firstly people came to see what the music was all about and then stayed to appreciate the horses, and also we won the award. It was lots of fun, and was all very carefully dismantled so we can use it again at the South Island champs, so if you want to see it, come along in February. Jennifer Low took the lovely photo of Colorado during the parade. Next week was a weekend of horse for me, as Australian handler and trainer Adam King was in Christchurch, and I had booked in to the seminar on the Saturday and a private lesson on the Sunday. This was the best money I had spent in a while; Adam's training methods made sense to me, and were very easy to pick up. His session with Colorado on the Sunday gave me quite a bit to work with, and the result is an even better mannered horse. As a four-year-old stallion, Colorado is at that very arrogant stage, and what Adam showed me gave me that much more control over the boy. We served the first mare of the season the next day, and instead of trying to rush in (usually the lads are a bit keen for the first one), Colorado wasn't taking a breath without my permission. That certainly lessens the stress levels on a stressful job.
He is growing into a lovely horse, and the day before the show I took a good look at him and thought - this is the type of horse I want to breed. He is very Arabian in type, with fantastic movement, a great attitude and will be a lovely riding horse capable of doing whatever his owner wants under saddle. He never put a foot wrong at the show, in spite of having to be tied up to the float all day and he coped well with the ring and showed beautifully to come home with Champion Purebred. Rachel took Vivace, her two-year-old Anglo gelding by Tycoon; it was his first show since he was a foal and they went home with Reserve Champion partbred. Someone came up to me after the Championship and said that even though she wasn't an Arabian person she had just been stunned by the way Shiraj moved, and how much he had deserved to win. I love moments like that, when non Arabian horse people are shown just how good our beautiful horses are. We farewelled Shiraj's half brother Bashir two weeks ago. Bashir was the first of Colorado's babies to be born (from Rhiannon) and he has gone home with Phillip Graham and Sue Finch to be an endurance horse in the future. He has all the potential in the world, as a yearling (just) he is over 14.3hh behind and will mature at least 15.2-15.3hh. He loves to run and is very fast; and he has the sweetest nature. With Kandahar Ibn Kazra, Skyhawk and Ralvon Pilgrim in his blood Bashir is purpose-bred for performance and should do very well in endurance. I wish Sue and Graham all the best with him. Bashir's half brother, Jenny's Ardashir (x Tycoon) did his first 80km ride in October at Fernside. I only got to see him finish, as I had the ballet run with Nicole in the morning, but they looked fantastic trotting up the road over the finish line, and he went through easily with a 44 hr. His second 80 is next weekend at Amberley and all being well, he will then be an "official" (qualified) endurance horse. He is doing so well this season, Jenny says he has grown up at last and is lovely to take out and a dream to ride. Meanwhile Jenny's "baby" Zara is due to be scanned tomorrow, hopefully this time she is in foal to Tycoon after having an infection last season that took several months to clean up. I have been getting regular reports from Ellie, who bought Stinky (Distinction by Tycoon). Ellie backed Stinky over winter and has started taking him out for hacks with her partner on his big gelding. She is very pleased with how it has all gone, Stinky just loves the attention and going for a ride sounds like the best thing for him. He loves water, although Ellie tends to get a bit wet as he will play in the rivers, and he is very surefooted, coping well with the rough tracks they often ride over. Their last trip was an overnighter, and although Ellie was bit worried about how Stinky would handle being hobbled all night, he was fine - even falling asleep with his head on her shoulder while she sat by the bonfire! I just love it when one of my babies goes to the right home, as a breeder it makes it all worthwhile. I hope Ellie and Stinky enjoy many more years of fun together. Canterbury show was last week and I took Colorado and Shiraj. They came home with a Reserve Champion each, but the show was a bit of a disaster for Colorado. The main arena was VERY slippery (ask the poor polo player whose horse went for a major skate on Thursday throwing his rider quite some distance - that had to hurt) and he had already got spooked when he slipped on the Horrible Hill you have to go over to get to the ring. So when he had to go over a patch of mud to get into the arena he decided to jump it with a scary result. His front feet stopped but his hind feet kept sliding until he had rolled right over. I managed to flick his lead over his front foot, but he rolled over too quickly to get up, and still had the lead between his back legs. Normally that wouldn't worry him, but by now he was completely spooked and he started to panic, so I had to let go. There were yells of LOOSE STALLION from the Clarks of the course (who were not helping by crowding around the gateway) and it was pure luck that I show Colorado in a very long (2 1/2 metre) lead, as I just managed to grab it as he was reversing at speed to get away. After that he slipped a couple more times because he was so tense, and then he refused to move out. I tried twice, but he was too wired and spooked to even try. On the plus side he stood up and showed well in spite of it, thanks to Adam King's help, so maybe we'll get it together at the next show. But I don't think I'll be taking him back to Canterbury show for a long time. Even Shiraj was spooked when we were going over Horrible Hill, the woman in front of us slipped and fell and frightened the hell out of him when she landed right in front of him. Colorado has had three babies born so far this season, two partbreds and a purebred.
