Wunder's Tag has a new home - he's leaving in a jet plane today, bound for New York instead of New Zealand. I know this will disappoint a few people back home who really wanted to get to meet him, so I thought a blog was in order!
Erin Mortimer and I decided to purchase "Wookie" at Christmas time 2011. New Zealand had just qualified a team for London Olympics but was short of qualified horses to make the team. It seemed an opportunity to good to turn down, but looking around internationally there were no horses that may have been capable that were within our budget - till Carl Hester told me of Wookie. He was "cheap" by international standards and had some talent for sure but lacked training and had no international experience. I flew to the UK, tried him a few days and got him vetted, it was a very long shot but we thought we would give it a go.
The thought struck me the other day that if I spent as much time choosing my boyfriends as I do my horses I may have made better choices in that department! I mean when you choose a horse you look at its performance record, talk to its previous owners, test ride it a few times, show the videos and photos to all your friends and your coach, and get a full vet check on it, including sending the Xrays to every friendly vet you can find. It all costs thousands but in the end you end up with a partner you are confident in that may well do the job.
If only I took the same care and attention when it comes to choosing men! I always seem to end up disappointed when then don't live up to my (not particularly high) expectations. Track records are important here people! Nothing wrong with a test ride or two, but a full and through vetting and advise of those who know you well sure wouldn't go astray. Also a talk to the previous "owner" may tell you something about the character that lies below.
I bought Wookie at the same time my last boyfriend disappeared into thin air. Whilst I jetted of to the UK to try and fulfil a lifelong ambition of riding at a Games, he was sitting in his armchair deciding it was all just too hard to offer his support. As I started training in the snow and sleet and rain in the bitterly cold UK winter, I made some valiant attempts to stay in touch. He sat in his armchair and didn't reply. I set off for France for my first international show - very nervous and perhaps already realising that I may not get the tune out of Wookie that I had hoped I would. I was desperate for a bit of support from home to bolster me and help me rise to the occasion and get a qualifying score - instead I got dumped - via a change in Facebook profile no less. I mean who does that!?! On the morning of my first Olympic qualifier I was now "single" according to the iPhone. All the time and effort I had invested into that man had amounted to two tenths of feck all; he now didn't care one iota about me and left me at a time when he knew rightly I was struggling. A pet hamster would have been more loyal!
You don't need to be a genius to work out my tests in France didn't go so well. I was already struggling with a wonderful horse that was just a bit too big and a bit too green at GP level for me to get a tune out of in such a short time. Wookie has talent, there's no doubt about it, but it was like we just didn't quite click. I got the sinking feeling he may not be the horse for me. I tell you it's no joyride being the sole Kiwi at a show with 80 GP horses - you are always drawn first to go because it's done on World rankings, and only 15 of you go thru to the second round. 17 hours of driving and five thousand dollars later you have spend 5 minutes in the ring with judges who have no reason to mark you anything but harshly.
I tried to pick myself up and head to Barcelona to get more training in the piaffe passage department, but after a second series of shows in Madrid I made the decision that Wookie was not the horse for me. It was so sad to realise things were just not going my way, and mentally I simply wasn't coping well. The whole trip was a disaster and it was time to get out. I will be forever indebted to my dear friend Michelle Zielazo who put up with me constantly sobbing, getting angry, and sleeping for long periods as depression took over my body and mind. I think looking back it was like learned helplessness. I felt there was nothing I could do to fix the things that were making me so low and it was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. Being so far from home, running short on funds, riding the worst you have ever ridden in your life and feeling you have let friends and family down - not a recipe for success and happiness!
Anyway back to Wunders Tag - we decided to put him on Eurodressage to sell - a fantastic website that is produced in Belgium and read worldwide. We had enquiries from Italy, USA, Germany, Holland, the UK and even Greece. He was based at Hayley Beresford's stables for a month or two before heading to Warwick Mclean. Both looked after him so well.
I'm happy to say that Wookie has found a perfect new home in the USA where he will be a teacher of all things Grand Prix for an up and coming dressage rider. I've seen pictures of his barn and I can assure you all he will want for nothing. Top facilities and a top US trainer will be the life he now knows. He's possibly the most talented horse I will ever own, good looking and a great mover, with a super personality.
Why not bring him home and try for WEG in 2014? I have been asked this on many occasions. To tell you the truth there are many reasons. One is that I am guessing ESNZ are not about to change their selection policies and actually send a qualified team to the WEG, instead setting the bar at perhaps 70% this time around. Twice now I have met FEI criteria and not been allowed to ride at the WEG and the thought of it happening a third time is not something I wish for. I look at what Hayley Beresford went thru in her non-selection for the Australian team - politics and sport are an ugly, ugly combination. And horses for me are a business as well as a passion - importing a 13 year old gelding is just a financially viable option.
So it is with a heavy heart that I bid farewell to WookieBear - a great horse that was just not destined to be back in New Zealand with me.
Horses, like men, come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. I guess two seasons have come to an end. I would like to thank everyone who supported me over the last 6 months - we gave it a go and learnt a tremendous amount, but we needed a great deal of luck to pull it off and it just didn't come our way.
Just before I left home a great guy told me "The Wishbone will never replace the Backbone" - never one to sit on my butt and wonder what might have been, I gave it a shot and fell short on this occasion - but the horizon looks bright on both the horse and the man front so I amping to "Get back on the horse" as they say... Watch this space!!!