NARRAWIN

or this one??

2011-12-19T18:44:00.001+11:00

new website

2011-12-17T17:51:00.000+11:00

I'm working on a complete website overhaul. Aside from updating some of the general content, I'm going to add dynamic report generation. Instead of typing in the pedigree and progeny and details for every page that lists a horse, there will be a database with all the info. When a visitor clicks on a horse's name, the pedigree or progeny or detail view will come from the database. This will make updating a lot easier.

In addition, I'm going to completely change the look of the whole site. We've had a shift in focus to just Pasos and gaited horses, and away from Saddlebreds. To drive that point home, I intend to create new logos and the site will have a new layout and fresh look. I like the old site, but it's time for a change!

I've started working on it, and the back end stuff is coming along well. Meanwhile, I've also started playing with colours and designs. I really haven't decided yet, but here's the result of a bit of a play around today. Nothing final, this is just the equivalent of random thoughts on colour and shape :-)

The horse will be changed for something more Paso or my flying horse logo...

horses bought update

2011-11-13T21:54:00.001+11:00

Due to the retirement of our friend Jorge, all his horses are up for sale.

This hase given us a one off opportunity to purchase some Paso Fino and Paso Creole horses and expand the bloodlines of our stud.

Last year saw the addition of Capricho (grey Paso Fino stallion) and Chewie (grey Paso Fino gelding). Since then, we have added the mares Zara (aka Zarzuela, pure Paso Fino), Gitana (Andy x Paso Fino), Guardaraya (Andy x Paso Fino) and Esperanza (Paso Fino).

Two more recent trips added a Paso Creole gelding, Tequila and several mares. They are She Raz (Paso Fino), Triguena (Paso Peruano x Paso Fino), Bailarina (Paso Peruano x Paso Fino) and Chica (Paso Fino).

Bailarina

Chica de Plata

She Raz

Triguena

Tequila (all above photos by Kurt Braunstein, Nov.2011)

As a result of these additions to the stud, we have decided not to join any mares this season. We still have a number of Saddlebred horses and some Paso Creole geldings to sell, before we will consider breeding again. However, our Paso stallions are available at stud.

horses sold update

2011-11-13T21:42:00.001+11:00

This is a long overdue update!

The main webpage is still in need of updating, please check back there in a couple of weeks or so. Once I have finished exams, I am going to post the new prices for the horses still on the sales listing.

We have sold Don Carlos NS. He went to a family in Canberra, where he is being spoiled rotten. He's been to the recent David Lichmann clinic, and Claudia and Jaqueline seem to generally have a fun time with him.

Just sold is Narrawin's Midnight Escapade (aka Laura). She is heading to Western Australia, where she will be part of Old World Horses. She is joining another Narrawin bred mare at that stud, Narrawin's First Lady.

Laura

We still have a half sister to Laura for sale as well as some other very nice Saddlebred horses. As we are winding down that side of our stud, some of these horses are offered for very good prices. Among them a mare and two really nice stallions by the imported Romantic Contract (dec'd). He didn't sire very many foals while in Australia, so here is a one off chance to secure that bloodline for your stud. Romantic Contract (aka Leo) wasn't just a beautiful horse in his own right. He was also one of the best bred Saddlebreds to come to Australia.

What we've been up to

2011-01-31T14:50:00.000+11:00

What a strange summer it has been. My heart goes out to all those who have been affected by the floods in Qld, VIC and NSW. We are lucky here in that flooding is pretty much impossible. The worst of the heavy rains was some hay that got wet and an impassable driveway.

We are happy to announce that Narrawin's Against The Odds aka Odine has been sold to Andrea Liebenberg. Odine is the second Narrawin bred horse to join Mandreica Stud, which is currently in the process of relocating from NZ to QLD.

We also waved goodbye to Nikita, our grey part Andalusian mare. She was sold to a very nice local family where we are sure she will be spoiled.

Serrano and Sambo are growing like weeds, it is time for new photos! We are currently working Raffles aka Macario NS and Esperanza.

The horses for sale and gear for sale pages have been updated. I will be adding the new mares (Esperanza, Gitana, Guardaraya) to the mares page with new photos in the very near future.

Merry Xmas!!

2010-12-24T16:45:00.000+11:00

website updates

2010-12-16T18:48:00.000+11:00

I have listed several new saddles, a 4WD and some other stuff on the gear for sale page.