Have a great Christmas and holidays everyone, and I'll try and write a bit more often.
P.S. Nicole wanted me to tell you about her first show; we went to the CAHC Winter Woollies show and she came home with Reserve Champion Lead Rein. July 29, 2004
 Colorado under saddle - July 04
I thought winter was supposed to be a quiet time? Not round here, we've had more visitors than ever and lots happening. Stinky left for his new home at the end of March, and I have had regular reports from Elly about how he's doing. He has certainly fallen on his feet, it sounds like he is very loved and fussed over - his perfect situation. Elly has started backing him with the intention of taking him along quietly; meanwhile they go for walks around the neighbourhood. Two of the girls left for a new home a few weeks ago; Hattie (Sonata) and Najah are now in the North Island with Karen Draper. Karen (like Elly) is also from the UK (obviously people of impeccable taste these English!) and is in the process of moving over to NZ. She plans to start Hattie under saddle, while Najah will be shown in hand and bred from when she is old enough. Sonata has nearly always been in the Championships when shown in hand (she's missed out only once) so it will be very interesting to watch her career under saddle. She certainly has the paces and looks to continue to do well. And Najah is just the sweetest wee girl; she will love having a pet person to do things with. I wish Karen all the best with these two, I hope she gets as much enjoyment and successes from them as I have had. We had visitors of a different kind in autumn. Kate Smith is a professional photographer whose son is in Nicole's class at school, she also likes horses as she was brought up on her parents thoroughbred stud down south. Kate knew I had Arabians and had been meaning to come and see them for a while, but then she was commissioned to do a photo shoot for Robyn Cliffe Couturiers, a well-known Christchurch fashion designer who specialises in wedding and ball gowns. So Kate's great idea was to use one of my Arabians for the shoot, as Robyn was after a certain look for one particular wedding gown. I first thought of Colorado, but then decided not - he was more than capable of deciding to grab hold of the model's gown and rip it off her just at the wrong moment! (and he'd have a grin on his face when he did it). So my next thought was Naahrah. She is so pretty and very quiet and gentle and she could certainly be relied on to be careful around a model who had never been near a horse before. Kate came over to check out the horse and to see if there were any suitable sites to take the shoot around the farm. She was more than happy with what she found, so a date was set. Naahrah was a bit surprised to be dragged out of the back paddock and washed the day before. Luckily it was quite warm for that time of year but even so it still took hours for all her winter fuzz to dry. I had to double rug her to stop it fluffing up like a Shetland pony. Clipping her was fun too, she needed a jaw line and her bridle path doing, but it wasn't easy to get it right amongst all the fur. However the next day she looked lovely, and with heaps of makeup to give her the "exotic" look (lots of blending on a woolly coat) she could almost have gone in the showring. Naahrah was the perfect lady and posed like she had been doing it all her life, and the model quickly lost any nervousness over holding onto her. The only incident we had was right at the end when Naarah was starting to get a bit fed up, she buried her face into the fur wrap the model was wearing and then took a very careful chomp at it. Everyone thought it was hilarious; I was just pleased she hadn't been eating grass or the wrap would have come out green! The photos turned out beautifully, Kate has promised me one for my "horse" wall at home. Robyn was so pleased with them that she has had one blown up giant sized for her shop in Christchurch.
March 23, 2004 Well, here I am, actually sitting at the computer to write an update for the website. It must be autumn. My apologies to the lovely lady who told me off at the Breeders show for not updating more often, but I've been so busy with the horses that what little spare time I had was spent doing completely non-horsy things. Like spending time with the girls. I think Pete has felt a bit like a solo dad this season, certainly after the National Show he was very pleased to see me back on-line (almost - it took nearly 3 weeks to get back to normal, especially as we had the Arabian Saddlehorse Champs the next weekend). So we are down to our last 2 visiting mares, I'm only feeding the two "boys" and there are two very disappointed fillies lining up for a non-existent evening feed every day and I'm finally catching up with all the bits and pieces that didn't get done over summer (like the garden, I know there's one there somewhere under the weeds). But it was a very good season with some fantastic results, and well worth all the hard work.
