THE CO - OWNERS
THE "BOSS"
Rod On A Trek
The "Boss" is what the dogs know him as, and what I tend to refer to him as. So I can say " Where is the Boss?" and the dogs all hoon off to find him. SOMEbody has to be the Boss and one would assume that his word is law - however, this is a very democratic society and there is sometimes dissention in the ranks!!
Rod comes from Canterbury farming stock and his forebears were among the first to land in NZ. He grew up on a prosperous post war farm with a Tiger Moth plane, gliders, jet boats and a grandmother who had had umpteen racehorses, so Rod learned to ride practically before he could walk. Like most self taught farming youngsters he has great stickability on a horse, but the style is sometimes interesting.!
. In 2003 he got bucked off his big Spindle whilst trying to look after a beginner customer, and the horse managed to come down and land on Rod's left knee. Seven years later he is still trying to manage a considerably truncated lifestyle, forced upon him by the permanently damaged leg. His handling young horses has had to be adapted to cope with his decreased mobity. Fortunately we have a quad bike - Rod's Roddymobile, which enables him to get around the hill to get the horses down.
Rod comes from Canterbury farming stock and his forebears were among the first to land in NZ. He grew up on a prosperous post war farm with a Tiger Moth plane, gliders, jet boats and a grandmother who had had umpteen racehorses, so Rod learned to ride practically before he could walk. Like most self taught farming youngsters he has great stickability on a horse, but the style is sometimes interesting.!
. In 2003 he got bucked off his big Spindle whilst trying to look after a beginner customer, and the horse managed to come down and land on Rod's left knee. Seven years later he is still trying to manage a considerably truncated lifestyle, forced upon him by the permanently damaged leg. His handling young horses has had to be adapted to cope with his decreased mobity. Fortunately we have a quad bike - Rod's Roddymobile, which enables him to get around the hill to get the horses down.
THE "OTHER HALF" - SARAH
Sarah On Blueprint Aged 4
I was born and bred in London and grew up lusting after horses, loving their look and smell but never getting close. I was allowed to start a weekly ride in one of the Royal Parks which just whetted my appetite, at the age of 12. At 16 I left school and went to train to work with horses, at a big riding establishment in Hampshire, and from there I took various horsey jobs around the country.
Whilst working on a farm in Somerset, looking after a stud of Welsh ponies, I met this long haired hippy on his big overseas trip, a New Zealand sheep farmer, who said he was hitch hiking round Europe next, did I want to come? Well it was the best offer I had had all year, so we took off round France, Italy, Spain etc with two bags and a guitar.
The next five years were spent in Canterbury NZ and the following twenty years in London, before we managed to make it back to NZ and start up our horse trekking centre.
There was nothing here but weed infested grassland so we have had a busy 15 years building a house, fencing, getting trees going and gathering horses. The ILPH Inspector said to her co-hort. " They are collectors" to explain why we had far more horses than when she had last seen us.
Whilst working on a farm in Somerset, looking after a stud of Welsh ponies, I met this long haired hippy on his big overseas trip, a New Zealand sheep farmer, who said he was hitch hiking round Europe next, did I want to come? Well it was the best offer I had had all year, so we took off round France, Italy, Spain etc with two bags and a guitar.
The next five years were spent in Canterbury NZ and the following twenty years in London, before we managed to make it back to NZ and start up our horse trekking centre.
There was nothing here but weed infested grassland so we have had a busy 15 years building a house, fencing, getting trees going and gathering horses. The ILPH Inspector said to her co-hort. " They are collectors" to explain why we had far more horses than when she had last seen us.
Rod On His "Roddymobile"
