Kitara Lodge

another update

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:10:00 +0000

Kitara Lodge is buzzing with plenty of horses around.

Kitara Lodge still has vaccanices for spelling and agistment horses. Contact for our package deals for your horse.

Our youngsters have been out and about competing at a few events. Young Veuve being the star we know he is competing at the weekend of world cups at SIEC in April. Veuve won the 4 year old class on the Friday aswell as competing in the equitation classes and 1.10m height classes on the saturday and sunday. He was a star and it definately showed. He did a super round in the 90cm equitation class, with jockey, Jonathan, had a little mis-hab with the tasks required. They didnt place due to a task not being completed (put 6 strides in a line- he put 7) and Jonathan forgot the last fence. Never the less he jumped a clear round and remmebered the last fence just before the finish flags. Veuve then went on to jump a superb round in the huge 1.10cm class. Being still only 4 and green the 1.10m was defiantely a max height class and he handled himself like a pro. He jumped fantastically just having the last vertical down. On the Sunday he jumped a super clear round in the 100cm equitation class, this time all tasks completed very well and he finished 4th. He then went onto doing his last class of the ay - the 1.10m height class again - being max height again he jumped again, another super round. He had 2 down in the end but jumped so well and handled all the fences with style, looking a little lathargic being the reason for the 8 penalties after 3 full on days of jumping. Veuve will now go to compete in the young horse classes at Camden Festival and the ESP young horse Tournaments int he upcoming months.

Our other youngsters also following in Veuve's footsteps with the 3 babies (Bonnie, Bella and ALfie) heading out to Northside Jump Club last Sunday. Alfie had his first outing in the 55cm class, the first round he was a little spooked nad unsure, however the second round being much better and gave most jumps a go. (alfie is Veuve's full brother - 3 year old) Bonnie and Bella stepped out again this time in the next 2 height classes. Bonnie and Bella both jumped 2 double clear rounds in the 65cm, both just 1 and 2 seconds outstide the placings. Bella and Bonnie were also entered in the 85cm power and speed class, with Bella up first - another double clear round after some hectic carnage in the class. Bonnie was all ready to go in when the rider before had fallen off at the last fence (going at 100 miles an hour - very silly riding) and the ambulance was called. 45 minutes later, the girl still laying on the ground (didnt seem like it was that serious, but she refused to move) and the ambos still contemplating what to do, Bonnie had been standing still and all riders had dismounted and the day was getting late. We decided not to jump her in the 85cm and instead, pack up and go home as we were unsure when the course would be cleared. Unfortunate as this was her last outing before going out for a long spell. She is a bold, brave and careful jumper so we are sure she would have handled herself well around the course so we are not too dissapointed.

Next on the agenda is to take Chandy and Alfie out to their jump club days, Veuve, Bud and Ari to go to some jumping comps coming up .

We have recently recruited some more horses to Kitara Lodge - we welcome Arron and Katia (a 26 year old Whaler mare who is lovely) and Geoff and Marley (18 mont old stockhorse colt) 2 very different horses, but both lovely.

A selection of horses are still available for sale.

Update

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:40:00 +0000

its been a while since i made some updated news blogs so here i am bringing you al up to speed.

In the last couple months a few things have been going on with 2 teams of WA horses and show riders arriving and staying at Kitara Lodge for the 3 weekend shows at SIEC with all the horses performing very well and definately cleaning up at the shows with numerous reserve and champion ribbons, even a supreme winner as well. We had a great time housing all the horses (and some people) and look forward to seeing them all back again next year. Since the WA crew have left things have gotten back to normal and Kitara Lodge said goodbye to Kitara Moet, our magritte 4 year old that was sold to a young showjumping home. We wish Moet and Rebecca all the best.

Also in the last couple of months i have made the decision to take a bit of a back seat in the competition riding scene as i feel like a well earned and much needed break is to be taken. It has not been an easy decision, however i feel that i need some time to do other things and work together with Jonathan on getting some young horses going so i have put up for sale Ari and Chops (3 *** eventers) and placed Rambo with Christine Bates to campaign for the remainder of the year.

Christine took Rambo to their first event only after 4 days of riding together and won!! They competed at Albury CIC in the 1* and led the class from start to finish on a very impressive score of 71%.

Christine informs me he is a very talented and quality horse (which we of course already knew) and she thinks he will go very far. Rambo will go and do the 1* at Canberra next weekend in the lead up to SIEC CIC** at the end of April. We look forward to watch their progress.

The babies are now in full force out and competing at some baby jump clubs with Bonnie, Bella and Veuve all competing at Northside Easter Jumping compeition last weekend. This was Bonnie and Bellas first official competition and they both went super! Bonnie finished 6th in the 50cm class and stable mate Bella finished 4th. Both posting clear rounds. We have all agreed they are ready to step up to the next level of 65cm :)

Veuve also competed at NRC and is starting to show his talent for showjumping. He did a beautiful clear round at 95-100cm class and then did a second round HC for experience with just 1 green rail. Veuve will now be aiming to do the young horse classes this year starting with the 4 year old class at SIEC at the end of April and a few equitation and height classes during that weekend at the world cups aswell.

