We have a water pump :-) It might not have been as easy peasy to install as the nice people at Kumeu Plumbing suggested, but we have a pump.
Buying the thing was easy, after that there were a few trips back and forth to get the right fittings (grrr, who decided there should be male and female fittings??) and then the most startling part of it all - turning the thing on.
I flicked the switch, the pump burst into life, and.... a geyser of water at least 3 feet high spouted out of the hot water cylinder overflow. Not quite the desired result. Turns out the HWC was lacking a pressure valve, so one visit from a plumber and $337 later everything was sorted. Funny thing is it takes a bit of getting used to only having to turn a tap on a wee bit to get water out now.
Winter is creeping in and we've had a few fires now, earlier than most people I suppose but then we don't have insulation so that's a good enough excuse for me. Have had horrendous winds the past few days, surprised nothing has fallen off the house yet - or maybe I just jinxed things then...
The chooks are obviously shutting down for winter as our egg production has dwindled to an average of one a day. On the up side, we have a whole heap of pumpkins growing in the garden courtesy of the compost heap. Yum, pumpkin soup!
Oscar had a session with Rachel Phillips, an equine therapist, on Thursday and turns out he is quite stiff and tight in a few places, including his left fore which would contribute to the problems we have with left canter leads. His muscles are a bit under-developed on his left hind too, sort of at the top of his hip, so we will be doing some gymnastic exercises to help work on this. And fingers crossed by the beginning of next season we'll be cantering happily on both reins! I was planning on doing the Huapai ODE next weekend with him but have decided not to, partly because of this soreness and also because the dressage asks for canter on both reins and, er, well it's just all bit hard right now.
We also need to look at his saddle, hopefully it can be adjusted to fit him. It is a bit narrow for him and needs repacking so fingers crossed that's all we have to do and I don't get told to go out and buy the only saddle that will fit him that just happens to cost $4,000...
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Oscar's first ODE
Today we went to the local pony club's ODE - One Day Event. Oscar's first one - and mine for that matter too. I went with Sarah and Bert (also their first ODE), and we just did the pre-intro course, Sarah and Bert did intro. Nice easy cruisy day for Oscar's first ODE - that was the plan!
Started off with the dressage test which was the thing I was least worried about as it was really really simple. Have to say it was probably the worst test I have ever ridden. We didn't warm up that much as I thought it was so easy, but maybe that was the mistake. Oscar started off by kicking over the A marker on the way into the arena, then doing a wobble up the centre line, followed by being tense, bending the wrong way, and not really listening at all. Bit of a bummer really as I was hoping to do a much better test than that.
Glad the blinkin test is over!!!
Next was show jumping, which I got really nervous about after such a horrible dressage test. We didn't have much of a break in between the two phases - probably just as well! Anyway in we went, and Oscar was just a star. Most jumps were pretty average, but had a couple of beautiful ones where he really jumped a bit higher and jumped properly. The problem with such a low height is he has figured out he doesn't need to jump properly to get over them - plus I probably wasn't riding him forward enough. He got a bit keen at jump 6 (heading towards home) so we picked up 4 faults when he zoomed left before the next jump and we had to do a handbrake turn (one rein circle) to get back in line.
Jump 6 - went a bit 'yeeha!' after this one, but did jump it rather lovely!
Jump 7 - after the, er, realignment
Happy to be finished - where's the bourbon?
Very happy overall with the SJ though and also happy with how I rode the lines. Gave me heaps of confidence for the cross country! Might also have had something to do with the bourbon a friend gave me to swig....
Out onto the xc and I just kept thinking, it's just like sj but with bigger gaps between the jumps... started off a bit rough with Oscar not wanting to leave the others and we almost had a run out at the first one but luckily it was a teeny tiny log that we pretty much just hopped over. Next was a brush which he went over no worries (even though he's never seen one before), then turn hard right down a wee hill, through a gate and jump three was a trough with plastic bins in it. He had a good look at this and really wasn't sure but he is so honest that if you just ask him, he pops over it. Had a lovely canter out of this up towards two rows of pine trees that we rode between - just like at the forest, so Oscar was fine with that and from here on it just became heaps of fun!
Turned left out of that, popped over a log heading slightly downhill and cantered out lovely from that. Then a spar with a slightly lower landing side but he was all good with that one too. Then the bogey that wasn't even a fence! We had to ride between two walls of tyres with toi toi branches stuck in them, so it was all about 10 feet high and a narrow lane way. Oscar had a wee look and started to drift left but again was great going through it when I pushed him on.
