Today the Australian team for WEG was announced  ( no surprises !!!)  and it  is -

Christopher Burton and Holstein Park Leilani, owned by Jean and Jade Findlay

Sam Griffiths and Happy Times, owned by Dinah Posford and Juliet Donald

Sonja Johnson and Ringwould Jaguar, owned by Jim and Augusta Saunders, Dan and Phoebe Johnson

Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Jester, owned by Margaret and Peter Jones

Paul Tapner and Inonothing, owned by Jenny and Claus Waaler

Stuart Tinney and either Vettori, owned by Peter O’Connell and Kathy Ward; or Panamera, owned by Tim Game

Sam and Stuart are  vlaued clients of QNZH !!!
Well done to all of you mentioned above , and we wish you all the very best. 
A pretty hot team and will be hard to beat we reckon  !!!

NZ Eventing team for WEG end of September  is :

Andrew Nicholson               Nereo                                     Owner: Deborah Sellar
(With reserve horses Mr Cruise Control, Avebury and Armada)
Mark Todd                             NZB Grass Valley                Owner – NZ Bloodstock Mr Peter Vela & M Todd
Caroline Powell                    Mac Macdonald                  Owner: Pat Melville Evans & C Powell
Jonathan Paget                    Clifton Promise                    Owner: Frances Stead
Clarke Johnstone                Orient Express                      Owner: Clarke Johnstone and family
Chef d'equipe - Erik Duvander

 

None of the horses in the team have competed at Olympic Games or World Equestrian Games level, but Duvander is quite sure, they'll be there for the 2012 Olympics in London. 
 “These are all young horses, and have hardly hit their prime, so they are looking good for WEG and the London Olympics.” 
 That vision is very much part of ESNZ's high performance programme, which is targeting a return to Olympic medal winning in London. 
QNZH's would like to wish you all the very, very best of luck !!!!

 

The Equestrian Sports NZ (ESNZ) has named the NZ Team  for next month's World Equestrian Games in Kentucky......

-  Samantha McIntosh (Waikato/Belgium) & Loxley 38,
- Katie McVean (Mystery Creek) & Dunstan Delphi
- Guy Thomas (California) & Peterbilt 
- Maurice Beatson (Dannevirke) & Apollo van Evendael

“Potentially this is the best team I have ever had anything to do with, and reflects the new direction the ESNZ High Performance Programme has taken, to ensure that those selected have the ability to achieve the high targets set,” says  Richard Sunderland ( SJing high performance leader ).

 “We've got three who are consistently jumping clear at 1.6m and a fourth with a young horse coming into his own now.”

 Sunderland said that while Apollo was the most inexperienced horse, Beatson was a superb horseman with top international experience and of course a past Olympian.

QNZH's  would like to congratulate all 4 riders  on selection and wish them all the best for the WEG at end of September  !!!!

 

Winter months  here in NZ are coming to and end , yeah !!!!
Of course August 1st is the birthday for all NZ and Australian horses , unlike Northern hemisphere , where it is Jan 1st. So all our horses are now a  year older .

Meanwhile , some super smart horses have changed hands via QNZH.

Congratulations to Liz Millikin's good client Debbie Foote on the purchase of the super talented young TB eventer "Pursuit". He has arrived on the East coast of  USA , in good form and is much admired already and Debbie just loves him !!!
Liz is renowned for having an eye for talent, having just sold the  fancy 2* horse Quintus 54 she produced , to the elite US Team rider Karen O'Connor.

Australian Olympic Gold medalist Stuart Tinney popped  over  from Sydney to try out  a couple of class  young horses we sourced .
  He chose one, a young TB horse he is very excited about and congratulations to his good owner Sarah Ballard and  Tinney Eventing on this new addition to the  already high powered team they campaign.

Opera Groove , a well performed  3* eventer who was 2nd in our National 3* 3DE recently with Annie Styles , just flew out Monday to his delighted new rider Heather Gillette from New Jersey, USA  and her loyal backers, Keth and Ken McDermott.  They already have 2 other beautiful horses sourced through QNZH.   "Our Questionare" ,  who has been competing well at 3* with Heather  and G Star who has just stepped up to Intermediate level over there.  

The shortest day of the year has been and gone ( thank goodness  for that )   and so far winter has been pretty mild here in Cambridge.   Heres hoping it stays that way !!!!!
Various  NZ riders have flown  off to UK, USA  and Europe for learning /riding stints  and will be filtering back home about now to get their teams prepped  for the up and coming season , starting in a few weeks time.
Meanwhile, QNZH's has been keeping busy finding horses for our  clients   .
Congratulations to the Torzillo family of Sydney on their purchase of Tessa Jacks gorgeous "Flash Az" for Jamie to have fun on .  He is going super well already and loving all the attention with his new owners.
As well, a  big congratulations to the Wilcox family  , on gaining a new 4- legged member  to their family called "Greenstone Ginger ". He is much admired  we hear , and we know Jane's riding will blossom with this lovely  young horse. They are also based in Sydney.
It was great to sell  a very lovely young TB off the track "Rocky" , to  the popular local SJ rider Carol Stewart. She knew she wanted him straight away when she  saw a small video clip  and was even more impressed with him when she came to pick him up next day !!!  Can't wait to see him out and about at jumping shows this spring with Carol.