As for Kitara Lodge - the place is looking amazing and the grass is so lush. We have a few vaccancies for horses of all ages, breed and gender for agistment and spelling. Please dont hesitate to contact us for prices and packages to suit your horse.

Check our FOR SALE page for updated horses and items for sale

SIEC

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:15:00 +0000

SIec midweek and weekend have been and gone and some very good riding and schooling done at the first event back fo the horses. Rambo, veuve and Ari went to the midweek.

Rambo did an average test with his mind wandering all over the place and didnt score as i had wished, nevertheless he went clear XC with some time penalties due to the heavy going and 2 lazy rails early on in the showjumpig course, however jumped his pants off once he woke up :) Rambo finished 16th int he 1* class and on song for our first 2** start on the weekend.

Veuve did his first into for the season after being gelded only 3 weeks ago. He performed well in his test but a little distracted by all the horses around, he was super around XC with a clear jump and clear time run and had 2 green rails SJ to finish 12th in the Intro.

Ari did a nice test in the 2** class running 10th placing after the dressage. I chose not to run him XC as the going was very heavy and boggy. I did SJ him and he jumped a beautiful clear round to finish on a good note.

Rambo and Veuve went back to contest the weekend events and both horse performed better with ine event under their belt. Veuve did a much more relaxed and presice test to score 63% and he jumped superb with a clear XC and clear SJ round to finish 14th (better final score, worse placing than the midweek - just shows how up and down the sport of dressage judging can be!!) we are very happy with the 4 year old Veuve and look forward to his progress this year.

Rambo did a much better test and showed more of his fantastic quality on the flat in the 2** class placing 7th after dressage in a hotly contested 2** class. Rambo felt awesome XC and took everything in his stride jumping some big fences and tricky tenchincal fences. We got 20 penalties XC due to a technical run out (he over jumped the first part of an A element and landed next to the B element, which was impossible for him to jump - rider error) and still came in with just 3.2 time penalties. We redemed ourselves by jumping a super SJ round just breathing on the second last fence to have a 4 fault round to finish in 11th place. This was the best the hose has felt in he SJ and i am very confident that he will be a real top contender in the 2** this season.

**NEWS- Ari is FOR SALE - he would make a fantstic schoolmaster for a competitive junior or young rider, equally he would be a fantastic showjumper for a competitive rider.** SEE FOR SALE PAGE FOR MORE INFO

NBN News

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:45:00 +0000

NBN came out to Kitara Lodge today and did a short story on my road to London and how my campaign has come to and end....

Chops is featured aswell as ur foal for this year 'Peggy' and of course my canine friend, Maddison.

Click here to watch the 6pm News that i was featured on

Some sad news

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Coco (our newest foal) has been at Randwick Equine Centre over the weekend with a very strange illness. She was found to have a heart murmur. After the specialist scanned her heart this morning its evident she has a very rare heart defect which will affect her life. Unfortunately 3 week old Coco doesnt have much chance to survive with this heart condition and will be laid to rest this afternoon.

This is very sad news for us as she was a super little filly with alot of personality. Her little heart however was struggling to keep up with the demading growth of little Coco. This is a condition that will be researched by REC using Cocos condition as a question to which they want to find an answer. Its a non-genetic problem which occurs in the first trimester of pregnancy and it cannot be detected nor treated at this stage.

We hope they can find out why this happens and if it can be operated on or treated for future horses.

Rest In Peace little girl xxx

Jump Club results

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:45:00 +0000

We took a team of horses to jump club for a training day. They all jumped super.

Rambo did 2 rounds at 1.10m and being very fresh he needed it! He went clear in the first round and the second round he actually jumped better but had 1 down. He then jumped a super clear round in the 1.20m class - all set for his 1 and 2** classes at SIEC in 2 weeks time.

Ari was a pro (of course) I cantered him around the 1.10m and 1.20m class and jumped both lovely clear rounds :) all set for his first start back since Melbourne 3 day event in June 2011.

Bud and Jonathan also had an outing. He was just going to canter around the 1.20m class but he was too busy helping me with mine that we ran a little late. Bud did however pop around the class at 1.30m and jumped well. He isnt real fit and hasnt been out for a while, but being the pro he is he cantered around nicely.

Kitara Bon Jouet (Bonnie) who is on eof Budweiser's 3 year old daughters also came along for the ride and she was perfect. She also had a work out and popped over some of the fences in the warm up arena and we are very proud of this lovely fillies attitude. Bonnie will now join Bella in the spelling paddock for another break. Kitara Chandon (Chandy) will be the next of the rank to have her first outing.

All in all happy ponies, happy riders :)

Plans.....

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:25:00 +0000

With all this rain is hard to tell what is going to be on and what is not.

Ari and Rambo are heading to their first jump club day on Sunday at Mangrove Mountain (if its still on) and Bonnie will come along for the ride and her first outing.

Ari, Rambo and the now gelded Veuve are also gearing up for their first eventing starts back at SIEC in a few weeks.

