"The Volunteers"
The "Volunteers" Are the High Country Horse Treks workforce. Over the years they have varied in numbers 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 turn up here at age eleven or twelve are true horse fanatics, and we love watching them turn from being very nervous around so many horses, to being really useful members of the team. Eventually they grow up and leave home 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 on Hot Shoe Boogie
Rachael has been coming up here for a few years now and 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 young 16 hand plus horses when my nerve - and climbing ability !! - fail me. Rod has got her driving the quad bike on level ground, which is a vital attribute for anyone living on a farm. . She is also a good photographer, brilliant on the computer, which is handy for computer illiterate eejits like me, and terrific with all the customers. We have to work on the "Cant stand the sight of blood" angle, as it makes her photographer's hand shake!.
Lorna
Lorna and Her baby Badger
This is Lorna, who isn't actually here any more, thanks to NZ Immigration!. She is English and turned up here late in 2008, just one of three W.O.O.F.E.R.s [ Workers on organic farms ], and she was meant to be here for a few weeks. She was fresh out the racing industry and, on the first night, she suddenly said, " I am vegetarian and I have a broken collar bone." This didn't immiediately strike us as being terribly useful round here, where the work tends to be hard and we are all dedicated carnivores! However, Lorna was still here in September 2010!! She is solely responsible for us now having five cats!! Over nearly two years she became part of the furniture and kept us all up to the mark. She has backed and ridden young horses, sorted out stroppy teenage horses, 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 on to Oz has left a HUGE gap and we all miss her, both on a practical front workwise and as a very good friend. She will be allowed back into NZ in September, but we are going to instigate a NO MORE CATS rule as we welcome her back.
Rachael and Annie Poo
It doesn't matter which dog, or cat, one is trying to cuddle, you can bet your bottom dollar that Annie will be there, shoving her way in and making sure nobody else is getting HER fair share of attention. Many is the poor unaware customer who gets one of Annie's paws down the back of their leg, to remind them that she is the most important dog on the property.
