Homestead Waterjump

Rainbow Corner

A challenging 75cm corner with interesting approach lines. A rainbow flax peeking out.

Apricot Blossom

A new 65cm hanging log at the top of the apricot orchard, in full spring bloom.

Yellow Barrels

A sturdy 75cm skinny (2.4m). This is a heavy, solid jump and once the rails are painted black will be a fun, bumblebee-type jump.

Sleeping Dog

A beautifully inviting log as you enter the Homestead area, just saying "Jump Me!"

Denim Rolltop

An imposing 85cm jump for the more experienced, but still confidence-building.

Rolltop 70cm nice and wide, solid jump, encouraging for young horses.

Sharks Tooth

A 2-sided, 4-level jump (65, 75, 85, 100). The other side is called the Lumberjack.

Lumberjack

This jump, in four different heights, should be popular with all riders.

Lumberjack

Another perspective of the Lumberjack, showing its 4 different heights.

Showjumping

This is the area to be put into a showjumping arena (opening October).

 		 Haybarn run

A look down the main fairway of the Haybarn paddock,.

Waterjump

During the winter the water jump has filled naturally, giving us a preview of it's finished size.

Baby Hanging Log

Just a wee 50cm jump for warming-up.

Reverse side of Sharks Tooth

With the look of a paling fence, this is still a 75cm jump, but looks bigger from this side.

 

Baby Culvert

A 55-cm jump - small but very pretty! The black culvert is made of very thick, high-density plastic.

Over-the-Ditch

An inviting jump for intermediate riders. Has a 50cm-deep ditch immediately in front of the log. The highest point of the jump is 80cm from ground level and it is 1 metre wide.

Trakehner

07-June 2009 - Similar to Over-the Ditch (it is over the same ditch!), the difference being this is a lower jump (60cm). Has a 50cm-deep ditch. Jump width 70cm.

 

Hanging Logs

A family of hanging logs, portable so they can be set in ascending combinations or individually (65, 75, 85 cm)

Sherwood magic

Once completed, this will be a beautiful bridle path.

Sherwood - clear the track!

A bit of work to do here - we are waiting on a small digger to sort this lot out.

Half Moon Jump

Allowing a variety of approaches and exits from uphill or downhill. 70cm. We plan to put a trench in front eventually to make this a Normandy bank.

The Sump

This area in Over-The-Moon is a natural basin which fills with a foot of water during winter. We dug through 2 metres of clay to get to a layer of shingle, then filled the hole with river stones. Now the area is free-draining.

Applefields

May-09: Here we are pulling out the old Red Delicious trees and smoothing over the holes. This will become a training area for show jumping.

Half Moon Jump Construction

Marco digs the holes for the posts for the half-rounds for the backfill for the topsoil for the half-moon-shaped bank jump in Over-The-Moon paddock.

The Wood Box

Debra & Mike put the finishing touches to the Wood Box jump.

LOGS!!

Debra's brain works overtime on how to use these wonderful logs.

Liverpool

18-April 2009 - this has a slip-rail which can be set to 65, 75 or 85cm, or left off entirely for ditch training.  The ditch is filled with shells.

Modified Trakehner

19-April 2009:  a full 95cm trakehner for a challenging jump uphill or downhill.

Training Bank Landscaped

Here you can see the landscaped area uphill, to flatten the slope of the landing area. The grass is just starting to grow. We have put 6 inches of crusher dust on the downhill landing area.

Farm Gate Jump

85cm high farm gate

Sharks Tooth Jump

Mike has just towed the new Sharks Tooth jump (75cm) into position. Can be easily repositioned as it is on skids.

Axle jump

An old axle arrives (courtesy of a Trademe deal) - the foundation for an eye-catching jump.

The Canyon Run

Looking through the canyon south to north. In the middle we filled in a 3-metre deep hole, about 5 metres wide.

Smaller Bank Jump

Excavation done - now for the timber work.

Tall Pine, Short Dog

One of the Sherwood pines ready for milling, which apparently meets with Dr. Watson's approval (short in stature, big in heart).

New Canyon Ramp

Looking down the new ramp into the Canyon from the Homestead

Sherwood track opens up

A bit of mess to clean up after a few large pines were felled at the start of the Sherwood track.

The training bank

One of the last jobs is going to be trimming of the trees focusing on horse and rider safety..

Structure completed

Just waiting for the compactor to level the landing strip.

The First Jump!

This is a bank jump in the Over-the-Moon paddock. Three heights - 65 (closest to camera), 75 and 85cm. Next step - backfilling.

New ramp

Looking down from the Homestead to the Tabletop, and further down the ramp into Sherwood.

Homestead

The Homestead was where the previous owner planned to build a house. Instead it is going to be a great training ground, complete with water jump.

Sherwood

We need a path through those trees! Get the chainsaw ready....

Gorse!

Debra sees a gorse jump when everyone else sees a noxious weed.

The Canyon

Looking up the slope from the Canyon.

The Work Horse

The grunty machine doing all the tree pulling and ramp building

The Portable Mill

The pine trees from Sherwood are milled into useful jump-building material.

Undulating terrain

Debra discusses downhill jump design

Can you see a Water Jump?

We are in the process of gathering pool liner, crusher dust, sand, water line, ballcock, water-wheel feature, solar-panel, water pump....

Cleaning up the rubbish

It's amazing how much rubbish has accumulated in this neglected property over the years

Stumps Gone

Almost ready for an easy canter

The Stumps

A row of stumps after the chainsaws and Fergy have done their thing

The Fergy goes to work

Mike on the Massey Ferguson piling up the cuttings from the apricot trees

Apricot Orchard

The first paddock ("Over-the-Moon") is an old, neglected apricot orchard.

Applefields 2005

Another shot of the state of the property when we took over. 

The Canyon 2005

Looking over the Canyon towards the Homestead. What a jungle.

 

Applefields 2005

This photo was taken shortly after we purchased the property in 2005. We had just had fence posts driven.

Haybarn Paddock 2005

Braeburn apple trees swamped by grass and weeds. Our solution - put up fences, install stock watering and put in some cows.

Over-The-Moon 2005

What to do? What to do? The trees are probably too far gone, the pasture is non-existent, no fencing, no stock water, no power.