Cherry Wood Equestrian

13/04/2026

Waikato All Breeds Show

We took Huckleberry Finn along for an outing in the Gypsy Cob ring. Finn was a star pupil to prep and get ready for the show. He came away with Reserve Champion Youngstock Partbred. It was a long morning for a young pony so we decided not to compete in the last few classes so we called it a day and put him in the box.

I had the privilege of riding Anam Cara Earthquake for Thief of Hearts GypsyCobs. I really rate this stallion and had a lot of fun riding him. We have had very few and infrequent rides together which is a testament to his fabulous nature. Rumble came away with Champion Ridden Purebred Gypsy Cob and carried me to 1st in the senior rider in the gypsy ring. He also won the Hunter Type in the Heavy horse ring. We decided to finish the classes there to give him a break before he took part in the Supreme Ridden of show and Supreme Senior rider of show. He was shattered by the end of the day but I'm very proud of his efforts.

Huge thanks to Cat, Debbie, Sarah and Sara for all the help, horse holding and fun. And to Amy for the lesson the day before to give me some pointers with Rumble.

Both boys were prepared using the fabulous Ecohorse products.

Thank you to the NZ GypsyCob Association for sponsoring the gypsy cob ring.

07/04/2026

Decided to share my experiences of living life with deficits in motor control, attention and perception. If this is something that interests you or might be useful to someone you know please head over to follow along.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1aqctUFdmo/

When your brain and body don't always agree

29/03/2026

Slowly but steadily we are making positive steps.

Leo attended his first show today, the only goal was to not fall off and keep his exploding to a minimum. We accomplished both of those plus managed to navigate our way around the test. It was a bit all over the place with minimal straightness and some interesting geometry but I am so proud of him. He has not been an easy horse and at 7 it is finally time he is out and about. Some serious strength training is pending this winter.

Alfie has had shoes put on and is making progress in his work. He gives the most amazing feeling in the rein now he is beginning to understand how to hold a contact.

Winter is looking very exciting with this duo 😍

23/03/2026

Taupo Equestrian Supplies NZGCA Show 2026

Gallifray Emily attended her very first show. Whilst she’s had all the basics done with her up until this point, her general life experience has been pretty limited due to other commitments such as dressage (ongoing) and thesis (done). We were a bit unsure how she would cope with the experience and happenings that come with being a show horse, such as washing, standing to be plaited, travelling to a new place (let alone 2 hours away), learning to trot out without too many acrobatics and coping leaving her friend to go into the ring. To say she was an absolute dream to prep and take away is an understatement. She is fairly high powered and has certainly got the makings of a real athlete in the years to come. She was on our looking for a new home list however I’m thinking we might have to hang onto her a bit longer (however she has a full sibling due early on in the season so we will have that available if you like the look of Emily and we do decide to hold onto her).

Percy came along to keep Emily company as he is Mr knows what it is all about when it comes to going away and the ultimate travel mate. The show being 10 days out from nationals meant he wasn’t in what people would call show condition. Asking him to perform with extra weight isn’t fair, so he looked a bit lean compared to most but we already know what a superstar he is so really he didn’t need to prove that.

I had the privilege of riding the fabulous Rumble (Anam Cara Earthquake) owned by Thief of Hearts GypsyCobs in the ridden purebred classes. Rumble was an incredibly good boy especially since he is a young stallion that I only hopped on the night before show day. He came away with Champion Ridden Purebred (thank you to Karyn Morris for the sponsorship). I had such a great time riding him, I have booked myself in to ride him again at all breeds in a few weeks time.

Both Kids had a go at the obstacles on the second day. Percy is known to be rather spooky so I was a bit unsure what he would think of it all but he kept a brave face and gave all the obstacles a go. Emily did the lead obstacle course and took it all in her stride, a rather big ask for a 2 year old to leave her friend to walk over and then navigate her way around plenty of obstacles in an unfamiliar environment.

Thanks to all those involved the show and fellow competitors.

