We just found this wonderful video clip of Mark Todd and his wonder horse Charisma ( aka "Podge" ) , blasting around Badminton in 1984 showing such tremendous heart and scope. Keep in mind Charisma was only 15.3 hh and Todd is a good 6' or taller. ENJOY ...
We would love to hear from you and we hope you enjoy all we have to offer.
Best regards, Joanne and team from Quality NZ Horses.
"Quincey sold to France !!!
Congratulaions to Sidney Dufresne on the purchase of "Quincey" our 3* eventer in UK .
It is a great sale as Sidney has been Quincey's regular rider , forming a super partnership in 2011 and moved up to 3* level , finishing the season with a classy double clear in the Blenheim CCI***.
We are going to look forward to further good results with this pair and the move up to 4* this year 2012..... exciting !!!
Farewell to 2011 !!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our wonderful friends and clients around the world and may 2012 bring you great success and happy times with your horses !!!
Sincere apologies for lack of News updates since July .... EEK how time flies when you are busy and having fun !!!!
One of my New Years Resolutions is to keep the site updated and humming with news and of course a selection of gorgeous horses we have listed for sale with us .
NZ riders and NZ bred horses seemed to stand out in the International scene this year , particularly in UK and Europe and we have some outstanding new combinations coming through to add power to our NZ eventing team.
Making NZ Show Jumping history , superstar, Katy McVean had outstanding result finishing 6th in the World Cup final with Dunstan Delphi and sadly had to sell this world class mare when the offers just kept getting bigger and bigger.
On a note for those interested in breeding, both Parklane Hawk ( Fox-Pitt) and Dunstan Delphi are out of TB mares by "Brilliant Invader " !!! They just keep popping up ....
Winner of Burghley 2011 was William Fox-Pitt riding the exceptional NZ TB Parklane Hawk .
Parker was purchased via QNZH's on my advice almost 2 years ago . William says Parker is one of his hopes for London this year .
Very exciting ....
We recently found yet another young NZ eventhorse for William . Hoping to see great results this year with "Freddie Mac", big fancy moving, scopey guy by TB stallion Heroicity.
Our gorgeous 3* eventer "Quincey " based in UK and ridden by Sidney Dufresne ( France ) did a super double clear jumping around a stiff track at Blenheim CCI*** in September to finish the season on a great note.
Once again I was wanted to make the mad dash over to watch at the last minute ( as I do !!! ) but sadly my passport had expired . Was not meant to be I guess .
Meanwhile in NZ our spring eventing season was full on from Sept to beginning of December.
QNZH's had 4 horses out and about competing - "Millinka" (Milly ) , "Topper II", "Biggles" and "Ella".
All four horses are home bred and mainly grey - just about need to buy shares in the "blue shampoo biz" I think.
Off we went most weekends and they went super well and stepped up to their next levels with me as pilot !!!
Sadly results did not always look too fancy on paper due to the 'odd' rider error ( oops !!!) however horses were all stars and are looking very flash indeed and very much admired so I am thrilled to bits !!!
We have had many horse sales in last few months so been super busy ( not complaining though !!!).
- TAHITI - 6 TB's/sporthorse have arrived safe and sound and new owners are thrilled.
- CHINA - 3 show jumpers sold to large riding club based Beijing China.
- Santa Mara ( Cheleken Sporthorses )
- BMW Lanza ( BMW sporthorses )
- a young Lansing/Corlando mare from Kenji Nishizuka.
- TAIWAN clients have bought 8 jumpers
- Reunite ( ex Megan Stacey )
- Bordeaux ( ex Megan Stacey )
- Cortex ( ex Morewynstowe Stud )
- Henry Higgens ( ex Melissa Watson )
- AMS Surprise ( ex Steph Leifting )
- Chasing Demons ( ex Lizzie Brown )
- Shikimo ( ex Nicolette Butcher )
- Starlight Dobbin ( ex Tina Fagen)
Locally here in NZ we have found and sold 4 stunning TB's straight off the track in last weeks !!!
This is a new sideline for us. Presenting quality , correct and sound in brain and limb TB's off the track.
The plan is to source and place quality TB's out of racing quickly with reasonable pricing . They are all perfectly sound, sane good looking, and very nice horses.
Congratulations to Kylee McCambridge on her purchase of the gorgeous 5 yo "Amazing Spy" . Kylee is delighted with Spy and we look forward to seeing her out and about this upcoming season.
Congratulations to Megan Stacey , with purchase of the classy 5 yo TB 'Paddy" and also the
3 yo TB "Charles" who looks and moves like a big warmblood. Megan dropped her 2 jumpers off at my farm I sold for her and ended up taking the 2 TB's home on trial and bought them both ..... worked out well for us both .