There are a selection of horses for sale in the newly updates 'Horses for Sale' page. Click HERE to browse through. There are some good bargains to be had- offers considered.

Foals and other things...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:35:00 +0000

We have had both our foals for this season and both foals were born healthy and happy as are their mums. Scout had a beautiful tall chestnunt filly that we have named 'Kitara Karingo' (aka Leggy Peggy). She is by Budweiser of course and possesses a lovely outline, straight legs and lots of bling. She was born 2 weeks after her due date but well and truly cooked to perfection.

Dolly had her filly that we named 'Kitara Crystal' (aka Coco) who is a full sister to Kitara Bellefon, Kitara Boston and Kitara Cattier. She was born 2 weeks early so slightly smaller than her siblings when born, however we are confident she will mature in the next few weeks and catch up to her siblings. All of Dollys foals have been a smaller horse, however they have plenty of quality, form and movement! (as seen by the results from the ACE tour)

Both of these girls are due to be judged at the ACE tour in February so we are eager to see the results.

All the horses are now back in work inlcuding the eventers and the youngstock with 10 horses in work between Jonathan and myself. We look forward to tkaing the babies and the eventers out and about.

We did take Moet, Veuve and Bella to the first jump club of the year at Mangrove Mounain and both Moet and Veuve jumped super rounds at 80cm and Moet had a go at the 90cm class with a beautiful clear round. Bella had a cnater aroudn the warm up arena and did some flat work in the main arena for exposure before she has been tipped out for a spell to grow a little more. She was amazingly well behaved from the moment she left the property. This 3 year old has a super bright future as a top quality competition horse.

Xmas is here!

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:30:00 +0000

Xmas is here and a few changes have occured in the last couple of weeks here at Kitara Lodge with the announcement of a new rider basing and working at Kitara Lodge. Jonathon Angeli who is from Queensland has joined the team and brings a wealth of knowledge and young horse experience. Riding at some very credible top class riders such as Rod Brown, Vicky Roycroft and also breaking in and training the horses at Carol Chapman's place (Niki Rose's mum). Jonathan will be helping us along with the education and backing of the young horses now that we have so many due to start their education including Bollinger, Bon Jouet, Bellefon, Moet and Veuve.

We are also awaiting the arrival of out first foal for the year from Scout by Budweiser. She was due on friday so we are expecting little bubs arrival soon.

in the meantime Budweiser has been chilling out waiting for his mares for this season to be ready for insemination. He will be excited to know he has 2 collections this week aswell as a foal at Shane and Niki Rose's due at the end of the month.

Budweiser will be collecting unitl March 2012 so if your thinking of breeding, why not check out the information on our amazing stallion HERE and view some of his fantastic progeny HERE

Ari is also retunring to work next week and i look forward to again competing him next season :)

Merry Christmas from the Kitara Lodge team and we wish everyone a fantastic family day!

Lakes And Craters 3DE

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:40:00 +0000

Dressage:

Corambo inthe 1* did a lovely accurate dressage test with international judges includingIndonesian’s dual gold medallist at the Asian Games Dressage and judge scoringhim the top score of the day with 70.43% and the other 2 judges giving closescores aswell and finished the dressage 3rd in the class with 52.8penalties just 4 penalties from the leader.

KitaraDiamond Edition in the 3*** also did a lovely test to impress the internationaljudges and scoring a 51.7 penalty for 4th place after the dressagewith Australian Gold Medallist Stuart Tinney leading the class on 44.4penalties.

CrossCountry:

Corambo inthe 1* did a fantastic clear Cross Country Round and 25 seconds under theoptimum time – unfortunately there were a second set of flags that I missed whilstwalking the course and although we were lying in 2nd place afterCross Country I was disqualified. This is a very disappointing result as wewere in prime position for a good end result.

KitaraDiamond Edition in the 3*** was travelling fantastically around the CrossCountry course clear and on time until the 2nd last fence which wasthe water fence. The A element in the water was not riding very well as thehorses were not reading it too well. I rode to the A element strong trustingthe horse would jump it well – once he got to the fence he jumped it, howeverpecked on landing and due to the landing side being downhill I got shot out thefront door over his head. Although with great effort I tried to hold on, theforce of the forward motion was too much and I fell onto the B element of thewater jump. The horse on his own accord continued to jump the B element withoutme. This was a MAJOR disappointment as we made it over the A element, and thehorse was honest enough to jump the B part into the water by himself – I justdidn’t have any chance of staying on him.

This ofcourse an even more disappointing feeling knowing he was on time and clear upuntil then. The water jump was the 2nd last fence from the finishline. With this clear round and good time on the course I would have beensitting in a very competitive 3rd place going into the showjumpingsection. The horse has been jumping amazingly and with a great showjumpingrecord over the last few months with 2 clear rounds and 1 4 fault round in thelast 3 starts I was positive I would have jumped a good showjumping round tofinish in the top 3 placings. This would have given me the neccissary points required to almost be guaranteed a spot in the top individual rankingin ridersfor London Olympic Games.