Diamond Spirit Book Review

This book series is perfect for teenage horse lovers, I have just borrowed the 5th book of this series and I am sucked in! The main character, Jess and her horse Diamond are to have their hardest time together as Diamond is involved in a tragic accident. Jess brings out her anger and sadness of Sara, her best friend as she thought she knew what happened to Diamond. Jess met a filly that reminded her of Diamond, she had to have the filly, but how? The Longwood campdraft is approaching and Jess wants to enter it more then anything, just to get the filly that she named Walkabout.

Blurb-

A man Jess had never seen before stood holding the flyscreen door open.
'Do you own an Appaloosa pony?' he asked.
'Yes.'
'It's stuck in the cattle grid down near the old drovers' yards.'
Jess's blood ran cold.
At the start of the summer holidays, the unthinkable happens when Jess's beloved pony Diamond has a terrible accident. Why won't Shara, Jess's closest friend, tell her what happened down on the river flats that day? Jess suspects the worst, and feels as though she's lost not just one best friend, but two. But new friends and new horses come into Jess's life, along with the chance to compete in the Longwood campdraft. And there's one little filly who needs her help... Can Walkabout heal Jess's broken heart in return? 

Keep on reading,

~Livinia :)

Silver Brumby Book Review

I recently re-read the classic- 'The Silver Brumby' The text is by Elyne Mitchell, it is an old book but no matter how many times I read this book, I never get sick of it and I recommend this book for horse lovers of any age! I love books about the Australia country, especially with horses. This book is about a creamy foal that is born, his coat is so light and silver-like that every man wants  him and his mother, Bel Bel. Bel Bel names her beautiful foal, Thowra, which means wind as Thowra was born in a storm. Bel Bel's friend, Mirri, also had her foal on the same day as Bel Bel and she named his Storm. Both mothers said that Thowra and Storm will be good friends until the have to get their own heard. Thowra and Storm went through a lot together from fights with their enemy, Arrow and almost being caught by men. Thowra has being hunted for his whole life and has to go through many troubles too. This book is a great read, it has 219 pages but you get sucked in from the first sentence.
The blurb-
 The silver Brumby is a very special horse, both to other horses and to men. And it's men who always seek to catch him, for his beauty.
Thowra, the magnificent silver stallion, longs to be King of the Brumbies, just like the mighty horse called The Brolga. But Thowra is young, and to defeat The Brolga he needs all his strength and cunning. So he bides his time, and listens, and learns. Soon he knows that even if he defeats The Brolga, he has to be braver still to overcome a worse danger: the threat from Man...

~Livinia  

Paruku- The Desert Brumby- Book Review

This book is about a young girl who goes with her father to catch wild Brumbies for a Sheik in Dubai that wants those Brumbies for endurance riding.

Rachel, who is twelve years old is helping prepare her older sister, Cassie, for the showjumping championships. Rachel's father has being asked by the Shiek that lives in Dubai wants a dozen Australian brumbies for endurance riding and said the climate that the horses live in would be perfect for endurance riding, Rachel would love to come with her father but she can't, she has to help Cassie with training and she would be mad if she backed out. 

One early, stormy morning, Cassie was training. Suddenly a crack of thunder had spooked Cassie's horse, making Cassie have to go to hospital, changing her plans to go to the championships. Even though Cassie was now injured, Rachel could go to the Kimberly with her dad. 

So that is roughly the start of the book, but I didn't want to write any more because that's where the good stuff is! 

Here is what I think of the book-

The text Paruku the Desert Brumby is a great read and I strongly recommend it for horse lovers. I'd say it suits teenagers, or someone who is capable of reading well as it has 224 pages, which isn't too much. I really got into the book and read half of it in around an hour, it has really good description and it's plot is one I've never read before.

Reviews every Thursday!

Bye :)

Update!

I found this old(ish) blog after starting my two new ones, how about re-starting this blog, and doing book/movie reviews once a week?
Check out my two other blogs for (almost) daily posts :)-
Horses- http://thehorseradishblog.blogspot.com.au/
Animals-http://adventuresofanimalsblog.blogspot.com.au/

See you,

P.S- I'll post on Thursdays!


~Livinia

So You Want To Buy A Pony?