Also congratualtions to Bridget Quaid of Christchurch purchasing the very stunning 5 yo mare "Rose "
( Kapstaad / Starway mare ).
We have currently 2 lovely 3 yo geldings here by St Rheims and a flashy 4 yo gelding by Nouvre . They are the next bunch to find fab new homes for and there will be more to come ..... feel free to call by and take a look at what he have available.
Back in September we sold our own well performed Pre novice eventer "Felix " to a wonderful new home in Christchurch and they love him to bits. Early days yet but a great partnership is developing with his new rider Kendra.
All the best Kendra... you will have so much fun this year with "Felix".
Go girl !!!!
Trip to UK - BLOG
Well, I tend to be a spur of the moment girl....... and several friends suggested I JUST HAD TO go to the UK to watch Quincey ( one of my lovely homebreds ) have his first big CCI*** start with 24 yo French rider Sidney Dufresne . So bought a ticket at last minute and left 4 days later .......!!! Arrived at Headley , to stay with great mate Mark Todd. Had a most enjoyable first afternoon chilling out watching Toddy train his superstar horses Ben ( Badminton winner ) and Kinky .
Mark has a cute character cottage he is redecorating , just over the road from his yard at Headley Stud. The stud is a " to die for " property belonging to American event rider Jules Stiller, whom he also trains.
Headed north to Bramham next day and stayed with good client Greta Potter first night. They kindly lent me their very cool campervan so I could stay in lorry park at Bramham . Dressage day was stinking hot and we were all pleased with Quincey's dressage test, although he did fluff one canter change and got disunited behind another movement , basically still a bit green at this level , however he went well for his level of training.
Walked the 'meaty ' XC with the French team and their trainer Laurent Bousquet as Sidney is French of course !!! XC day seemed to be carnage in the CCI***. Gosh , was I getting nervous after seeing so many horses fall and run off jumps including some big names . I positioned myself on a sofa in the members stand with Eric ( NZ team trainer ) and watched on big screen. Poor Erik has to put up with me poking and pinching him whilst Quincey rocked around the XC like a superstar.... I was so thrilled he went clear with ease and a few time faults...PHEW !!!
Sat night had yummy BBQ dinner at Fox-Pitts lorry and caught up with Blyth and Paul for drinkies.
Quincey SJed well on last day, a tad tired and despite rolling 2 rails, still moved up 5 places to finish 16th. All in all a good result for his first big 3* and we were all happy .
Sadly, I have Quincey for sale now as it is ridiculous having a 3* horse in UK and I cannot get to see him go. Anyone that is interested please message me here or ring me direct for video links and further info.
It was brill to see Polly Stockton get 2nd in the CCI*** class on her great old campaigner Regulus and catch up with her mum and dad and baby Jake ( new addition ) and close friend Tiddles .
Also , it was a popular win for Jock Paget , taking away the CIC*** class with his new ride Clifton Lush ( ex Joe Meyers ).
Bramham over so I headed back to Headley. It was farewell to Bettina Hoy who had been staying with Mark for some weeks with her eventers and heading back to Germany. What a special lady !! I have always admired her and was a treat to meet her and get to know her a little.
My next adventure was driving into middle of London by myself ( with help of a trusty Sat Nav) , to visit Aliba , a great mate of Todd's .
A delightful and fun hostess but sadly had some little drama's involving my car, like nowhere to park the bloody thing ,,, and locked keys and all my wordly belongings in car ,,,, lets not go there !!!
Next stop was my dear friend Lucy Jackson near Tetsworth. Had a awesome catch up and a yummy impromptu BBQ , and lots of giggles . Lucy has built up a great team of talented horses so that is looking exciting for her future !!!!Nearby was a good friend/client Katie Wick and her NZ eventer Prime Mecury Bay (Jimmy ) so briefly said hi and met the new addition to the family, baby Felix . Katie has her hands full there with ' mini me ' little Felix !!! Jimmy is looking amazing and really grown up now , with a big neck and topline, great to see. They love Jimmy to bits !!!
On way back to Headley , called by to visit Erik and Steph Duvander at their charming cottage in Upper Basildon. They are happily settled and the kids are loving their new school and fast making friends. Erik is a crucial part of the NZ Eventing Team network and works tirelessly with the goal of NZ back to winning GOLD MEDALS again !!!!
My next port of call was to visit Clarke Johnstone , a new arrival in UK with his 4 talented eventers he has flown in from NZ . His base is around the corner from Gatcombe Park. What a fab yard , all relatively new and so spic and span !!! Clarke was very proud to show me around and his horses had arrived and settled in well . We headed down to the local pub ( as you do in UK ) for a pint and a meal.
