This is not a piece I thought I would be writing. I took Colorado to the All Arabian show in February for his first outing in a couple of years. I was so pleased with him there, his brain had finally caught up with his testosterone and he listened to me and showed really well (even listening to me and behaving himself when the mare got loose in the Supreme).

It was icing on the cake to come home with Champion stallion, an award that means all the more to me now.

The last week in February turned to hell when I found him in the paddock not moving from where he was standing. Feeling sick, I phoned my vet who told me after examining him that his hock was bending in ways it shouldn't. Colorado had shattered it in a freak accident, probably doing one of his mad gallops up to the back of his paddock and slipping on the way. We buried him where he fell, but it still doesn't quite seem real.

I keep looking over to his paddock to see what he is up to; and I keep going to mix up three feeds at night instead of two. It is very quiet round here at present, with no clown to incite riot amongst the mares.

I'm not sure what will happen with the stud now, at least I have winter to think things over. I do have a lovely yearling colt by Colorado, but as he is from a Tycoon daughter he is closely related to three-quarters of my mares and of limited use to me. I kept him entire as I thought he would breed lovely performance/endurance horses as he has the bloodlines, type and movement to do so, but hadn't really planned on keeping him. Right now I would probably swap the lot for a bowl of goldfish.

There is a saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Right now I feel as though I must be made of solid steel I'm that strong.

I am well and truly overdue in writing this, my only excuse is the busyness of life, the universe and everything. I have finally made it to the computer as I have been gardening all morning and want to sit down for a bit before I go and work some horses. Where to start, babies first I think, there's certainly enough of them - five altogether.

First up was my ever-faithful Rhiannon, a bay-going-grey colt to Calais. Danielle's turn to name a foal and she came up with Johnston, which very much suits him. Typical of Rhiannon's babies, he is big and friendly, should grow to 15.1 - 15.2 hh, beautifully put together with a temperament to match. He's the one who marches up to all the visitors and demands to be scratched. Picture: horsetalk.co.nz

Johnston

Next to foal was Naahrah, another colt to Calais - this time liver chestnut going grey. Duncan (Nicole's turn) is finer than Johnston, with a beautiful long neck, big eyes and movement plus. Picture: horsetalk.co.nz

Pictures: horsetalk.co.nz

Then came Sonnett, this time to Colorado, another colt - liver chestnut. I was starting to mutter by this time as Francis made it 8 colts in a row, his only saviour being he is absolutely stunning, with amazing movement. Sonnett had three fabulous foals to Tycoon, so I wasn't sure how a foal by Colorado would turn out, but Francis is definitely the equal of the Tycoon babies. He is off to Australia once he is weaned, to join Jim Cooper's small band of endurance horses in Queensland.

Picture: horsetalk.co.nz Next up was Annie (Ashira - Tycoon x Rhiannon), and her first baby. I was a bit cynical by then and wasn't at all surprised to see yet another colt, this time pale chestnut-going-white grey. Charles is the pick of the Calais babies, with a very long fine neck, a fabulous hindquarter just like Daddy's and nice movement to match. All the Calais babies are very nice, but Charles is just beautiful. He nearly didn't survive the first day though, as Annie, just like her mother years ago, took an instant dislike to him and refused to feed him. She wasn't too happy if he went any distance from her, but there was NO way that thing was going to suck on any part of her body thank-you-very-much. In the end I had to wrestle the pair of them into my small yard and tie madam up very tightly and rope up a back leg so she couldn't kick (all on my own of course, she couldn't have done this at the weekend when Pete could have helped). By then Charles had decided the life game wasn't much fun, so he stopped trying to feed. In the end I had to milk madam (at great personal danger to own health and safety) and wipe the milk over Charles' face to get him interested. Then I had to hang off various bits of rope until he had had a decent feed. Once they were back in the paddock I went out every half hour to hang onto Annie's back leg to let Charles feed; she got better and better as the day went on and by evening she was away. I just love maiden mares!

Last to foal was Ellie (Aurielle) to Colorado. By then I was convinced I was never going to get another filly ever again, so when I went out one morning and saw a great big chestnut foal (foaling alarm didn't go off) bouncing round I just thought "it figures". Ellie, who hadn't had a foal since Shiloh was born four years ago, was being very silly, wouldn't let baby feed as she couldn't bear to let it out from under her nose. It was while I was trying to catch her to make her stand still that I realised I was looking at the back end of a FILLY. High excitement then, and I took a better look at her and realised she is very pretty. Polly (Danielle's choice) is very nice, I think she is better than her full brother and is going to be a bit taller. She is very like Colorado, and will probably be staying on here for a bit while I see how she grows. She hasn't been handled yet, but is quite happy to come bouncing over to say hello, and doesn't care where mum is, she just wants to be in on any action going down. Which is a fair bit with four colts in the paddock, but she holds her own just fine.

Calais has gone back home now; I was very disappointed to get only colts from him this season, but with five foals this year I wasn't prepared to put too many mares in foal for next year. So the only Calais baby coming (and my last chance for a filly) is from Zelina. She is looking a picture and got in foal first time, so I am expecting an early baby this year - mid-August. I hope the weather co-operates!

A couple of horses have headed or are heading off to new owners. Joe Cool (Rhiannon x Colorado) has gone up to Palmerston North to be a riding horse (eventually) with Lisa Cox and her family. Demi, (Tycoon x Sherwood Athene) has headed up to Tauranga to do endurance with Kim Wilkinson. I never thought I'd part with her, but after five years of watching her wasting away in a paddock I accepted that I am not going to be able to ride full time until the girls are old enough to do their own thing, probably another five years away. One of my pet peeves is good horses going to waste, just because their owners are too silly to part with them, I would rather see Demi off doing what she loves. I hadn't had a saddle on her for at least four and a half years, so last week I thought I throw it on to see what she would do. She never reacted to saddle/bridle/lunging, so I hopped on. Apart from being extremely stiff, it was as if the last time I rode her was a week ago. This is why I love Arabians. The next day she was hanging over the gate yelling her head off for me to come and get her and do it again, so I'm pleased she will have an "occupation" again. There were tears when she left, but I wish Kim all the best with her.

River Oak Colorado Picture: Annie Studholme

I'm off to the CAHC All Arabian show this weekend, with Colorado and Shiloh. I was going to take Tilly, the 2yo filly by Colorado, but she has grown the most dreadful tooth bumps in the last month, so she won't be going anywhere.

I just can't find the time to train a baby to go to a show this year, so it looks as though it will be just Shiloh going to the National Show at the end of February. Dot will go if she hasn't been sold by then, as Nicole wants to have a go at the youth handler classes. She looks a bit funny on the end of Dot's lead, because of the size difference, but Dot is such a sweetie she does whatever Nicole asks her to.

I won't take Colorado, as I don't like the way some of the overseas handlers insist on running up the backside of other horses to stir them up. It's bad enough when you are hanging onto a filly or mare (I speak from personal experience here) but I'm not prepared to have it done to Colorado. It's one thing to be competitive, but that practise is downright dangerous and should be banned. It's also unnecessary, as most of the overseas handlers can run rings round most of the NZ handlers, and they don't need to resort to dirty tricks to win.

• News from 2007
• News from 2006
• News from 2005
• News from 2004
• News from 2002-2003