On a more social note, Eventing NZ held a successful 2 day conference   last week and  the Bayleys Dinner and Ball was very much enjoyed by 180 guests on the Saturday night.  This great evening  was very generously sponsored by Angela Davies, of Bayleys Real Estate. Angela was a well know producer of top class eventers in her day. What a  generous gesture giving back to  eventing , the sport she was so successful in .
 It was very well organised ( spot on committee !!)  , great food and dancing AND there were some shocking hangovers , according to  varyious  Facebook postings  the following day ..... this   picture tells a story ...hahaha !!!!

Equestrian Sports New Zealand (ESNZ) has announced their Eventing 2010 ‘A’ and ‘B’ Squads as below.
Performance will be monitored through until final WEG selection on 1^st September 2010.

 
A Squad -
Andrew Nicolson
-Nereo
-Mr Cruise Control
-Avebury

B Squad -
Andrew Nicolson  - Armada
Annabel Wigley     -Black Drum
Caroline Powell     - MacDonald
Clarke Johnstone - Orient Express
Joe Meyer                - Snip
Joe Meyer                - Clifton Lush
Jonathon Paget      - Clifton Promise
Mark Todd                - Grass Valley

 

 

NZ's final event for the season was  held in Taupo this weekend  past  , supported by  the wonderful long time sponsorship of  BELL TEA .
Weather was a mixed bag, each day starting with thick fog which burnt off on  XC day to glorious sun, and touch of rain late Sunday  .
The CCI*** was won by NZ Olympian rider Heelan Tompkins showing her fine form on yet another catch ride, the 16 yo TB "Major Difference"  owned by Crothers family.
He is such a superb scopey clean jumper and lovely to see this horse have such a good win .  Dressage has never been his forte but  this was prob one of his best  dressage tests to date, definetly improving !!! Well done Heelan.
Annie Styles and "Opera Groove"   took 2nd place after a classy performance XC round and SJing clean. He was a bit 'naughty ' in the dressage, showing moments of brilliance  but of course marked harshly for the moments of  tension.
Click here to watch some of the CCI*** horses attack the meaty water jump !!!
"Bates Trademark"  took out the CCI** with a fine performance 4th after dressage  and double clear jumping. This big tall horse is still got alot of developing to do  and  Bryce is keen to keep him on to have one last shot at higher levels before calling it a day he tells us !!!
Last years CCI*** winner , Donna Smith and the stunning grey Hannoverian  "Corambo" took out the CCI*,  leading with a beautiful dressage test to score 40 .
A large class of pre novice horses was won by the very popular rider  Liza Johns on "Silent Seeker"  ( bred by Mamaku Stud ).
On a terribly sad note, our dear friend Nick Brooks lost his  beloved and very talented young TB gelding  Tangleton (  aka Digby ) on XC day (  suffered fatal aneurism ) , doing what he loved best , running and jumping XC.........   RIP Digs !!!!
 

Received  great news from UK this morning, "Parklane Hawk"  completed his first UK  3*  at Chatsworth on leading dressage score 43.5, and double clear jumping to finish 5th. William sensibly took it easy xc as still early days and more intent on building a solid baseline for the future so added some time faults but totally thrilled with how Parker  is going.
 Click here to see full results from Chatsworth International and  follow progress of the  NZ riders competing.

A huge  congratulations to 2 of our good clients ,  on  their fine  performances at Jersey Fresh Horse Trials, USA . Tiana Coudray had an awesome win on her fabulous grey "Ringwood Magister" , leading from start to finish by a margin of 12 marks. We keep in touch with Coudray family  and watch her progress closely  as they  bought the  talented young TB  "Kelso" via QNZH, which they are delighted with .
Heather Gillette on her special NZ eventer  "Our Questionare ", finished well in the same 3* class  with clear xc and a qualifying score for 4*.  Way to go Heather and Questy !!!!!

On the gossip front, the super talented 2* eventer "Underdiscussion" has just flow over 'the ditch' to join the powerful stable of Australian rider Chris Burton. Ironically he was bred in Australia and was purchased as a youngster to join Christine Weal's dressage team. He had competed pure dressage until just over 12 months ago, and eventer Donna Smith started eventing  him , whipping through the grades from  Novice to 2* in the short space of 9 months to win two 2* horse trials with ease.

Well our season is drawing to a close with our final big show  this week, the Bell Tea National 3 Day Event Championships held at Taupo.   A  Pre Novice class is added this year enticing  90 entries, along with the CCI***, CCI**, CCI* and Young Event Horse class .   Click  here for provisional time table.  Take note the dressage starts on Thursday morning .
Watch this space for news and pictures of the Taupo event and here's  hoping the weather is kind to us this year !!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS  to  Alain Santoni and his clients  from  Tahiti on their purchase of six  NZ sport  horses  we found them . 
They were impressed with the  quality of the 30 horses we presented to them  and the 6 horses  they chose are currently doing a 30 day quarantine  before heading off on a ship for the 5 day trip up to Tahiti. 
They even have an exercise area on the ship ( leading  only !!!)    and get fed loads of food  so they will no doubt be verging on 'porky' by the time they arrive at their new stables.  
It is very tempting to check out their new 'digs' up in Tahiti .... sounds rather nice up there !!! 

