THE    HORSES    PART    I

TOSS.

Toss, the Boss Horse of the herd, as he has been since we bought him I'm in 1995. He has just turned 31 and is beginning to look his age. When Toss wants a drink  at the trough it is like the parting of the Red Sea, as he plods his way through the Mob and drinks his fill at his leisure, and then stands broadside to the trough and goes to sleep. The rest of the herd can die of thirst while he snoozes, he cares not. Toss is mostly retired now and only does the flatter rides when we are short of horses, or comes loose on a ride to get the exercise and the interest. He lives on our Bottom Flat where there is shelter, the river and    no whippersnappers to have to boss around. In the winter storms he gets covers on and hard feed, but his biggest joy is to be let into the garden, where he thinks he ought to be allowed to live all the time, or be allowed to drift out on to the roadside and forgotten for a while. The infrequent traffic just has to treat him as a roundabout. Toss probably doesn't look quite this good now, but the old boy toddles on, boss of his domain and he doesn't know he isn't a Spring chicken any more.

TOSS   EATING   BREAKFAST   IN   HIS   NEW   PYJAMAS.       WINTER 2013

CLONBERN    -    [  CLONBERN  LADY  ]

Clonny has been here since October 1995 when she was four. She is my main and bestest guide horse and after twenty years of working together she is my best friend. She will go anywhere I ask her at any speed and if there is a problem with a customer's horse I can put them up on her and know that she will toddle home safely. We used to have a Family Fun Picnic Race Day at the local track and Clonny LOVED being back on a racecourse. In the Allcomers dash with our local Vet up she used to be in the lead after fifty metres before the polo ponies and quarter horses overtook her. In her youth there wasn't a horse up here that could overtake her. She is very competitive and bossy in the herd and I love her to bits.

Update 31-1-16  My Bestest Girl, Dearest Clonbern, went to Horse Heaven today with heart failure. The vet was up here very quickly and Clonny was out of pain within ten minutes of his arrival. There will never be another horse like her.. Gallop Free Clonbern!!  Clonny has earned the right to be on this page forever, until I pop my clogs.

ELLIE   -   [  EL  CASINO  ]

Ellieburgle, Ellie Wellie is a Standardbred, black and very, very fat. She is now twenty two and the Boss Mare of the herd. She is  off the list of customer's horses as she can be quite stroppy to ride and likes to boot lesser horses on the trek. Riding her one has to suffer the awful" Electric" shocks as she spots something really SPOOKY like sneezing or a covey of quail taking off. Really good doer and never loses weight or needs feeding

BOOGIE   -   [  HOT  SHOE  BOOGIE  ]

Boogie Boy is now fifteen and although we didn't pay a lot for him he cost $83,000 as a yearling because his sister, Hot Shoe Shuffle was winning everything. He would never have made a good racehorse as he lacks the killer instinct. Our chiropractor had his work cut out with the Boogs as the poor horse had so many vertebra out. Since the day of his first treatment he has been so easy to look after, a bit like Daniel in the Lion's Den  -  you take the pain away and the animal never forgets. Boogie is just a great big softie and is now my newest guide horse.

COCO   -   [  FINAL  CLOUD   ]

We bought Coco the year after Boogie  and they have always been mates, hanging out together, two huge horses with like minds. So CoCo is  fifteen  now. He is usually a good doer but fell foul of last summer's drought and lost a lot of weight suddenly. This summer, another drought, he is being hard fed and having hay to stop the problem from starting. He has Attitude ! He likes who he likes and makes it quite clear if he doesn't like someone, man or beast. He has been plagued by bad feet whilst here and now has the blacksmith every six weeks, with front shoes on permanently to make his pedal ostitis more bearable.
Update:- 2012. Coco has been sold to our good friend Tracy. He still lives up here with his mates and his current lifestyle but he is now Tracy's Special Boy and is enjoying the spoiling.

GLEN   -   [  BULL   WEAVER   ]

Glen is the third horse we bought in a few years ago as our other weight bearing horses were all getting older. He had a nasty accident on the racetrack and completed a few circuits without a driver but with sulky still attached, falling several times. He was very aggressive when he arrived up here and in immense pain. The chiropractor couldn't get near him to treat him. Eventually we led Glen into the huge wooden crush we had built for just this sort of purpose. He walked in one end kicking and snapping and, after treatment, strolled out the other end with a big soppy grin all over his face and has never looked back and really likes people now.  Glen also lost a lot of weight in last summer's drought, to the point we thought  he could no longer live up here,  but we looked around and ended up sending him down to North Canterbury where our good friend Valerie gave him a super home for the winter. Glen successfully ate her out of house and home and bossed all her horses all over the place.  He came home this Spring and actually looks like a horse again, not a toast rack.

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