First stop after a morning flight to Palmerston North was Bilbar Lodge – the home of Anamour and Wendy and Gary Freeman – for a light lunch and meet and greet. This was followed by the mare classifications and foal assessment.
Here, four mares presented and passed with 7’s – three Studbook: {two by Anamour (Sara Williams and Christine Reynolds) and a TB by Grand Lodge (Gary Freeman)]. The other was a pre-studbook mare (Worldwide PB/Genius), owned by Brian & Jill Hooper. Three foals by Anamour were inspected; two from thoroughbred mares from Bilbar Lodge, as well as and Spin & Joan Sutherland’s filly from Dollybird (Dynamit).
From there we took a short trip to Sanson to see Mary Wilson’s Escudo I/Genuis filly at liberty in the paddock – she is a very nice type. Her yearling full sibling was also shown.
Next stop was at Robyn Hirst’s place to see her Furst Romancier filly. She is from 2009’s top scoring older mare Anaruby (Anamour). A very uphill going foal.
Once back at Bilbar Gary and Wendy put on a fabulous BBQ in Wendy’s very beautiful garden (her other hobby) with a good attendance. Gerhard gave his presentation after dinner.
In the morning Gerhard, Verena and myself visited Gary’s racehorses at Kevin Gray’s stables nearby. Verena was extrememly interested to see this – as she has friends who work in racing near Frankfurt.
Then we hit the road again, this time bound for Hawke’s Bay. At Waipukurau we classified Anamici by Anamour for Christine Paston. He is a lovely type, and was beautifully presented.
Next stop was Carol Eiver’s out of Havelock North to classify a Wordly/TB mare and view her Bentley foal who became the top dressage bred foal of the tour. We also saw some two-year-olds – a Londonderry/Wolkentanz I/Anamour youngster caught Gerhard’s eye.
The short trip back to the Havelock North/Hastings area took us to see Gill Morley’s Anamour/Dolly Bird mare – in foal to Whisper.
Gill had afternoon tea/nibbles prepared – with her home-made pesto all derived from her impressive garden. Just a great way to end the day – Gerhard showed his presentation on the computer as the guests gathered around to watch in awe!
Wednesday was a trip to Cambridge – to see the lovely older mare Diversity at Sarah Milne’s for the Pre studbook and a trip to Cambridge Stud where as luck had it, the stallion manager was about to bring Zabeel in from the paddock and showed him to Gerhard and Verena. “Super good walk,” said Gerhard!
Thursday was the Matthews Hanoverians Day (after a fantastic dinner at the Beachcomber in Kaitaia – highly recommended to anyone going north!)
Prestige VDL filly from imported mare Diva Primero (Don Primero). This filly had very good front action and a ground covering trot, with a very correct type.
Then followed the very impressive mare family from imported Weltmeyer mare Welkantje – mares from Anamour, Dream Boy, (both ET foals while Judy was still competing on the mare), Brentano II, two by Dancier (and there is a second Dream Boy in the South Island that could not be shown). Gerhard pronounced the younger Dancier filly D’Zine MH as the most impressive – with her four very tall white stockings she’s hard to miss.
The mare classification followed after a break for lunch (yes – more delicious food – a very important part of the tour as you are probably getting by now!)
Six mares were presented – two thoroughbred mares (Danasinga and Grosvenor) and four Hanoverians – two of whom are still in competition by owner Megan Finlayson – both by Anamour and both very nice types. Judith also presented a Dream Boy/Wolkentanz II and a Brentano II.
A further TB mare by Heroicity was seen en route back to Auckland – back of Kaihohe – so we had a scenic tour down to Whangarei well off the beaten track through the Mangakahia Valley following the river and through lovely farmlands.
My deed was done when I met John Smith at the Upper Harbour Hwy junction where I handed the guests over into his care.
On Friday the group travelled to Angela Smith’s to see a Contucci/Weltmeyer and to Sheena Ross’s Sterling Warmbloods, where Gerhard saw youngstock by Don Frederico, Dancier and Sir Donnerhall.
On Saturday the Wills Family of Redvale presented their four imported German fillies – Don Bosco, San Remo, Worldy for MPT and Sinatra Song for the mare classification. They also presented their first Limonit/Anamour filly Lena. The Sinatra Song’s ET foal by Limonit was shown and assessed along with the two visiting foals (Anamour and Stolzenberg).
Two Dream Boy x TB mares also arrived for the mare classification, and Nicolette Rendle presented For Fame PSH (by For Feeling/TB) for the MPT – she had the best score on the day.
Once again – the food was superb!
The final day was at Abderry where a further six mares were classified – five studbook by Dream Boy, Limonit, For Edition, Senor Pete xx and Telereign xx and one by Dream Boy for the Pre Studbook.
Three mares did the MPT and all passed – two by Dream Boy and the mare by For Edition.
The greatest vote of thanks must go to all the following for their VERY hard work in preparing horses and also hosting the guests so willingly.
Dave and Bridget Sutton – Henton Lodge Hanoverians – accommodation and great BBQ
Judith and Peter Matthews – great beach house accomodation! The venue and food.
Carol Eivers – for getting Hawkes Bay up and running and organizing accommodation and the dinner venue!
John and Angela Smith – accommodation, transport and another great meal out!
Gary and Wendy at Bilbar Lodge – accommodation, arranging the venue and fabulous food
Chris, Pam, Annie Wills and Phil for such a grand effort preparing the mares, providing a super venue with a grand Marquee and that fantastic spit roast lamb and salads.
Rhona MacKenzie for her offer to host a part of the inspection – which was unfortunately abandoned at short notice.
Our two test riders for the MPT’s – both did a thorough and pleasing job.
Andrea Bank from Dairy Flat
Amanda Yearbury from North Shore
Total stats for the tour:
27 Studbook mares
3 Pre Studbook mares
9 Mare performance tests
25 foals assessed.
Top Mare for Tour – Dreamt (Dream Boy/Tangible Assett xx/Princely Note xx)
Top TB Mare – Ganso xx (Senor Pete xx/Bonnie Busker xx/Grosvenor xx)
Top MPT of tour – Henton Faberge (For Edition/Galatoire/Genius)
Top Dressage Foal of the Tour Bentley/Worldly/Brandy & Dry xx
Top SJ Foal of the Tour – Satisfaction/Distancia/Distelfink
* Robin Potter is the society’s Studbook Classifier