Welcome to all you “cool kids”!
This is my first ever go at writing a Blog and I really have no idea what I am doing, but feel that this might be a great way to start and express myself to a broader audience rather than just my poor husband (who half the time is not listening in the first place and the other half has no clue what I am talking about) and like most other readers of this page my horse. As good a listener as my horse is, he is just not giving me the feedback I need in order to help me make the big life decisions I talk to him about in great detail nor does he have the same level of passion as myself when it comes to the ‘Big Issues”, which is why I am hoping that this platform may be of more assistance.
Well here goes nothing 🙂
I bet you are wondering why a professional establishment such as Kyamba Lodge keep referring to these “Cool Kids” well the reason is we think that all of our existing clients both with two and four legs are just that. We have such a great bunch of bubbly, happy, friendly, caring, respectful and supportive group of owners and horses that the only way we can describe them without typing a novel is well pretty “cool”.
For those reading this and who know us will completely understand that the past 15 years has been a grind for both Dalton and I, as we have worked towards our dream of building a property with facilities to share with the wonderful equestrian community to promote and care for these four legged animals that we are so passionate about. Well I have dreamed of sharing the facility, Dalton just dreams of building it as he loves building things. During this time we have developed two stepping stone properties from scratch, each property larger than the one before and each time we have learned more and more about what we like, don’t like and what we wanted to achieve with this (hopefully) final development.
There have been many times throughout this time where the end goal seemed so very far away, even right now when we are only weeks away from moving again the goal posts want to shift and stay just out of reach…It is during this time that I reflect on why we are stretching ourselves so thin…and it is you! You “cool kids”, the people of the equestrian community and the horses. So many lovely people have entered our lives through this one common interest so many fantastic experiences with so many wonderful horses. This is not a hobby – this is our lifestyle.
Everyday I thank my husband for having the strength and patience to endure this lifestyle, I myself have been brought up living and breathing horses and know no different. However not Dalton, yet he accepts this passion even though it has taken over his life as much as mine. Dalton is the talented builder behind the development, he is a perfectionist who has worked to make sure that the stables, sheds. shelters and fences are second to none…OK I might be a little bias…but seriously they are of a safety and quality standard that would be hard to match.
As our exciting facilities and property are completed we will be sure to keep you updated on the vacancies and changes, this journey in some ways has only just begun, even though we are 15 years on the road……
Well as you may have seen we have at last relocated to our new property and what a monstrous task it has been, over 8 weeks of back and forward, logistically it was a challenge to ensure that all the horses moved at the right time especially the ones who are racing. It is just astounding to think that we own so many possessions and that 20 horses need so many items in order to live as comfortably as they have been accustomed too!
With this now completed we can reset and refocus on our next tasks ahead, the most important of which was getting the track operational to ensure our horses that are running in fantastic form can maintain their fitness – Dalton has worked hard and we have now opened the track this week. Last Saturday just when we thought we were on the down hill trail and we were about to start getting on top of our maintenance schedule we had to call a vet to “Alan” who presented to us a very swollen face with what appeared to be an infection of some sort.
In order for readers to understand the impact of this day on us I need to give you all a little background on “Alan”, 18 years ago once my sister, brother and I had all left home and taken our horses with us Dad had decided that now he and Mum no longer needed to spend all their spare time taking us to events that he may return to his love of training pacers. Dad is the son of two generations of trainers and has never lost the passion to pursue his dream of training and racing his own horses, so together with his cousin Alan who wanted to breed his own pacers they begin their journey. To the breeding sales they went and purchased a large mare who was in foal and then over 7 months later “Alan” arrived! A big ugly brown colt with a head like a watermelon and legs more like a giraffe….but he was the first born so obviously these features were overlooked and of course he was the most awesome horse on this earth 🙂
From this moment on life changed for many of us, for me personally I watched from a distance as Dad went through the difficult task of starting “Alan” who at the age of 3 already knew his size and had such a large personality and willful mind of his own was not easy to handle. We would get weekly updates of the different antics he was pulling from stalling the ute by sitting down when he thought he had jogged enough laps for the day through to breaking away and trotting PAST the ute whist Dad was not looking as if to say “your going too slow Garry”! Dad had a horse on the ground he was training whom he believed had the potential to be a good competitive racehorse that he and mum nurtured from the day he was born. The shear size of “Alan” meant that racing as a 3 year old was not going to be an option and we did not see him presented on a track until he was 4, and that is where the fun for Dad and his cousin Alan began.