Through a gate and up towards the three banks/steps. We only had to go up the first one and then go left out of it - although we jumped out on an angle as this seemed the better line to me, which confused the wee man because we've jumped all three banks before and he seemed to wonder why we weren't doing that this time.
Then over the coop, round the corner and over a wee log. He jumped those two really nicely but got a bit keen after the log - heading for home. So ended up overshooting the gate out of that paddock and loop back through it which settled him a bit. No worries going through the gate (which has previously been a bit scary) and over a lovely log to finish.
With a couple of other nervous oldies (Dan and Douglas, Anne and Lucy), lol
In the start box
Last jump, went over this one really nicely
Overall, a fantastic day, heaps of fun and am glad we have both got one ODE under our belts. And to top it all off, we came first in the pre-intro over 16s! Granted it was a small class but there was more than just me and Oscar in it at least :-)
Sarah and Bert also did well, came fifth overall in the intro over 16s and Bert behaved himself really well. Jumped a beautiful show jumping round and happily tootled around the xc course - his first complete xc course. He just lurves jumping... Sarah was a bit disappointed in his dressage as I was with Oscar, hmm perhaps we both need to work on that part a bit?! Just a problem as I have discovered I really, really like jumping. Oops.
There is another ODE in a month or so, same level and quite close to home so I think we'll head out to that one as well.
Great day!
Started off with the dressage test which was the thing I was least worried about as it was really really simple. Have to say it was probably the worst test I have ever ridden. We didn't warm up that much as I thought it was so easy, but maybe that was the mistake. Oscar started off by kicking over the A marker on the way into the arena, then doing a wobble up the centre line, followed by being tense, bending the wrong way, and not really listening at all. Bit of a bummer really as I was hoping to do a much better test than that.
Sticking his nose out, looking for home...
Walking was a wee bit better
Glad the blinkin test is over!!!
Next was show jumping, which I got really nervous about after such a horrible dressage test. We didn't have much of a break in between the two phases - probably just as well! Anyway in we went, and Oscar was just a star. Most jumps were pretty average, but had a couple of beautiful ones where he really jumped a bit higher and jumped properly. The problem with such a low height is he has figured out he doesn't need to jump properly to get over them - plus I probably wasn't riding him forward enough. He got a bit keen at jump 6 (heading towards home) so we picked up 4 faults when he zoomed left before the next jump and we had to do a handbrake turn (one rein circle) to get back in line.
Jump 1
Jump 3 - got a bit left behind, argh
Jump 6 - went a bit 'yeeha!' after this one, but did jump it rather lovely!
Jump 7 - after the, er, realignment
Happy to be finished - where's the bourbon?
Out onto the xc and I just kept thinking, it's just like sj but with bigger gaps between the jumps... started off a bit rough with Oscar not wanting to leave the others and we almost had a run out at the first one but luckily it was a teeny tiny log that we pretty much just hopped over. Next was a brush which he went over no worries (even though he's never seen one before), then turn hard right down a wee hill, through a gate and jump three was a trough with plastic bins in it. He had a good look at this and really wasn't sure but he is so honest that if you just ask him, he pops over it. Had a lovely canter out of this up towards two rows of pine trees that we rode between - just like at the forest, so Oscar was fine with that and from here on it just became heaps of fun!
Turned left out of that, popped over a log heading slightly downhill and cantered out lovely from that. Then a spar with a slightly lower landing side but he was all good with that one too. Then the bogey that wasn't even a fence! We had to ride between two walls of tyres with toi toi branches stuck in them, so it was all about 10 feet high and a narrow lane way. Oscar had a wee look and started to drift left but again was great going through it when I pushed him on.
Through a gate and up towards the three banks/steps. We only had to go up the first one and then go left out of it - although we jumped out on an angle as this seemed the better line to me, which confused the wee man because we've jumped all three banks before and he seemed to wonder why we weren't doing that this time.
Then over the coop, round the corner and over a wee log. He jumped those two really nicely but got a bit keen after the log - heading for home. So ended up overshooting the gate out of that paddock and loop back through it which settled him a bit. No worries going through the gate (which has previously been a bit scary) and over a lovely log to finish.
Before XC - looking just a wee bit nervous
With a couple of other nervous oldies (Dan and Douglas, Anne and Lucy), lol
In the start box
Last jump, went over this one really nicely
Overall, a fantastic day, heaps of fun and am glad we have both got one ODE under our belts. And to top it all off, we came first in the pre-intro over 16s! Granted it was a small class but there was more than just me and Oscar in it at least :-)
Sarah and Bert also did well, came fifth overall in the intro over 16s and Bert behaved himself really well. Jumped a beautiful show jumping round and happily tootled around the xc course - his first complete xc course. He just lurves jumping... Sarah was a bit disappointed in his dressage as I was with Oscar, hmm perhaps we both need to work on that part a bit?! Just a problem as I have discovered I really, really like jumping. Oops.
