Services


Trevor at his first show just a month after graduation

Still going kindly five months later.

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Trevor Cowan

Trevor is a 5yr-old 175cm gelding who came to be broken-in at Abderry in August 08. Abderry charge a "flat fee" for the Breaking-In service to get the horse to the stage where we can show it being ridden confidently at trot & canter in an open space.

Trevor arrived virtually untouched and quickly demonstrated that at 17.2hh he was far too big and too strong for us to work with him if he was scared. He proved to be challenging and had numerous little set-backs which included foot abscesses but finally, Tammy Cowan, his owner, was able to report.............

Trevor came home on Monday 29th December 2008.

Cheski took us through the check list of things that Abderry use to test that newly broken in horses are going to be safe to ride.

We saw him ridden by Mizzie Mohd (a member of the Abderry team) and then Jenika was instructed about how to ride a newly broken in horse.

There are checks that Jenika has to go through to make sure that Trevor is safe to ride before getting on. It was suggested that he be lunged (which means getting the horse to make circles around you with all their gear on) before he was ridden in a new place or after he'd had a day off.

We were told that if he wanted to put in a few bucks then he should be encouraged to do this before his rider gets on!

He was trained to get on and off the float before we drove away. The Abderry team were very effective in their training and it took no time at all. He protested on the float during some test drives. There was lots of kicking and the float rocked about, but on each test drive the kicking got less and less until finally I drove away with him. He was perfect the whole way home.

Trevor was then perfect at everything else when we arrived at his new home.

The following day was Jenika’s second ride on him, but in new surroundings. Again he was perfect. We even exposed him to trot poles – the beginning of jump training.......and he was perfect.

Trevor is continuing to do well. I’ve ridden him twice now. I like his movement. Jenika jumped him yesterday for the first time without any issues. He’s still very friendly, loves to be caught and is enjoying his work. He’s not interested in eating his hard feed – I think he liked your food better. However he’s in a paddock of rich clover and lush grass.

Trevor's Update on 12th January 2009

I can’t believe that Trevor is a newly broken in horse. He continues to take everything in his stride and made his debut outing to Waitemata’s three star show jumping show on the week end at Woodhill Sands

Not as a competitor! - We were taking him through the preliminaries of what he will be doing on a regular basis in the future.

We hadn’t practiced loading him on the float since bringing picking him up from Abderry Boarding School. We thought that we had better practice it the day before we intended to take him. It didn’t take too long until he was on the float, just a little bit of nervousness, he even had his skin quivering from fear, but we got him on the float, then off it, then on it again - they learn through repetition. He threw a little tantrum, stamping all his feet almost all at the same time while waiting inside the float.

Yesterday when we intended to take him to the show it was pouring with rain, and we were running a little late. Jenika was conscious of arriving in time for her first class which started at 8.30am and Trevor was still a little wary of loading, energy levels were increasing to the point where it didn’t look as though we were going get him on. However when the energy levels were kept in check Trevor got on and then we were off...

He was a little embarrassing with his high pitched whinnying as he attempted to say hi to all the hundreds of horses at the show. He soon settled and Jenika led him around to show, only to encounter more whinnying. When that settled she rode him everywhere, around the trucks, some moving past her, around practice jumps, walked trotted and cantered, just like a pro. He didn’t once put a foot wrong, in fact he looked like he was a real show horse, except for his rather lean body. People commented on his stunning movement and his high statue. Wished I had my camera.

Trevor was a pleasure and we can’t thank Abderry enough for preparing him so well – Thanks

After being at home for 3 weeks................

I Every day with him is so much fun. We took him to Woodhill forest two days ago. All very new for him, with narrow paths, sandy hills, toitoi plants brushing his sides, and even small jumps that Jenika managed to find that needed jumping.

Rupert was acting as the big tough ‘know it all’ horse leading the way with me on board, but when his new friend began to go out of sight there was the half rears and stress that he had been left all by himself and he wasn’t going to cope. We think that Trevor is braver than him!

Yesterday real jump training began, and was a big success. Trevor can jump! He went over small show jumps and even cross country jumps. Jenika is pushing his career along – tonight he is doing dressage tests at Woodhill Sands and on Saturday a low level show jumping competition at Rosedale pony club.

Tammy Cowan
Auckland