2000 Blog posts

This will be the two thousandth blog post I have written over the last ten years.  We always wanted to be utterly transparent about how we ran the stud here, where the youngsters went and what happened next.  We have had sixty four foals born here, sixty one sold and in new homes with one still born twin and Mirador (illness) and Conquistador (injury) being put down before weaning.  We never lost a mare either in foal or foaling and to be honest in a different year we wouldn't of lost Conquistador either.

One of the youngsters was sadly put down in her new home after a freak field injury the rest appear to be pretty hale and hearty and are out competing in many spheres - British Eventing, British Showjumping, Dressage, TREC, Polo, Western, Horse Agility, Endurance, Showing - they hunt, hack and are simply part of the family.  They very rarely come back on the market and I consider so many Chamfron owners really good friends.  I love the fact that I have photos of so many of the youngsters from the day they were born to their first showing outing, first ride, first competition under saddle.

On the blog I've enjoyed showing the views, the wildlife and a little bit of the rest of our life.  I've even occasionally had a whinge and a moan though I try not to get too political.

Every year I have the blog turned into a book using Blog2Print, a diary to look back on and a hard copy of all the photos.  The cover photo is the first photo of the year in the blog hence the general furriness!

Are they stalking me...?

I can only presume Horsemart thinks I am just playing hard to get?  Obviously removing me from the mailing list was a great success!  Also please note either Mike was drunk or Horsemart has its own time zone...

Free snout wash...

Lovely to see Inca and Colibri looking very settled as a happy gang of three with another polo pony foal Chacco.

Horsemart - yet again!

Regular blog readers will know I've had a few run ins with the advertising company Horsemart, they've taken money and not run adverts, used my photos without permission for their own social media accounts, that sort of thing.  So today I got an email that started...

Hello Mark,

I have been trying to catch up with you regarding a Stallions at Stud feature that we will be running.

My reply...

Hello Ben,

I believe you (or at the very least someone from your company) rang earlier today.  In that conversation you were informed that Mark was dead, the correct procedure at that point is to remove the person from your mailing list, not send him an email.  I will assure you he is exceptionally unlikely to respond.

Over the years I have had nothing but shocking service from your company and have repeatedly asked you as a company not to contact me again.  Can we please make sure this is the final correspondence I have from Horse Mart.

Yours Aye,

Laura Baird

Update - Ben, of course, replied!  He said (and I paraphrase a little for comic effect)  Ah but the email was sent before the call was made.  Well, obviously, because I am not a complete idiot I did check what time the email had been sent and it was well after the call (and to be honest the "I've been trying to catch up with you" in the first email does suggest it might have been your second mode of contact?)  I even asked an IT friend to confirm that the time on an email was, well the time of an email!  We will however not let that get in the way of you getting the last word in (like every other bloody time I have to deal with you) will we Horsemart?  P.S Ben, the phrase you were looking for was "I am very sorry for your loss."

I expect them to ask Mark if he'd like to advertise his stallion again next year!

Fatima and Juana

Enjoying seeing some sun today, excuse the halters, I decided just to unclip and let them bounce!

Hellooooo

The rather lovely and very friendly Chamfron Santiago owned by Emma Lang.

Buzzard on the Trail Camera

I was lucky enough to rehome the majority of the chickens and guinea fowl before the avian flu outbreak but we culled the two cockerels and used them as bait for a carcass cam (sorry for offending the fluffy!)  Having not checked the camera in a long time I was rather pleased to see these snaps and am now debating scraping up some road kill to see what else I can get!!  

Chamfron Bellini - 45 Months old

Bellini being brought back into work, having had a hair cut!  Starting to really mature and looking fantastic.

Big Brothers

Vic Market to get something for dinner tonight, followed by a great meal with my brothers and Anthea.  The photo shoot went something like this "oh look Garry is playing with fire again" (he was a *slight* pyromaniac as a child) and then deteriorated to "why is he touching me, he's always touching me, brother NOT lover" and so on.  The last photo shows the boys wild excitement as Anthea and I watched The Bachelor.

Healesville Sanctuary

To the little boy who stood beside me watching the Platypus catching Yabbies and said "Isn't this awesome?" and "aren't we so so lucky to be watching this?" you were lovely.  Your father who rushed you away thirty seconds later (while never even looking at the Platypus) less so...

Down on the point

Relaxing weekend back down on the Mornington Peninsula, sunset at Arthur's Seat, sunbathing on the beach at Portsea on Saturday and then a walk to Nepean Point on Sunday.  Nepean Point is the most westerly point of the Mornington Peninsula and has old fortifications and gun emplacements.  The first shots of WWI and WW2 were fired from Nepean Point.  The area is also known for being where the Australian prime minister Harold Holt disappeared (presumed drowned) in 1967.

Back to the bats!

Different view of the flying foxes today as we kayaked up the Yarra until we were under the colony.  Lovely to see them drinking by touching their bellies in the water and heading back to the trees to lick it off.  Due to the heavy rain a few days ago the river was sadly strewn with bottles and rubbish but my favourite little parrot helpfully perched on a suitably scenic branch!  

Culture and Nature

We headed up to the Dandenong Ranges to the William Ricketts Sanctuary today to see the sculptures then visited the Olinda Falls on our way home.  In all honesty it would probably be described as a wee trickle in Scotland but the trees and ferns are mighty impressive.