Finally managed to get the newsletter written. Apologies to those who normally receive a Christmas card from us - we never managed to get them out in time this year!
So here it is.
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Its been a busy year with ups and downs, so here is a recap on our year!
The new building has been brilliant and it has been
lovely having the horses stabled at night when the wind is howling and the rain
hammering down. We also finished
building the wonderful all weather arena which looks and rides amazing, it has
allowed me to have weekly lessons during the season. It has an amazing view but
can be a bit breezy!
Horse update!
Earlier in the year I bought a new horse, Charlie, a 6yo
Hannovarian X TB. He was a project to
take eventing. Unfortunately after 8
weeks Charlie was kicked in the elbow and developed a septic joint. Following surgery we couldn’t fix his injury
and he was put to sleep L. Spock the Shetland
pony joined the Kirkdean Clan to keep Jack company following the loss of
Charlie. Spock is a cheeky yearling and
likes to go everywhere quickly!
Larry also joined us in October, he is a 3yo Irish Sports
Horse who I hope to break in to event. I
am aiming for the 5yo qualifiers in 2014 with him, that is if he can keep
himself out of injury. History tried to
repeat itself with Larry; he too was
kicked, this time in the hock (different horses causing injury) and developed a
septic joint. This time following
surgery the infection was brought under control and he came home. He is such a lovely horse and has coped with
weeks of box rest well. Spock and the
goats (yes, goats! More on them later!)
were doing a sterling job to keep him entertained during this time.
Will keep you posted on his education!
Jack has been going well, at the start of the year I had
planned to move him up to Novice (1.10m).
Unfortunately the British weather had other ideas and sevon out of
eleven events I had entered were cancelled!
We stuck to BE100 due to this and saw an improvement in our dressage
scores. My aim for 2013 is to get a bit faster and try to make the time cross
country. I also registered with British
Showjumping to be able to get out when the events were called off. We have had some success at BS shows,
finishing 2nd regularly!
The 2013 eventing calendar has just been released and I have
been planning the season ahead. Fingers
crossed that it stays dry or I may have to emigrate!
The SHEEP!
What a fantastic year we have had with the sheep! Yellabelly Rudolph our 2 shear tup won breed
champion at the Royal Highland Show then won breed champion again at the Great
Yorkshire Show before it was cancelled due to the bad weather.
It was great fun competing at showing the sheep, Goldhammer
our 4-horn tup was also sold at the Stirling show and sale – at the show he won
breed champion which is fantastic as he was our first ever four-horn that we
bred. We had to sell him as he was
related to the rest of the flock so needed to go to a different flock
elsewhere.
We also purchased a new tup, this time a lamb. We had planned
to buy a shearling but couldn’t afford any!
We headed down to York show and sale but all the tups we liked were out
of our price range by a mile! Luckily
for us, we managed to purchase Quendale from the breeder – we have run him this
year with a couple of ewes this season to make sure everything is working! He is a lovely looking tup so fingers crossed
he turns out to be as good as Rudolph!
Goatlings!
During our trip to York, there was a multitude of animals for
sale, including some Pygmy Goats. Since
visiting a friend recently I had been badgering John to let me get some goats
but he didn’t want them. He was
extremely cross with me for registering our goat flock with the local Defra
office – receiving the letter did not go down well! Anyway, thankfully I managed to convince John
to have a look at the goats in the sale pen!
They were twin boys (castrated) and after a discussion with the owner
(they hadn’t sold in the sale so we approached the owner afterwards) we bought
them!! John said I should have named them ‘Totally’ and ‘Pointless’ but I
decided that Frank and Eric was much better!
They now have orange collars on and I’m keeping my
fingers crossed that Santa brings them a nice field shelter for Christmas J
I think that’s it! We
have another busy year coming! Eventing
with Jack, some small shows with Larry, show and sales with the sheep and
maybe, if we can fit it in, a short holiday away!
Have a great 2013, hope to see you soon.
Lots of love from Caz, John, Islay, Ember, Jock, Jack, Larry,
Spock, Faya, Frank, Eric and all the sheep!
xxxxx
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