Transporting “Alan” to the track became a near impossible task, most day to day activities were met with “questions” from “Alan” that had to be tactfully “answered” by dad, but floating was next level painful. “Alan” began to show his potential on the track and this is when he began to impact even Dalton and I, we would spend our weekends traveling to watch him and if we were not at the track we were watching from home sparking our interest in the sport and the breed. After one long night where mum and dad had traveled to Kalgoorlie to race “Alan” in true “Alan” form when reversing off the float came out so fast he did a back-flip onto the bitumen carpark! After a vet clearance he did proceed to race AND win that night however the stress of the situation called for a family meeting – how are we going to get “Alan” around comfortably and safely?
Dalton loves to build things, we had just completed our first house and stable build in Oakford and so he suggested that he build a horse truck. As the build progressed it was decided that building such a large trailer would require a new shed on our Oakford property in which to complete the build so Dalton built his dream shed and then the 7 horse float Kyamba Park Racing still use today. We like to think that all these developments and builds were all done in order to accommodate “Alan” so you can see the impact he had on the family, and it does not stop there. With “Alan” running well and Dad wanting to expand his team we acquired some horses from other trainers and started the Kyamba Park Racing group consisting of Mum and Dad, my sister Dellyn, brother Brock and their partners together with Dalton and myself.
One year after Dad having some great success and my brother also training a winner or two we decided to attend the yearling sales, Dalton had just recovered from a broken wrist caused by a motorbike accident and had saved some money to replace his bike, whilst Dad and I went to buy some lunch he had decided to bid on a lot and was signing the sale documents when we returned – and that was the very start of his involvement in the breeding and racing of our fine horses.
Once again this linked back to “Alan”, he was an exciting horse to watch and had a character unmatched, difficult in almost every way but in a race he was perfect, he is living proof that horses love to race and are happy doing what they are bred to do – if there was one horse who could not be made to do anything he did not want to it was this one. Dentists despise him and a horse going through a set of shoes every 3 weeks was no joy for the farrier either, poor dad would have to patiently persuade him to stay still every time and even at 17 years of age it was a chore. Pushy on the ground was an understatement, Mum can tell you that she has run out of fingers trying to count the times he has stood on them, bashed them with his big boof head and squashed them into rails all seemingly accidental but none the less frustratingly painful, but that was “Alan” for you.
When the vet treated him last Saturday, it was no surprise to me that heavy sedation was required to clip the hair from the area needed to drain the swelling, it was a relief to us when powdered antibiotics were prescribed as giving this horse a needle or an oral paste is not and easy task for two people let alone one on their own. Overall after the consultation there was still a chance the infection would take some time to dissipate and in the meantime his condition might not improve, yet with three days of treatment the vet visit on Tuesday was met with a positive feeling. Alan had put on a little weight and was eating well and looking very bright yet the infection was still draining so it was devastating to find him on Saturday morning not grazing like the rest of the horses and instead standing strangely and even more devastating that not 15 minutes later he had fallen to the ground.
Our fantastic vets came as soon as they could and relieved Alan from his stress and advised that he had more than likely suffered a stroke as the infection had appeared to have traveled to the brain. As devastating as this was as I wept stroking his face while he passed over to the paddock in the sky peacefully all I could do was chuckle…..”Alan” always the character everyone loved always keeping us on our toes and making all our lives difficult, the horse that impacted our lives deeply and most of the time not joyfully….and this day was no different! This day was the day I had made a hair appointment, a day I had waited over 3 months for and in pure “Alan” style he put a big spanner in the works. Rest in Peace Alan you were one in a million but thanks to you I still have 2 inches of regrowth!