Next day was pouring rain and freezing but I headed up the M4 once again to go see Blyth Tait and Paul O'Brien. It was a bit special for me as they are close to Guiting Power, a quaint old village I was based in back in 1982 when I was in the UK with an eventer called Raupo. I have many fond memories so it was nice to go back and have a peek around again.
Blythe and Paul have a cute cottage in the small picturesque Bledington and of course we just wandered down to the pub for the eve .
Santos and his cool new 3* ride Sonate V ( see pic ) are based at Eddie Stibbes wonderful yard, with everything one would need to prepare an event horse to the high levels.
Running out of days at this stage , but a mad dash down to Dorset was next on agenda to visit my great mates/clients William and Alice Fox-Pitt and check out the two horses I have recently sourced for them from NZ . William was very organised despite packing to leave for Lumuhlen 4* and kindly rode Parker ( Parklane Hawk ) for me. He is looking really good , and had not been out since his big win of the CCI*** Blenheim at end of last season due to a niggling splint but was gearing up for his first start. Then William treated me to watching Billy ( Henton For Fun ) do some dressage and some jumping,,,, gosh, I had forgotten how seriously flash he is. He just floats around with that "look at me " air about him . He is only a baby still at 4 yo so plenty of time for him .
Flew back to Headley in time to go out for a nice Italian meal in Newbury with Becky Elvin and Logan Rawlings. Becky is Mark's amazing secretary and Logan is American eventer based in UK whom I first met couple of years ago when she worked for Fox-Pitts. Ironically , Logan was one of my very earliest Amercican clients. Back when she was only 16 yo, her family imported off video a super NZ eventer via QNZH for Logan to compete in USA.
Sadly my last day in UK was finally hot...ish FINALLY so just lazed around in the sun as much as I could .
I had run out of days to visit some of the other NZ riders and friends .......... will have to allow more days to do everything next time around.
Back in NZ , although it is mid winter, the day I got back was blue skies and bright sunshine and very hairy horses !!!
NZ , I do love you !!!!
NZ EVENTERS ROCK !!!!!!
Well, it has been an exciting few weeks for NZ eventing !!!Firstly our legend Mark Todd wins the Badminton Horse Trials on his ear riding the talented NZB Landvision , at 10 yo a relatively young inexperienced horse.
As well the other 2 NZ riders shone and took top honours as well.
Caroline Powell riding the wonderful campaigner Lenamore was 6th and Andrew Nicolson took out 10th on Avebury and 12th on Nereo.
The field this year was powerful with 6 riders scoring in the 30's and 33 riders scoring under 50 in the dressage phase.
There were 50 clear jump rounds XC , slightly on the high side but then the time was hard to make and only 7 inside the time.
The SJ had a nail biting finish , with the top 12 riders within a rail of each other.
This weekend Clarke Johnstone won impressively with dressage score of 45 and double clean jumping, the Sydney round of the FEI World Cup Qualifier with his classy NZ TB Orient Express.This great combination recently won the first World Cup Qualifier at Kihikihi here in NZ , so are now the leaders of the series to date.
And of course he was in NZ team with Orient Express to win the bronze medal at WEG last year.
Clarke is taking his team of horses to the UK at end of May to base and compete with high goals in mind .
On a sad note, out thoughts are with John Twomey , he had a nasty fall at the water jump at Sydney World Cup and is in serious condition but not critical ( as reported).
We wish you a speedy recovery mate , get better quick !!!
Mark Todd has a website now !!!
Check out Mark Todd's brand new website , newly launched .You can keep up to date with all latest news , results , and his fantastic team of world class horses .
Click here to see it !!!
Todd is also a featured rider on the Rolex Kentucky 3 Day Event website and you can read the first instalment by clicking here .
Exciting year ahead for Mark Todd Eventing Team !!!!
Blyth Tait chooses a NZ eventer .....
Blyth Tait has searched high and low for the right horse to get back in the groove with. The search has included NZ , Australia , UK and Europe and he has found the horse he wanted, based here in NZ. So that says alot really for our lovely NZ eventers !!!!
"Santos" is a gorgeous and very talented small TB gelding by Grosvenor ( same sire as many other top class horses including "Parklane Hawk" now with William Fox-Pitt ) . He is just the right 'fit' for Blyth and has alot more to offer once they have developed their partnership.
Jenna Mahoney, his owner/rider has produced him well and he is solid 3* level with good results and has completed Adelaide 4* with Jenna a couple of years ago. Jenna has kept a share in the horse so this will be really exciting for her to be involved.