The horses for sale listing has also been updated.

names at last

2010-12-13T17:35:00.001+11:00

Finally, I've decided on names fo the two Paso colts.

SAMBO NS is the son of Chango NS (Peruvian Paso) and Samba (Paso Fino)

and

SERRANO NS is the son of AuSome Compay (Paso Creole) and Flamenca (Peruvian Paso).

Sambo has been sold. More about his new home and his future "career" soon :-)

Serrano is for sale.

Photo by Yvonne Lehey

Saddlebreds

2010-11-18T15:07:00.001+11:00

On going through my photos, I found a few nice pictures from back in August. Yes, furry Saddlebreds!

Of course they look nice and sleek now in their new summer coats. But these are too nice not to share:

Speedy a.k.a. Narrawin's Speed of Light. The mare behind him is Laura a.k.a. Narrawin's Midnigh Escapade. Both horses are for sale, more info here.

Molly a.k.a. Narrawin's Unchained Melody. Molly is also for sale, more info here.

Odine a.k.a. Narrawin's Against the Odds has been sold. Congratulations to Andrea Liebenberg from Mandreica Stud.

another foal safely arrived

2010-11-16T09:09:00.003+11:00

This morning saw the arrival of the second foal for the season.

Flamenca (aka MGR La Tigre - Imp.USA) had a bay colt from Compay. He's a good looking little lad. I'm glad that Flamenca waited until today, as we've had wet and miserable weather the last few days.

foal!!

2010-11-07T12:03:00.001+11:00

Samba had a lovely big and strong palomino colt this morning. The sire is Chango NS, our buckskin Peruvian Paso stallion. Samba is pure Paso Fino. The colt is already showing perfect gait.

The photo was taken this morning, when he was only a few hours old. More photos coming soon :-) And a name!

More photos here. (Thanks, Yvonne :-) )

Ramirez

2010-10-27T15:52:00.000+11:00

Ramirez has gone on a holiday and won't be standing at stud this season. He is out on lease for the spring and summer to Carlyle Stud near Hamilton.

He will return to Narrawin Stud in 2011 and stand at stud for the 2011/12 breeding season.

new additions

2010-10-27T15:41:00.000+11:00

On Sunday, we did the long trip over to OliVaylle again, to pick up more horses.

We brought home three mares:

AuSome Gitana, brown Paso Creole mare by our Spanish stallion Ramirez and out of the Paso Fino mare RN's Carinita
AuSome Guardaraya, brown/roan Paso Creole mare by our Spanish stallion Ramirez and out of the Paso Fino mare AuSome First Lady
AuSome Esperanza, bay/brown Paso Fino mare by Don Cristobal Mako out of RN's Carinita

Esperanza had been with us for starting in late 2007, but the last time I saw and handled the other two mares was when they were weanlings, some time in early 2006. They have been running in a large mob since then and only been brought in for routine health care.

Guardaraya

The question on how to load three mares, two of which hadn't been handled much, I anwered as usual: it's simple, you open float, put in horses and close float :-) And that's how it went. Ten minutes had all three loaded and from then they stood like angels all the way home. Oh yes, the float was a mess, and needed washing out. But we got home in good time, well before dark and had time to unload quietly and settle them in for the night.

The photo is by Yvonne. She took several more photos of the mares in the yards and being loaded.

Paso Fino!

2010-08-17T19:07:00.000+10:00

We have two new additions.

Thanks to my friend Jorge de Moya, we now have two purebred Paso Finos at Narrawin. On Sunday, we brought home the grey stallion AuSome Capricho (Don Cristobal Mako (Imp.USA) x La Tentacion Mako (Imp.USA)) and the grey gelding Bachue Bravo (Imp.USA). Jorge is retiring and selling his entire breeding herd, which is made up of Paso Fino, Paso Peruano, Paso Creole and Andalusian horses, as well as some Australian Stockhorses. It is the end of an era. Details here.

Capricho is 5 years old and we plan to start him this coming summer. He will also be standing at stud.

Capricho in June 2010

Chewie is an older gentleman with a well developed sense of humour and a liking for wind in his forelock when ridden. I used to ride Chewie a bit when I worked at OliVaylle, so we know each other well :-).

Chewie being loaded on Sunday

Me riding Chewie way back in 2002

A couple of Paso Creole mares with the AuSome prefix will also make their way to Narrawin in the near future, I will post details later.

