Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Everyone at Glen Haven Park!

Caboolture Indoor Training Show

16 and 17 December saw everyone at Glen Haven Park loading up all the Singapore horses into our two trucks and taking them to Caboolture Showgrounds Indoor arena, for a two day training show. It took the two trucks three trips to transport all the horses from Kilcoy to Caboolture. The horses did themselves proud and behaved really well in the new environment of a strange arena. The riders were also thrilled with the way the horses handled the different courses, constructed to test their ability in a show type situation. All horses were jumped around several different tracks of varying heights, depending on their level of training at this stage. This proved very successful and all horses adapted well, not worrying about the loudspeakers with commentary and music or the different feel of jumping indoors. It was a very full on two days and at the end of the second day horses, grooms and riders were all happy to make the trip home to Kilcoy!

(left) Roxy Girl and Olivia (right) Travelling Soldier and Paula


(left) Chloe and Mr Sheen (right) Emma and Lenny Hayes

November Team Member of the Month - Nyssa Carter

(left: Proud Nyssa, centre, with David and Paula after being presented with her certificate)

All the grooms and riders here at Glen Haven Park put in a huge effort in their various roles, whether it be training the horses over a line of fences or making sure their water troughs are sparkling clean - everyone in the team ensures the Team Singapore horses is their number one priority. Dedication to horses is a way of life around here. Of course, with so many wonderful and dedicated staff, it is always a hard decision to choose one person who stands out from the others, when considering the perfect candidate for Team Member of the Month. In November, after much deliberation, the perfect person for the award was a very deserving Nyssa Carter, one of the Team Singapore grooms. On Nyssa's certificate we printed the words 'For being highly dedicated, working so hard in her role as groom and literally running after the Team Singapore horses!!' Unusual wording for an an awards certificate but very appropriate in this case, because run is what Nyssa does! Possessing an enviable work ethic, Nyssa carries out all her tasks with purpose and determination and doesn't waste time walking. When Nyssa is working, she's working the whole time! She is very quick in her duties but still manages to be efficient and careful, always mindful of the needs of the horses. A big thank you to Nyssa for all her efforts here at Glen Haven Park!


Nyssa with two of her adoring charges, LE Lucky and CP Rosie

Equestrian Queensland Awards Night

The prestigious Equestrian Queensland Awards night was held on Saturday night at Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast. Olivia was nominated for the Junior Sports Star of the Year and the Glen Haven Park team were out in force to support her. Olivia didn't win the award, which included nominees from all equestrian sports, the winner was Alexandra Toft, but it was still a thrill for Olivia to be nominated. Congratulations to Alexandra! All was not lost, however, as Olivia and Randlab Nero were awarded runner up in the 2009 Future Stars Series, which was very exciting and caused much cheering from the Glen Haven table! More to cheer about - an unexpected formal presentation to Paula was held, for winning the Barastoc Young Horse of the Year Series with GH Avion (Billy). Go Paula and Billy!! A wonderful meal was followed by plenty of dancing to the fab band, with everyone from Glen Haven cheering loudly (again) when Paula and Billy's picture was displayed on the big screen above the dance floor! Thank you to Equestrian Queensland for putting on an excellent night. We especially liked the little bay horse toys in our sample bags. These have now been named after the bay geldings we have on the Singapore team!


Equestrian Queensland Horse Toys - representing members of the Team Singapore BTGC (Bay Thoroughbred Gelding Club) Teddy, Hugo, Astro and Links (we need more to represent Lenny, McGyver, Tom, Buzzword and Villarni! so many bay Thoroughbred boys!)

TGIF! Trail Ride Day!

After a long hard week of flatwork and jumping training on the arena, Glen Haven Park riders and horses both enjoyed a special treat after training today. A relaxing trail ride to the creek! The horses had a lovely time splashing around and cooling off - although Accolade and Buzzword were a little wary at first, but Villarni, Nero and Al soon showed them what fun water can be!

The New Stables are Horse (and Groom!) Heaven

The beautiful and airy new stables have been completed and the Singapore horses are in heaven enjoying their wonderful home. The huge boxes and open air design ensures that this is a comfortable space for the horses, even in the heat of what's looking like being a scorcher of a summer. It seems to be getting hotter every day but on entering the new stable block the temperature is several degrees cooler and there always seems to be a pleasant breeze. The grooms are enjoying the new stable block too! Not only for the cooler temperature but for the wider aisles that make handling horses and mucking out so much easier. There's also a platform out a side door of the building where the stable waste removal tip truck is backed into, so the grooms can empty their wheelbarrows directly into the truck, so the barn area remains clean and relatively fly-free. The stable waste is then carted away for use in the Glen Haven Park gardens or by the local community and businesses. Nothing goes to waste at Glen Haven Park - not even the waste!

Glen Haven Park grooms during a 'power muck-out' session in the new stables

New Candidate for Singapore Team? Not Likely!

