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Mills Reef Syrah (Millie) arrived from the 2003 muster. I was present at this muster and Millie was in the pen to head off to the works. She just kept catching my eye and had such a gorgeous foal on her (Cherokee) that I just had to bring her home. I asked the musterers if they could please separate her out for me to bring home which they did. I was quite worried about taking an older mare and whether I would be able to do the handling on her or not but decided I had to save her and try!
I had also taken the above 5 weanling colts for handling that year so as Millie's foal was a filly she was taken to a new home in Auckland to someone who wanted a filly foal. Luckily I kept in touch and Cherokee was returned to me at christmas as an unhandled 3yr old. Pic on the right is Millie 2days before foaling. I was very excited and nervous too as I still couldn't get too close to her and hoped nothing would go wrong and as I had no idea who the father of the foal was I was excited to see what was about to come out!
Millie foaled a gorgeous bay colt on October 29th 2003 at 11pm in the rain! What a great Mum she is and although I was allowed no where near the foal I excitedly watched every minute from a distance.
Millie is very proud of her baby and starts to eat from a bucket with me holding it and while she has her head in the bucket of feed I am allowed to scratch her forehead, a very exciting moment!
Millie is now all handled and is the sweetest mare ever, she recently had her teeth done and I was dying to know how old she was. The dentist said she is to turn 11 in 2006 so I had taken her from the muster as an 8yr old mare. Millie is so kind and willing and gentle, she will live out her days with me.
*LIBERTY NORTHERN BELLE*
Belle arrived in the 2004 muster. I wasn't going to take any this year but DOC had decided they had to remove all the Northern horses that were living outside of the allocated area. The first thought was to shoot this group of approx.24 horses. Luckily they decided to set up a set of portable yards and muster them into there and then truck them down to the main yards. This group of horses had never been mustered nor had they mixed with the other Kai's living in the ranges so they were quite unique and smaller and finer than the horses we had been seeing. I decided I HAD to have one! Which ended up being 3 as Belle had a foal at foot (Bumble) and was in foal with Bliss.
I must admit I was quite horrified when I first saw Belle, she looked ancient and really abit like a donkey! Of course I immediately fell in love with Bumble, he was just a tiny, woolly teddy bear! Belle also had quite a big weeping cut to her hind leg and I was quite worried about it as of course I couldn't get near her to treat it and she didn't know what hard feed was to be able to put some antibiotics in it. I put her on a course of Echinacea sprinkled over her hay and luckily about 10 days later it was healing nicely. Looking at the state of her I didn't think she could possibly be in foal in that condition. Where the horses had come from it had been snowing in June! So there was little for them to eat.
Belle soon starts looking much better.
Belle the day before she foaled.
On 20th January 05 at 6am Belle foals a gorgeous bay filly Bliss. After always having colts I am VERY excited it's a filly. I found it extremely interesting as I had not weaned Bumble but when Bumble was around 10mths old Belle weaned him herself (which is what they must do in the wild) Also interesting was the fact I only separated Belle from Bumble and the mob the day before foaling so she could foal in peace but she chose to foal as close to the others as possible right against the fence with them all peering through!
Belle pic taken just recently, it's taken a long time for me to earn Belle's trust and she is now only just at the stage where I can catch her and brush her all over. The dentist is the next step for her as of course I am dying to know how old she really is...
*LIBERTY NORTHERN BLISS*
Bliss was born on 20 January 2005, once again I was allowed no where near the foal for quite a few days and had to resort to watching from a distance and hoping everything would be ok. Bliss is now such a delight and very friendly and easy to do anything with. She is a beautiful chocolate colour but still with the mealey colouring around her belly and muzzle that so many of the kaimanawa's have. Bliss will be with me until she is old enough to have a ridden career.
*LIBERTY NORTHERN STAR*
Bumble came out of the muster as a foal with his Mum Belle (see above) He is only tiny, with a huge long mane and is sooo gorgeous. Because he is one of the last Northern horses, he will stay with me. Bumble will be shown in hand 2007 season so have a look out for him and come and meet him.