There is another ODE in a month or so, same level and quite close to home so I think we'll head out to that one as well.
Great day!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Big catch up
Well since the last post the hay has been cut and we've spent a few weeks on holiday in France and London.
The hay got cut just before we went away, in the last week of February. We were very lucky with the weather and got the last of it into the shed just as the rain was starting to fall, literally. The guys we hired to stack it in the shed were not the greatest, was very painful watching them load up their truck, taking over an hour to get 50 bales from the paddock to the shed. In the end a couple of mates, Ellie and Nic came round to save our bacon and Ben drove my truck with our teeny tiny trailer on the back and we got 80 bales into the shed in an hour, not bad really. The hay contractor also came back and helped out with his massive trailer and tractor. Really good of him to do so as he didn't have to at all but I think he realised there was no way the hay would be in before the rain otherwise.
We didn't get as much as last year, no surprises there though. Will be fertilising the paddock soon, that should bump up next year's crop!
We headed off on holidays in the first week of March, to spend 2 1/2 weeks travelling in France and heading over to London for a few days to see Ben's sisters. Had a fab time, drank lots of yummy wine and champagne, ate lots and spent waaaay too much. Blimmin rubbish Euro exchange rate made things even more expensive!
Back into it now though, and we're about to get the vege garden ready for winter and hopefully buy some weaners soon. Although given that we spent too much on holiday I'm not sure how that's quite going to happen, lol
Me and Oscar are doing our first ODE on Saturday too, which I am a bit nervous about. He loves jumping and is not too bad at it for a green horse but just worried he will be a bit silly about going away from his buddy Bert who will be there with Sarah. Ah well it will all be good for my riding I suppose! The goal of the day is just to finish it all - in one piece... I am not expecting anything other than that and going by his freak out at jumping over a log next to a really scary water trough last night at adult ride we may have a few stops. Three refusals and it's elimination but you can usually carry on and complete the course. At least the dressage test is dead easy!
We had a great jumping lesson before I went away, got up to jumping 65cm which is huuuuge for me. He was jumping really nicely too, made it really easy for me. Have another lesson today and then a day off for both of us before the ODE.
Will hopefully have ODE pics to post later, if I can con someone into being team photographer on Saturday!
The hay got cut just before we went away, in the last week of February. We were very lucky with the weather and got the last of it into the shed just as the rain was starting to fall, literally. The guys we hired to stack it in the shed were not the greatest, was very painful watching them load up their truck, taking over an hour to get 50 bales from the paddock to the shed. In the end a couple of mates, Ellie and Nic came round to save our bacon and Ben drove my truck with our teeny tiny trailer on the back and we got 80 bales into the shed in an hour, not bad really. The hay contractor also came back and helped out with his massive trailer and tractor. Really good of him to do so as he didn't have to at all but I think he realised there was no way the hay would be in before the rain otherwise.
We didn't get as much as last year, no surprises there though. Will be fertilising the paddock soon, that should bump up next year's crop!
We headed off on holidays in the first week of March, to spend 2 1/2 weeks travelling in France and heading over to London for a few days to see Ben's sisters. Had a fab time, drank lots of yummy wine and champagne, ate lots and spent waaaay too much. Blimmin rubbish Euro exchange rate made things even more expensive!
Back into it now though, and we're about to get the vege garden ready for winter and hopefully buy some weaners soon. Although given that we spent too much on holiday I'm not sure how that's quite going to happen, lol
Me and Oscar are doing our first ODE on Saturday too, which I am a bit nervous about. He loves jumping and is not too bad at it for a green horse but just worried he will be a bit silly about going away from his buddy Bert who will be there with Sarah. Ah well it will all be good for my riding I suppose! The goal of the day is just to finish it all - in one piece... I am not expecting anything other than that and going by his freak out at jumping over a log next to a really scary water trough last night at adult ride we may have a few stops. Three refusals and it's elimination but you can usually carry on and complete the course. At least the dressage test is dead easy!
We had a great jumping lesson before I went away, got up to jumping 65cm which is huuuuge for me. He was jumping really nicely too, made it really easy for me. Have another lesson today and then a day off for both of us before the ODE.
Will hopefully have ODE pics to post later, if I can con someone into being team photographer on Saturday!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Rain!