Back here on the home front, Flamenca and Samba are starting to look very big indeed, especially Flamenca!

It has been cold, windy and very wet. A bit too wet, but I think we'll have a glorious spring. Even now the grass is growing. Once the weather warms up, it will be fantastic.

comments on selling our Saddlebreds - especially the stallions!

2010-07-11T14:30:00.001+10:00

Thank you to everyone who has expressed an interest in our horses. It seems it didn't take long for the news to get out.

I've made it quite clear that this is not a firesale. We're not in a hurry and we're very picky regarding the new homes that these horses will go to. We have, over the years, endeavoured to sell all horses to excellent homes. However, on some occasions we have been very disappointed by their new owners, so we are even more cautious now.

So to (at least in part) answer some of the questions as to what we're looking for, here is a bit of a guide. Please note the the position in the list does not imply importance. All points are important to us, and while we're willing to make some compromises, none are possible where the horses' welfare is concerned. Particularly when it comes to the stallions, we need to be convinced that they will be properly cared for.

We will look at:

good facilities & fencing, especially for stallions
experience in handling, especially if stallions are concerned
riding experience
reputation
previous dealings with us
long term goals
willingness to stand stallion at stud
willingness to attend to paperwork and correct registation
enthusiam for the breed

We've put a lot of work into building up our Saddlebred herd and these last horses to go are the ones we consider the most genetically valuable ones. It is very sad to see them go. We would like them to go where they will be not only well cared for, but where they will contribute to the breed in this country.

new sales listing up

2010-07-08T14:53:00.000+10:00

The sales listing has been updated.

I have also uploaded additional photos. More are yet to come. For the moment there are new photos of furry horses and slightly older photos of not so furry horses. This time of year just doesn't lend itself to star photos of horses... I hope that we will have some sunny days soon though.

change in direction

2010-06-26T11:45:00.000+10:00

I am nearly through with my uni exams. So I will sit down and do a website update shortly.

In the meantime, a decision has been made. We will disperse our remaining small herd of American Saddlebreds. We will keep a couple of them as personal riding horses, but the remainder will be up for sale. They will be offered as two breeding packages or individually. We are not in a tearing hurry, and preference will be given to the right homes. Saddlebreds are fantastic horses, and it will be very sad to see them go.

With my other commitments, I'm no longer able to indulge in two breeds and I have decided to carry on with the gaited horses. I've also been given the opportunity to acquire some good Pasos to add to our group of gaited horses. So that's the direction we will be taking.

We still have some gaited Paso Creole geldings for sale. As soon as the weather improves, we will advance their training.

long weekend

2010-06-13T13:27:00.000+10:00

We had Gordon, the farrier here yesterday. Luckily, the rain held off until after we were finished. We even had a few rays of sunshine. Generally, standing still and holding horses on a cold winter's morning isn't nice. But yesterday, it wasn't too bad.

This morning, we worked Funa again. We are still at the groundwork stage with her. Yvonne took some photos the other day. Today, I decided to play with some of the photos, because I think the mane looks incredible. Here is one of my experiments.

a nice morning

2010-06-08T15:36:00.000+10:00

We had a relatively pleasant morning. Sunny but a horrible cold breeze. This afternoon or evening, we expect more rain.

We worked Funa for a while and then we went and rugged most of the horses again. I took out my new camera to take photos of the stocksaddle I have for sale. Please check out the gear for sale page shortly, I'll be putting those photos up. Please note that the Syd Hill swinging fender saddle has been sold.

While I had the camera out, I visited the stallions, and managed to get a sleepy pose from Ramirez, and a curious look from Rolly. No decent photos... Max decided to get excited, and I did catch him a couple of times while showing off. Here he is...

winter is ... brrrr!

2010-06-05T11:58:00.002+10:00

We have Nele's Icelandic mare Funa here for training. Luckily it's nearly mid semester break for me, so I have a bit of time.

We've had heavy fog since last night, and it wasn't in a hurry to lift this morning. When it did, there was wind and drizzle. So lovely. But we did work with Funa for a bit. I must say though that it was nice to come back inside and warm up my feet again.

Yesterday, I played around with my new little compact camera. I have a lovely SLR camera, but it doesn't lend itself to going places inside my pocket, it's just too big. So I've been toying with the idea of something small for a while, and the other day I bought a Nikon Coolpix.