Blyth and "Santos" head off on a jet plane for UK about mid April........ GOOD LUCK BLYTH from QNZH "s !!!!
Mark Todd interview on future plans etc ......
He speaks about the fabulous horses in his team, plans for the future including Baminton this year, 2010 Olympics and beyond ....... maybe.
Check it out, very interesting !!!!!
Click here .
"Playtime NZPH" sold to USA !!!!
Yet another very happy client !!! We have sold the stunning and super talented one* eventer "Playtime NZPH" to the Ellis family ( New Jersey, USA) for their rider Val Vizcarrondo to compete . Lizzie Brown has done a superb job as always , producing this flamboyant young horse to one* level.Val is over the moon , to put it midly , to have this stunning horse in her stable . Already been out XC schooling and training and lining up some starts towards the end of March .
Sadly Lizzie has had to sell some of her younger horses to finance the big move to UK in April with her two 3* horses in tow , a costly year or so ahead .
Blyth Tait returns to Eventing in UK......
It is exciting news that Blyth Tait has decided to make a come back to International eventing , basing himself in the UK . Great news for NZ Eventing. We shall almost have THE famous " DREAM TEAM " again .
Blyth is busy shopping at the moment to find super horses and will be back on the British eventing circuit very soon.
On the other hand , it is sad news that Jonathon Paget may loose the ride on his fine WEG horse "Clifton Promise". The horse is on the open market for sale but we gather Jock would dearly love to keep the ride on this talented horse . Hopefully a syndicate can be arranged soon, as such a shame to break this unique partnership between horse and rider.
UK is going to be invaded by talented young riders from NZ this season. All heading over with their good horses to train and up their game with high goals for the future.
Jesse Campbell is already based at Andrew Nicolson's yard near Marlborough with his two 2* eventers.
NZ team rider Clarke Johnstone and fellow rider Lizzie Brown are both heading over mid April with a super bunch of horses to compete.
Don't worry . there are still plenty of horses and riders left in NZ ,,, our last 2 horse trials have had record entries of over 400 and I beleive it is the same again this weekend coming at Puhinui. There is always stunning new horses coming up through the ranks here or just popping up on the scene so we are never short of talent !!!!
2011 is here ....... news update !!!!
It seems to be one of the hottest summers I can remember at the moment here in NZ , or am I just imagining it ? Hearing reports of snow and crappy weather in UK and USA . Meanwhile we just hanging out here in the heat. At beginning of December , we welcomed Emma Salt to our team . Emma worked for us 5 years ago so it is great she is able to come back and help as she knows how it all works and is experienced and mature. She is loving the riding and has got back into jumping much to her delight .
Some sad news at the farm , we had to put our grand old Brilliant Invader mare " Billie" to sleep because was beginning to suffer . She had reached the ripe old age of 23 and had 12 beautiful babies so she did super well . R.I.P. Billie, you will always be a legend !!!!
We were graced with Mark Todd's presence for a week or so prior to Xmas . He had to get back here to renew his UK visa as the UK immigration officials were starting to get a bit difficult everytime he arrived back at Heathrow. Poor Mark was a tad nervous about it all but all sorted now and he is "very officially " allowed to stay on in UK thank goodness and get on with the job of winning NZ some more medals !!!
We took our team out SJing at end of Jan ( rider a bit rusty I might add ) and have couple of shows to attend in February then off eventing again in March . The Horse Trials Autumn season started 29th Jan , and the SJing circuit has been in full swing all summer . It is always exciting when a new season is under way, as we are constantly searching for new talent for our clients and they just keep popping up !!!!
We have had some super sales recently . Congratulations to the lucky new owners !!!
- Izzy McLauchlin from Adelaide , Australia is totally thrilled with her new boy "George" ( aka "Matariki " ex Kate Lambie ). Going superbly and very excited about season ahead. I hear on grapevine someone want to steal him off you Izzy ??
- Greta Potter ( resident both UK and NZ ) is loving her new horse " Hoki " ( aka "Valuation " ex Kate Wood ). He has already been on clinics and giving Greta great confidence . She is living the dream with Hoki, she cannot believe how perfect he is for her .
- Julie and Belinda Isbister from Perth Australia , purchased an extremely talented young TB off the track and named him Scottie ( Scott Free ). He has arrived in Perth two weeks ago , looking a tad travel weary but is picking up and Bel can hardly wait to get stuck into his schooling and begin his new career.
Fox-Pitt buys another NZ Eventer with QNZH !!!!
We are very excited to have found another fantastic eventer for William Fox-Pitt."Henton For Fun" ( "Billy" ) is only 4 yo but oozes talent. As you can see from the video link here , he has quite some jump !!!!