The rain has come back and overnight the water barrels have filled and the driveway has puddles. Haven't checked the rain gauge yet, although we had 11mm yesterday. Temperatures are a lot lower too, 17 degrees at 8.30am today! Bit different from the 25 degrees it was on Thursday morning.
And the hay is still standing. Hmm. Less said about that, the better.
Have been battling on with Oscar and his left canter, although to add to the fun, he has decided he loves this jumping lark and has jumped out of the taped off area of the house paddock (about 7-8 acres) five times in a week. Grrr. I checked the tape last night and it is definitely hot so he obviously thinks that pre-intro height is a bit beneath him.
He is going to head off for a canter boot camp next week hopefully though, as it mostly seems to be me having trouble getting him to left canter. Hopefully the left lead will get established really well and it'll be onwards and upwards. I hope.
The garden is loving the rain we've had over the past few days though and the tomatoes are going mad. Also got quite a few carrots coming on now and of course still got lots of zucchinis. Yesterday's harvest:
Although no zucchinis yesterday - for a change! The freezer is jammed full of stuff from the farm now - with frozen tomatoes, carrots, zucchinis, and the new addition of half a cattle beast and 1 and a half pigs. We got them back this week and it's great to have the freezers full again. Although the cattle beast was a lot bigger than last time so has taken up heaps more space in the chest freezer. Had to take some of the bacon and pork over to Ellie's to put in their chest freezer. Had bacon, eggs and tomatoes for dinner last night - all from the farm, yum....
Sheryl is still nuts and bounces around all over the place. Both of the cats have really felt the heat lately though - as you can see Sheryl is happy to collapse and snooze anywhere, in this case on the back of the couch:
She's 1.8kg now, and we'll have to look at speying her soon. The last thing we need is a horde of kittens around here! There are a few strays around here too that turn up randomly in the big shed and am pretty sure one is a tom that would no doubt love to say hi to Sheryl!
And the hay is still standing. Hmm. Less said about that, the better.
Have been battling on with Oscar and his left canter, although to add to the fun, he has decided he loves this jumping lark and has jumped out of the taped off area of the house paddock (about 7-8 acres) five times in a week. Grrr. I checked the tape last night and it is definitely hot so he obviously thinks that pre-intro height is a bit beneath him.
He is going to head off for a canter boot camp next week hopefully though, as it mostly seems to be me having trouble getting him to left canter. Hopefully the left lead will get established really well and it'll be onwards and upwards. I hope.
The garden is loving the rain we've had over the past few days though and the tomatoes are going mad. Also got quite a few carrots coming on now and of course still got lots of zucchinis. Yesterday's harvest:
Although no zucchinis yesterday - for a change! The freezer is jammed full of stuff from the farm now - with frozen tomatoes, carrots, zucchinis, and the new addition of half a cattle beast and 1 and a half pigs. We got them back this week and it's great to have the freezers full again. Although the cattle beast was a lot bigger than last time so has taken up heaps more space in the chest freezer. Had to take some of the bacon and pork over to Ellie's to put in their chest freezer. Had bacon, eggs and tomatoes for dinner last night - all from the farm, yum....
Sheryl is still nuts and bounces around all over the place. Both of the cats have really felt the heat lately though - as you can see Sheryl is happy to collapse and snooze anywhere, in this case on the back of the couch:
She's 1.8kg now, and we'll have to look at speying her soon. The last thing we need is a horde of kittens around here! There are a few strays around here too that turn up randomly in the big shed and am pretty sure one is a tom that would no doubt love to say hi to Sheryl!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Hot, damned hot
Well it's been roasting hot the past few days, and still the hay is in the paddock... the contractor had a mower break down on him so that put him back a few days and now it looks like rain on Tuesday so I can't see it being cut before then. Had a wander around the paddock yesterday and there is still plenty of green in there so hopefully the rain will also do it good and who knows, this time next week we might be baling. Hope so....
Oscar and I went to a cross country practice day yesterday, with Ellie and Spyke, Sarah and Em and Rachel was riding Bert. All four boys were great, Oscar was very relaxed about it all (we've had hairier rides in the forest...) and did some lovely jumps. We only did the baby sized ones so he wasn't really jumping properly even but it was good to get him out on a course and have a play. We even went in and out of the water and he was doing this fairly happily on his own in the end. Got some pics too:
I also have some video of us jumping, will attempt to edit that soon and put it up.
Vege garden going great guns, we've got zucchinis coming out our ears so have been freezing them. Lots of tomatoes coming on now too, and the peas are pretty much finished.