Yesterday evening, when the light was low (but at least we had sun!), I took a couple of photos of Speedy (aka Narrawin's Speed of Light). The moving photos are blurred, as I didn't have the camera set correctly. But here's a nice head shot of Speedy.

And doesn't he have a lovely winter coat :-)

sales listing update

2010-06-04T14:06:00.000+10:00

I've taken down the current sales listing as I'm about to review it completely.

I've changed my mind on selling some horses, so they will be no longer available. All prices are also under review and will be published within the next couple of weeks. Hopefully with new photos and current information.

The new list will replace and supercede all previous lists and advertised prices.

If you have a question about horses available in the meantime, please get in touch with me.

Chris

out with the old, in with the new

2010-06-04T12:59:00.000+10:00

I have been thinking of transferring the news and updates section to a blog for a long time.

Now it's done. This allows you to use all the great blog features such as tags. The old page was getting too long and cumbersome in any case...

So here it is. Enjoy.

Chris

out riding..

2010-05-30T15:28:00.008+10:00

Yvonne and I have been out riding. Riding meaning taking you youngsters and broadening their horizons :-)

Here we took out Dacio a day after some heavy rain. We made good use of existing scary objects, which included puddles. After a couple of minutes of discussions and a big leap over the big scary puddle, Dacio happily walked through it on a loose rein. How good was that?

That's how we spent most of May. Taking out youngsters when time and weather permitted.

We've had a lot of rain, so the paddocks are nice and green. Although it's getting a bit cool...

April roundup

2010-04-19T13:00:00.002+10:00

The colder weather has started. The horses are sporting lovely winter woolies!

Due to studies, I haven't had the chance to get quite so much riding and horse training happening, but we are working with Ron and a couple of Yvonne's youngsters. We've had a few rides out with friends, and both Smokey and Max were roped in for riding duties.

We've been working on upgrading existing fences and making new ones. All yards are now divided by 6 meter laneways, so we can keep stallions in any of them, or if we have visiting horses, they can be kept isolated. No squabbling over fences! Aside from being more practical, the new wooden posts on all corners also look much nicer. Still a lot to do, but we are making progress.

March roundup

2010-03-16T14:01:00.000+11:00

Well, the summer is over and autumn has started. That means the hot days are over, and we're seeing the last of the March Flies (which were early, as usual).

We've been working Carol's gelding Chappy (aka Rizalio NS). He's grown into a lovely horse and he's a smart cookie. So he's been a lot of fun.

For fun, I've started a facebook group called Paso!. Have a look in there and say hallo if you are interested in Pasos.

On other news, I've started studying at the University of Ballarat. I still have time to ride, but there won't be (m)any outside horses started this year!

January update

2010-01-15T14:21:00.002+11:00

A happy and propsperous new year to everyone!

The sales listing has been updated, as well as the gear for sale listing. In additions, several other pages were brought up to date (stallions, mares, links, foals).

We've had positive preg tests for Flamenca and Samba. We've also bred Molly to Rolly, and from this mating we've ordered a stunning filly :-).

Congratulations to John Simonetti on the purchase of Eladia NS and Intrepido NS. They've safely arrived at their new home in NSW. We had a lot of fun riding Eladia before she left Narrawin.

We had several visitors to the stud this month to see our stallions and horses for sale.

If you are interested in Pasos, please check out PasoCentral. I've finally done some updates and there will be more news regarding the Paso Registry shortly.

Last but not least I'd like to let everyone know that I will be commencing full times studies at Ballarat Uni from March 1. Therefore I won't be taking many horses in for training. Instead, I will use my spare time to start some more of Narrawin's youngsters and further educate the ones which are already going under saddle.

December summary

2009-12-27T14:25:00.000+11:00

We sent Narrawin Keyanna back home to her owner Geraldine in Melbourne. Keyanna was a lot of fun to work with her. So in a way I wasn't unhappy that we were delayed over and over during the cold and wet months. She is lovely (though of course I'm biased ;-) ).

I have continued writing my blog Chris's Thoughts on Horses. Some posts are about training, some on other stuff.

I stayed home for xmas and we just went out riding for fun and to exercise some of the more advanced young horses.

We bred MGR La Tigre (Imp.USA) to Ausome Compay and Samba to Chango NS. They'll be off for preg tests in early January. After a year off, it will be nice to see little critters on the place again!