Up and coming young event rider Jesse Campbell, owned him and has done a lovely job producing him to date .
Jesse is sadly selling his talented team of horses as he is now working/riding for 'the legend ' Andrew Nicholson in UK.
"Billy" will fly out later in January to join fellow NZ 3* eventer "Parklane Hawk" in Fox-Pitts stable, whom we sourced for William a year ago.
GOOD LUCK WILLIAM WITH YOUR NZ EVENTERS !!!!
Puhinui International 3 Day Event
The NZ eventing season has just finished for 2010 with Puhinui International 3 Day Event held just up the road from Auckland Airport. I had a super fun and very interesting weekend scanning for talent as always, with the company of two " extremely entertaining " guests from Perth , Australia.
Congratulations to Lizzie Brown on "Henton Attorney General" showing fantastic form in all 3 phases to win the CCI*** class by a large margin of 14 marks !!! It was also super for Brent Jury up from South Island on his lovely big Grosvener " S.E. Big " coming 2nd. Very consistant after his win at Richfields taking out the Forest Gate Trophey for National CIC*** title 2 weeks ago.
The CCI** class was won by Clarke Johnstone ( fresh home from winning bronze team medal WEG) on his classy TB " KS Secrets ".
Kate Cavanagh from South Island with her smart Gibalter Rock has a super win in the CCI*. Well worth the long trip up Kate !!!
Prize for most exciting entrance of the day goes to Jesse Campbell as he entered the ring at a proper FULL GALLOP .... way to go !!! Sadly his stunning young horse had got a 'big' fright at SJ entrance 30 mins prior when he was asked to enter ring for Best Presented horse and the other horses has just been running out past him etc from the 2* prize giving. He got very overwhelmed , so a full gallop was required to get back into the arena . In conjunction with losing both front shoes during the drama ( ground rock hard ) , it was definitely was not an ideal way to start the SJ round when he was in fact winning, and consequently had 3 rails earlier on the round dropping to 6th .
Very annoying but these things happen. Crazy as it may seem, the Ground Jury got very "prissey" about it all and handed out a YELLOW CARD to Jesse and did threaten to fine $2,000... goodness me !!!! Seriously a bit over reacting it seems as we all saw what went on and it was just common sense and good horsemanship at the end of the day that had to be done !!!!
The eventers all go SJing down here in NZ January and February until our eventing season starts up again in earnest at end of February.
And hang out at the beach a bit .......... YEAH !!!!
Another sale to Australia !!!
Congratulations to Jeanan from Sydney Australia on her purchase of the gorgous young TB eventer "Squirt " ( NOT the little girl in the pic attached !!! )
Having searched in Australia, she decided to travel over ' the ditch ' ( to NZ) and check out some of the lovely youngsters we have listed for sale and was delighted with the horses we showed.
Good luck Jeanan with your new boy, we look forward to plenty updates and pics.
Busy November update ...........
It it has been an extremely busy couple of months. QNZH team was on the road EVERY weekend for 7 weeks eventing and with 2 of our horses Felix and Topper.
Both started out at pre training level, stepped up to Training and finished super confident at Pre Novice . So that was great !!! Now going to concentrate on SJing for the summer months and bring out some of the smart young ones, can't wait....
Very happy with 5 lovely healthy "Grasshopper" foals this spring, they are all grey and one dark bay . Grassy has painted them all with white sox which is nice.
Sadly, dear Sophie had to be put down when her baby was only 3 days old. A foster mother was not available at the time so she is being hand reared here at the house. Intensive and time consuming , I am lacking sleep but enjoying it immensly. Visitors get to feed the
foal out of her bowl , much to their delight !!!
The most recent guest was our loyal client Heather Gillette from USA ( we sourced her fab 3* horses , "Opera Groove" and "Our Questionare" ). Heather and hubby Eric were having a "belated honey moon" and had a great time exploring NZ.
From vineyards, to beaches, they really got around and even managed to fit in a day at Richfields Horse Trials with us as we scouted for talent !!!!
Still have not found a replacement for Anka our beloved groom/rider. Not rushing into it as really want the right person that will just slot in. So , JOB IS STILL AVAILABLE here in Cambridge with our small team of eventers and jumpers. Anka is coming to stay when she finishes university in Auckland mid December so will be great to catch up with her again . She has not seen all the babies yet !!!
At the moment we are trying to 'will' it to rain. It is so dry and dusty here already and only just end of spring. After weeks of non stop rain......... we are now blessed with weeks of NO RAIN .......ahhhhhhh!!!!
First Spring foal for QNZH ...
