The mum's to be... standing in the sun having their siesta after having their stomach's watched ... Nanna promptly left this party and went into the dam and had a roll. Way to go Nanna!
Monday, July 25, 2005
Saturday, July 23, 2005
A Day In The Life.........
This is
our yearling Sunny... actually this is a picture of Sunny when she was a weanling last year with Oriana and CharlieFarley. My how the time flies when I think of the drama that we had with her when she was a bubsie. Unfortunately her mother who should of been a blonde if she was a female human pushed her a little hard and she had a few leg problems when she was a wee one. But now she is fine albeit a little small. Actually she is a funny shape if the truth be known...Paul is very happy with her and her mind is spot on. No trouble to take to Warwick Racecourse to canter around the track and stand in the stalls tied up. Rumour has it that she likes to keep in front of the other horse she goes out with!!
Another *** star *** in the making.
Helen.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Queensland Drivers...
are at it again, and this time, I missed out on being collected and scraped out of my car by a paramedic by a hair's breath.
I have sat in wonder when we have driven into town (Warwick) and watched people approach Roundabouts... talk about Rafferty's Rules!!! One thing also that I have noticed since becoming a Queensland girl is that people in this town have a difficulty understanding the basic principle of stopping at a stop sign....
I was taught that stop meant......... to prevent from proceeding, acting, operating, continuing etc. etc. There are actually 14 separate meanings in the The Macquarie Dictionary - obviously not available up here in God's Country (well, I did bring this version with me when we crossed the border).
Sorry but the excuse, "I didnt see you".. doesnt really make the grade when I saw that this particular woman didnt even turn her head or even stop at the stop sign. Scary isnt it?
I was lucky because I was meandering to work through Allora and was doing under 60kph. That is what saved my life.
Grrrrrr.......... double Grrrrr............. triple Grrrr even!! Dont get me started with this subject!
Let me change the subject before I get thinking about what happened!
Ok.... What's happening here at Massie Lodge. (Change the subject, change the subject, keep focussed!)
Sunny our Kbenjar yearling being broken in has been taken to the track with Paul Moody and is going nicely through the barriers. What a girl! A week or so more with Paul and she will be coming home for a nice break before going up to Paul Niperess. We are off to see her working at Warwick Racecourse tomorrow so hopefully some piccies there!
Weather has been of a freezing nature with the winds feeling that they have been coming off the arctic caps, so we have been keeping ourselves in doors unless we need to ... of course the feeding still goes on and all the other bits and pieces that has to happen... but Iam sure that all the residents are happy to have their extra heavy winter coats on.... and you should see them on the weanlings, incredible as we have 7 woolly mamoths running around.
Apart from that all is quiet (and cold) .... there is, however, a murmering that one of the babies is going to be cut as he is getting quite difficult to handle.... hmmm watch this space!
Iam now going to stop this blog as I am tired and need to get to bed! (Stop meaning finish and not carry on.....lol)
Life is fantabulous isnt it?
Helen.
I have sat in wonder when we have driven into town (Warwick) and watched people approach Roundabouts... talk about Rafferty's Rules!!! One thing also that I have noticed since becoming a Queensland girl is that people in this town have a difficulty understanding the basic principle of stopping at a stop sign....
I was taught that stop meant......... to prevent from proceeding, acting, operating, continuing etc. etc. There are actually 14 separate meanings in the The Macquarie Dictionary - obviously not available up here in God's Country (well, I did bring this version with me when we crossed the border).
Sorry but the excuse, "I didnt see you".. doesnt really make the grade when I saw that this particular woman didnt even turn her head or even stop at the stop sign. Scary isnt it?
I was lucky because I was meandering to work through Allora and was doing under 60kph. That is what saved my life.
Grrrrrr.......... double Grrrrr............. triple Grrrr even!! Dont get me started with this subject!
Let me change the subject before I get thinking about what happened!
Ok.... What's happening here at Massie Lodge. (Change the subject, change the subject, keep focussed!)
Sunny our Kbenjar yearling being broken in has been taken to the track with Paul Moody and is going nicely through the barriers. What a girl! A week or so more with Paul and she will be coming home for a nice break before going up to Paul Niperess. We are off to see her working at Warwick Racecourse tomorrow so hopefully some piccies there!