This past weekend 7-9th May  saw the  World Cup qualifier staged in Sydney. Leading  Australian based riders were out in force and Clark Johnstone and Jenna Mahoney flew  their horses over from NZ .
Chris Burton  really deserved his win on the  17 yo Warmblood mare Holstein Park Leilani , being the only combination to  finish on his dressage score of 46.5   Chris had no time penalties  XC   moving up from 4th place after dressage creating a nail biting finish in the SJing.  He will no doubt be hoping this fine performance will catch the selectors eye for WEG games selection later this year !!!
Winning going into SJ ring, Megan Jones on her Olympic mount Kirby Park Irish Jester sadly rolled a rail  to drop to 2nd ,   nearly pulling off her 2nd World Cup win this year . Oh so close ..........
NZer Clark Johnstone with his lovely TB gelding Orient Express  pulled up from 5th in dressage , to finish in 3rd place on 52.6 which is a wonderful result in such top class company.
To top off Clark's campaign, he had a super win taking out the  CIC** with Kolora Stud Secrets.  This is  a relatively new mount for Clark,  who  was originally from Australia, produced  to 3* level by Chris Burton and purchased by Clark end of 2009.  
Jenna Mahoney went well to finish 10th , with a few time faults xc and 2 rails Sjing to add  to her dressage score.

So Megan and Clark are leading the HSBC series   to date on 138  and 128 points  respectively. With  the new ranking system in place for 2010 they have a chance of sharing US$180,000 prize money at end of series .... however there are still 8 qualifier events  to come  ( see calender below )!!!

 

It have been such an exciting 2 weeks for the International  scene of eventing !!!!
23-25th April , Rolex Kentucky CCI**** was wonderful as always.  Leading UK rider William Fox-Pitt won  with ease , jumping without faults to  finish on his winning dressage score , riding the  good looking  10 yo TB  "Cool Mountain ". William had a crazy  adventure getting to Lexington  as the closure of many  European airports caused massive travel disruptions, but where there's a 'Will '  there's  a way.  A kind neighbour  offered to fly William to Madrid in a  private jet , where he met up with fellow UK rider Oli Townend ( who had taken a train to Paris then a taxi to Madrid ) and after several connecting flights ,  they arrived at final destination .
Sadly Oli had a nasty fall during the XC  on "Ashdale Cruisemaster"   and now has 7 broken bones ( ouch !!!) . This brought an abrupt end to his campaign to win the Rolex Grand Slam but Oli  is very lucky , he is up and out and about  and his injuries are  not life threatening.
NZ's sole entry  Jonathon 'Jock' Paget riding "Clifton Promise"  flew his horse from NZ prior to the event  and completed his first 4* safetly finishing 27th.  Although not a competitive score, it was a great experience for the partnership to build for the future , so well done Jock !!!

Badminton was so exciting this year and the dressage leaders all dropped by the way after after the imposing  XC course.
What  an amazing  job Hugh Thomas did designing the course. It had perfect results with problems spread over a variety of jumps and only 3  clear xc rounds inside the time allowed.
The very popular Australian Paul Tapner had the biggest win of his career , taking out the title with the  experienced 4* horse "Inonothing" moving up from  11th in the dressage phase. Other remarkable statistics in  the final placings were, Daisy Berkeley on
" Springalong "  moved up from 25th after dressage to finish 3rd and Caroline Powell moved up from 33rd to finish 5th ........WOW   !!!!
Click here to hear Paul, Andreas and Daisy speak  at end of competion.  Good story to hear how  " Inonothing" was a bit of a nightmare  as a young horse. These extremelly talented horses are often extroverts at the end of day and are usually quirky in some way so it sort of comes with the goods really !!!
Also interesting to note all the top placed horses were very experienced, successful 4* horses.
NZ had 4 of our riders in the top 20 placings , with Caroline in 5th on her wonderful
" Lenamore" finishing the best .  It was such a pleasure  to watch  Mark Todd  guide ' NZB Grass Valley ' around the XC ,  building the horse's  confidence as they went. Mark is really thrilled with  the relatively inexperienced horse's performance this weekend and hopes this fine show of form may catch the NZ selectors eye for the upcoming WEG games later this year in Kentucky to finish 18th.
Click here to here interview with Mark  Todd straight after his SJ ing round. 

The second round of the HSBC FEI World Cup Eventing was held this weekend at Kihikihi,  here in NZ.  Last years winner  Australian Megan Jones with her superstar Olympic mount " Kirby Park Irish Jester " flew in to contest the title once again.
As in 2009, Jones and her gorgeous 15 yo grey  led from the start on a great score of 39.4.
Click here to view Megan Jones winning dressage test on Kirby Park Irish Jester.
Taking the long route at fence 3  cost them 3.6 time penalties and they went into the final Jumping round with a two-fence lead, although this proved unnecessary, as they jumped clear, finishing 21 penalties clear of their nearest rival, Heelan Tompkins (NZL) on "Major Difference".   They did have their moments throughout the event, as Jester studded himself in the xc , prob coming out of the water if you watch closely  the video link here .
Clark Johnstone with his wonderful campaigner "Oakley Vision" had uncharacteristic spook at the planks in SJing to drop back to 3rd place.
Two of our leading NZ based eventers ( "Sugoi" ridden by Heelan Tompkins and "Clifton Promise"  ridden by Jonathon Paget ) , started the class but pulled out after dressage , as they are entered for Rolex Kentucky CCI*** and due to travel to USA for this big event in next week.
Last year, Jones was prevented from travelling to the World Cup Final in Poland due to quarantine restrictions. Now, no doubt inspired by the new format for the HSBC FEI World Cup™ Eventing, in which the top 15 riders in the series share the US$180,000 prize-pool, Jones will contest the next event, at Sydney in her home country (7-9 May), with a strong advantage over her compatriots and an exciting chance of dominating the series again.

