Max, Clydesdale-Quarterhorse Cross, 19 years
Maximus, is definately a horse with an extraordinary background: From a former TV Star starring in " Legend of the Seeker" to being recommended to be put down as he is blind in his left eye. Gratefully his lovely former owner Yasmine didn't listen to these recommendations. Two weeks before we left for Germany in June 2011 we got a phone call from Yasmine, if we wanted a Clydie-Cross. With us leaving overseas soon we weren't really keen before the winter but when Yasmine told us Max's story we knew we would take him on. She loved him dearly but had lost confidence with him due to a bad accident when he was turning bling due to uveitis. As Ian has worked with quite a few horses being blind on one eye in Europe we had absolutely no worries what so ever. He arrived here at the property and after 10 minutes he had his first roll in the arena looking very settled. Two days after that Ian rode him out on the trails. Max was amazing, with long enough reins to be able to scan his environment with his right eye he was even happily walking in front after a short space of time. That gave me, Anke enough "courage" to ride a few days later, and me as well fell in love with that dude, especially with that kind of dream trot, it's feels like floating. We are glad to offer him a forever home now and he is an absolute asset to our North River Crew. His Share-Rider Denise absolutely adores him and they have lots of fun together out on Bush & River adventures and jumping. In the Equine Assisted Learning field he really finds the person's buttons to push, that to the point that we refer to him as the " Max-Factor".
Cocoa, Thouroughbred, 17 years
A very pretty mare with an interesting background. She has a brand on her right shoulder stating "Ja" in German yes, you could say she has said "yes to life" several times as she was close to losing her life a few times. According to her former owner she nearly ended up as lion tucker but she got her back from the lion park in Whangarei. Then Cocoa was grazing in the valley for a few years by herself and then had company from some cows. Being on the next door property she also befriended some of our horses, especially Max claimed her as his girlfriend whenever our horses were in the boundary paddocks. In 2012 she got caught up in a fence as there was lose wire half a attached to a pole. Ian saw it happening and cut her out, her back leg was cut to the bone and the front tendence was cut in half. We informed the owner, Cocoa stayed with us a few weeks until the owner could take care of her. When we came back from Europe in Nov 2012 Cocoa was running with the cows next door more or less on three legs and her wound had proud flesh as big as a handball, the owner moved away and couldn‘t take care of her anymore. Steve from Waipu Vet Centre asked Ian to get Cocoa out oft he paddock and if she could stay with us so that he could treat her. With Steve’s great vetenary skills, hours of patience to change bandages as Cocoa wasn‘t easy to handle anymore she started the road of recovery. It was a long road, this also applied for the integration into the herd. As she had been for years without horsey company she was moving into others horses space ignoring any signs of communication not to. So we had her with Blue first who had the patience like an angel even tolerating Cocoa grazing literatly mouse to mouse with her and Cocoa having her „moments“, squierling and kicking out at Blue when she was grazing a few metres away for no apparent reason. Looking after her wound even after months we had to take everyone with us as Cocoa would go into total panic being away from Blue, so we called it the “Cocoa Parade”: Cocoa, Blue, Baby Blue, Shirley the sheep accompanying her for getting her treatment every day… Now 4 years down the track the leg doesnt bother her too much any more, it just doesnt look pretty. We started with ground work with her and restarting her. Cocoa has come along way with patience, clear communication and understanding her occasional „nutty“ moments when she goes into panic or „Drama Queen“ mode.
A very pretty mare with an interesting background. She has a brand on her right shoulder stating "Ja" in German yes, you could say she has said "yes to life" several times as she was close to losing her life a few times. According to her former owner she nearly ended up as lion tucker but she got her back from the lion park in Whangarei. Then Cocoa was grazing in the valley for a few years by herself and then had company from some cows. Being on the next door property she also befriended some of our horses, especially Max claimed her as his girlfriend whenever our horses were in the boundary paddocks. In 2012 she got caught up in a fence as there was lose wire half a attached to a pole. Ian saw it happening and cut her out, her back leg was cut to the bone and the front tendence was cut in half. We informed the owner, Cocoa stayed with us a few weeks until the owner could take care of her. When we came back from Europe in Nov 2012 Cocoa was running with the cows next door more or less on three legs and her wound had proud flesh as big as a handball, the owner moved away and couldn‘t take care of her anymore. Steve from Waipu Vet Centre asked Ian to get Cocoa out oft he paddock and if she could stay with us so that he could treat her. With Steve’s great vetenary skills, hours of patience to change bandages as Cocoa wasn‘t easy to handle anymore she started the road of recovery. It was a long road, this also applied for the integration into the herd. As she had been for years without horsey company she was moving into others horses space ignoring any signs of communication not to. So we had her with Blue first who had the patience like an angel even tolerating Cocoa grazing literatly mouse to mouse with her and Cocoa having her „moments“, squierling and kicking out at Blue when she was grazing a few metres away for no apparent reason. Looking after her wound even after months we had to take everyone with us as Cocoa would go into total panic being away from Blue, so we called it the “Cocoa Parade”: Cocoa, Blue, Baby Blue, Shirley the sheep accompanying her for getting her treatment every day… Now 4 years down the track the leg doesnt bother her too much any more, it just doesnt look pretty. We started with ground work with her and restarting her. Cocoa has come along way with patience, clear communication and understanding her occasional „nutty“ moments when she goes into panic or „Drama Queen“ mode.
