Mahurangi Riding School

Wow what a crazy last week.... after prematurely trying to return to the life of the living on Saturday whilst having the flu, I ended up going backwards... and didn't even get to introduce this lovely guy who we picked up amidst the heavens opening!

Now I know I said no more horses so I'm a bit sheepish with posting this one 🙊 but when the lovely Sarah from Galaxy Equine messaged to say she knew of an unbroken project by her late Pourewa that needed a new home due to his breeder/owners ill health and would we consider getting in touch, I obviously entertained hearing more because I love a Pou baby.... and a patchy t**t too 🤪

So meet Stealer - he's 15hh ish, rising 11 and while he's unstarted under saddle, he's been so loved and educated well on the ground so not a complete blank canvas.

A massive thank you to Hannah and Liza, Stealer's breeders/family, for trusting me with Stealer's future... very greatful to have been gifted such a beautiful horse that will hopefully become one of our next generation school horses ❤️

Everybody talking about how winters been so mild... 29th of August rolls in and says hold my beer 🫣
Bonus.... tanks are full and thankfully no horses were in paddocks that are now part of Lake Glorit...

Who else has been absolutely nailed by the flu this week?!

Literally Tuesday night, straight after my assessment, it hit me HARD (Thank you universe for at least holding out until that was over 🙏😂) and I’ve been bed-bound ever since. Today I graduated to the coach 😅

Running a business is hard enough when you’re sick. Running a business that also involves teaching lessons and managing 20 horses who still require exactly the same amount of care whether you can get out of bed or not is… actually impossible 😂

So this week, I have quite literally focused on surviving while Chev, Emily, Evie and Niki have stepped up and kept MRS ticking along without me.
Teaching lessons, working client horses, caring for our own horses, doing the endless day-to-day jobs and everything else in between - they’ve just got on with it. It's meant Chevy has been teaching up to 9 lessons back to back which is mentally and physically exhausting to say the least.

“A company is only as good as the people it keeps.”
And if there’s been one silver lining to the last few days, it’s getting to see that in action.
There’s something pretty bloody cool about realising that the thing you’ve spent years building can keep going when you physically can’t.

Very, very grateful for my little MRS team this week.
Now if someone could kindly tell this flu that it has overstayed its welcome with not one but two new horse arrivals this weekend, that would be great 🫣

Wahooooo - I'm not s**t!! 😂😂😂🎉🎉🥳

Managed to make it through the day - passed all 6 coaching assessments and my ridden assessment; shout out to Woody for absolutely pulling the lengthen out of his hat and saving my ass with my 15m half circle to counter canter - he could do these in his sleep all day!

Massive thank you to Julie Malcolm Ridewell Trainwell for today, Julie's feedback was so positive and her presence so warm that I forgot I was even being audited.. and she was full of compliments for our riders and ponies too 🥹

Thank you for all the messages of support - I now need to find a second coach educator to sign off the final 40% of the coaching assessments and then it's celebration time. 16 year old Becky healed today ❤️‍🩹🥰

Ahhhh, life! Lucky that somewhere between horses and kids, we become pretty resilient 😂

Tomorrow is a huge day for me. Both my coaching and riding will be assessed by an ESNZ coach educator, covering around 60% of the practical components of the National coaching qualification I’ve been slowly ticking away at for the past ten years.

Between working full-time, running MRS on the side and then adding kids into the mix, completing the workbooks was never quite prioritised. Recently though, I gave myself the kick up the bum I needed! Two of the four workbooks are now complete, and tomorrow should sign off everything except a handful of assessments that need to be completed with a second educator.

Locking this assessment in took me right back to 16 year old Becky, almost 20 years ago. I had left school to coach full time; I was working at a riding school and teaching at Pony Club, and had enrolled in the National Certificate in Equine (Community Coach) Level 3 through Wintec in the Waikato where I passed all but one of the teaching unit standards. At 16, that one unsuccessful assessment was enough to convince me I was a failure. I never pursued the re-sit and ended up stepping away from working with horses for a few years.

I only returned to teaching when the lovely Jess and Karren from Bartley Riding Academy asked me to work for them casually on the weekends. I had actually met Jess down at Wintec, we were the youngest participants in the course by far. I loved my Saturdays at Bartley alongside my non horsey job and stayed on for a couple of years before deciding to chase my childhood dream for a second time and opening MRS.

Looking back, I can see that I was simply young and still had plenty to learn. Unfortunately, the qualification expired before I had the chance to complete that final unit standard. The framework has since changed completely, meaning none of my previous credits could be transferred to the ESNZ qualification I’m now working through.

So, you get the picture: tomorrow is important, and preparation and everything going smoothly feels fairly crucial right now 🤣

Naturally, the universe has delivered two sick kids who have both had temperatures over 39 today. With none of the grandies available to help, Andy and I will be juggling them between us while I complete my assessments.
Does the thought of that send my anxiety through the roof!? Absolutely.