Weather has been of a freezing nature with the winds feeling that they have been coming off the arctic caps, so we have been keeping ourselves in doors unless we need to ... of course the feeding still goes on and all the other bits and pieces that has to happen... but Iam sure that all the residents are happy to have their extra heavy winter coats on.... and you should see them on the weanlings, incredible as we have 7 woolly mamoths running around.
Apart from that all is quiet (and cold) .... there is, however, a murmering that one of the babies is going to be cut as he is getting quite difficult to handle.... hmmm watch this space!
Iam now going to stop this blog as I am tired and need to get to bed! (Stop meaning finish and not carry on.....lol)
Life is fantabulous isnt it?
Helen.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Communication...........
let me down...
Telex or tell me but it’s always second-hand
I’m incognito but no rendez-vous been planned
Dictate or relate I could send it to your home
Return to sender I could sing it down the phone
I’m sitting and waiting by the telephone
Waiting for the bell to ring
I’m incognito but no rendez-vous been planned
Dictate or relate I could send it to your home
Return to sender I could sing it down the phone
I’m sitting and waiting by the telephone
Waiting for the bell to ring
(Lyrics courtesy of Spandau Ballet)
In this day of high technology there are no excuses for lack of communication between Thoroughbred establishments and their clients. None whatsoever. I know the importance that we place on keeping our clients informed of what's going on with their animals. An email, a phone call, a picture albeit amateur from a digital camera is all that is needed to keep clients happy and informed. Most of the people I know get attached to their girls and want to know what's happening with them, are they going to foal soon etc etc etc. It's their animal and they want to be involved in the decision making processes even though the miles say they can't be there.
Let's face it, no one likes surprises like, "Oh by the way your mare died giving birth, and even though we charged you for the service, we have given you a 10% discount in lieu of the mare dying". Don't laugh, it happens. Take a friend's experience where they had a mare in foal. Don't get me wrong, the mare gave birth to the foal ok, but what they ommitted to tell the client was that the mare died during a storm when it was struck by lightning. The owner was not contacted immediately about this and found out by chance.
I guess because of the "Boutiqueness" (is there such a word??? ummm no!) of our property and the fact that we are small and offer a different service to our clients than the big guys, means that there are no nasty surprises and clients get a sense of "being involved". Technology has made it easy to do this.
We are always available if they clients would like to visit their horses; its the least we can do. There is always a chilled bottle of wine or a cold beer in the fridge not to mention that Evan does a nifty BBQ when we have visitors calling at night. Some have even been know to stay overnight!
What brought about this subject of this blog? We had an "episode" with a rather well known property that specialises in yearling preparation and spelling today. Actually not regarding any of our horses, but a client of ours who has a weanling that he is wanting to sell and he wanted us to get a photo. So we rang to go and take some piccies of the weanling. We didnt want him brought out of his paddock.... just show us where he is and we'll do the rest. But no, it was way too much trouble and way too much of a inconvenience and we were told to ring half way through next week to see when they might be available the week after that. The lady of the household was rather short and succinct in her conversation and we basically knew that we were not welcome now and any appointments in the future would be most reluctant. I guess they have enough business coming their way to warrant such chilly potential client communications.
Hmmm.
We are always happy to recommend other properties/services to our clients, however, they wont be getting any of our business or recommendations in the near future.
To get a very different slant on the subject, we met with Gary Barrett from Jilba Thoroughbreds today and he was very accommodating to us and showed us DANTIBES and some of his babies. Not only did we meet the great man himself, but we were shown around the property and given a cook's tour of all the facilities. Its people like Gary from Jilba, and, from a few weeks ago the crew at Kelana Park who have really showed us that nothing is too much trouble and how important our business is even though we are just small operators in the whole scheme of the industry.
Tell me something.... whatever happened to "Every customer, no matter how big or small is important to us?" Perhaps these days it is "Show us the colour and volume of your money and we will tell you how important you can be!!!"
A pretty cynical view of the world and this industry im afraid. Tsk. Tsk...
