Christmas is a simply great time of year to be a Kiwi. We are not stuck in snow, but instead have wonderful weather and plenty of long summer nights for BBQ's with friends.
Its also a very busy time of the year for us here as it is the middle of the breeding season. This year is Whisper's first proper year at stud and we sent semen right around New Zealand from Kaitaia in the North to Invercargill in the South and just about every place in between. I don't think I will ever get sick of breeding horses - I simply love getting mares in foal - especially the "tricky" ones. Poor Sarah, our worker from Northern Ireland had to learn how to collect semen off the stallions in my absence (away teaching around the country) and package it up and send it to the airport for distribution. That is an icky and somewhat dangerous job, but she always handled it so well.
I decided to let dressage take a back seat this season - I have lost my mojo somewhat with not being allowed to ride at the World Games - and it seems to be "What's the point of competing - you can reach number 1 in New Zealand, reach the FEI criteria for entry, and be refused the chance to compete by the very federation you have been working your butt off for for a lifetime. 13 years of riding for NZL internationally, winning and placing at many top events, and still we are not good enough - its so frustrating. So I decided to get off my butt and find myself a showjumper. I was lucky enough to get the loan of a wonderful Anglo-Arab from Martin and Suzi in Cambridge. His name is unusual - The Salamander - but he's been there an done that and he's just the ticket I needed to get back into a bit of jumping after 15 years off (not that I was crash hot to start with.
The Christmas Classic is a HUGE showjumping show held in Taupo each December - the pic below is of Sal and I navigating our way round a "Mighty Metre" track. I had a few lessons with Andrew Scott who proclaimed to me that "Jumping is 90% dressage, 10% jumping - The bit you need to fix Jody is the dressage bit!" I had to laugh - he is right, when faced with fences, the dressage was going out the window a bit!
Our resident cat "Catore" is pictured below getting into the Christmas Spirit - albeit unwillingly.
We had a wonderful family Christmas NZ style - with a tasty Hangi laid down by my extended Whanau in Raglan - it was a great get together with many of my cousins, and a nice way to end a difficult year.