At long last I found myself flying to Ireland - it's only been a year since my last visit, but man it was good to be landing at Dublin Airport! First stop was Duty Free for a bottle of Bushmills Whiskey, and then straight to the Ballsbridge for the Royal Dublin Show.

The RDS is an Irish institution for sure. The show has been going for over 130 years, and I've been coming to it on and off for the last 13 of them! People often ask why I have such a fascination with Ireland and why I keep going back there. Well it's a combination of many things - the people, the horses and the parties! The Dublin horse show is right in the heart of Dublin, and the place is just abuzz with horses being bought and sold, old friends catching up, the finest of Irish food and beverages for sale - and some of the best trade stalls I've seen anywhere in the world - I gave the credit card a big hiding I can assure you!

Leaving Spain and flying back to Holland was a little surreal. I was very much looking forward to getting to Ireland where I could catch up with old friends and do some teaching, but in Holland I was just taking a few days to catch up with the family of Donnerwind.

It was great to see everyone at Donnerwind's old barn again, but it was a sad time as "Opa" (Dutch for Grand Dad) had recently passed away and it was my first trip back to his stable with no Opa there to greet me. Its always good to see how all the Donnerwind progeny have developed when I go back each year though. The website of the stables is www.stalnijenhuis.nl

After putting the bloods of our favourite Lusitano Xangai on test in the UK, we headed back to Madrid on the overnight train, some experience! It was 80Euro which is cheaper than a hotel, four to a cabin. It left at 10pm from Lisbon and got into Madrid at 8am, just in time to go look at more horses!

Next on our list were two half brothers - one I thought looked great but wasn't quite suited to me under saddle, and the other I really liked and came back a few times to ride him and then thought no - he is just not quite what I perceive that the New Zealand market needs.

Our time in Portugal was certainly well spent. Not content with just finding the perfect horse, we wanted to keep looking for something better, and also have a back-up. Unfortunately the disease Piroplasmosis is endemic in Spain and Portugal and is not allowed into New Zealand. It is estimated that up to 80% of horses in Spain have the disease and perhaps 50% of horses in Spain do. It is spread by ticks and can make horses quite sick. However this type of tick doesn't exist in New Zealand, but none the less horses that test positive are not allowed in. The cant spread the disease, but even so, testing positive to the dreaded "Piro" makes importation to NZ, USA, and Australia impossible. So while we sent off Xangai's bloods we continued tripping thru Portugal to find a back-up and to increase our knowledge of this wonderful breed.

We flew into Lisbon on a perfect sunny summer's day, and I must say I instantly felt a bond with Portugal. Ireland is the only other place in Europe I've ever felt at home, and I was surprised to find myself feeling the same way on the Continent proper. Later that day I was informed (by many people) that New Zealand and Portugal are polar opposites - if you dug a hole deep enough from Lisbon you would poke your head up back in Aotearoa - A comforting thought to know there is a short route home!

Many of you may be surprised to hear that I have always had a fascination with Iberian type horses. Who couldn't help but fall in love with a wonderful black Friesian horse, or with the famous PRE stallion Fuego who with his Spanish rider has set the dressage world into a bit of a spin!?! Earlier in the year I made the decision to try and find a Lusitano stallion to bring back to New Zealand. The breed is fairly unknown here, and what better way to show off this fantastic breed than bringing in a top class dressage stallion?!

After the competition season is over the thing to look forward to is most definitely hunting. This year was the Dannevirke Hunt Clubs Centennial celebrations - and a good number of Maramarua members went down for the week. We had a fantastic time both socially at the different functions including the Ball, and a great time on the hunt field too. Unfortunately the weather gods were not shining on us and the ground was certainly wet under foot. We had a cancelation of one of the Meets which was disappointing but understandable - there was some huge flooding in the Hawke's Bay area during that week...There is a photo below of a few of the gang down at Dannevirke.

Well Hastings put on a cracking week weather wise for the 2011 Horse of the Year Show. Hawkes Bay is renowned for its great weather - and great wine! And this year was no exception.

For the first time in a long time I had no pressure on me to perform at the show. I only had one horse entered - Donnerwind in the PSG / Inter I level, and no qualifications for WEG or Olympics to go for. So I was determined to have a bit of fun, treat it as a holiday, and to spend time with friends and sponsors alike. Two of my sponsors had big trade stands there - Mitavite and Horse Vans - so it was great to spend time with them and meet the public looking thru their stands.