The PONY Collab

The PONY Collab follow the progress of our horses and ponies and the people that love them. we are committed to providing confidence and experience to people and horses.
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Originally called Oakshott equestrian because we were on Oakshott road we have decided to rename the page The PONY Collab. this us because we are a collaboration of talents, ideas and inspirations. it's not one person it's many and we are always learning and developing our skills. We started off doing lessons but quickly found we had a unique service to offer people with ponies. There are no child

ren that ride and train like Giselle does . She has ridden close to 200 horses and ponies broken in, started, restarted or retrained dozens of ponies for people and the results speak for themselves. Check out some our latest projects. They are trained by children because ultimately they are going to be ridden by children and what better way to get them started than by the very size of rider that they will end up with. Ponies quickly work out who is on their backs and what's expected and there is nothing better than to get your new pony child proof. Giselle will start on them and then we have Quaid and Arya to help check their progress and see who they are suitable for. We also sell on behalf, we can get you pony fit Feel free to contact us any time either on 021474739 or send us an email

[email protected]

31/08/2026

Tomorrow it begins.

Terrific Tuesday where I am going to start posting every Tuesday with things to be thankful for or proud of or happy with, no matter how small.

Often when there is darkness we need a little illumination 🌟💡

On Thursday I'm going share thoughts and experiences on horse behaviour and what it can mean for the horse.

It might make people a little uncomfortable because they have held on to ideas or beliefs for such a long time, to think something different challenges everything.

No one wants to be wrong, no one wants to cause horses harm and yet our lack of understanding them is doing exactly that.

It's not time for shame its time for growth. Let's evolve because that's where the future lies.

So come along, share your good fortune or your experience, remember to be kind, to have a balanced view and to be open to learning 😊

Sugar is now 22. It's already pretty impressive that she was at HOY 2018 and 19 then went down hill not even placing at ...
30/08/2026

Sugar is now 22. It's already pretty impressive that she was at HOY 2018 and 19 then went down hill not even placing at 60cm in 2021 and being sold as a farm hack, to Giselle being given her and they just competed at 1m picking up 2nd place.

But what is even better is that it's all done in a snaffle no nose band.

The first 2 pics are of her back in the day. The last 2 of her today.

We tried a bevel and she hated it, head tossing excessively. I've watched videos of her in the past, she head tossed then as well.

I don't know if anyone ever just tried a snaffle but the martingale and gear tells me, she was trying to avoid the contact.

It has taken awhile to get Sugar to go long and low and drop the head toss but we have it now. Remember behaviour is communication because its all they have to explain to us what's going on.

Are we listening or are we controlling?

Giselle is self taught with no formal training except a couple of seasons at PC. Sugar was retired from jumping for 5 years, she crashed through jumps and dropped rails 5 months ago when we got her.

She was fast, flat and hard to turn.

And yet here they are making a come back.

Not sure what the future holds for them but right now let's take a moment and appreciate this achievement.

She's in a crappy saddle, saddle blanket has holes in it, crappy bridle, no formal training, no noseband, D-ring snaffle coming second against the pony that won the speed round at Equifest last year and won at HOY. Again she's 22 and the difference between the 1st photo and the 3rd photo says it all.

30/08/2026

Kevin might have put on a little weight being in the big pony herd so he's been demoted to the little pony herd 😂.

Much excitement for the boys to all be in together again.

29/08/2026

Everyone was full of spring fever today 🥰.

27/08/2026

Bullying update.

To sum up quickly, things have calmed right down thank heavens 🙏

Nothing more heartbreaking than watching your child suffer and feeling helpless.

How you might ask?

Well the girls took the high road.

It's not about avoiding the situation, its about ignoring it, like it doesn't exist. Not deliberately (passive aggressive style) ignoring but more like putting a shield up.

Confidence and a good group of friends behind you supporting you.

If we all paid less attention to this behaviour, saw it for what it is, a projection and a 🚩 for what that child is dealing with, then maybe we can help navigate our kids through it better.

Society loves people getting their comeuppance but maybe they should love people's gratitude or success a little more.

At any rate I'm going to start next week off and every week after that with a bit of good news. Might be small, might be amazing but whatever it is, it will be better than giving credence to negativity.