There were nearly  300 horses eventered at the event including classes down to Pre Novice level . Full results can be  viewed here .

Well .......VERY EXCITING NEWS  for us at QNZH, as the legendry Mark Todd has offered to ride "Quincey" for us.  Polly Stockton his  rider  of 4 years is " in the family way " and will not be competing this season . Polly did a splendid  job producing  "Quincey" to CCI** level and  has given him  a good solid baseline  for the future.  We bred Quincey, his sire is "Grasshopper" our resident stallion, out of a TB mare by Brilliant Invader ( renowned NZ TB bloodlines  for jumpers ).

Mark has just moved to a fabulous new yard,  Headley Stud new Newbury, UK.  He has a super team of horses for this season with another new addition of "NZB Campino",  recently purchased from Germany.  Marks tells us  he is very TB looking and ticks all the boxes,  and is Novice level.  He had his first start on "Campino" in weekend with 22 dressage and double clear jumping.

The very talented "NZB Landvision", has been sidelined recently due to small  paddock injury but is back on track and will be out and about soon.

Mark has also just purhased a cute cottage up the road from the yard and is looking forward to a stint of interior decorating !!!

" Moscato " , a lovely grey TB  eventing mare  was purchased via QNZH  and flown out to USA on 1st March.  She has joined  2* eventer "Hendrix"  at Mike Huber's GOLD CHIP STABLES  in  Bartonville, Texas.

Alfonso Gomez,  proud  new owner/rider  of  both NZ horses,  decided to take the opportunity to get " Moscato" in foal to our  resident stallion "Grasshopper"  prior to leaving .  She has arrived safetly   in Texas 4  months pregnant.

The  autumn eventing season has kick started here in NZ and next week about to kick off in UK !!!

As always at beginning of a new season  it is exciting as   there are lovely new horses appearing on the scene  and of course some of the younger  ones are now well ready to step up to the next level .
NZ Show Jumpers have been on the road to the shows all summer  without much of a break.   The  show jump season abruptly ends beg of April here in NZ , so the show jumpers have  to make the most of it while they can.

Congratulations to Nick Brooks and his family for the purchase  from QNZH of Tiger ( show name "Taiaka").   Nick and Tiger had  so much fun  last season with some super results ,  and Nick really wanted to keep riding him. GOOD LUCK for this season you two !!!

William Fox-Pitt is  thrilled  with his   new eventer  from NZ , "Parklane Hawk". 
He took him to  team training and was "IMPRESSIVE"  and had first xc school , and  Williams comment was "FABULOUS " !!!

Our  team has been to some SJ shows with pleasing results  and just had a great  3 days of training last week with Canadian SJ trainer Jen Hamilton .  Topper is our next home bred horse  to begin his career .
He really loves his jumping and is getting some admirers already . See pic attached at his first little SJ class, jumping for  for joy !!

"Hula Haru"  ( aka " Harry" ) has been purchased by our good client of many years, Pedro Gutierrez of Mexico and flew out to USA yesterday.  Harry is very well bred for eventing being a TB colt by Hula Town  ( sire of many  NZ eventers ) out of a TB mare related to Glengarrick -  the amazing eventer that Heelan Tompkins  was in top line up with  at Athens Olympics on at ripe old age of 18 yo.  His  breeder was Jenny McIntyre of Nelson.
Harry is only a 3 yo but has as super  temperment and he arrived safe and well .

Happy New Year to all our friends and wonderful clients around the world.      May 2010 be a cracker year for us all  !!!

Thinking of you all in UK and Europe  at this time with all the snow you are struggling through. What a nightmare that must be on a daily basis.

We have been very busy already this year and sold 3 lovely horses already.
"Happy Go Lucky " has been purchased by French rider Celine Fellatta, who has just immigrated to  NZ.  Jesse Campbell competed this young horse with success recently at Novice level and he was bred by the Redditt family.
Celilne  is thrilled with her new  horse and already competed in a dressage show with success and attented a Lucinda Green clinic.
"Lambretta",  a super 5 yo bred and produced by Jenny MacIntyre, has also been sold to a  wonderful new home in Christchurch, and will be competing SJing and dressage .
"Elmo"  a stunning 3 yo TB by Ustinov, unraced  and he got snapped up pretty quickly as well.

Caught up with Lucinda Green in weekend as she was coaching at Hunua, south Auckland.  We go way back to 1978 when I sold her my horse Bandolier  ( re named Mairangi Bay ) on whom I competed  at Kentucky World Champs when I was a "kid".  She is a legend and as always she never ceases to amaze me with her wonderful excercises and techniques she uses in the arena to teach a horse to "think for itself xc  " and have self preservation jumping.  She is uncanny how she can suss things out so quickly .

Our horses  are back in work (a tad porky  from too much Xmas eating I dare  say )  preparing to start at some shows again at end of January.

December just flew by......

Tiger ( Taiaka ) ridden beautifully by Nick Brooks won their class at Puhinui by a good margin once again... much to Nick's delight, they even scored a 10 in the dressage along with many 8's to finish on 26 !!!

Great news, the 6 horses travelled up to Taiwan well and arrived in very good condition, even put on weight .  This is a credit to Seahorse Sea Freight and there attention to detail .

