I still remember the first time I set eyes on Ali Baba - it was October 2011 and I had spent many months looking in Spain and Portugal for me dream horse. In fact this was my second trip over - I'd been at the Global Dressage Forum and had been once again looking in Spain, Portugal and indeed France to find him.

Sarah Warne had sent me some video footage of a young (six year old) stallion with a talent for piaffe and passage. She simply insisted I go see him and she wouldn't stop talking about him. He was younger than I wanted, but he had some good points for sure. So off we went to a fabulous stable just outside of Lisbon where Ali Baba was being kept. I liked the look of him straight away. Although he was not grey (as I THOUGHT I was looking for) he was a stunning bay - and something about him resonated within me - perhaps it was his face - the forelock and eyes reminded me of Landioso somewhat. He was very expressive and cheeky - full of the joys of life and happy to be a young stallion.

Ali Baba's owner and rider was Carlos Thomas - he is one of the 15 riders from the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art. So a very classically trained, very correct rider, whose vision is not blurred by competition pressures and success. The love that Carlos had for Ali Baba was very evident right from the start - this also warmed me to the horse - here was a rider that would be very sad to see his young stallion sold, but the financial crisis in Portugal means that nobody can rest on sentiment.

My first ride on Ali Baba was great. We were in a fabulous riding hall with mosaics on the walls and I felt very special indeed. He was easy to ride, very well trained, but lacked some basics such as well, halting and walking! Ali Baba liked to get on with the job and standing around waiting to be told what to do was not high on his priority list! The piaffe felt great, I could sit to his trot, he had a super mouth - what more could I want? Oh and did I mention he could Sanish Walk? Apparently he just taught himself! We would go ahead and get the blood report done without delay- I needed to know if there was a possibility of this boy being mine. I know that near on 80% of horses in Portugal carry piroplasmosis in their blood - a disease which means they cannot be exported to New Zealand - I hoped like hell Ali Baba had missed out on the ticks that spread the disease when he was a young lad living in the pastures.

However it was not meant to be, or so it seemed. I came back to try Ali Baba for a second and a third time, loving him more and more each day. But on that third day as I was happily riding round in the exquisite indoor picador (riding hall) a big man in dark glasses drove up in his Bentley. A chill went thru my body as this man and his pretty petite blonde girlfriend came and sat quietly watching as I put Ali Baba through his paces that day. I got an awful feeling they were here to try Ali Baba too. How could a girl from New Zealand who drives a $2000 Toyota compete in a bidding war against a man with a near on half a million dollar Bentley? My worst fears were realised - the man put in an offer much higher than the asking price and I walked away with a sad and heavy heart.

As I headed off home to New Zealand I tried to get the horse out of my head, and got back into a short summer of work at home that would ultimately lead me to buying Wunders Tag and heading back up to Europe....

Well we know that short stint with the Hanoverian didn't work out, but it got me back to Spain where I saw Trevo once more - a fabulous big grey we tagged the White Whisper. This time I was determined to buy Trevo, we went to try him again, I still liked him and now all I needed was for Wookie to sell and Trevo could be mine. For a while I even considered getting a bridging loan to buy him before we found a buyer for Wunders Tag. Scary stuff!

However Trevo was not meant to be - I got him vetted under much stress as there was another buyer for him getting him vetted on the same day as me. Then I needed another vet's opinion as the X-rays were not perfect. I got the bloods sent away again for testing and waited on baited breath. He had passed the bloods six months earlier when I first looked at him - surely they wouldn't have changed. But an email from IRT in the UK told otherwise - Trevo now tested positive and there was no way he was to make the journey down under. Was I EVER going to find my horse?

I flew back in July or so for the ISES conference, and decided to make one last ditch effort to buy a horse in Spain or Portugal. I even went back to looking at PRE horses, not my first choice of breed, but I was getting to the point that I thought a Lusitano was just too hard to find. I went to about four different places in Spain then headed back to Portugal, stopping just over the border at the wonder Maria Catano's stables. Her father and brother are two of the top bullfighters in Portugal and she is the second to top ranked dressage rider. I tried some wonderful horses there, but still none stole my heart.

