Sporthorse Testimonials

The quality of Kiwi horses is internationally respected on the world stage. Our champion racehorses and sport horses have stunned the world for decades. But how has New Zealand been able to produce the equine champions that have taken on and beaten the world’s best when we’ve been constrained, comparatively, on a shoestring budget? The secret to our horses’ quality comes from the very strong place horses have held and still do hold in many New Zealanders lives. Whether these Kiwis own the next Melbourne Cup winner or “just a horse”, their pride and joy carries their hopes and dreams and is a very, very, special surrogate child. Read More......

I feel that through our recent experience gained by sending both Victory Dance of Comonella Aus. Imp (Sir Anton) our resident riding pony stallion as well as Fiordlands Anna Gee (Anna) for Breaking-In we are in a position to comment on the service and experiences we had from Abderry.

In this regard I cannot convey sufficiently in a letter the high quality service we received, the positive attitude displayed by you and your staff, the friendly but firm advice provided and the outstanding results displayed by the ponies once the early schooling was completed.

Accordingly I would not hesitate to recommend Abderry to any discerning horse person looking for these services.

From the team at Sunland, I wish you and your team all the best with the expanded services and facilities you are providing to the industry. We always look forward to your monthly written update on ponies visiting Abderry.

To Cheski and co…

I would just like to say what a great time I had at your mini clinic/showing that I had the privilege to come and see today with the Dio Equestrian! Without making our other visits seem bad or boring, I have to say that I definitely enjoyed Abderry the most! It was such an experience, even in the short time that we had, to see how you could read horse’s language (and human’s!) so easily, how you dealt with different situations with different horses, explaining about Levi and his problematic feet (!!), the walker, how to stand properly and what your body language looks like to the horse and in general the whole thing! It was so well planned out and there wasn’t a second wasted or a time where I felt that I didn’t understand what was going on. Everything was explained in a manner where everything was easily understood, and the young ones on the way home were raving about how they had such a good time watching the horses go crazy!

It was also great seeing all the workers there too, getting do work with the horses in all sorts of areas, but the best thing that I noticed about all of them was how patient and calm they were in situations where I would have been the opposite! The demonstration in the indoor circle arena was really interesting, seeing how the horses can get rarked up but then be calm, and this is all with a very non-tight contact!

When I got home I got right at my mum, explaining to her why it is important to not laugh around horses or at what horses do, that you really should only pat them when what they have done is appreciated by you, how having faces touched all the time is not very appreciated by the horse, but the what she really enjoyed was when I told her that horses aren’t cute. Her favourite saying is in fact; “horses aren’t cute”, and I always protested but seeing the reaction to Mouse, and then to Dinks then it really was a bit of a wake up call to me that horses aren’t in fact cute. So mum was right there.

But basically in a nutshell what I am trying to say is thank you so so SO much for such a great clinic/demonstration that you gave us today, it would be awesome if we could do it again some time, maybe a bit longer! But if not, I’m sure that we will be seeing you for some form of clinic in your beautiful arena on your beautiful property! (With the best painted poles I have ever seen!!)

Thanks so much, can’t wait till the next one!


Hi Jan and Cheski,

Just a quick e-mail (I promise!!) to say thank you for talking to Jessie and trying to help her with Nero. We have done what you advised and separated the 'gay boys' into their own paddocks. Needless to say this did not go down well and when we led Jose out of his own paddock Nero decided enough was enough and pushed the gate in his paddock so the latch buckled and gave way and then went flat out down the other paddock to try the other gate. We have now electrified the whole thing and put tape by the gates so this will hopefully act as a deterrent to that behaviour.

We are going to leave them for a couple of days to settle down before we try bringing one of them out again! Even our placid boy Jose kicked the stables and put a couple of holes in the walls to show his displeasure about the whole thing. We just carried on cleaning the shed and the car and eventually he calmed down and we took him back. I thought raising teenage girls was a challenge, these boys will surely be just as trying! Thanks again and if we need more support or a change of direction we will be in touch. Your help has been really appreciated and you have both been a pleasure to deal with so again thanks for everything.

Hi Sheryl
Many thanks for this. Glad we've been able to be of assistance.
What you have said is so nice I was wondering if we could have
permission to quote you?

Best regards
Cheski Brown

Hi Cheski, thanks for the e-mail. Absolutely feel free to quote me, considering we have not paid any money to you and yet you freely gave of your time and advice to Jessie to help her has been a tremendous boost to her confidence. The boys are still a bit whiney towards each other but this weather is certainly not helping either. It's enough to send any placid docile horse into a spin let alone a couple of Thoroughbreds!!

If Nero continues to be difficult we will bring him to you if that's okay, we have threatened him with Reform School and he seems to be listening but you just never know! thanks again,


It was nice to be involved with Dana's progress every step of the way. And to come & see her progress which was amazing. Many thanks to everyone that worked with Dana. I was over the moon today, not to have to struggle with her, I didn't have any fears with her as I have had in the past. So once again many thanks to everyone for the great job that you did with Dana.
Cheski is a very experienced horse woman and treats each horse as an individual. Her thinking attitude allows her to solve problems before they become an issue.
Excellent facilities.
Everyone was very informative and helpful. I was very pleased with my horse’s results.
I was very impressed with the results. I have followed up with the advice given at Abderry and have not had any problems loading the horse since. Thank you.
It was nice to be able to go on holiday and feel confident that my horse was well cared for as he is a very important part of my life.
Polite & attentive staff.
Ever since Chatterbox came home he has been a delight to handle.
I'm pleased that you used some initiative and kept him well in work when he demonstrated his "little idiosyncrasies", really appreciated being able to leave him the extra few days when our plane was delayed.
Very professional. Absolutely thrilled with his progress, thanks a lot.
Excellent range and safe.
I keep going back because I know I'll have a safe horse for me to ride. I especially like the fact that the horses get used to a busy environment and are therefore not precious.
Wish you were located in the Waikato. I am very happy with Cody's weight loss and am intending to keep this up. Thank you for the start.
Very good communication with your clients. You give the impression of being more than happy to tolerate all sorts of questions. Generous with your time.
We feel very comfortable sending a horse to Abderry, we know that it will came back well broken in and happy.
…Anyway, finally Dave rode her yesterday. You will be proud to know she did not put a foot wrong. Trotted around like she had been doing it all her life! Well done.
Rocco left home a naughty toddler and returned a respectful teenager all in the space of a few weeks! Fabulous job done - Thank you.
It was great to see her at Abderry with new manners, so confident and happy -and even better to get her home and find her as willing and relaxed. I'm really enjoying riding her - Thank you.
I had three horses at Abderry, 2 were sold directly from Abderry and are successful with their new owners. The third is competing successfully with me in Cambridge. What more could I ask for!
I've been thrilled with his education - he hasn't put a foot wrong and is much better mannered generally - eg will stand & wait patiently for ages. He had about 6 weeks off when I unexpectedly got offered a job I couldn't refuse & came back to work like a pro.
Our horses have always been very well cared for at Abderry and we have recommended your facilities to others.
I was thrilled with the professional care Woodie received after suffering an injury to his leg in the paddock. The intense specialist care over three weeks (confinement and bandaging) has resulted in an excellent recovery.