Carlos Tabernaberri Clinic

Nimrod's first ride in a Dr Cook bitless bridle

Horse Couture  November 3rd and 6th

On Sunday 25th November Nimrod and I attended another clinic with Carlos Tabernaberri at Whispering Acres. We had fun, learnt more about each other (Nimrod and I that is) received some great support and met some terrific people. I enjoyed watching Carlos gallop on Nimrod while waving a giant Australian flag. One participant commented that it was a League of Nations with an Argentinean riding an American breed and waving an Aussie flag.

The positive atmosphere of these clinics inspires me to put aside my Granny status and ignore the fact that my 60th birthday is fast approaching. I love the challenge of trying new things, although try as I might I still couldn’t spear the ring in the Sortija game at a pace faster than the trot. Once again Carlos succeeded on Nimrod at the gallop.

Carlos said the game dates back to the 17th Century in Argentina so I guess it helps to have it in your blood.

Speaking of challenges; when I was on the phone to Carlos last week to organise taking Mt Tawonga Cascade to Whispering Acres for some further training he said I have offended someone who read in “My News” my comment that I had challenged him to succeed at spearing the Sortija ring at the gallop. It is in cases like this is where words are so frustrating. So for the record I have great respect for Carlos as a teacher, horseman and human. I attend his clinics to learn and to challenge myself and my horses to achieve new things. At the time of “challenging” Carlos to spear the ring at the gallop I did not doubt that he could do something he had asked the class participants to do. I also teach and would not ask a student to attempt something I hadn’t tried so I believed that Carlos, with his teaching of a confident, consistent, kind approach to both horses and humans would be up to a “challenge” respectfully delivered from a student.

Enough said, so would any readers who are upset by my words please write to me. 1judyo@gmail.com

  Nimrod in his more masculine costume was a favourite for photos. I felt like one of the Queens guards or a PNG police man in my outfit. But like

a true Morgan and Morgan owner we loved being the centre of attention.

Mansfield Shire had been planning the Horse Couture event for months as a tourist promotion combining art and horses in the High Country. I was employed as the horse safety advisor and asked to provide two horses. I decided on Tui’s Nimrod and Digger a fat buckskin Quarter Horse I use for teaching.

I was shocked at the first costume fit to find Nimrod was to wear a lace body suit complete with stockings and suspenders. I explained to the costume designer that it was spring and Nimrod would lose all credibility with his mares if he appeared in that. Digger had no such qualms and with his mincing action and fat rump he looked like an equine hooker. Nimrod‘s snorts made it obvious he wasn’t impressed about travelling in the float with a gay gelding!!

The event was to include parading the Main street of Mansfield on the Saturday and a breakfast with the race goers on Cup Day but the Equine Influenza restrictions and the heavy rain on the Saturday made for a difficult photo shoot. Cup morning made up for it, sunny and really festive with well dressed race goers partaking of a champagne breakfast and flags and banners blowing in the breeze. Equine Influenza was forgotten and people and horses got up close and personal, excited at the spectacle of such amazingly dressed horses. (There have been no sniffles or coughs as a result.)

Junior  Morgan Society member Caitlin looked fabulous on

Digger and hopes to ride her crossbred filly Mt Tawonga

Cascade in next year’s parade.

  FIRST FOALS   October 20th

After an intense day teaching a Mum’s and daughters group on Saturday 20th I didn’t get up and do my usual 6.00 AM pregnant mare check Sunday Morning. Monika Haller was staying in the cottage to visit her mare Missy who is here to be bred to Nimrod and to do therapeutic treatments on some horses. We checked the mares Saturday evening and they all lined up as usual for their belly rub, none had “waxed up” which is my usual indicator of impending birth so I relaxed my guard.

I was still lying in bed with a coffee as Miles told me the overdue mare was standing in her usual spot under a tree and as fat as ever and the other mares due dates were two weeks away when Monica excitedly knocked on the door and asked if she could go down and look at the foal.

When we got to the paddock we couldn’t believe our eyes as there was not one but three foals up and running with their protective mum’s. The mares were mated weeks apart and the scans predicted their foaling dates but they had other ideas. Jayne and Poppy had colts and Maya had a filly.
Shakira the overdue mare is still hanging on to her foal. She was given to me and is having a New Forest pony foal so perhaps the breeder miscalculated her due date.

Yesterday I had to bring Maya up to the yards and milk her because her udder was so distended and sore she wouldn't stand still for her foal to drink. The foal had been roughly butting her udder to get milk and Maya seemed grateful to have me milk her. I got 160 mls and froze it in case I hear of an orphan foal that needs some colostrum.