Here is a lovely pic of Billies foal at 4 days old.This mare ( by Brilliant Invader ) is pretty outstanding, this is her 12th foal and she is now 23 years old and this little dark grey filly is big and has long legs so not a bad effort for the old girl !!!
Sire is our lovely resident stallion , Grasshopper .
Groom / Rider position available with QNZH's...
So we are looking for someone to step into her shoes and come and work with our lovely team of young horses we are producing for eventing and jumping .
Really need someone that is confident rider out hacking, riding on hills - schooling horses is not required.
The ideal person needs to be clean, tidy , organised and most importantly "cheerful " and LOVE the horses and the lifestyle of working with horses and going to shows most weekends.
Get in touch directly here joanne@qualitynzhorses.com if you are interested.
We also know of a fantastic job going in Florida USA with a professional event rider if anyone is interested in that job, get in touch and will give you the contact info . Great boss with super team of talented horses and employer would be well looked after and paid .
QNZH spring news.......
Yeah ..... sun is out... mud dried up and long warm evenings again . Oh yes.... we love this time of year . Horses coats starting to gleam and our season is seriously under way again eventing and SJing . Plenty of smart horses popping up for sale here in NZ , so exciting times for us here at QNZH. Watch this space !!!Our lovely event horse based in UK "Quincey " has just stepped up to Advanced level and had a good solid performance to finish the season on. It must have been quite testing as only 4 clear SJing rounds in the class and quite a few Elims and Retired xc and stops here and there so WELL DONE QUINCEY !!! He has learnt alot this season and deserves a good holiday now . Thanks so much to Mark Todd ( the boss ) and Sidney Dufresne his young French rider on managing him and doing such a super job as I sadly have not been able to get over to UK to watch this season and catch up with all my wonderful buddies in UK .
Great news for "Grasshopper" our resident stallion. His first baby has been born in USA . Moscato his mum, a talented NZ TB eventer was served before she was exported to USA and she has done us all proud delivering a healthy black/grey filly with cute white sox behind. Congratulations Alfonso !!! We are expecting 5 foals here in Cambridge in next few weeks and first one is due any day now from our wonderful 23 yo Brilliant Invader mare "Brilliance Galore ". This will be her 12th foal , bless her !!!On an interesting note, William Fox-Pitt's world class new 3* horse "Parklane Hawk" we found for him here in NZ just 12 months ago , is out of a Brilliant Invader mare called DeeBee Lady . She has produced some very good racehorses as well.
ALSO , the world class SJing mare "Dunstan Delphi " ridden by Katie McVean and currently show jumping in NZ team at WEG as I write , is also out of a Brilliant Invader mare called Flower Power that Jeff McVean SJed with success .
Hmmmm .....this breed just keeps popping up with great great jumpers !!!
NZ Eventing Team 3rd WEG !!!!
WOW.......... NZ is back on the scene as one of leading eventing nations ...YES , YES !!!!!Huge congratulations to our NZ eventing team ( and not to overlook VERY important support crew ) on job well done this weekend in Lexington with 2 Bronze Medals . Nicolson brought home the bacon as to be expected with Individual Bronze. Jock ( Jonathon Paget ) did us proud to get 7th , oh so close !!!
Toddy was a solid performer all the way through as to be expected to finish 11th. Caroline Powell finished 22nd with one rail SJing and Clarke Johnstone finished 39th.
German Michael Jung is now the new WORLD CHAMPION of eventing and shone all the way over the 4 days so he stood out big time.
Great Britain took away Gold medal for Team, great result for GB !!!Two of QNZH's great clients shone , William Fox-Pitt was unreal as always to take the Silver Medal.
Stuart Tinney (Australia's version of Mark Todd we reckon !!) did Australia proud on his NZ bred horse to finish 13th.
Australia seriously had such bad luck all the way thru. Firstly to loose the wonderful Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Jester , suffering from travel sickness . Then 2 of their great horses had a bad day XC.
Sam Griffith and Happy Times had a fall XC and Paul Tapner had to pull up when he recognised his horse was not 100%. We hope your lovely horse comes right quickly Paul !!
Oh well , ROCK ON OLYMPICS 2010 !!!!!!!!!!!!!
USA eventing team WEG announced ....
Land Rover U.S. Eventing Team announced today (in alphabetical order):Buck Davidson/34/Riegelsville, PA/BallyNoe Castle RM/10/Irish Thoroughbred/G/Carl and Cassandra Segal
- Phillip Dutton/47/West Grove, PA/Woodburn/14/NZ Thoroughbred/G/Ann Jones, Mardie Faucette and Acorn Hill Farm
- Boyd Martin/31/West Grove, PA/Neville Bardos/11/Australian Thoroughbred/G/Windurra USA, LLC
- Kim Severson/37/Scottsville, VA/Tipperary Liadhnan/13/Irish Sport Horse/G/Friends of Kim Severson Syndicate
Individuals (in alphabetical order):
Becky Holder/41/Palmetto, GA/Courageous Comet/14/Thoroughbred/G/Tom & Becky Holder
- Karen O'Connor/52/The Plains, VA/Mandiba/11/Thoroughbred/G/Joan Goswell
Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk win Blenheim CCI***.......
