Phew, Teak has been in the UK for a day now and so I have a few minutes and a less fretting mind to be able to write a little about the whole experience. When we finalised the decision to move back to the UK, I had originally planned to sell Teak and had started to make enquiries to have her sold on my behalf. I really had no desire to sell using Trade Me as it scared me to be honest! I also didnt want to let my emotions cloud any judgement on any prospective purchasers. I had some worries over the discrepancies that may have materialised between the price I wanted for her and also the price anyone would be willing to pay for a TB mare, even with her CV, she is still a TB in a country filled to the brim with them! Enter my mum, who placed an offer on the table which seemed so ludicrous it was unreal, even more so than figures and logistics and future plans, just such a generous and unbelievable gesture. I began the process of finding information and getting quotes, and honestly have been around the world chatting to people about flying horses! From Robbie at Garrards in Cambridge, to friends parents, to NZ GP dressage riders, to bloodstock guys, to English girls living in the US and to Canadian grooms I chatted to on Instagram! It is a total amazing journey that Teak has been on, from being bred by my Kiwi fairy godmother Judy near the coast in New Zealand, and now ending up in my old yard in leafy Surrey in England. After a minor/major/heart attack mess up to do with dates and flying, it turned out that I flew to the UK two weeks ahead of her. In this time she was cared for by Caroline at Nikkis yard, with a few selfie visits thrown in by Liz. On Wednesday she was collected by the Majestic lorry and taken up to Auckland airport for her adventure. Tony from IRT even sent a snapshot of her in her roomy two stall enclosure with her travelling companion who was a smallish polo pony. She also had a large number of sheepy buddies with her, who came from quarantine in Hamilton, after being selected from herds all over NZ. From AKL the plane went to Melbourne in Australia. Here they collected two more horses. These ladies were broodmares on their way to the UK, to be covered by the legendary Frankel and then they will be returning to OZ in a few months. The plane then flew to Singapore, and to the UAE, before landing at Heathrow in West London on Thursday evening. The horses and sheep were transferred, still in their air stalls or pallets onto lorries and taken to the Animal Reception Centre. After a few long hours they were taken off the lorry and using a hydraulic ramp they touched down on UK soil. There was a vet check and then one by one (or two by two in the mares case) they were loaded onto the waiting transport. I had borrowed a trailer from Cat at Manor Farm, and Teak was loaded on by her flight groom Pascal, and another groom from IRT; John. She had to wait a little longer until the paperwork was released and then suddenly a little blue file was in the truck and we were headed off around the M25; the orbital London motorway, and headed for her new home. She backed off the trailer just like she does at home, and walked into the slumbering yard with her head practically on the floor. After leaving her for a while whilst mum and I parked the trailer back up, she had a light supper of a very sloppy sugarbeet, garnished with some pony nuts and her NZ Premium Minerals to help with her fluid loss. A light groom and check over done and she was booted up with magnetic boots to help any swellings or knocks she may have sustained in transit and we decided to put a sheet on her over night too. As we left she was really unsettled so we hid around the corner of the yard out of eyeshot, and waited until her emotions had lowered before we turned off the yard lights and drove home to a curry supper at gone 11.30 pm. I hope the album of Teaks Journey helps to illustrate her travels and her story, and gives a little glimpse into this whole new experience that I have been incredibly privileged to be a part of. Her Kiwi papers have been forwarded to Wetherbys, so that she may have a passport that heralds her ancestry and breeding, and so that she is a legal immigrant! I am looking forward to her UK adventures! Thank you so so much to everyone involved, this has been the biggest back up crew I have ever had ! xoxo
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 21:43:55 +0000
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