Then it was back up to Porto once more to look at a very Baroque style Lusitano that I had admired on video for over a year - he is trained by the Spanish rider Sergio Martin - I have ridden his horses before and I knew the horse would be well schooled. I was not disappointed; he was lovely but just not quite my cup of tea.

Back in Cascais my home away from home in Portugal, Sarah Warne kept on at me to go try Ali Baba again - apparently the fat bastard in the Bentley didn't buy him last year after all, his pretty blonde girlfriend was no match for the "Artist' that is Ali Baba. I ummmed and arrrred about going to look again, I was still disappointed the sale had fallen through the first time. His blood results had been clear in the end, but after the experience with Trevo I knew that might not be the case the second time around. Did I want to go back and see this boy - he would be a year older now and probably better trained, apparently he was a little more flexible on price too. And he was stabled now 15 minutes up the highway from the coastal town of Cascais. What did I have to lose? I re-read my earlier notes on him, tried to recall what he was like to ride. Then I set off with my agent Nicole Giger of Promo-Caval and soon we arrived at the stables of Carlos Thomas - home of Ali Baba.

I walked down the steep driveway that lead to the stables - and then I saw him - he popped his head out the stable door, flicked back his forelock and looked right into my soul with his big sparkling mischievous eyes that said to me "Oh, I see you are back to collect me!". I couldn't keep my hands off him, we had a wee chat and a bit of a spar and then excitedly I got back into the saddle. He was just as I remembered but better again. More training under his belt and a year more to mature his body. All of a sudden I was very excited - what had I been thinking? My dream Lusitano was here - he's been here all along. Not a grey but a lovely bright bay. Tall and handsome, with a face full of expression and a vibration beneath you that was hard to explain. I was in horse heaven.

I decided there and then that Ali Baba was to become mine - but would he make it through all the tests required before quarantine began - we had two weeks - and the following check list to be completed in those 14 days. If he was to miss this flight he wouldn't land in New Zealand till Christmas - which meant no breeding season and no shows. Not ideal...

• A full vet check was needed - the vet we needed can't come for four days
• The passport would need to be in order - one wrong date on his vaccinations and it was too late to restart the vaccines for this flight
• I wanted the therapist to check him over
• The blood tests would need to be done - these take at least one week to process
• His feet would need a specialist farrier to set him up for the long trip home
• I would need a photo session done so I could advertise him before his arrival
• I wanted to do up a video too - we would need an outdoor arena for that
• The government vets would need to sign him off to travel
• A transporter would be needed to get him to the UK on time to start quarantine - most of these guys go one a week up to France and the UK - on a Monday and we didn't have a Monday - we needed the end of the week - could we find and afford a private van to take him?
• It takes three days to drive to the UK from Portugal
• I would need to get all the money for the sale of the horse transferred - this takes a few days to sort out and come through
• And to top it all off I needed to go to the South of France to visit and train for a few days with a mentor of mine, Elizabeth de Corbigny.

We had 14 days! The vet came day 3. That was a drama; we needed to take him to stables with the right facilities for the vetting. We get there and there was a power cut. We find another place and on the way Carlos gets stopped by the Police and issued a 500 Euro ticket for something minor. We finally get him vetted and I get dropped in town to post his bloods away. I wait. The German lab is fast and efficient and two days later we have the first of his results back - clear of Piro! I went that night for dinner at the local resort restaurant - they were having a Middle Eastern - Asian themed part that night - complete with belly dancers and the like - we told the waiter it was an Ali Baba party! We had a celebration but I didn't want to get too excited. We had the passport to sort, more major dramas. The farrier was called - he took a few days, the therapist did her work on a Sunday for us. I went away to Toulouse and back having had a great time but hoping like hell I could pull off the Ali Baba deal. I tried to organise a transporter - they had all gone for the week - but a van was found with a private driver - he could take him special delivery to the UK for us for just $6000NZD - Bargain! NOT! But it was all we had. We got the top equine photographer in Portugal to come and take photos one night - and I got a video done too. The final bloods came thru on the Thursday, the money showed up on the Friday, and Ali Baba left on the Sunday after a few nervous moments at the government vets place with Carlos and me. Whew! We did it - it all fell into place!

