Mothers of horse riders, we salute you! Growing up, all most teenagers want is a lift to the mall, a decent data plan, and perhaps a dog. Horse kids want a pony, a float and a 4WD to pull it with, and help to clean gear, plait manes and get to shows before sunrise.

If your mother put aside her own dreams, pinched pennies and swallowed her fears so you could have horses, make sure you thank her for it this Mother’s day. Here’s why you should:

1. Horses always scared her, but she put her fears aside so you could do what you loved.2. For years, she listened to you bang on about horses, horses, horses around the clock, without (much) complaint.3. She never missed a lesson, or a competition, even though watching you made her nervous.

4. She learned how to pick out feet, hold the pony for the farrier, and muck out paddocks, just so you didn’t have to do it all the time.5. She quietly looked the other way when you washed your saddle blankets in her washing machine.

6. She got the stains off your jodhpurs, packed your lunch and otherwise kept you organised for shows and pony club.

7. In the rain, in the wind, in the searing heat, in the hail and sleet… she’d take you and your horse wherever you needed to be.

8. She gave up the fact she could have lived her whole life without knowing that sheath cleaning is a thing.

9. She clapped when you won, dried your tears when you fell off, and would give you a reality check if you even thought about showing bad sportsmanship.10. She sacrificed family holidays and other nice things, just so you could keep riding.

From all of us at NZ Horse & Pony, and grateful daughters and sons everywhere:

PS. If you haven’t got a mother’s day gift sorted yet, a NZ Horse & Pony subscription is the perfect solution, you can get yours here: http://horseandponymag.com/product-category/subscriptions/

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Here are eight times that Jonelle simply owned the trot-up track:

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Does your horse neigh when he sees or hears you coming? Does he have a special nicker he makes when he knows you have a carrot in your pocket, just for him? And during a long, hot afternoon waiting around at a show, does he let out a big sigh?

If you think your horse is trying to communicate with you – you are right.

Horses and ponies are usually quiet creatures, ‘talking’ mainly through body language. This is because in the wild, horses live on open plains, so they learned to communicate mainly through sight so as not to attract attention to predators around them by making a noise.

But horses and ponies do use a range of vocal sounds as well, though not as wide a range as people or other animals such as dogs and cats do, and the same or similar sounds can mean several different things. We need to read the horse or pony’s body language at the same time – the position of their head, ears and tail for instance – to correctly interpret what the specific sounds mean.

Experts in equine behaviour believe that horses and ponies can recognise familiar people by the sound of their footsteps, or even the engine of their car – and will neigh out in greeting.

They are most likely to neigh if they can hear you, but can’t actually see you – this is why horses and ponies ‘talk’ to each other more when they are in stables where they can’t see each other.

Here are the main sounds you might hear your horse or pony making:

The nicker (or snicker)

This is the lovely friendly sound chortling ponies and horses make as a greeting to a mate, or an anticipation of a treat. It’s produced when air is blown over the vocal chords with the mouth shut, and you will notice their nostrils fluttering. Some horses and ponies use it to appease a threat, and mares use a quiet, lower version as a special ‘chat’ with their foals.

The neigh (whinny)

This is a louder greeting, which generally begins at a high pitch and finishes in the lower range. It can be very loud and heard from quite a distance. The neigh is made with the mouth open. It’s used to greet a more distant horse, to call out to mates who are out of sight, and may also act as a challenge, to warn other horses of danger, or to get attention or indicate that they need something – often that something is food!

The squeal

Squeals are usually made only when horses or ponies are interacting with other horses. Maybe another pony touched them, they want to play, or they’re cross, they are being attacked, or they are fighting with another pony.

The scream

A scream is more intense than a neigh – it’s an unmistakable sound of distress. This is typically the sound made by a foal trying to find his Mum, or by a horse trying to find the rest of his herd.

The trumpet

Usually only stallions trumpet or roar, and in several different situations. They might be courting a mare or yelling out a challenge to another stallion. Or they might be excited, or simply frustrated because they are alone.

The sigh

Horses sigh like we do; it can mean they are bored or resigned to what is going to happen – a ‘here we go again’ sound. Or it may mean they are simply relaxing. No one is sure if they sigh much around other horses in the paddock.

