Gisborne= FUBAR

Map of our trip so it makes more sense to people
Blue dot- Woodhill, Green dot- Te Teko (stayed 5 mins from green dot most of the time, Red dot -Gisborne


We knew leaving to Gisborne that the forecast was for high winds and heavy rain overnight but it was only an hour into the trip that we hit the rain. That and the flooded paddocks were something of a clue that it had been wet lately. On stopping in at a service station I found at that it had been raining for 3 days but not as much as that. Once we arrived we were told that it was set to improve but the torrential downpour just continued. We shored up the yards with woodchips but by the next morning they were nearly underwater and turning into a bog. Thankfully at the end of the first day I pinched some drier yards and the ponies were much happier.


The puddle at the bottom of the ramp

So arriving at midday on Wednesday we set up and then hid from the rain mostly. We didn't do our showhunter practice rounds but I never intended to ran Rascal anyway as the show hunter was set a little beyond what she is up to at the moment. The next morning when we woke to more rain we waited with bated breath for the announcement and at 7.30 it came that all horse events were canceled bar the showhunter which was in the indoor.


Connies lake

It was a miserable miserable day- long wet and endless. Being 5 kms out of town there was no chance of going in for entertainment really in that weather. I for one at this point was all for leaving. The road South to Napier however was blocked by slips and the road back the way we came was down to one lane. In fact two trucks did go back that day and got turned back by flooding before a slip came down trapping them. The horses spent the night in a farmers cattleyards and the riders spent the night helping the farmer pull sheep out of the floodwater. So really there was no hope of us going anywhere, we were effectively trapped. In Gisborne. In a slightly leaky horse truck in some of the worst weather I have experienced.


Oh lucky Kate! Favouritism much??

Kate got my solo indoor yard as she is jumping the biggest. So she wasn't so unhappy but the water caused small cuts on Connies legs to get infected and she blew up in her left fore effectively ending her show. Such that it was anyway! Thursday the roads remained closed and we sat and waited for time to pass basically. We borrowed a car and I brought an armload of magazines.


The ring 2 lake

I wish I could explain just how much it sucked. We would have left if we hadn't been so stuck. The rain was torrential. The Friday was sunny with only showers coming over in the evening but the ground was sodden. A reduced class list ran and Kate got out of her box for a couple of classes. I'll talk about that later. I was keen to ride Friday and my friend was keen to leave but again we were still stuck so we made the best of it.


The water jump/ lake

The Saturday was grand prix day and only my friends grand prix horse ran. I was seriously tempted by the 1.15m for Kate but the ground had started to dry a bit so not only was it wet and slippery but also sucky and very deep and hard work for the horses. There is heaps of jumping to come this season so I won't really worry about it too much. Thankfully the roads were open and we could make the 8 hour trip home. There was significant slip damage on the trip. So glad to be home. So glad.