My Grandfather taught me how to milk a cow when I was about 8 and told me about how some cows get distended on the second day after calving. Milking a horse wasn't much different and I sat on a bucket with a bucket between my knees. It took a while to get the direction right with smaller teats and the foal kept “helping” from the other side. As soon as her udder softened Maya allowed her foal to drink and she is feeding well this morning. I sure am having fun!

I’ll let the pictures do the talking as I have been snap happy ever since and keep wandering down to their paddock to watch them explore their new world.

                                                                   Nimrod and  Missy

So far we have had four mares pregnancy tested all with a positive result. Nimrods most unusual partner has been Missy a Clydesdale Arab cross whose owner was impressed by Nimrod at the Carlos Tabernaberri clinic.( Fortunately the “right time” coincided with Jo and Rick’s visit and I needed to take advantage of their experience and get creative with a sloping service position ) Nimrod looks like a piece of Missy’s jewellery but she follows him around adoringly.

 Early October we had a visit from Jo and Rick Hayes of Haymeron Park Morgan Stud who decided that as they had no plans to breed her at the moment they would lease us Mt Tawonga Christa.She is in the fat girls paddock at the moment and will be joined next Spring.

The first Relay for Life held at Mansfield was in April 2002 and included horse riders. This was an Australian first and only occurred because of the persistent lobbying of the late Carol Moore while she was battling the cancer that eventually claimed her life.

This years Relay for Life on October 13th and 14th was to include a large contingent of riders to uphold the tradition set by Carol but organizers could not allow the horses due to the Equine Influenza scare. To overcome this, our Unicorn Magic team completed the opening lap of the 2007 Relay for Life on Saturday afternoon on foot and then eight team members travelled to Samaria Creek for a ride in the bush to honour the horse tradition while some of the team's rostered walkers continued the relay around the track.

The Relay for Life evokes strong memories for me of Carol and other friends and family who have succumbed to cancer. It is an opportunity for survivors, carers and those still battling disease to get together, raise money and inspire each other.

As two middle aged women with grown up children Carol and I spent many hours together on horseback while mustering cattle, on SES searches or just pleasure riding in the bush. It was Carol’s courage through her illness and her saying of “Jump and the net will appear” that inspired me to fulfil the dream often discussed while we were riding together.

On Saturday, riding our stallion Nimrod, with Anthony Moore and Polly Ritchie on Samaria Creek mares, and Wendy Jubb Stoney and Judi Anderson on their own Morgan geldings it was a dream come true - “I could feel Carol's presence as we rode through the bush." As a team we were determined to ride as a tribute to her and to honour Mansfield being a horse event while respecting the need for caution due to the Equine Influenza restrictions.

Anthony Moore, Carol's husband said, "Carol knew the healing magic of horses." Carol's sister Marg Moloney said she felt doubly honoured to join the ride. “Not only was I able to ride with Carol’s special friends but I rode in Carol’s saddle. This saddle was a birthday present from her husband Anthony. It was made by Scott Maynes and was carved with horses drawn by Carol.”

Caitlin McKay and Kristy Mennon, teenagers who keep their horses at Samaria Creek also rode with us to help keep up the tradition of horses taking part in Mansfield’s Relay for Life.

With the next Relay for Life scheduled for April 2009 our young horses will be ready and we will have more Morgans under saddle. This will be our symbol of hope to live your dreams. This year our team raised $2146.30 to aid cancer research.

                                                    Nimrod and Judy, Polly and Tanjil in the Bush

Poppy is due on the 17th,Maya the 26th,Jayne the 3rd of November and Nifty not until December 30th.

They are all looking ready to pop and have their favourite eucalypt saplings that they stand over and scratch their belly’s on if I’m not around to do it for them.

On October 5th I took Folie and Wendy Jubb Stoney with her 5 year old pure bred

Mt Tawonga Vicky to Whittlesea for a private lesson with Carlos Tabernaberri.I was still having trouble with her trot/canter transition and was sporting some bruises I couldn’t show from the interesting trot/leap/jump in the air transitions she did for me. I feel that Carlos has the attitude, energy and expertise to help a young horse’s balance and after many laps of his arena at the trot Folie confidently moved into a controlled canter. It works for me too now and I’m very grateful for the assistance.

I lost the struggle to sit at my computer on such a gorgeous spring day and brought pen and paper out to the foaling paddock. Five incredibly round mares are staring at me in amazement as I equally amazed remember that it was the 6th of August last year that I floated home my first Morgan- Mt Tawonga Tanjil. Now four of these mares are about to deliver part bred Morgan foals to Tui’s Nimrod who is prancing around two paddocks away letting every one know it is spring and he’s available.