After meeting with Gary Barrett, we high tailed it back to Toowoomba main to visit our Susie girl (Star Ferry) in her new stables with Paul Nipperess. She looked terrific and was very pleased with Paul's set up. Her track work has been good. She has just been clipped. She looked a million bucks. Maybe to some, she is not an oil painting, but to us she is our girl Susie. I was very happy when we left and I knew that Susie will be given every opportunity to shine. GO THE GIRL !!! (hehehe). Canno and Mosso also looked well (I'm sure Canno has grown since his time here). He is coming back for a short spell and look forward to having him around the place again.
All in all a very good day, albeit a long one!
Life is a challenge isnt it?
Helen.
In this day of high technology there are no excuses for lack of communication between Thoroughbred establishments and their clients. None whatsoever. I know the importance that we place on keeping our clients informed of what's going on with their animals. An email, a phone call, a picture albeit amateur from a digital camera is all that is needed to keep clients happy and informed. Most of the people I know get attached to their girls and want to know what's happening with them, are they going to foal soon etc etc etc. It's their animal and they want to be involved in the decision making processes even though the miles say they can't be there.
Let's face it, no one likes surprises like, "Oh by the way your mare died giving birth, and even though we charged you for the service, we have given you a 10% discount in lieu of the mare dying". Don't laugh, it happens. Take a friend's experience where they had a mare in foal. Don't get me wrong, the mare gave birth to the foal ok, but what they ommitted to tell the client was that the mare died during a storm when it was struck by lightning. The owner was not contacted immediately about this and found out by chance.
I guess because of the "Boutiqueness" (is there such a word??? ummm no!) of our property and the fact that we are small and offer a different service to our clients than the big guys, means that there are no nasty surprises and clients get a sense of "being involved". Technology has made it easy to do this.
We are always available if they clients would like to visit their horses; its the least we can do. There is always a chilled bottle of wine or a cold beer in the fridge not to mention that Evan does a nifty BBQ when we have visitors calling at night. Some have even been know to stay overnight!
What brought about this subject of this blog? We had an "episode" with a rather well known property that specialises in yearling preparation and spelling today. Actually not regarding any of our horses, but a client of ours who has a weanling that he is wanting to sell and he wanted us to get a photo. So we rang to go and take some piccies of the weanling. We didnt want him brought out of his paddock.... just show us where he is and we'll do the rest. But no, it was way too much trouble and way too much of a inconvenience and we were told to ring half way through next week to see when they might be available the week after that. The lady of the household was rather short and succinct in her conversation and we basically knew that we were not welcome now and any appointments in the future would be most reluctant. I guess they have enough business coming their way to warrant such chilly potential client communications.
Hmmm.
We are always happy to recommend other properties/services to our clients, however, they wont be getting any of our business or recommendations in the near future.
To get a very different slant on the subject, we met with Gary Barrett from Jilba Thoroughbreds today and he was very accommodating to us and showed us DANTIBES and some of his babies. Not only did we meet the great man himself, but we were shown around the property and given a cook's tour of all the facilities. Its people like Gary from Jilba, and, from a few weeks ago the crew at Kelana Park who have really showed us that nothing is too much trouble and how important our business is even though we are just small operators in the whole scheme of the industry.
Tell me something.... whatever happened to "Every customer, no matter how big or small is important to us?" Perhaps these days it is "Show us the colour and volume of your money and we will tell you how important you can be!!!"
A pretty cynical view of the world and this industry im afraid. Tsk. Tsk...
After meeting with Gary Barrett, we high tailed it back to Toowoomba main to visit our Susie girl (Star Ferry) in her new stables with Paul Nipperess. She looked terrific and was very pleased with Paul's set up. Her track work has been good. She has just been clipped. She looked a million bucks. Maybe to some, she is not an oil painting, but to us she is our girl Susie. I was very happy when we left and I knew that Susie will be given every opportunity to shine. GO THE GIRL !!! (hehehe). Canno and Mosso also looked well (I'm sure Canno has grown since his time here). He is coming back for a short spell and look forward to having him around the place again.
All in all a very good day, albeit a long one!
Life is a challenge isnt it?
Helen.
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