The sneeze and snort

Obviously, horses will sneeze if something makes their nose itch or if there’s a strong smell. Sometimes they will sneeze to let another horse know they are there – a bit like you clearing your throat with a polite cough – or if they are feeling a bit nervous. If a pony becomes more alert, the sneeze becomes a snort. If a pony snorts while looking at something, the other ponies will go on alert and look in that direction too. The sneeze/snort also clears the pony’s airways in case he needs to run away from whatever it is that has caught his attention. A really deep, long vibrating snort indicates the horse or pony is alarmed, wary and suspicious. Be careful – a horse making this noise may bolt or spook.

The grunt

Horses and ponies will grunt if they are exerting themselves, such as during rolling, when bucking, or making a big effort over a jump.

• This article was first published in the autumn 2015 issue of PONIES! magazine

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The South Islanders know how to put on some fun on Saturday night at the NRM National show jumping show – and this year was no different, with a new and extremely entertaining competition.

Sponsored by McMillans, it involved teams of four riders, with the only rules being that the members of the team had to be at various age levels and they had to have one dog – no horses involved.  It started with an obstacle course for the youngest competitor and the dog, followed by a three-legged phase for the riders, then some dog weaving, and more doggy obstacles and a phase for the older competitors, which included flipping a glass – among other activities.

The heats involved two teams racing against each other, and we laughed as we saw dogs leaving the course, dogs escaping their collars, other dogs joining the fun, dogs stopping, little dogs jumping far bigger than we thought possible, and then there were the various three-legged techniques in use.  For some, co-ordination wasn’t happening, but there were some very impressive runs too!

It was soon down to the finals, with commentator Stewart McGregor running a sweepstake and raising over $400 for a mental health charity.  It did everyone’s mental health at the event the power of good having such a laugh.

Team Highlanders won in the end.  Well done mainly to Murphy Collins (the dog), and it was great that he won a huge bag of CopRice dog food.  His team mates were Nicole White, Meg Bisset, Pippa Collins and Jordan van Miltenburg.

Good effort on the part of Zoe Shore for being the co-ordinator/rule maker (the rules changed throughout) as well as the committee members who contributed to making it such a fun event! Well done to all the participants and the spectators who encouraged them.

Have a look through our gallery of images, to get a little taste of what went on.

Fun!

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The South Island Equidays had a great mounted games display in the main arena at the showgrounds. As normal for mounted games, there were plenty of thrills and speed, with riders stretching beyond what could be considered normal and getting on and off their ponies faster than ever imagined!

Unfortunately it didn’t all go according to plan for Max Shanks from the Springston Pony Club.  Part of the competition involved having to dismount for a pick-up, but Max managed to let his pony go for a second – and it was off!

Fortunately he was off straight away in an endeavour to catch it, and put in a great effort at sprinting across the arena, taking the shortest route, but at the speed that pony disappeared at, only Usain Bolt at his best may have had a chance of equalling (although in saying that, Max does do good Bolt impersonations!)

Unfortunately (for Max) we were on hand to catch all the drama and the pony was faster, soon getting way ahead of Max Bolt.

Fortunately, the pony didn’t go far, and Max caught it and remounted, continuing on to ensure the team did complete in true pony club fashion.  According to local sources, it’s not the first time this has happened to Max, and in fact our informants went as far as saying it was his “party trick!”

Unfortunately (for her) his team mate had to pick up the “baton” which had been in places she hadn’t expected.

Fortunately, the Springston Club is full of good sports and Max is well known as having a great sense of humour, so we are sure team spirit will be fine and Max will be smiling when he sees all these photos.

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There were also some near misses, and this is the near-miss of the whole competition. Jordan Shrimpton should have hit the deck, but somehow managed to not only stay on, but also keep going for the View Hill White team, which finished third overall.

Her horse, Kai Pai Kiwi, deserves an extra carrot (or a whole bag) for being as co-operative as she could be!

Jordan Shrimpton

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Happy Birthday Clarke

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Melody Matheson won the class on Graffitti MH.

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Meet Kruzah!

His videos have been very popular and he now has his own FB group plus quite a few videos posted on You-Tube.

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The winner also has to be decided; and Lisa Lailey wins a year’s subscription to both NZ Horse & Pony and our fab PONIES! magazine.

We can’t feature all of the photos here on our website, but have selected some of our favourites.

2016-17 Holidays with Horses Photo Competition

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