When I leased Nimrod Sue Terry said I’d love riding him but I hadn’t realised how much he would change my life. Pain from Fibromyalgia and the fear of more pain had dampened my enthusiasm for riding but over the past few months I’ve found myself looking forward to riding. I’ve even been going out on my own which I haven’t done for years. When I was visiting my parents in early August I raved on about him being my dream horse and how when I was riding him I felt like a teenager and not like the 59 year old Granny that I am. I also lamented that after seeing photos of his daughter Fernleigh Creek Nena I was disappointed my lease agreement didn’t allow me to breed pure bred foals.

Mum and Dad were planning there 60th wedding anniversary party and I didn’t think they were paying much attention to my horse raving. I hadn’t been home long on Sunday night when Dad rang and said “Mum and I have been talking and as we didn’t buy you the horse we promised when you were 13 we would like to buy Nimrod for you.”

I phoned Nimrod’s owners Sue and Duncan Terry who had just moved and were working non-stop creating a state of the art show horse training facility. From the look their plans it will be fantastic. Despite their work load and still having boxes to unpack they said we could visit the next day and took the time to show us some of Nimrods Royal Show photos and sort out the necessary paperwork.

By the end of the week he was mine and I still get teary thinking about it. Over fifty years is a long time to keep dreaming your parents will buy you a horse, and it proves if you believe in something long enough it will come true.

I’m sitting with my back against a huge Red Gum, Poppy has finally given up trying to steal my pen and the other mares are standing as close to me as they can. I could worry about Equine Influenza and global warming but I’m feeling happy and looking forward to the foals due over the next few weeks.

Morgan Magic is still at work in Samaria.

September Day Programs

I have been studying Equine Assisted Psychotherapy for almost ten years now and have decided it’s time to stop teaching riding and focus full time on using my horses to teach people to overcome fear and become aware of how their feelings and emotions affect their self esteem and confidence. The Morgan horses are perfect for this job and Nimrod, Tanjil and Folie amaze me with their understanding.

Last week I conducted a day program with six women aged mid 30’s to late 50’s.During the afternoon all the women stood along the fence in the round yard with eight horses (four Morgans) at liberty with them. One participant who said she felt afraid asked “How do I know if a horse is approaching in a friendly or aggressive manner.” Before I could think of the words for a reply Tanjil with ears back strode purposefully towards her, then, just when the woman was about to jump out of the way Tanjil lowered her head, sighed and gently walked to her side. I think we all had tears in our eyes as this previously terrified lady burst into tears, put her arms around Tanjil’s neck and sobbed “Thankyou that answered my question perfectly”.

August news

Sunday July 29th I took Mt Tawonga Folie and my niece Caitlin with her part bred filly Mt Tawonga Cascade to their first clinic. It was at Whispering Acres in Whittlesea and we travelled down on Saturday afternoon and stayed at a B&B that also happened to be a Standardbred horse and Miniature pony stud, with numerous dogs, cats, chooks, geese and a cute spotted miniature pig. It was another one of those “wish I had my camera moments” as Folie and the pig sniffed nose to snout through the fence and got to know each other as the not quite as brave Cascade stood behind her like a modern American/ style show Morgan with her eyes out on stalks.

The owner of the B&B kept saying how amazed he was at how quiet the Morgans were for green three year olds. It was the same story at the clinic which had seven participants and about twelve spectators. Folie and Cassie were the only youngsters and although they haven’t known anything other than farm and bush life they handled everything Carlos the trainer dished out with curiosity and poise. Carlos said he has worked with Morgan horses in U.S.A. and likes the breed. He is training some horses for Equitana and will be doing a demonstration of liberty riding at this year’s event, so he had us riding with a piece of rope around the horse’s neck in place of reins, which is how he starts the liberty training.

He brought out many scary things, including blue plastic tarps and plastic bags on sticks. (I was more nervous than Folie.) One of the “scary things” he had for getting the horses used to such things was a leaf blower and I had comments from the spectators afterwards how wonderful Folie and Cascade were as they stood alertly but brave and allowed him to blow their manes straight up. (And I didn’t have my camera out!!)

It was a great day and I highly recommend Carlos’s Clinic days as a supportive way to get young horses safely acclimatise to public life. He even helped out by riding Folie into her first canter in an arena when I couldn’t get her to do any more than an incredibly extended trot. It really showed up that I need to put in some more preparation and work on her lateral flexion and balance which will be much easier when our arena is finally finished. (It has evolved from being ten inches of dusty talcum powder to ten inches of gluey mud, but at least it’s a level surface.)

Over the past weeks we have had our times of ups and downs, good news and bad news that make life so interesting.