The pigs and cow will be back from the butcher this week so need to have a clear out of the freezer before then.
Not a lot of other news apart from it's hot, damned hot...
Today's weather (as at 5.3opm)
Humidity: 68.5%
Barometric pressure: 1003hP
Temperature: 28.5 degrees
Rainfall: Nil
Oscar and I went to a cross country practice day yesterday, with Ellie and Spyke, Sarah and Em and Rachel was riding Bert. All four boys were great, Oscar was very relaxed about it all (we've had hairier rides in the forest...) and did some lovely jumps. We only did the baby sized ones so he wasn't really jumping properly even but it was good to get him out on a course and have a play. We even went in and out of the water and he was doing this fairly happily on his own in the end. Got some pics too:
Grim determination over the world's tiniest jump
Jumped nicely after walking over this the first time and then did a lovely canter afterwards. That's Bert's butt in the background.
He was quite curious about splashing in the water in the end. That's Ellie and Spyke in the background.
I also have some video of us jumping, will attempt to edit that soon and put it up.
Vege garden going great guns, we've got zucchinis coming out our ears so have been freezing them. Lots of tomatoes coming on now too, and the peas are pretty much finished.
The pigs and cow will be back from the butcher this week so need to have a clear out of the freezer before then.
Not a lot of other news apart from it's hot, damned hot...
Today's weather (as at 5.3opm)
Humidity: 68.5%
Barometric pressure: 1003hP
Temperature: 28.5 degrees
Rainfall: Nil
Monday, January 26, 2009
Weather geek alert!
Introducing a new feature to the blog... weather stats. I love weather...
We got a barometer for Christmas that has a barometric gauge, a thermometer and a hygrometer - which measures humidity. And yesterday Ellie gave me an early birthday present of a rain gauge. I have been meaning to buy one for, ooh two years now, so am quite excited about that. Just need to work out where to install it.
So today's weather (as at 4pm):
Humidity: 71%
Barometric pressure: 1005hP
Temperature: 28.5 degrees
Rainfall: Nil
We got a barometer for Christmas that has a barometric gauge, a thermometer and a hygrometer - which measures humidity. And yesterday Ellie gave me an early birthday present of a rain gauge. I have been meaning to buy one for, ooh two years now, so am quite excited about that. Just need to work out where to install it.
So today's weather (as at 4pm):
Humidity: 71%
Barometric pressure: 1005hP
Temperature: 28.5 degrees
Rainfall: Nil
Saturday, January 24, 2009
This little piggie went to market....
Well the pigs are booked in for their one way trip on Wednesday - my birthday of all days! The homekill man is coming then to, well, homekill them plus one of the cattle who grazes here, and then we will soon have a freezer full of bacon, yum! We'll get some more soon, after we've been on holiday in March.
Some pics of the pigs modelling their new feed troughs that Ben made - a 200l barrel cut in half lengthwise with wooden skids attached. Works really well! Gives you an idea of the size of the piggies now too.
Had a group ride this morning at the arena with Sarah on Em and Rachel riding Bert. Ellie came down too and took pics and had a quick ride on Oscar (who was going very sluggish but then it was blinkin sweltering down there). We had a bash at left canter but didn't get it and it probably didn't help that he was being a sloth. Did get the odd moment of some lengthening in trot so that was something! And we rode all the way home from the arena (first time) and then carried on for a wander up the road past home. The boys were all great and I think Em liked his outing too.
Some pics of the pigs modelling their new feed troughs that Ben made - a 200l barrel cut in half lengthwise with wooden skids attached. Works really well! Gives you an idea of the size of the piggies now too.
Ben's pig troughs (TM) (Patent pending)
Do you have food for us?
Just in case there is something still in there from before... (as you can see they are both most definitely boys!)
Had a group ride this morning at the arena with Sarah on Em and Rachel riding Bert. Ellie came down too and took pics and had a quick ride on Oscar (who was going very sluggish but then it was blinkin sweltering down there). We had a bash at left canter but didn't get it and it probably didn't help that he was being a sloth. Did get the odd moment of some lengthening in trot so that was something! And we rode all the way home from the arena (first time) and then carried on for a wander up the road past home. The boys were all great and I think Em liked his outing too.
Our free walk attempt
Lengthening the trot
Cantering - that arena gets dustier than a dust bowl... Canter was not too bad though!
Having a breather
Offering a nice outline for Ellie
Lengthening the trot
Cantering - that arena gets dustier than a dust bowl... Canter was not too bad though!
Having a breather
Offering a nice outline for Ellie
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