The "Volunteers"

THE VOLUNTEERS

The Volunteers are the High Country Horse Treks workforce. Over the years they have varied in number and age, but without them we would struggle to get all the jobs done and their company and contribution are highly valued. The young girls who come up here at age eleven or twelve are true horse fanatics, and we enjoy watching them turn from being very nervous around so many huge horses, to being really useful members of the team. Eventually they grow up and leave for University and we welcome the next brood of young enthusiasts.

Tina

Tina is our longest serving Volunteer and has been coming up here since the late nineties. When we first met her she had one small child and one still in nappies and was keen to escape the trials of motherhood as often as she could. These days she has noxious teenagers and is even more keen to escape! Tina is great to have around and always sees the funny side of things and has been a terrific friend in times of need. If you need someone to help cart the hay - Tina is there in a flash, when stronger people have, very sensibly, backed down.

Rachael

Rachael came up here for years and was one of our most regular and keen Volunteers. She has gone from being a very quiet, nervous, stand behind someone else person to being a really useful helper, much more confident, very calm and professional round quite bossy horses. I can now rely upon Rachael to climb up on 16hh plus horses when my nerve, and climbing ability, fail me.
Currently she is down south at University and we see her not as often but Christmas Holidays are coming and the horses are waiting.

Lorna

This is Lorna who isn't here any more thanks to NZ Immigration. She is English and turned up here in 2008 as one of a group Woofers [ Workers on organic farms] and was meant to be here for just a few weeks . She was fresh out of the racing industry and on the first night announced that she was vegetarian and had a broken collar bone, both of which things struck us as not terribly helpful round here where the work tends to be hard and we are all dedicated carnivores. However Lorna was still here two years later. She is solely responsible for us now having five cats. She has backed and ridden young horses, sorted out stroppy teenagers, led rides, given lessons, taken over all the hoof trimming, organised all our advertising - and collected kittens as if it were going out of fashion! Her having to leave and go to Oz and ultimately back to the U.K. has left a huge gap and we all miss her both on a practical front and as a very good friend. She is welcome back here any time but we are going to instigate a NO MORE CATS rule!

Big Emma

This is Big Emma because we currently have a new Little Emma. Along with all the others Emma served her apprenticeship up here for many years. In her case she had to balance schoolwork with hockey in the winter and rowing in the summer but we still managed to get her on a horse and well hooked into things equine. These days she is newly married, newly qualified and working and trying to earn a living, whilst being very happy to get back to horses. Maybe one day we'll be selling her horses for her children to ride!

Little Emma

Little Emma is an enthusiast in all things equine. She has been coming up for over a year now so we haven't put her off or allowed her to be flattened. To her it is just sheer joy to be able to put into practice all the things she has read about. In this picture she is practicing her hand brake turns on my old Clonbern, who will actually do what she is asked instead of arguing or refusing to move. This Spring Emma has been riding younger horses too and is doing very well with Perkins in particular. The young horses all have to make the transition from being ridden by riders to coping with beginners' conflicting instructions. I think Emma might be working on her father to achieve her eventual aim of horse ownership - poor Dad! Sorry Michael.

"Little" Emma, Summer 2016

Boy that girl just grewded and went on growing! She is now, at 16 taller than "Big" Emma and, like her namesake, having trouble fitting in all the schoolwork, her keen interest in things thespian and her passion for the horses. Another two, three years and she will be off to Uni too. This is Emma this summer on her beloved Mr Bowie, who was bought for her for her 16th birthday.

Tracy

In her mis-spent youth Tracy came up here to do work experience. These days she works at a local supermarket and I talked her into coming back up here a couple of years ago, and very quickly she fell in love with the giant Coco and bought him from us. Coco is a happy horse because he still lives with his friends and family.
Tracy is a brilliant worker, great sense of humour, super duper ford clearer, no nonsense horse doser or foot holder. On top of which she gets us huge boxes of discarded apples from the super market, and my Clonbern actually greets her car when she drives in. You wouldn't want to be suffering from broken ribs when Tracy is around - the jokes just keep coming.

Linda

Linda has been coming up here for donkeys years now and bought Squirt from us. Some years after that Squirt and Linda moved elsewhere but now they are both back. Squirt is a permanently good doer that we are reliably informed does have ribs about her person. Linda says the mare has fluid retention or muscle potential but either way better to be fat in a drought than thin.
Linda is the mainstay of helping me trim feet to help Rod out. She is wonderfully calm round some very bossy horses and helps me take treks, including with tiny people, chattering away to ease the fears. She is always on time, has a great sense of humour and likes to spend spare time home baking, which makes her one of our very favourite people!