We are taking  2 weeks off from riding to chill out before the busy season starts up again .

November was  an  exciting month for us. The highlight has been sourcing  " Parklane Hawk" for  William Fox-Pitt  , leading British event rider   . We feel  very privileged William chose QNZH  to go shopping for horses and we are immensely  proud we were able to find  him a world class horse that he loved and just had to have....  and believe you me, he has people looking out for him all over the world and the horse he chose was from NZ !!!!
"Parklane Hawk" was competed here in NZ by Mathew Grayling and  William was very impressed with the superb job Mathew has done in producing this talented 9 yo TB off the track to 3* level.   He is a  16.3 hh pure TB by Grosvener and a ball of muscle and power with wonderful movement and a  very scopey careful jump.
Parlane  travelled brilliantly and has just arrived safetly at William's yard in Dorset, UK.

Meanwhile talented Young Rider Nick Brooks is having loads of fun on  our lovely horse Tiger ( Taiaka ref E 196 is For Sale ) . His first show was pure SJing  and he was brill then we went to Woodhill Sands HT and scored 33 dressage and double clear.  Their next outing was Richfields and he did a super dressage of 30  and won  his class by 8 marks.
Nick was also 2nd on his talented  young horse Tangleton much to his delight.
Nick looks really classy riding Tiger and is doing a super job. Big thanks Nick !!!

I have been lightly competing Milly ( Millinka )  and Gizmo ( Mr Gizmo ).   Milly is looking fancy and going really well in all her shows. Gizmo  is a TB off the track  being carefully produced to sell on -  when  I feel the time is right and  right person pops up. Having done a  few shows now, he does ooze  talent and I love riding him. 

We have just got  our next smart  homebred Topper back from   Nicoli Fife. She has  kindly been schooling him in dressage for me  while I had such a busy month and has done a super job. I am very excited about him and hope to get out to shows in next few weeks jumping . He is a full brother to  our 2* eventer  "Quincey"  in UK and " Thats Smart" ( ex Amy Tryon and now  ridden by Karen O'connor )  in USA .  At the moment Topper  is gleaming steel grey with 4 flashy white socks .

Our 3 foals have moved  back from Seaton Park where they were born , onto our small farm .  So nice to see them playing together, happy families !!!

We have just had our 3rd and last foal for the spring season. 
Missy ( Miss Inca ) had a lovely bay filly by Charlton Javelin.  
She is already turning grey which is great.  
This is Missy's first foal and she is a very protective mother indeed.
Has inherited Missy's huge generous eye and her ' big ears ' !!!!!!!

Hendrix the  lovely 2* eventer we sourced   for our very good client Alfonso Gomez , flew out 30th November  on his way to his new home at "Gold Chip Stable's "  in Texas with Mike Huber.  " Jimmy "  has been schooling and competing dressage successfully with Nicoli Fife in last 6 weeks and was looking superb as you can see from this picture taken day of departure.

Good luck Jimmy and Alfonso !!!!!

NZer's Clarke Johnstone, Blair Richardson and Jenna Mahoney had a successful week in Adelaide  with their  relatively inexperienced horses who had never completed a 4* event .    They were up  against some of the best horse and rider combinations in the world, including 2 successful Olympic combinations   and  they managed to  place in the top 10 at a very challenging Adelaide CCI****.

 “They are absolutely thrilled, and we are really excited about the future of eventing with horses and riders like these,” said Erik Duvander, Eventing Team Coach.
Clarke riding Orient Express moved from 9th to 6th after a stylish SJ ing round .
Jenna Mahoney and Santos  finished 8th and  Blair Richardson  with Spend Up ( they are  based in Australia ) 9th.
Sadly, Heelan Tompkins and her Olympic mount Sugoi was not quite right in the dressage  and Clarke and his wonderful campainger, Oakley Vision had a problem at an earlier fence in the xc , which was subsequently removed after causing alot of trouble.
It was reported temperatures were in the high 30 degrees, making the event  very testing in such heat. The xc course was shortened to try and accomodate the extreme weather conditions.
Half the feild were eliminated or retired in the xc.
Full results can be found here .

Every year on the first Tuesday of November , one of the worlds biggest and most famous races is held, the Melbourne Cup in Australia.   Cambridge ( NZ ) being home of many of the past winners  of the great race, loves to get in the spirit  and  this  year  a big  "occasion"  was organised and many people involved in  the horsey scene   ( eventing , SJing, racing , polo .....) were out and about that afternoon and playing long into the night.   Picture attached speaks for itself, one of the main organisers Elizabeth Charleston  and SJ rider Lucy Olphert could not resist having a ride on the landmark bronze statue in the Cambridge town square.    Say no more............!!!

The 1st of November today and what brilliant weather.  The sun is beating down and out comes the sunblock and summer is not even here yet !!!

We had our 3rd and last foal for the season  2 days ago.  A beautiful dark bay  filly that is  turning grey.  Her 
 " first time " mum Missy  ( Miss Inca  ) is out of   Inca , same dam as our stallion  Grasshopper.   
Missy is by Le Roux ( Silent Hunter / Roulette) .
This  little fillys sire  is Charlton Javelin,  who was a  Grand Prix SJer here in NZ.    So she is superbly bred to jump.

The 6 horses we sold in October through Jason Lu , our agent in Taiwan are settled   in quarantine.
We would like to thank the ex owners for presenting their horses  well and being so co-operative and professional .

