Te Akau Midweek Update

David writes:

On Monday I had my first check up since my operation with my heart specialist Mr David Haydock.

He gave me the all clear to drive again and to start normal work - no lifting quite yet though!  That was amazing news because sitting in the house watching TV does not do much for me (nor me!! - however it is usually carried out with IPad in the left hand and IPhone in the right!!! - Ed)

When I got home yesterday the first thing I noticed was that my staff had finished chipping the thistles on two of our main farms.  I hate seeing thistles but I also hate spraying the grass because of the damage it does to the clover so we manually grub the thistles.  A thistle seed will live in the ground for at least 30 years so it's a big project to get rid of thistles on a farm the size of Te Akau Stud.  The home farm where we live and have owned for over 30 years did not have one thistle on it this year which proves it does work.

Today Karyn is coming with me to spend the day looking at our horses in the Waikato.  First up we are going to Pencarrow Stud to see four yearlings that really interest me for Karaka in January and then we are off to Cambridge Stud to see our mares and foals and Burgundy.

After that it is on to Matamata where we are having lunch with Jason then it is to Waikato Stud we go to see Rock 'n' Pop and the 13 mares and some foals that we have there.  By 2.00pm we will return to our stable to inspect each horse that we have in work.

It will certainly be a big day but what could be more fun than looking at horses that I have purchased, developing and growing and maturing into good racehorses - I call that FUN!

We will be home on the farm by 6.00pm as our good friend Sam Boyd, who worked with me at Te Akau Stud for 30 years, is coming to stay before he leaves for the US and his big expedition - he is co-sailing a yacht from Florida to New Zealand!