First thing first, you must know that a horse is a very responsible job, a horse isn't like a fish that you feed and clean out it's tank and leave it to entertain it's self, a horse needs much, much more attention like cleaning it's paddock/stable, feeding and feeding bills, vet and vet bills, grooming and lots more
CHOOSING YOUR HORSE

 Horses are expensive themselves, you need to buy a proper-perfect-for-you-horse not just the cheapest one or a expensive horse that doesn't suit you, don't choose the most beautiful horse, give other horses chances, don't scroll through the horse sales and pass all the ones that look a bit scruffy, read the explanations about them maybe write it down on a piece of paper and look for some more that might suit you, but you MUST ask your parents for permission before you put up any posts or email, privet message or call them! Before you start emailing, privet messaging or calling anyone about their horse, you have to have a talk with your parents about, do you have the money?, do you have the time? and do you have the experience. Your parents will probably make points like this- What if the horse hurts you?, The horse would need shoeing, worming, dentist and probably vetting, he may get sick once. So whatever comments your parents throw at you like the ones i have listed, there is a possibility that you might have to pay sudden vet bills or you run out of money to pay for the worming. Talks like these usually end up with tears, if your parents say that you are not ready for your own horse, they might say try leasing a horse.

CONVINCING YOUR PARENTS

Convincing you parents may be a hard job it won't happen over night, it may take months, don't nag or beg 24/7 it won't help. Show your parents that you deserve it. Start cleaning out your pets litter, do the dishes for your parents or cook dinner for a week, do good deeds like that. Go to the library and read books about horses (information books) that may tell you parents that you really are working hard to earn this horse and you may be closer  to your parents saying yes, take riding lessons or volunteer at the stables, if a friend has a horse ask kindly if you could come to see it and ride it. Start looking on websites like VicHorse.com (Australia) Horse Deals and lots more, maybe your riding school might have ponies for sale. Look for agistments that are not too far away from you sign yourself up on the waiting list (this may take a while, up to around a year!) Remember that your parents aren't going to pay for everything you need to pay for agistment fees and feeding. Plan a report by doing allot of research on the Internet or magazines, look for farriers, horse agistments, dentists and vets, make sure all of them are near you mostly the agistment because you will be driving there at least four times a week! Don't choose the most top quality one that is an hour away from you when you know a friend has a horse at a not very good one, it is better to have a friend with you who you already know, that can start you off and if it is closer that would be the one you would head for, but having strangers around you is a little stressful for a child but you will eventually know them. The prices of the equestrian centres can be big but you can find some that are very convenient like you know someone who goes there, it is $60 per month and it is only 15 minutes away from you.

What sort of tack do I need?

There are many, many different sorts of horse gear, and this guide may help you choose what you need.

Saddles- Wintec, Bates, what to choose? That depends on what you are looking for, if you are looking for a dressage saddles the best to go for are the leather saddles, Wintec saddles make great dressage saddles but for more advice contact your local horseland store, saddle store, or horse shop. All purpose saddles can be leather saddles or synthetic, but for a better longer lasting hight quality saddle would have to be leather and that aswell, to find more information contact your horse shop. Do not buy a random saddle that you think will suit your horse or buy it even before you have a horse, make sure you get it fitted although that may be a little more expensive you would rather pay for that then buy a new saddle.

Bridles- Bridles also have to be fitted, mostly the bit, some horses feel uncomfortible with a sort of a bit so you wi;ll have to have the previous owner to tell you what sort of a bit the horse needs or just go to you vet or dentist to check. NEVER wet leather, it will rot and it will be usless.

Helmets- Helmets are the most importent part of horse gear!!! When you go to buy one get a properly fitted and if you find a helmet in a bin or somewhere else other than a shop and it is not yours, DO NOT take it! The owner before may have had a fall and helmets only have proper resitence if you don't drop it hard on the ground! If you have a bad fall or just hit your helmet on the ground or even a fall that hits your helmet and shatters it don't were it and destroy it so no one else were's it!

Shoes- Don't were laced shoes unless they are properly ajusted into the boots, make sure the boot has a heel of no bigger or no smaller then 1cm. Check in the shoe is too tight on your feet or too wide for the stirrups or too big for your shoe.

