After a long wait, Moselle's long journey was about to begin. She had completed the first part of her trip from the Atherton Tablelands to Cairns. It was her first float trip and she took it really well. She spent a couple of weeks in Cairns and then the day came for her 3 day 2000km road trip. I felt quite concerned for her, and couldn't help but imagine what she must have been feeling. All of a sudden she was separated from her paddock mates of the last 4 1/2 years, and will probably never see them again, loaded on to a truck for the first time in her life, with strange horses, and with people she had never seen before. I am told she just followed the driver up the ramp of the truck. She is a very trusting girl. 3 days later I had to go and pick her up. It was only a 20 minute drive. I was so relived when she as safely at my place.
Now the introductions had to be done. She had to meet her paddock mates, however it would be over a fence for a couple of days. 
My Paint mare, Amber, has been queen of the paddock for quite some time, I was a bit concerned how she would take it. I wasn't so concerned about the mini, Ebony, more affectionately known as Short Horse, Little Monster, Don't You Bite Me or Shorty, as she seems to be quite agreeable and gets on with most horses. I was quite surprised when it became very obvious that Amber accepted Moselle as number one in the paddock ranking, and slotted in to number 2 spot. It really did surprise me, Amber was a real biatch when she was getting broken in, and had a horse twice her size cowering in the corner of its yard. Shorty is just happy that she has another friend to steal food from.
Shorty is a funny little horse, she is a good mate and more like a dog. She follows me everywhere and is a real little miss attitude at times. That is probably my fault, she is a horse that weighs less than I do and bad manners from her aren't really an issue. She like to play with her food too, she does not have an exotic disease in the photo to the left, just the results of playing in her food.
Moselle had one more member of the herd to meet. It did not go so well. I also have a large goat, a goat that is bigger than Shorty. He dominates Amber and Shorty, and decided to assert himself over Moselle. It didn't work. She gave him a clear warning in horse language, he chose to ignore it, and copped a double barrell kick. He is a bit sore and sorry for himself, but he is OK, and he doesn't try to pick on the horses any more. An angry mare face is all it takes and he backs down now.
So that is it, we are up to date, my adventures with Moselle are just beginning, she is a great horse, and I am sure there will be more ups then downs.
So, I had decided I wanted to buy a horse suitable for endurance. I am not exactly a lightweight, and will be riding heavyweight. I need a strong horse. Arabian horses are very strong for their size, their shorter backs do mean they can carry a fair amount of weight. For me, temperament is just as important as conformation, so I accepted that it was going to take me a long long time to find one just right for me. My criteria were, strong, sound, a mare (geldings are too soft), friendly and sensible. I wanted a friendly horse, because when training an endurance horse, you spend many many hours with the horse, and it has to be enjoyable to be around.
For my own personal satisfaction, I wanted a young horse, experienced endurance horses are either very expensive, or being sold for a reason the buyer doesn't want to disclose. Young horses generally have not learnt any bad habits, and if a young horse does develop some issues, there is a good chance its because its owner stuffed up. Where to look for a suitable young horse, I had no idea. I bought a popular horse trading publication. All of the horses I liked were very expensive, or too old. It was well known on some equestrian forums that I was searching for a horse, and out of the blue, I got an email from a lovely lady called Deb, who sent me a copy of an advertisement for some youngstock for sale.
I called the number in the ad, explained what I was looking for, and in a couple of days time, a package arrived in the post full of photos and info on the sale stock. Merry, the seller, explained that she had a young mare that sounded just like what I wanted, friendly, big, strong and well built, and bred for endurance. The horse's name is Bellarine Moselle.
Moselle is an Arab Stockhorse, a cross between an Australian Stockhorse, and an Arabian. She is 4 1/2 years old, un-broken but has her basic foal training. The only thing wrong with her, is she was 2000km away from me, and I couldn't get time off work to go and see her before buying her. Deb put me on to another lovely lady called Dorte, and she went and did the pre-purchase visit for me, and told me I should buy her. So I did. Poor Moselle now had to leave her home of the last 4 1/2 years, and endure a float drip from Atherton to Cairns, a 3 day truck trip from Cairns to Beachmere, and then another 20 minute float ride to my place at Bellmere.
About 3 years ago, my friends and I went for our annual horse riding holiday to a place called Mary Valley Adventure Trails, run by Graham and Gail Ellison. We used to go to another place, but they put their prices up so we got on to Google and started to look elsewhere, and found Graham. We arrived at the stables a little anxious, as Graham had told us all of his horses were Arabian endurance horses. Most of us have had bad experiences with the breed, and to find we would be riding ultra fit horses in full competitive training was a bit daunting. Looking a little closer at the horses, we noticed that the horses were very well looked after, all had near perfectly shod feet, and their coats gleamed in the sunlight, and very well mannered. Sadly, this is unusual for a commercial trail riding operation. This is how my deep respect for the endurance horse was born. The mare I rode carried me for 2 days, covering around 50km a day. We were all very impressed at how fit the horses were. Little did we know, that endurance riders call a 40km ride a training ride, and we were riding at less than half novice pace.That evening, we went and watched the strapping area at the Imbil Sparkler, a major endurance ride run at night. We were all totally fascinated by what we saw. We became regular customers of Grahams, with him sharing his knowledge of endurance riding, horsemanship, and farriery with us, my interest in the sport of endurance riding grew.I went to the Tom Quilty Gold Cup as a strapper for a commercial team in 2008, it was 16 hours of hard work, but I had a ball. In January 2009, I was given the opportunity to do a 40km ride on one of Graham's horses. It was stinking hot, wet and muddy, but we got through. I am very greatful for the opportunity, however, I started thinking about how satisfying it would be to find and train my own endurance horse and get it going.Here started my quest, to find a suitable mount, and train it to become an endurance horse. Its a long road ahead, hopefully it won't be too bumpy.
After a long wait, Moselle's long journey was about to begin. She had completed the first part of her trip from the Atherton Tablelands to Cairns. It was her first float trip and she took it really well. She spent a couple of weeks in Cairns and then the day came for her 3 day 2000km road trip. I felt quite concerned for her, and couldn't help but imagine what she must have been feeling. All of a sudden she was separated from her paddock mates of the last 4 1/2 years, and will probably never see them again, loaded on to a truck for the first time in her life, with strange horses, and with people she had never seen before. I am told she just followed the driver up the ramp of the truck. She is a very trusting girl. 3 days later I had to go and pick her up. It was only a 20 minute drive. I was so relived when she as safely at my place.
My Paint mare, Amber, has been queen of the paddock for quite some time, I was a bit concerned how she would take it. I wasn't so concerned about the mini, Ebony, more affectionately known as Short Horse, Little Monster, Don't You Bite Me or Shorty, as she seems to be quite agreeable and gets on with most horses. I was quite surprised when it became very obvious that Amber accepted Moselle as number one in the paddock ranking, and slotted in to number 2 spot. It really did surprise me, Amber was a real biatch when she was getting broken in, and had a horse twice her size cowering in the corner of its yard. Shorty is just happy that she has another friend to steal food from.
Shorty is a funny little horse, she is a good mate and more like a dog. She follows me everywhere and is a real little miss attitude at times. That is probably my fault, she is a horse that weighs less than I do and bad manners from her aren't really an issue. She like to play with her food too, she does not have an exotic disease in the photo to the left, just the results of playing in her food.