Normally when I buy a horse in Europe I am not there to see it leave its home stables. But we had decided to go to Carlos's place to see Ali Baba away safe. It was the day I too was leaving for New Zealand. The car was jammed full of suitcases and the new bullfighting saddle I had bought to ship back with my new steed. I knew, I just knew, that I would cry like a baby when I saw Ali Baba leave his home. But when we got there we heard the transporter was late, a stay of execution so to speak for the bond between Carlos and his lovely horse.

We all went for coffee at a cafe. As I sat with Carlos I felt so sorry for him, so sorry I was taking away his wonderful horse. He told me how much he loved Ali Baba - not just because he was his, but because of how he made you feel each and every day. His wife had looked up my website on the internet and had assured him Ali Baba would have a great home. I said to Carlos "I bet poor Ali Baba has no idea his life is about to be turned upside down" and Carlos agreed. He said when he fed him his grain that morning he just shook his head and smiled at him - "you have no idea what's ahead do you young man" as Ali Baba continued with his breakfast as if it was a normal day.

Soon enough the time came and the van to take Ali Baba to the UK for his quarantine arrived. We could put it off no longer - Carlos and Ali Baba were about to be parted forever. As Carlos led him up the hill to the van I was already in tears. He loaded him up and spent a last few minutes in with him having a quiet chat man to man. I will never know what was said between them, but all I could do was hug poor Carlos and thank him from the bottom of my heart that he was giving me the opportunity to have Ali Baba in my life. I promised to look after him till death us do part and with tears streaming down my face I thanked him once more and we headed to the airport for my long journey back home.

The quarantine crew in the UK gave Ali Baba a good report for his three week stay - nothing on his chart said anything was out of sorts, his behaviour was exemplary. I was nervous around the time of the flight, how would this big powerful horse cope with being stuck on a plane for 30 hours or more? The route was from London Heathrow to Sharjah - then on to Singapore, Sydney and finally Auckland. IRT kept me informed all along the route - he was flying fine. Till he got to Auckland. Rachael from IRT rang me and said "man, you should have seen the moves your horse pulled out on the tarmac at Auckland Airport!" Apparently he piaffed and passaged his way about and needed a good dose of sedative to arrive safe in the karaka Quarantine stables. My boy was here!

At the Auckland quarantine he took a few days to settle - they took down the wood panels of his stallion box that prevented him from seeing others - he settled very quickly after that - he doesn't like to be on his own. Pieter that runs the stables sent me some wonderful photos from quarantine and once again I was in tears. Not long to go now!

And finally the day arrived where he could be released into my care. Majestic Horse transport bought him down to me - the driver said he took a while to settle - I said was he kicking the truck walls - he replied "No, he was dancing!" More piaffe followed as Ali Baba was overcome with excitement when I put him in the stables here at home. My dad had come up to meet him and he stuck his head in the stable door and watched him piaffing non-stop: "Did someone train him to do that??!!"

The first month with Ali Baba has been filled with joy and happiness. We have got him a pet goat to help him settle. We called the goat Joao Pedro in the hope that a Portuguese name might help them strike up a friendship. I'm having fun training a mix of dressage and working equitation, teaching him to jump jumps as well as carry flags and drag sacks behind him - all of which he does without batting an eyelid! Some of my best mates have been worthy of a sit on him - after all - you can't keep a horse like this to yourself - that's hardly fair now is it?

My dream is complete - my horse is here - and now the hard work and the fun really begins.