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 ...

Click here to view !!!

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 !!!

 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 !!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 !!!!

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 !!!

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  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 !!!!

Here is a great interview with kiwi legend Mark Todd  .
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 .

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 .

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 !!!!

Well, New Years Eve  has slipped by  and we would like to wish all our wonderful friends and loyal clients all the best for 2011 with great success and happiness !!!!
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.

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 !!!!

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 !!!!

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.

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!!!!

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 .

Sadly our wonderful Anka has to  suddenly leave us due to unforseen circumstances 8 weeks earlier than planned !!!
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 .

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   !!! 

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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 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

How fantastic it is to see Parklane Hawk ,  the wonderful  NZ TB eventer  QNZH  sourced for our great friend William Fox-Pitt,  take away the honours at Blenheim CCI*** this weekend for his extremely happy owner Catherine Witt. 
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 ???

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 .......

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 .....!!!

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 .