Marika & Whetu

The mare's name is Marika - it means calm, quiet or steady in te reo.  The foal is Whetu, which means star.

Here they are at the muster yards in a beautiful photo taken by Kelly Wilson of Keeping up with the Kaimanawas.  Marika is third from the bottom, and Whetu is tucked in behind her.

I've left them to their own devices for the first few days just to settle in.  They've had hay and water obviously, but otherwise I've left them alone to recover.  Aren't they beautiful!

2014 Kaimanawas - a whole new adventure!

Well, shoot, I did it again.
I was actually not intending to adopt any horses from this year's muster - mainly because of this:

Not surprisingly, he is taking up a lot of my spare time.

However, as per usual they were short of homes for Kaimanawas, and since the alternative is the slaughter truck.... well.  Also, I met someone who wanted to give a home to a mare but didn't have the facilities etc to take one straight from muster.  So I agreed to take on a mare and foal combo.  The mare will go to her new home once she's halter/float trained etc and the foal is weaned off.  I'm expecting that to happen early spring, but we're flexible about it.

The muster took place on the 27th May, and the mare and foal arrived at my place at midday on the 28th.  That's some fast work!  Thanks to an unbelievably professional and streamlined muster process by Kaimanawa Heritage Horses,  this mare and foal were only in yards/transit for 24 hours or so.   

So, without further ado... here they are