゚viralシ

24/08/2026

So easy to blame the horse when they stop, duck out or buck or whatever undesirable behaviour they show you.

He's choosing to be difficult

It's just the way he is

He doesn't like fillers

He's just being naughty because he did this yesterday no trouble

People gaslight the rider as well.

You need more leg on

You let him run out

You weren't looking up

You were too far forward

You need to be more confident

Hey in some cases these comments are true but why are they the first things to assume?

There is Zadel jumping a 1.1m easy as and then he stops at the end on the smallest jump he has done many many times.

Why?

Well we did not assume any of the above.

Saddle. His saddle slipped over his shoulder. Just that nothing more.

If we stop having to point fingers at the horse or the rider and put that focus on being more aware of what the horses is trying to communicate, we will make less mistakes and we will be in less danger of hurting ourselves.

Zadel knocks the odd rail. We have tried a few techniques to over come it but nothing has stuck. Dawn from Equiport nz came out last week to treat Zadel and Sugar and we have saddle issues.

This video is Giselle trying a different saddle. No knocking rails but still not right.

I'm tempted to let her ride in the ba****ck pad. Zadel is difficult to fit because he has no shoulder to keep the saddle in place. Wides saddles slip over (yes we have tried techniques to stop it and no I'm not going to use a crupper) and medium saddles wedge into his shoulder causing discomfort.

At any rate. If we think of the entire situation rather than that singular moment of behaviour maybe we would get a better Picture of what's going on.

The girls did awesome at PC prize giving taking out the trophies for games, intermediate SJ and eventing. Also the impre...
22/08/2026

The girls did awesome at PC prize giving taking out the trophies for games, intermediate SJ and eventing. Also the impressive Teams trophy for Ballyndene.

Where it all began 🥰. Marmite was never an easy pony. 110% the most bombproof pony of them all. She was at the ZM Glori...
21/08/2026

Where it all began 🥰.

Marmite was never an easy pony. 110% the most bombproof pony of them all. She was at the ZM Glorivale wedding in Big Save furniture on the North Shore as the ring bearer. She ate donuts with Vaughan.

You could ride her down any road and she wouldn't blink at a thing. Trek her anywhere and she not only kept up with the big horses but was faultless.

But ride her in the paddock and you had another thing coming. Still Giselle carried on, learning ba****ck on her and how to sit to bucks and rears and spins.

Giselle's has taught the basics of jumping to well over a 100 ponies, giving them confidence and learning what THEY need to be comfortable to jump. No whip, no straps or gadgets, no harsh bits, no yanking, thrashing, spurs or anything else. Maybe a little flapping ☺️.

Put her on anything and eventually unless its injury, she will get them to improve their jumping without force or punishment.

We have to thank Marmite for giving her the start she had. Not easy but not too scary, the blessings of small ponies 💕

****ck

Shout out to Stan Middlemiss for all the cover repairs he does for next to nothing. Fast as lightening and always a gre...
20/08/2026

Shout out to Stan Middlemiss for all the cover repairs he does for next to nothing. Fast as lightening and always a great job. Don't know how you go anywhere else in Hamilton, it would be even worth making a trip just to Hamilton to drop them all off. 7 rugs with various rips, missing straps, broken straps and it cost me just over $10 a rug.

Brilliant 👏

Giselle's goal is to get to Grandprix. Sugar last competed in 2020 with abysmal results. The best was a 4th the rest wer...
17/08/2026

Giselle's goal is to get to Grandprix.

Sugar last competed in 2020 with abysmal results. The best was a 4th the rest were anywhere from 10th to 31st.

So 6 years after competing and basically farm hacking or whatever, this is quite the comeback.

Our family motto is "where there's a will there's a way" and this is no different.

The kid who taught herself to jump with basic help from me, nothing flash, no money for lessons, no money for gear, no money to buy a pony, is working her hardest to make this dream come true.

This is a definite against the odds type situation if they make it.

But this is what they have done in just over 4 months together ❤️.

Thank you to all the people who support us. People who have donated gear to her and given her a pony that she has a shot at being where she wants to be.

This is not a journey we can do on our own so from the bottom of our hearts, bless you for following 🙏

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