Congratulations to  these  sellers .......
Catherine Cameron and her Over Zealous ( schoolmaster ) and Kahurangi Jerry ( 4 yo paint owned by Sally Miller ).
Kim Berry and her cute 4 yo Dino , green young TB
Nick Brooks and Benson  5 yo  Training TB eventer
Nick Downs and Rockafella,  7 yo TB eventer
Richard Evans and 9 yo Northern Magic , TB eventer

This was an exciting sale for Richard Evans  as the funds from the sale have helped finance a trip to the  USA  so he can attend an Advanced Farriers  course over there in 2010.  Good luck and all the best Richard  !!!!

We  just heard from Bijou's new owner Amanda Young  in Australia and she is  very excited , having won  their first 1*  by  10 marks  and the smart  dressage score 67%.
Although Bijou  (  Willy to his fan club ) was a successful 3* eventer in NZ ,  Amanda had  not  ridden at this  level for over 5  years so this was a great thrill for her.
Not only did they win a fancy  "blue ribbon"., there was also a smart rug ( at least 3 sizes  too big for the little fellow ) , a service fee to a  stallion, supplements, and a nice headcollar .

What fun......... !!!

We have  wonderful reports from Heather Gillette  about  her two  NZ  boys   sourced through QNZH.  This is a particularly satisfying story as Heather  and her  generous owner Kathy McDermott from New Jersey  .........felt confident enough to proceed and buy   having only  seen video of  the horses.

Heather was introduced to QNZH  via Lori Smith , a wonderful working pupil we had  4   years ago, and is now working and riding for Heather .
Heather initially  purchased Charlton Scribe , a talented young eventer  bred and produced by Nicoli Fife, Charlton Stud   .   He was going super  in his competitions in USA  and  tragically  died from colic during an operation.
A couple of months later , Heather  contacted us again and said she was so thrilled with Scribe , could we  help her find a replacement . 

Our Questionare ( Questy  ) has  recently competed in  two  3*'s  with Heather , her first at this level  for a long time and  he was a legend.    Heather said the jumps were huge and they just kept coming at her but Questy knew his job and was brilliant.
Questy was previously  ridden to great success at 3* level  here in NZ   by Bryce Newman and bred by Lady Anna Weir,  well known breeder of many successful eventers in NZ .
He is by Westminster ,   renowned TB sire of many   eventers .

G Star ( Gerry ) has been placed in all his events to date and  is getting alot of admiring comments .    He has outstanding form over a fence and is really enjoying his new life  of luxury .  He is a full TB but looks and moves like a warmblood.
Jerry was campaigned to One* level by Sarah Tyler and previous to that , SJed to 1.20m by Julie Hart .

The  Taupo Horse Trials were  held  last weekend , 17-18th October .
350 horses were  competing and emphasis was on the CIC*** class  - riders were  campaigning for selection of  the Trans Tasman Team , heading to   Adelaide CCI*** beg of November.
This  team will be announced any day so watch this space !!!
The CIC*** was cleaned up by Clarke Johnstone , showing his class  winning with  his great campaigner Oakley Vision  and 2nd on his younger mount Orient Express .  
Heelan Tompkins  was 3rd on her Olympic mount Sugoi .
The CIC** class was won by Lizzie Browne on her talented  young horse Push Play.
The 3 Novice classes were won by Danni Loader on Waitangi Spy Sweeper,  Jess Woods and Too Predictable and Bryce Newman on Rhomale.
QNZH's are delighted to see Rhomale win with such ease as we sourced this stunning horse for Bryce off the track here in Cambridge barely  9 mnths ago.
Also a big congratulations to Nathalie Emson and her lovely horse Master Manoeuvre,  a well deserved 4th in Novice. Another one of our finds and it is great to see Nathalie looking so polished and confident now she has moved up a level.
There were also several divisions of Pre Novice and Training classes.

It is a shame the xc caused so many problems.  Just about every rider we spoke to on the Saturday made a comment , about how tough a test it was ( in particular the Novice class ) .    Maybe the riders need to address this issue in a more appropriate, correct  manner in future. And maybe the powers that  be should listen .
It just seems unnecessary to frighten  horses ( i.e. at  fence 2 in xc  )  beginning of the season.
It certainly does not do the sport  here in NZ any favours !!!

For full results of the event, click here .

This morning we went to  visit the  latest  addition to our  team,  at Seaton Park  .  
This is where all our mares foal under 24 hour   professional supervision.
We  are very happy ( and lucky ) to have  the most  devine liver chestnut colt, with 3  white socks ......... and  "YES "  he is already showing grey around the muzzle , so definitely will be grey.
He has very long  legs almost as long as his mother  "Ma's"......  she is 16.1 hh  .
He is by our stallion Grasshopper .

Click here to see the  video of  our new  foal.

Well , it was great to see the Brits take  the double Gold medals at the European Eventing Champs last week.   It  was special for  Kristina Cook on her world class  thorougbred " Miners Frolic " to clean up the individuals.  The event was  certainly  a great test ,  notably  3 of the German team were eliminated xc and the superbly performed  Flint Curtis   had the misfortune to  have  a couple of run offs xc .   Lets fact it,  this result  is extremelly refreshing  with  the xc  having such an important influence on the final results at the higher levels of eventing as it should  be  !!!
 