Pants- Pants cannot be wide so it always gets hit against the horses side and sometimes the horse can get spooked.

Movie Reveiw!

Movie Reviews!

There are great horse movies to watch but this is one of my personal favourites-

The Heartland series, there are around 9 seasons!
The makers of Heartland series love to put in a bit of drama to make it more interesting.

There are also quite a few books from Heartland that are good books which the show is based on.



Main Actors-

Amber Marshal as Amy Fleming

Michelle Morgan as Samantha Louise (Lou) Fleming

Chris Potter as Tim Fleming

Graham Wardle as Ty Borden

Jessica Amlee as Mallory Wells

Nathaniel Arcand as Scott Cardinal

Cindy Busby as Ashley Stanton

Greta Onieogou as Soroya Duval

There are many more characters to the movie but they hardly appear in other episodes.


Saddle Club

Saddle Club has quite a few episodes and a few movies, if you have relized there are some new actors replacing ther older actors.
New Actors-

Araiel Kaplan as Lisa Atwood

Lauren Dixon as Stevie Lake

Victoria Campbell as Carole Hanson

Marney Kennedy as Veronica Di' Angelo

Aisha Dee as Desiree Biggins (Desi)

Connor Jessup as Simon Atherton 

Kaiya Jones as Jess Cooper

Ella-Rose Shenman as Melain  Atwood

Troy Lovett as Jack O'neil

Richard Davies as Max Regnary

Briony Behets as Mrs Reg (Elizabeth Regnary)

Cosmo Feltham as Phil Mastern

Rory Donegan as Murry Richards

Saddle club Horses

Starlight owned by Carole

Prancer owned by Lisa

Belle owned by Stevie

Garnet owned by Veronica

Midnight owned by Desi/Simon

Jellybean owned by Desi after Midnight was sold to Simon

Teddy owned by Phil

Chilli owned by Murry

Barq owned by Mrs Reg

Comanche owned by Stevie

Dime owned by Melanie

Jess ownes Penny

Trouble (Donkey)  is owned by Melanie and Jess

Sky is owned by a lady called Miranda but Carole finds him and keeps him until Miranda comes.

Danville Dutchess is a million dollar racehorse that comes to Pine Hollows before her race with her owner Gus.

Diablo was oridinally owned by Raffael Lisa bonded with him and let him in the wild and he comes to Lisa whenever she needs him.

& The Old Saddle Club Actors-  

Keenan MacWilliam-Carole Hanson
Sophie Bennet-Stevie Lake
Lara Marshall-Lisa Atwood
Heli Simpson-Veronica diAngelo
Kia Luby-Kristi Cavanaugh
Jessie Jacobs-Melanie Atwood (Jessie sadly passed away in Melbourne 2008 at the age of 17)
Brett Tucker-Max Regnery
Catherine Wilkin-Elizabeth Regnary (Mrs Reg)
James Odea-Red Omalley
Glenn Meldrum-Phil Mastern
Matylda Buczko-Dorothee Doutey (Junior French Competitor, she broke her pelvis bone spent 8 weeks in hospital and lost intrest in horses until saddle club help her out)
Cathy Godbald-Deborah Hale
Nikolai Nikolaeff-Drew Regnery (Max Regnery's cousin)
Jenelle Corlassbrown-Ashley Taylor
Horses of Saddle Club
All the same horses but I'll list them anyway-
Starlight
Prancer
Belle
Barq
Garnet (After Colbalt)
Teddy
Dime
Eddie
Pepper- Will be retired in the new season
Hugo- Dorothee's imported French horse (Her show horse)
Angel- A horse sent to Red due to problems of running away while riding it.
Bert- Dave's horse
Diablo
Storm- A badly abused horse Lisa chooses from animal shelter.
Windsong- A racehorse is found to have natural remedies
Season 1
Colbalt-Veronicas horse wich sadly got put down from very bad lameness.
Patch- Lisa's horse before she got Prancer.
Comanche- Stevie ride him before she got Belle.
Delilah- Carole used to ride her before she got Starlight.
Samson- A foal of Delilah and Colbalt.
Nickel- A beutiful grey mare
Penny
Barq- Mrs Regs horse
Starlight
Prancer
Belle
Garnet
Teddy
Pepper
Dime