Williams comments :
" I was delighted with Parklane Hawk today at Blenheim. He did a really good test to score 44. He has showed a real improvement in his work since Hartpury and if it hadn’t been for one slightly harsher mark he would have been well into the low 40’s. He was very relaxed and the only mistake he made was changing behind at the end of his extended canter. "
Click here to view video of "Parker's dressage test
XC round can be viewed here
and click here for the winning SJing round ( what a jumper eh ????)
NZ legend Mark Todd showed great form to win impressively the CIC*** 8/9 yo class at Blenheim with NZB Landvision.
This is a great result for Toddy . Not long now till they all fly out to go to WEG in Kentucky ........ how exciting will that be ???
New team member for QNZH ....
A big warm welcome to Anka from Germany . She has come to work for us a groom /rider until beginning of December then will go sightseeing in NZ for a few weeks before she heads back home.We are heading off to the first Horse Trial of the season this weekend at Taupo.
It is only Training level but a good pipe opener for season for approx 250 horses entered and of course we shall be " scouting " out for any fancy young prospects for our clients.
Felix ( show name "Secret Smile" ) is going to his first ever horse trial ...... just going to do the baby one Pre Training for starters.
Should be fun .......
Caroline Powell - Winner Burghley !!!
What a fantastic result for NZ this weekend. NZ Team rider Caroline Powell won Burghley 4* on her outstanding dressage score 38.7, with the wonderful 15.3 hh grey Lenamore ( " Ed " to his mates ). She is the first NZ lady rider to ever win this title and the first Kiwi since Blythe Tait in 2001 to win as well.
Ted is also the oldest horse to ever win this prestigous event - he's only 17 !!!
Great result as well for our good client and friend William Fox-Pitt with Seacookie to finish very close 2nd . Catherine Witt , Cookie's owner will be delighted ,,, oh so close to a win !!!
Fellow kiwi rider Mark Todd is delighted to have moved from 29th to 11th with foot perfect jumping on Major Milestone. Nicolson as well lifted up from 34th to 14th on Armada.
Bring on the WEG now .....!!!
Australian WEG Eventing Team !!!
Today the Australian team for WEG was announced ( no surprises !!!) and it is -
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 name WEG Team .....
NZ Eventing team for WEG end of September is : 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.
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
“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 !!!!
NZ Show Jump Team WEG announced .....
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 in NZ nearly over ......
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.
Mid Winter Update in NZ ....
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 !!!!
UK Eventing Team announced for WEG .
The Team GB eventers for the September WEG in Kentucky will be:
Tina Cook and Miner's Frolic
William Fox-Pitt and Cool Mountain
Piggy French and Jakata
Pippa Funnell and Redesigned
Mary King and Imperial Cavalier
Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz
The non-travelling reserves are Daisy Berkley and Spring Along, Sharon Hunt and Tankers Town, Oliver Townend and Ashdale Cruise Master and Lucy Weigersma and Woodfalls Inigo Jones.
NZ Eventing Squad Announcement
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 1st 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
Bell Tea National 3Day Event Championships , NZ ......
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 !!!!
"Parklane Hawk" and Fox-Pitt on good form....
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 !!!!!!
NZ horses head to Tahiti.......
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 !!!
HSBC World Cup Qualifier Sydney
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 )!!!
Calendar of events:
1. Tallahassee (USA), 5-7 March
2. Kihikihi (NZL), 2-4 April
3. Sydney (AUS), 7-9 May
4. Marbach (GER), 7-9 May
5. Chatsworth (GBR), 15-16 May
6. Tattersalls (IRL), 27-30 May
7. Strzegom (POL), 24-27 June
8. Minsk (BLR), 21-25 July
9. Rebecca Farm, Kalispell (USA), 22-25 July
10. Malmö (SWE), 13-15 August
11. Haras du Pin (FRA) 18-22 August
12. Schenefeld (GER), 26-29 August
Rolex Kentucky and Badminton Horse Trials .........
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.
WATCH video of World Cup Eventing, Kihikihi, NZ
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 .
Mark Todd in UK - new ride "Quincey " !!!
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 " off to USA.
" 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.
Beginning of new season .........NZ and UK !!!