We made it eventually, although he was very much wound up and forgot all he'd been taught about showing. However he still came home with Reserve Champion Purebred Stallion. Naahrah (Naaddel x Shaaltarah) [pictured at left] was just perfect, ignoring all distractions and showing beautifully to take out Champion Purebred mare. She is the loveliest mare to handle, very gentle and a joy to take out. Next up was the CAHC's All Arabian Show. This was the first show to be held in the RDA's indoor arena, so I took most of the show team to get them used to it before the Nationals. They all behaved beautifully, even Naahrah's yearling Tycoon daughter Najah, who was out for the first time. Colorado again came home with Reserve Champion Purebred Stallion, which I was very pleased with, as he was the youngest stallion by some years. But I was really thrilled when Shiraj, Colorado's first baby to be shown (from the Tycoon daughter Aurielle), also took out a Reserve Championship - Purebred Colt. He too was the youngest, as he was the only colt foal there. The photos below are of Shiraj as a very young foal, but he is just as pretty now, with his dad's spectacular movement.
 Shiraj I had an easy time next at the Canterbury Horse and Pony Breeders Show, with only Colorado and Najah going. Colorado was starting to settle in the ring and show well, so I was very pleased when he took out the Purebred Stallion Championship. Najah also showed well for her second time, the judge said she was "just gorgeous" and gave her Reserve Champion Purebred Youngstock. She is just a honey, like her mother she just lives for attention and will do anything required of her so long as she gets it. Last show of the season for me was the NZ Nationals, also held in the indoor arena. All horses behaved beautifully and showed well, and it was great to get them out and seen. Unfortunately Shiraj lost the plot completely - just after the judge had commented on what a beautiful foal he was - and blew the chance to advance any further after qualifying for his Top Five; but Sonata came home with Reserve Champion Anglo/Partbred Filly (second National Title for her) and Champion to her was Rachel's filly by Kazmere Armani from Enchante, so it was win/win for Rosewood Farm. I couldn't have done so well this season without the help of Jenny and Rachel; Jenny did a brilliant job "out back" in the stables turning the horses out for their classes in a production line, while Rachel helped with handling either Aurielle or Shiraj in their respective classes. Thanks guys, it's been a great season, and lots of fun. By the way, if you have complicated machinery like folding tables to put up at shows, don't ask Jenny to do it; she killed my new thermos when the table collapsed on us!
In between helping me and killing the thermos, Jenny has been busy with Ardashir (Tycoon x Rhiannon) at the endurance rides, and she says he has graduated from kindergarten with flying colours. They have now done five rides, vetting out only once, lame on a very hard stoney track, and Ardashir's heartrates have been just great (starting rate 36, finishing on 44 at Mt Torlesse, the last ride for him). So he will now be ready to tackle his first 80km ride next season. The photos were taken the day after Mt Torlesse, you can see he has grown into a really lovely gelding, and he is currently standing 15.2 hh. If Bashir, his ½ brother by Colorado, turns out as well I shall be very pleased. Stinky (Distinction - Tycoon x Framheim) is off to a new home soon. He is going to Albury, to be #1 riding horse and cuddle receiver for Elly Davis. Elly has the most wonderful riding country over 36,000 acres on the hills, and wanted a horse to be her best mate. Stinky certainly fits the bill, he has the most fantastic temperament and just lives for scratches and attention from anyone. For the last couple of years he's been doing his best "labrador at the pound" act, pleading for someone to take him home and love him, and I'm so pleased he's going to Elly who will love him to bits. I wish you both all the best together. So now it's back to autumn/winter work; deciding who to break in and #1 priority - getting back on Colorado. I did ride him about 3 weeks ago (slightly hairy - he was VERY enthusiastic) and I really want to school him up for next season over winter. Plan A is to take him to a dressage day or two over winter, to get him used to being ridden out, the winter dressage series would be great. With Danielle now at Montessori two days a week, I now have more time, and I'm looking forward to doing more with Colorado this year. Watch this space.
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First up for the season was the stallion parade in September. I was going to take Colorado anyway, and then I had the bright idea of trying for the marketing award. So for the next five weeks Pete and I planned and sewed and created and videoed until we came up with something we were happy with. It took all morning at the stallion parade to set up, but was well worth the effort. 
Canterbury A&P Show was the usual, very windy and full of all sorts of scary things; I nearly didn't get River Oak Colorado into the ring, as he decided flappy, clanging flags were too much to cope with, and if I wanted to go there I could do it without him. 
Rosewood Farm Arabian Stud Helen and Pete Chambers 317 Rangiora-Leithfield Road 2RD Rangiora, North Canterbury New Zealand Phone +64 +3 312-9317 rosewood@horsetalk.co.nz |