Last week was a busy one for QNZH's.    We spent several days dodging the rain thanks to the superb indoor  facility at Little Valley  Farm,  showing our clients from Taiwan some nice horses .   It was a great success and the 6 horses they chose  will be heading into quarantine on the 25th October. 

The competition season here in NZ is well under way now.  Everyone is hyped up and got their team on track and all the horses have their summer coats through  and looking sleek.  As always , we are  out and about "scanning " for super horses for our clients.

The only 'negative '  here right now the the dreadful cold snap that has hit us in last few days.  It is like the middle of winter and there is water everywhere .... check out the pic !!!
 Winter rugs are out in force again , very confusing for the poor horses having just had a super sunny spell  prior to this.

The  overnight dressage results tell a different story at the European Eventing Championships, Fontainebleau .
The British team are in the lead with a good margain .
Two  of the Brits , Kristina Cook  on  her stunning TB gelding    " Miners Frolic " and Oli Townend  on  " Flint Curtis " are equal first on 37.90.
The best  individual placing the Germans could manage was 6th...
  This is interesting as often they are very hard to beat on their warmbloods  bred for their movment  and precision in the  ring.
The standard of dressage is outstanding with 8 combinations in the late  30's .
As always in eventing ,  results may change after the xc day ......... go the Brits !!!

Click here for dressage results .

Jason Lu  will be visiting NZ again , arriving   28th  September to source horses for his  clients in Taiwan.   This is a very successful  on going business relationship  I have with  Jason .
The horses they bought on the last visit ( Dec 08) they are thrilled with  .   Just to let you know all  the horses are extremelly well cared for in top class facilities up  in Taiwan.

This time they are looking for six   geldings  over 16 hh as follows .......

 2 x  quiet  school horses that jump  to 80 cm to 1m  height,  max age 10
 2 x 4 to  6 yo,  broken in, untrained with  a good easy trainable brain  
2  x jumpers competing minimum 1.20m height, max age 10

Please contact us  asap if you have any horses you are keen to show to us !!!

Check out this fun video clip of Burghely Horse Trials 2009 xc.
Who can you recognise ?

Click here ....

Monday morning and up  early to check results of Burghley HT in UK. It was such exciting news to read  Polly Stockton jumped clear SJ to finish 2nd on Mossy
 ( Westwood Poser ) , the talented  10 yo irish gelding by Master Imp. 
I am so thrilled for Polly and loyal owner Arthur Comyn. As Polly rides Quincey for me I am closely involved with Team Stockton and one of her biggest supporters !!!
Another horse  we are  thrilled to see in top placings was SS Jett ridden by Karin Donckers of Belguim.  QNZH sold this horse as a 4 yo , and is wonderful to see he has fulfilled his expections of being a top 4* horse.  Scored a 48 dressage and one of the few double clear jump rounds  ( some time xc only ) to finish 13th.

NZ started with a flourish in the dressage  to be standing 2nd ( Andrew Nicolson on Nereo ) , 3rd  ( Caroline Powell on Lenamore ) and 14th ( Neil Spratt on Hugo's There III).  
Sadly we drifted back in the placings but Caroline still finished in top 10 on  8th with  her wonderful campaigner Lenamore.  Their 2 rails SJing were costly moving them from 2nd down 6 placings.  It was considered a tough xc track this year with 25 horses being eliminated or retiring out on the xc .

I arrived back in NZ to the most glorious spring weather and sunny blues skies each day.  The QNZH team of horses are all back on track having wintered well thanks to the help of Adrienne,  who did a great job whilst I was away.

This weekend a surprise package was delivered, in the form of a perfect little filly foal .  I was about to take mum Sophie off to Seaton Park Stud , where they provide  professional 24 hour supervision for mares about to foal, but got  caught out.  Mum  Sophie still had her winter rug on, so the filly had to slither through all the leg straps ,  but all is well and one very well sized healthy little girl is basking in the sunshine. She is a perfect tiny replica   of her mum  with identical  colour and markings.  This little filly  is a 3/4 sister to That's Smart in USA and Quincey in UK .

My next port of call was to visit Tin Tin  ( a.k. a Constantin van Rijckevorsel ) ,  his lovely wife  Tess  and devine little  baby Iris, near Horsham in Surrey.  I originally met Tin Tim whilst  he was on a riding stint  out in NZ many years ago.  They have a beautiful property with superb facilities to prepare eventers , including use of a 500 acre farm next door to ride out on.
Then headed to a  good friend,  NZer Tim Rusbridge , in Southrop, Gloscestshire. He has done very well and has a very smart  yard with some lovely horses  to compete. He was having a big birthday party and BBQ so it was all go there.  Plenty of people arrived and  the usual ' fun and games ' carry on.... some hilarious stories  the next day ....say no more ... my lips are sealed    !!!
Then shot down to Dorset to  visit to Alice and William Fox-Pitt . It is always a learning curve to  visit their yard  for 2 days and watch William school. This time he was having  dressage lessons with  UK  team trainer Tracey Robinson.    Great to have a catch up with Jackie as well, his head girl who has been with him  17 years !!!   Fox-Pitts were gearing up for their son, Oli's 4th birthday party and Alice was having 17 little ones arriving ... good fun !!!
Then off  to Marlbourgh to visit Tim Price and Jonelle Richards, from NZ. They have worked extremelly hard and have a super yard as well, with a nice team of horses to campaign.  Their base is  Mere Farm and it is down a 2 mile lane and not another house in sight with lovely rolling hills surrounding them.
End of week 3 and off up to Cheshire to Polly Stocktons next on agenda, where all my NZ ponies  hang out !!!
Can't wait to see them all again.