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 !!
" Lenamore " off NZ's Squad for WEG.
Caroline Powell's Olympic eventing horse Lenamore will not have a chance to represent New Zealand at the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky later this year.
"Lenamore's owners have decided that in this stage of his career and at age 17, that the horse owes them nothing and they would like Lenamore to continue campaigning solely in the UK," ESNZ said this week. He has therefore been withdrawn from WEG contention."
Powell rode Lenamore for New Zealand at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, and they were the country's top placed combination, in 14th, at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Lenamore and Powell finished 4th and 5th respectively at Badminton and Burghley, and he is being aimed at his sixth Badminton in May.
The move likely leaves Powell without a WEG contender, but she has the advanced horses Apapa and Mac MacDonald, and the younger horses Boston Two Tip and Thornfield Jones.
"Hula Haru" off to Mexico ....
"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 .
"Professor Pete's " happy new owner !!!
Ewa Szczepaniak sent this lovely message - yet another happy new owner !!!Pete was a super 1* Eventing schoolmaster and Ewa had been getting very frustrated looking at horses that were not suitable in her search, until she contacted us at QNZH.
Pete was our choice for Ewa and sure enough , it has been a perfect match.
We look forward to hearing about your fun times ahead with "Pete " Ewa.
" Hey Joanne, I would love to thank you again. I have bought the best in the world - thanks to you.
Professor Pete from Jo Shephard. He is absolutely amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you. "
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE !!!
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 News ....
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 .
Exciting sale to William Fox-Pitt.........
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 !!!
New addition to team QNZH ........
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 's off to USA.
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 !!!!!
Adelaide CCI****..12-15th November 2009
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 .
Happenings in Cambridge .........
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............!!!
October news roundup ....
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 !!!!
Good news from Australia....
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......... !!!
Happy clients NJ, USA............
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 .
Taupo Horse Trials ....
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 .
New addition arrived .....
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.
Latest update and news ....
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.
Interesting Dressage Results European Champs....
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 .
Taiwan clients shopping again in NZ !!!
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 !!!
Burghly Horse Trials .... XC video footage !!!
Who can you recognise ?
Click here ....
Burghely Horse Trials 2009
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 .
Back in sunny NZ !!!
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 .
UK Visit - part 4
Next headed up to Polly Stockton's place in Cheshire to hang out for a few days. My horse Quincey and 2 of my ex horses Sonny (Estrada ) and Lyall are based there. Great to see Sonny again, sadly he is having time out due to injury but Lyall is going awesome at 2* level so that is pleasing . Polly had two adorable hound puppies ( from local hunt ) and while I was watching her school Quincey one day, they were sitting beside me innocently munching on my digital camera and destroyed it . Ooops !!!I headed up to Scotland in my little "bubble" car to attend Blair Castle 3DE and visit my good friend Nicky Roncoroni , based in very beautiful Borders ( border of Scotland and England) . Nicky' new yard is just wonderful and she has a promising team of young horses in her yard.
Arrived at Blair to witness the lorries being towed in through the bottomless mud , yuk !! Rain had been tipping down and it was doubtful if the event could proceed BUT the weather cleared up and the sun and wind came out so that was a blessing. Quincey did a really super dressage test , although we were a bit disappointed with his mark of 53 . The xc in the CCI** was carnage , 20 horses were eliminated or retired !!! I was out on course waiting for Quincey to go and horses were walking home left right and centre so I was getting very, very nervous . Quincey was really brill and still had ears pricked and knees tucked up tight at last fence. What a relief , he was clear and Polly took all straight routes. It was such a tough track and the deep ground conditions and the steep hill did not help. I am very proud of how well he went as he has not even had his 8th NZ birthday yet, so not a bad effort for a young lad.
Caught up with more NZers this weekend including Erik Duvander ( NZ team coach ) over for Burghley, Joe and Deb Meyers, Dan Jocelyn ( I can confirm Dan is a ' innovative ' cook in his lorry !!!) , Andrew Nicolson, Deb Mitchell and hubby Mitch , and Toddy.I had a wee adventure driving back to Cheshire on the sunday night and ended up getting towed for 3 hours by a AA rescue to Manchester airport to get a new car from Hertz . It was kind of nerve wracking with a mad dash to get to Heathrow airport to catch my flight home . I made it though .... phew !!!!
UK Visit - part 3
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.
UK visit - part 2
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.
UK Visit - part one
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...........
NEW LOOK FOR OUR WEBSITE !!!!
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.
QNZH's Update June 2009....
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 )
New members of team at QNZH's
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.
Update on our Homebreds in UK and USA .
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.
Millinka and foal Buddy .
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 .
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