Huge thanks to Taupo Equestrian Supplies for their ongoing sponsorship of our show, as well as the partbred championship sponsors Olivebrook Gypsy Cobs and Andrea Ericksen

Canter for Cancer
Harvest Grains
Fountain City Saddlery
Ecohorse

22/03/2026

The boys rocking their Canter for Cancer rugs before the rain arrives (🤞🤞).

Love the variety C4C have available and you can’t beat their amazing service. Check out the Big March Clean out sale before it ends!

www.c4c.nz



Photo Credit: Tracy Wilde (aka the boys minion)

21/03/2026

She might be my favourite to hang out with (don't tell Percy- they take turns so no one misses out 😂)

19/03/2026

Bates Dressage Nationals 2026

Our first trip to nationals was thoroughly enjoyable. Riding one test a day made for a fairly relaxing few days. We are so incredibly lucky to have a great team of friends to share the ups and downs of the journey with at shows.

Firstly a massive thanks to Bates Saddles for their sponsorship of nationals, we are extremely privileged to have such incredible businesses supporting the sport.

Also to the series and class sponsors
Dunstan Horsefeeds - Super 5
Equestrian Athletes - 4A
Dressage Waitemata - 4C

Thank you to the OC, judges, stewards, sponsors and all the other volunteers that dedicate their time, energy and skill to bringing such a big show to life.

Day One wasn’t the best start with our test being quite early and myself having stomach pains that I had no time to cure and thus made it rather difficult to ride a nice polished test all the while unable to feel my limbs from the cold but we gave it our best effort. By midday I was finally functioning again and then able to enjoy what was a fabulous few days of dressage and friends in the sun.

Day Two we had a lot more energy and power thanks to Percys rider actually being able to sit trot and ride transitions like I should do. We had a few small miscommunications resulting in a couple of mistakes but overall a much better test and an improved score.

Day Three bought improvement again to our score and I feel was our best test overall. As always there is still plenty to work on and learn. With the ironman on and the roads closed we made the most of not being able to leave immediately by just relaxing and unwinding before packing up and heading off.

Finishing 3rd in the Medium Silver Championship (decided from the first two tests) and 12th Overall in the Open Medium Championship (decided from all three tests) at our first nationals is a result I am extremely proud of.

No show, result or progress would be possible without the incredible team that backs me.

Canter for Cancer
Harvest Grains
Feed Central
Fountain City Saddlery
Amy DeLangen
Tracy Wilde

10/03/2026

Looking forward to seeing this show get off the ground and having some of the babies out.

One of my first ever horse shows was the north island all breeds back in the day.

📣 The news you’ve all been waiting for! ENTRIES OPEN TOMORROW!

Please share far and wide!

Thank you for your patience as our small team pulled together a schedule and sponsorship.

We are so excited to see you April 11th and 12th. Don’t miss out, it’s going to be epic 😎

📍Claudelands Event Centre

03/02/2026

WCEG Two Day Summer Bonanza 2026

Percy, mum and I ventured off to our local grounds over the weekend. Percy produced 4 very respectable tests over the two days including a PB at level 4 (72.5% in 4C). It was a somewhat hot so careful management was required to keep both horse and rider functioning. Slight learning curve in that long sleeves with lace are not sun protective and I learnt the hard way. I look like someone has attacked me or I have caught some dreadful infectious disease 😂.

Massive thanks to Kara and the WEC team for putting on a great show, perfect environment for putting into practise some of the changes we have made to our test riding.

Huge thanks to Supercoach Amy for coming down on Sunday to give us some feedback and help with my test riding. Plenty to improve on from this weekend before we head to Waikato Premier League in two weeks.

Canter for Cancer
Harvest Grains
Fountain City Saddlery

28/01/2026

Jasper is happily long reining around the place. Just a couple more days of alternating long reining and lunging with the saddle before I get on and start riding.

20/01/2026

Cherrywood Fibonacci aka Bubbles

Bubbles is starting to moult her coat and show us just how pitch black shes going to be.

We are all so in love with her, definitely a pony to watch out for in the future. She’s got all the makings of a top level performance pony. Such a quick learner. Two minutes of target training and she was waiting for my hand to target to get scritches.

A D Pony Stud
Gallifraygypsycobs