Good news this month is our stallion Tui’s Nimrod being drawn to appear at Equitana on Sunday 18th November. He will also be used by Andrew Bowe for a barefoot trim demonstration on the Saturday. Over five years ago Andrew broke away from his career as a conventional farrier and started barefoot trimming. When his teaching and clinic schedule made trimming our 20 horses impractical he introduced me to Daniel Gorman to continue with the barefoot trim.

Sunday 22nd July I took Nimrod to a Relay for Life fund raising Navigation ride in Mansfield. I was a bit apprehensive as it was my first time out in public with him and he was rather vocal about having my Q.H. gelding next to him in the float. (Judi Anderson assured me he travelled to shows with Kiewa in the past and Digger the Q.H. ignored his screaming).  When we arrived he was quiet and well mannered, and seemed to enjoy the outing as much as I did. He power walked the course with a loop in the reins, was interested in everything and if I asked him for the answers we might have placed better as we came 9th out of 10 teams. It was quite embarrassing as the questions were very easy - we kept looking for the trick answer when there wasn’t one. The weather was fabulous, I caught up with lots of old friends, Mt Buller looked sensational in full snow against a clear blue sky, Nimrod attracted lots of admiration and we got a ribbon for completing the course.  As Judi A. was in the area she called in for the sausage sizzle and won the raffle.

I’ve decided a prerequisite for being a Morgan owner is enjoying being the centre of attention.

Now for the sad news - Mt Tawonga Tanjil aborted her foal by Mt Tawonga Tobey. I noticed her shape change late June and just thought the foal had dropped and as she didn’t have any symptoms of having given birth I didn’t worry until she began to get her pre - pregnancy shape back. The vet said everything looked healthy just no foal when she scanned Tanjil July 10th and as she was running in our 100 acre hill paddock we didn’t find the foal. The only explanation the vet could give was that a mare loses one in ten foals and this was the one. The mares come in for a feed every night and I check them all over. I even checked under her tail when I noticed her shape change but after six foals she doesn’t look brand new in that department and everything looked as usual. I was really looking forward to her foal as I admire her other offspring but there’s always next year, and it has given us a chance for some more ridden work.

Nimrod has been sharing a paddock with Jayne who is now hugely pregnant mare and she frantically runs the fence line when I take him out for a ride. As I’m riding him regularly now I decided to put her with the other mares and find him other company. After the Navigation Ride and two days of being yarded next to Digger I felt confident to put him out with the geldings. Nimrod happily trotted out into the paddock after Digger then skidded to a halt when the Shetlands galloped up to inspect him. Miles and I had tears of laughter as Nimrod eyes popping, stretched his neck to giraffe like proportions then reared and screamed in true Hollywood fashion. The biggest Shetland spun around and kicked at him and the other one stretched up and nipped his nose. It was one of those times when I wished I had a camera, Nimrod stood totally still for ages as one Shetland sniffed his manhood and the other stood under his neck preventing him from moving forward. After a bit of galloping around and a few screams Nimrod is the happiest he’s been since coming here last November. The geldings scratch his itches and play the head nipping game and he doesn’t have to look over the fence and wonder what the other boys are up to because now he knows.

Dare I say I can see parallels to Aussie human culture - once the girls are pregnant and only want to talk about babies the boys think it’s more fun at the pub or watching a football match.

The first time we rode to the top of our hill, Ned couldn’t stop looking at the view.

Judi Anderson, National Registrar of pure bred Morgans, and her gorgeous Morgan gelding Mt Tawonga Kiewa, spent their annual holidays in our cottage (not Kiewa, he stayed in the paddock with the other Morgans!). Although we are still welcoming all the rain we can get it was perfect holiday weather and we rode nearly every day.

Judi and Kiewa on top of the world

Judi’s holiday also coincided with Daniel Gorman’s six weekly visits for bare foot trimming, and he joined Judi and me for a ride. Judi on Mt Tawonga Kiewa, Daniel on Eiben’s Ashline and me on Ned. With three pure bred Morgans out for a ride from Samaria Creek, only 6 months since purchasing our first Morgan I needed to pinch myself to make sure wasn’t still dreaming. Daniel also put in some time continuing Mt Tawonga Barwon’s education under saddle. Check out our For Sale page.

Mt Tawonga Folie having her trim	Daniel on Eiben’s Ashline, Judy O. on Tui’s Nimrod

On Wednesday afternoon I rode Ned in the Samaria Park with Claire a past student who brought her 16.2 Eventer here for some hill work. Part of the ride was through a pine plantation with smooth packed clay tracks and Claire started to work her horse in an extended trot. Although I'm not classically schooled in my riding and wasn't sure of the correct aids I thought Ned and I would “move up a gear” and off we went in a spanking extended trot matching the pace of a horse two hands taller. My addiction for Morgan horses is growing!