Te Akau Tuesday Update

David writes:

I went to Hayden Allen's funeral yesterday.   As I have said before Hayden worked for Te Akau each morning from 4.15 to 7.30am.

He will be very missed by all of our team. It is tragically sad to see a wonderful young man's life cut short at just 40. Hayden was a very popular guy and there was a huge turnout to farewell him yesterday at the Matamata Racecourse.

As the complete horseman that Hayden was, he will be greatly remembered.  He truly loved his horses and as a result horses responded really well to him.

It is a big day at the farm today with plenty of horses coming and going. Doug Black, our vet,  will be here to geld two colts, scope a filly, pregnancy test five mares, brand an orphan foal and xray one horse's fetlock joints.

Luke Copeland's wife Melissa had a baby boy yesterday weighing in at 10lbs, so it looks like we have another prop forward coming its way to the Te Akau rugby team!  Luke has worked at the Te Akau Stud since he left school 16 years ago.

While I was in Matamata yesterday I took the opportunity of inspecting all of the horses in our stable.  This season has been the most frustrating we have ever had. We have had a cough go through our stable that has proved very difficult to get rid of. Most stables in Matamata have been affected but the good news is that it appears that our problems are over and look out for the Te Akau team this autumn.

It's been a sad week with another great loss in Matamata with the passing of Marie O'Sullivan wife of DJ and mother to Paul and Lance. Marie was a great lady and our thoughts are with the O'Sullivan family at this sad time.