But I also know (or hope at least haha) I’VE GOT THIS. I’ve handled plenty of high pressure situations over the last few years especially since becoming a mum where juggling, adapting, keeping calm and carrying on were simply part of the job. Between motherhood, horses, coaching and running a business, resilience has become something of a survival skill.

So I’m taking a deep breath. It’ll be a late night preparing tonight instead of having tomorrow morning, but I’m not rescheduling. Because if I do, it could easily become another five years or another expired qualification.

Little Becky thought one failed assessment meant she wasn’t good enough. Almost 20 years later, I’m finally going back to finish what she started.

So, universe… let’s do this!!!! 💪🐴😅

In more positive news... stoked to get this message from one of our left the nesters today 🥹

Edited to add - this wasn't meant to be a crucification or advice post - while I know everybody has the best intent with their comments, as a coach AND a mum, I'm well aware of what could have been done differently to keep my kids safe. Like we do with horses ourselves, I got comfortable with them around the kids and things slipped. We know it's safer to tie them up to rug - yet we still do it. We know not to stand behind them.... yet I guarantee most people do - until something like this happens! We are human....

Yesterday afternoon I was handed a pretty horrible reminder that no matter how much we love them, trust them and know them… horses are still horses.

When I was rugging back up after they had eaten dinner, Zoe was knocked over and then trampled by one of the horses. All four legs. 500 kg horse with shoes on.
Typing that makes me feel sick. And I can't stop replaying it over and over again. Thankfully, she is okay. After a trip to after hours she’s come home bruised, sore and very tired, but no broken bones or head trauma.

Zoe has grown up around the horses. Anybody that knows her knows loves being involved, loves helping, and absolutely hates being told to sit safely in the side-by-side while Mum does the jobs 🫠 I know there will be other horse mums who understand this juggle.

Our kids grow up in our world. They come feeding with us, sit in the side-by-side, open gates, fill buckets, "help" with jobs that would probably take a quarter of the time without them 😂 and gradually become part of the everyday running of horse life.
We're simultaneously trying to get everything done, teach them, include them, keep them safe and somehow have eyes in the back of our heads.

I was watching Zoe. I knew exactly where she was. But it literally took a split second.
One horse bit another, that horse moved quickly to get out of the way, and Zoe happened to be in exactly the wrong place at exactly the wrong moment. She was bowled over and ended up underneath them. And excuse my language here but f**k, it was scary.

There’s a huge part of me that wants someone to blame. I blame myself because I'm her mum and my job is to keep her safe.
And then there's another part of me that feels angry at the horses too - which is a really hard feeling to reconcile because they are the other things in this world that I love so bloody much.

But they weren't trying to hurt her. They were just being horses. And perhaps that's the biggest wake up call for both Zo and me.

For Zoe, I think it's the first time she's truly understood that the animals she absolutely adores can hurt her without ever meaning to.
And for me, it's been a pretty brutal reminder that familiarity can quietly change how we perceive risk. When you're around horses every single day, and your children have grown up amongst them, you know their personalities. You trust them. They're part of your family.
99.9% of the time, nothing happens.
Until it does..

Yesterday was a bit of an eye opener. There will be some firmer boundaries around what our little helpers can be involved in, regardless of how loudly they protest about being left in the side-by-side.. Not because I want my kids to be frightened, I want them to have a healthy respect for just how big, powerful and reactive they can be.
And maybe I needed reminding of that too.

Trying (alongside trying not the best myself up) to feel greatful for this lesson.
Grateful for after hours. Grateful for one tough little girl. Grateful that bruises, soreness and a very tired Zoe are all we're dealing with.

To all the other mums juggling kids and horses trying to get the jobs done while raising little humans who desperately want to be right there beside you doing them - give those little helpers an extra squeeze and don't be complacent.
And maybe remind them (and ourselves) that loving horses also means never forgetting what they're capable of.

Another goodie - must be something in the air 💫

For the love of riding school ponies and horses… 🐴❤️

Every instructor knows that moment… the riding list goes up and someone’s shoulders drop because they haven’t got the horse they wanted.

But remember, that horse didn’t choose you either.

There’s usually a reason you’ve been paired together. Instead of “Oh no, not this one…” ask:

“What can this horse teach me today?”

The lazy one teaches you to create a reaction.
The spooky one teaches confidence.
The strong one teaches softness.
The sensitive one teaches feel.

Sometimes the horse you think is boring is actually highlighting the gaps in your riding.

We all have horses we naturally prefer, but becoming a better rider means learning to adapt, not expecting every horse to adapt to us.

Every riding school horse has something to teach us. ❤️

Which horse or pony taught you the most? mine was a horse called Magoo, he taught me the love of horses back when I started. What’s about the one you didn’t want to ride at first? 👇