I guess its my go?

[Adele]

Well I am a born, bred & raised kiwi. Born in 1984, I am the youngest of our whanau. I am known to look a few years older than my age (its getting a bit scary, as soon I will be wanting to look younger than my age :)).

Anyway I have been into horses since before I could walk. My grandad bred, trained & raced Standardbred & Thoroughbreds. So they were always around when I went to visit him & there was a special pony designated to give me and my siblings pony rides, and I would always have a smile plastered on my face while having the ride, and instantly when Mum came to take me off, I would grab fistfuls of mane, clamp my legs on the pony, and scream my lungs out, when she released me, I had the instant smile again. Dunno how she got me off. I am still known to this day as ms stickability... and when I do fall off it is the most spectacular dismounts & boy do they hurt. So in other words I have horses in my blood.
My first ever horse, was a little 12.2hh skewbald mare, who was a bi*ch. All she wanted to do was eat & that was about it. But she taught me how to stay on a pony who would go cantering up to a jump, stop & put her head down to eat the grass on the other side. Well contary to my previous statement, I always seemed to go sliding down her neck and face plant it. I learnt a lot from this mare, Lady Bee, she will always be in my mind.
Next came Creamy a little "cream" (would you believe it) pony, who taught me all I know about jumping, he taught me to love the thrill of racing around the x-country course, the wind rushing against my face, tears running down my cheeks (don't know from the fear of the next fence looming up, or just the wind) and man that was a blast...
A few more ponies and a couple of horses in between, mostly jumpers and eventers but it had to come to an end, and it did in great fashion in my 13th year, but......

I came into dressage after having one of my spectacular falls in eventing, doing some serious damage to myself, causing hospitialisation. Forced to sell my eventer (as he & I both hated dressage), as I no longer had the nerve for jumping. The next thing I knew I was 14 and being shipped off to boarding school (specialised in equestrian), and I was in with the eventing crowd, but one girl stood out, and she was the DRESSAGE QUEEN.... and she took me under her wing, and I started to learn about dressage, the true blue dressage not the eventing dressage, she let me ride her horses and compete a few (a couple at Open Medium). Well the rest is history.

Between my instructor, the DQ and I.... we found my first "dressage horse". Elsie, who I still have to this day. She was a 4 year old green mare, she wasn't easy to ride, but we had this sensational connection & we just spent the first 2 years puddling around, learning the basics of "dressage" together, and we got to Elementary level (and doing bloody well) but she decided dressage wasn't for her, and basically her heart wasn't in it anymore, and so shes out in the paddock, pregnant and loving life.
When Elsie wasn't wanting to be ridden anymore, along came Vae, I had always loved him. He was sitting in the paddock at grandads, (being his last bred foal, grandad had a very big soft spot for him) and I took him, and used him for a year, hes a very sensitive horse, not hot, but sensitive and very responsive, he would try his heart out for you, and get very worried when he didn't get it perfect. He broke his leg in a trucking accident. But after stall rest and love he came back, not ridable but is elsies paddock mate. They have a love-hate relationship. But they are so cute together.
I had another horse in this space, but he isn't worth the space.
Then comes along the aussie..... you know about him.... and now we are actually starting to get some forward momentium... hes come along with leaps and bounds, and we are actually walking and trotting with no problems.

Other than horses, I am a hockey goalie. I have played for both Auckland and Manawatu provinces. I have seriously tried hard to juggle both of these hobbies, but these days and since my shoulder surgery (the couple of years between Vae & Ben) hockey has taken the back burner, I still play, but I no longer play provincial hockey. I just play to have fun with the girls.

I work at my parents company at the moment I am the office administrator at one of the branches. I love being in a team environment, away from the DQ's.

I am one of the horse riders who cares for the horse rather than the results. So the horse is always number 1 in my priorities. I don't care if i don't have the flashest gear, but as long as it fits im happy.

My aims with Ben, is to kick 2 DQ's asses out of the water, and kick some butt (going against what I just said) but it just needs to be done, these 2 DQ's just think that they are the bees knees and need some serious ass kicking, for the health of Dressage NZ/Auckland. Hopefully, If Ben is happier enough and we get on a role, we will be at Advanced by the end of the season. And then Ben & I will be on the plane to aussie for some great instruction for the winter. When we come back, we will kick some more DQ butt & then who knows where we will go?

Had some fun reading this?
Cause it is a tad long, but hey my life on this planet has never been straight forward and easy :)

Adele