Much to my delight the English weather has remained fab  and even reached 29 degrees one day,  so really loving wearing summer clothes !!!
I next headed off to visit my dear friend Lucy Jackson, who now has her own yard with some super horses not far from Oxford.  Lucy rode two of my eventers for me in NZ prior to returning  to the UK to embark on  her career as a professional event rider and is doing remarkably well already.  
Whilst in the area, I spent  a very interesting day absorbing all the action at Aston Le Walls Horse Trials near Banbury.  It  is  the most wonderful event with several hundred horses competing each day, and runs  like clockwork  with superb facilities.
Next on the agenda was a trip  to Mistley ,   in Essex  to have a glorious  long weekend with some non horsey friends,  doing ' normal things '  (  well I assume they are normal things !! )  like sun bathing, enjoying wonderful food, wine and just chilling out .    Mistley was the town where they used to kill  "witches"  which is not the most savory  of stories but it is very true. They were not real witches but merely "herbalists" .  They say  there are real ghosts in some of the village houses ( including the one I stayed in but not in my room ). The ancient  stocks they tied them to in the town square are still standing.

t is that time of the year again, I head off to the UK to see my lovely homebred horse Quincey , who is being produced in the very capable hands of Polly Stockton.
Arrived on the 4th August  to dreary weather and rain ... surprise , surprise !!!
Staying a  few days with good friend and client Jo Clifford.  
Neil Spratt rides Jo's  two  NZ horses which are looking and going great. Noted has just done his first 3* at Barbury with Neil very nicely and Elton has stepped up to Intermediate with ease. Neils has a super team of horses and a great set up with his wife Pip and kids Maisey and Chester.
Headed to Gatcombe on the Friday  to catch up with Polly's  team   and Quincey . The sun finally came out - yeah  !!
Bring on the tan ... well can only hope.
 Quincey was in Novice Championship and performed very well   in top  company , so we are thrilled.  Polly rounded off a super weekend winning the Intermediate Championship with Rooney ( Westwood Mariner ) and 4th World Cup on Mossy ( Westwood Poser ). 
Caught up with loads of NZ riders and friends so was great.
Monday now and raining again...........

Welcome  to  our  website with its fresh new look.   We have more interesting  content coming but still work in progress so keep checking back .  If you would like to subscribe to our Newsletter go onto the Contact Page and fill out form and click the Subscribe button .

Meanwhile , congratulations to Jemma and Marty Clark of Melbourne Australia, on their recent purchase of  the lovely CCI* eventer Black Crest through QNZH's.   Ex owner Rachel Cave has done a great job of producing him and he  has arrived safetly in his new stable and much loved already.

Oops ......been no news on this site for ages. REALLY REALLY SORRY to those that keep checking out our news page loyally !!!
BUT we at QNZH's are still alive and kicking and have been busy selling horses all over the place and producing our super young homebreds and special TB's we find off the track .
Another long hot season has just finished here in NZ so we are currently getting new horses listed with us for sale ( almost daily ) which is always exciting .
If you are interested , please get in touch by email or phone for further info on some super horses for sale , because we list on this site only a sample of the horses available .

Congratulations !!!!!! to the new owners of the following horses sourced by QNZH's most recently -
- Jo Clifford from UK on her purchase of successful 3* eventer "Charlton Noted" ( ex Kate Lambie ) and 1* eventer "Bates Elton". ( ex Bryce Newman )
- Bryce Newman ( NZ) on his purchase of "Rhomale" , a stunning 5 yo TB gelding by Redoubts Choice , just off the race track.
- Kathleen McDermott and Heather Gillette of New Jersey USA, on their purchase of the well performed 3* eventer "Bates Our Questionare" ( ex Bryce Newman ) and one* eventer "G Star" ( ex Sarah Tyler )
- Amanda Young of Sydney , Australia on her purchase of the stunning little pocket rocket 3* eventer "Bijou" ( ex Petra Eatson )

QNZH's would like to welcome Adrienne Ransley to our team , helping here on the farm in Cambridge.

We have also been lucky to have Corey Woods since December 08, a talented young rider from Cambridge . He has been helping school the youngsters and has started competing Tiger ( Taiaka ) our one*/Int eventer , with great success .

Most of the horses are having a break right now but we have 4 rather nice youngsters in work and plan to do winter dressage and SJ shows to prepare them for sale.

Quincey , our 7 yo homebred is based in Cheshire, UK and being produced by Polly Stockton. He has just stepped up to Intermediate level and is looking flash like his big bro Smartie ( "Thats Smart " ) in the USA.
At end of 2009 , US rider Amy Tryon sadly had to sell "Thats Smart" ( for financial reasons ) and much to our delight , he was purchased for Karen O"connor to ride. He has quickly stepped up to Advanced level with Karen successfully. It is early days for this exciting combination and it will take time to establish their partnership but will be well worth the wait , for sure.

Milly ( "Millinka" ) the next homebred from our farm is a 3/4 sister to Grasshopper our stallion. We bred her to Westminster ( TB sire here in NZ renowned for leaving some fantastic eventers ) prior to competing and have a rather special 2 yo grey ( Buddy) who literally floats around the place. - really going to be stunning.
Milly has just finished her first season well with some SJ shows and 3 Horse Trials under her belt , all double clear jumping .