Back in 1992 Wes and I had formed a riding school. Wes gave all the riding lessons and I would introduce the theory lesson if they wanted them. It was so surprising that the theory lessons were so popular! I asked each rider what it was they wanted to learn about as some knew the basics already, and others wanted to practise for a Pony Club certificate. We organised the groups accordingly and set up a little room with everything to sit comfortably for half an hour before their riding lesson. Most people just loved being part of the horsey surroundings and stayed for lunch and a cuppa to chat about horses!

Sarah was no trouble at all, at only 2 ½ years old she would make Midget join in on quite a few lessons during the day, the little cute pair would follow the last rider in the lesson and basically trying to keep up. When Midget ran out of steam Emily, the white pony in the picture of Chapter 1 would step in and do the afternoons. Sarah also loved to sit in on the basic theory lessons and want to hear more horsey talk. Tiffany was only 4 months old so she would sleep most of the time or sit with me while I gave the theory lessons. We also had a jolly jumper which I am sure many remember, Tiffany would happily hang in this at the stables. So the girls were no trouble at all to have around while Wes and I worked. 

Wes and I also loved having a group of 4 girls who would come over after school and on weekends, whenever they wanted really. They would clean the stable block and help tack, un-tack, feed and wash the riding ponies and in lieu Wes and I would give them FREE lessons!! It worked very well and they all loved coming over.

One of the fondest memories we have from being at Donvale was making long time wonderful friends. Andrew and Sandy Garland along with Felcitiy Kozma and Sebastian and Alicia Tua were people who came for lessons and agisted their horse with us and we are all still good friends today! They now have families of their own and yes are still very keen horsey enthusiasts of their own right. They have joined Pony Clubs with their children and even compete as Adult riders as well. It is such a wonderful interest , ‘HORSES because you can all do it altogether as a family forever!

Sarah became very independent with Midget and as the days passed she wanted to do as much as she could all by herself. At Donvale the pair had mastered walking over the poles on the ground and a few trotting spurts and even a canter. The steering was very direct and Midget started going more forward because we were giving him a hard feed twice a day to be able to keep up with the demands of Sarah’s riding schedule. In this video Sarah is so excited to have Midget arrive at Donvale as he had been kept in Wandin. She even started to ride him outside the arena and around the stable block. 

On the school holidays Wes and I ran camps and some of the kids would stay and sleep over and ride all day long. Sarah just adored all the other kids and it was a wonderful time for her to play horses and jumps on foot in the arena and stables once the ponies were resting.  We stayed at Donvale for nearly 3 years and had formed a wonderful little business but  we needed more acres as we wanted more horses ourselves and there was not enough land there to keep them all. So we investigated where we could go to , something that we could afford and a place where Sarah could go to Kinder and school. 

We lived with my parents for a while until we found 50 acres of land in Coldstream to lease. It was very affordable close to everything and basically flat. This was a big task to set up with the basics but we were very excited to live with our horses once again. Wes and I would construct everything from scratch ourselves because yes this is all we could afford , this is how many of us started in the very beginning  I am sure. The old white Dodge horse truck became very handy to move all our treasures. It was  a little bit strange having no power, Sarah noticed it and soon got used to waiting for the generator to charge the batteries and each night we had about 5 hours of power.

Watch the video here: 

Stay tuned for Chapter 4, Sarah starts jumping and cantering properly!