Glen Haven Park has spies all over the country sourcing possible horses for the Singapore Team - even at the prestigious Melbourne Cup Carnival. Somehow, we don't think this beautiful boy will be joining our team any time soon, but it was still a thrill to get up close and personal with gorgeous 2009 Melbourne Cup Winner, Shocking!

Spa Day for Virtuous Flair

One of the Singapore horses, Virtuous Flair, has been a little down lately and needed some TLC on her hooves and a massage/muscle treatment. So we enlisted the excellent services of Corrective Shoeing Specialist, Craig Jones and Equine Muscle Therapist, Tony Fookes. Craig designed and made special shoes for Virtuous Flair's forefeet and Tony gave her a full body treatment. Virtuous Flair is now feeling like a new mare thanks to the wonderful attentions of Craig and Tony!

More Horses for Team Singapore and October Team Member of the Month

The stables are filling up with more horses arriving for the Singapore Team on what feels like a daily basis. Since the last update we have added some lovely horses who include LE Lucky, Emmaville Persuasion, Mr Sheen, Little Plains, Van Diemen and T Tempo. More horses will be arriving in the next couple of days and these will include Pearl Monarch, Gippsland Girl and Travelling Soldier. This will bring the total of Team Singapore horses at Glen Haven Park to 28. There are more in the pipeline for purchase so we are hoping to have the full compliment of 38 soon.

The Glen Haven Park October Team Member of the Month was presented last Friday to rider/trainer, Emma Smith. Emma has put in a huge effort with riding and training the Singapore horses and is always happy to help out with riding extras or assisting the grooms. Emma is not only working very hard to ensure the Singapore horses are trained to be the best they can be but also works hard on improving her own riding and training skills. Emma's pleasant manner and positive attitude has made her a valued member of the Glen Haven Team.


Paula presenting Emma with her certificate and Emma and Van Diemen showing their style

Canberra and Back Again

Olivia is home now after a big 2 weeks in Canberra for the NSW State and Australian Championships. Despite absolutely appalling weather - storming and freezing cold the whole time - Olivia was very happy with how all the horses jumped during the Championships. At the NSW State Championships, Olivia placed 3rd in the Junior, 3rd in the Young Rider and 2nd runner up overall in the Young Rider Titles. At the Australian Championships four of Olivia's horses (including Singapore horse, Gatineau) qualified for the final day of competition and Olivia was a member of the Queensland State Team that won the teams event. The newest member of our Team Singapore horses, Van Diemen (Archie), won the Junior Grand Prix at the NSW State Titles, which made us all very proud and excited about him coming to live at Glen Haven Park. After the long trip from Canberra the horses (and humans!) were very happy to be home in sunny Queensland. Olivia and Emma decided to give Al and Bucky some extra special chill out time by taking them for a swim in the creek and for a relaxing bareback jaunt!


Al and Bucky happy to be home, whilst Olivia and Emma salute the sun


Heading back to the stables after a peaceful afternoon, as the sun sets over Glen Haven Park.

Karl Gilliland - Employee of the Month!

Karl being presented with his Employee of the Month Certificate by David and Paula

Last Friday night was a double celebration for groom, Karl Gilliland, it was his 20th birthday and he was awarded Glen Haven Park Employee of the Month for September - as reward for his dedication to and great care of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games Horses. Karl was presented with his certificate and a beautiful horse book, during dinner at local Kilcoy pub, The Stanley Hotel, where a fun time was had by all the team, dancing the night away to live music. Congratulations Karl!

The 'Glen Haven Girls' enjoying dinner

Full Speed Ahead!

It's all happening here at Glen Haven Park with more horses arriving for training this month, these include Foxdale Villarni, Hugo, Teddy Waffles, Butterfly Kisses, Stoneleigh Eddie, Little Miss Sunshine, Oakbean Astro Boy and Links, with more arriving in the next day or so. All are adapting to life at Glen Haven and their training programs well. Yesterday we moved the jumps around to offer the horses more variety of fences and courses during training sessions. Our friendly vet, Paul Hatten, carried out his monthly vet inspection of the Singapore horses too. Paul is very happy with the overall condition of the horses and how they are muscling up in response to their training and feed programs. Joe Sewell, from Barastoc, also called in this week to discuss the horses feeding programs and to see how they were responding to their various feed and supplement regimes. When I have time to take pics that are good enough, we will upload more photos to the Singapore Horses page. Photography skills are improving but still not great!

Our vet, Paul Hatten, carrying out routine monthly vet inspection on Alloria Thomas, from Team Singapore.

The team pitching in to rebuild training jumps

Riders, Emma and Olivia, pacing the distance between fences

First Singapore horses are here!

Everyone at Glen Haven Park is very excited to have our first nine Singapore horses in training. Gatineau, Roxy Girl, Alloria Tom, CP Rosie, Buzzword, Flash Top Hat, Midnight Mist, Virtuous Flair and Accolade. All have settled in beautifully to life at Glen Haven and are responding well to training. More horses have been purchased and we are eagerly awaiting their arrival!