Any one on here from NZ?

[dillypony]

I am interested in what the saddles and tack shops are like in NZ, as we are thinking of moving a branch of our saddlery business to NZ, so I am trying to do some research! any thoughts on this would be great and on which is a good horse area? also what are the most popular horses. Thanks

[Roz]

I think Clairebearnz (sorry if I've got spelling wrong) is based in NZ. I love it down there, fabulous riding!

[clairebearnz]

Yep, I'm from NZ, the lower North Island.

Saddles-wise, lots of Wintecs/Bates (as they're Australian based), not a lot of good quality English stuff. Saddlery wise, they're pretty good. There's a big Saddlery Warehouse in a few places where people tend to buy the cheap stuff, but most decent sized towns have a saddlery. My local one is pretty good.

Thoroughbreds are really big, most riding horses are part TB. However, there's usually a few Warmbloods, plus stationbreds and Standardbreds. It depends on the area though, but Thoroughbreds are big, practically no cobs. Thoroughbred size always sells well, but it's almost impossible to find things in non-TB size.

Good horse area, it depends. There's horses pretty much everywhere, but the big TB industry is based around Cambridge in the Waikato. Kaukapakapa north of Auckland is pretty horsey from my memory, the Hawkes Bay is too (it also has lovely weather, by the way), down this way seems to be relatively horsey. I'm not as sure about the South Island but I think horsey stuff around Christchurch is pretty strong.

The riding is fantastic, the scenery is beautiful, I love it here.

[dillypony]

Thanks for the info, its really helpfully. I love the idea of the riding in NZ, our business would be our way in, so I need to find out if it could support us. We are good a fitting TB but we mostly do cobs, natives, WB and endurance Arabs. TB are cheap in the UK and not very popular!

[clairebearnz]

Dec 28, 2008 14:53:51 GMT 1 dillypony said:

Thanks for the info, its really helpfully. I love the idea of the riding in NZ, our business would be our way in, so I need to find out if it could support us. We are good a fitting TB but we mostly do cobs, natives, WB and endurance Arabs. TB are cheap in the UK and not very popular!

Oh TBs come off the track here and are pretty cheap, but they're extremely popular, especially with what I do (lower level eventing). I'd say about 90% of the horses are TB. Standardbreds are pretty big as well as they tend to make very calm, sensible farm hacks once they're done racing. There is Warmbloods, but they're usually the top horses, and there's quite a few stationbreds, which are usually a mix of everything (and are as tough as boots as they're off high country stations).

The riding is pretty good, we don't have so much of the bridleways that Britain has but there's some gorgeous riding on the beaches. I've never been riding up into the high country of the South Island but it's breathtaking down there. The Central North Island is amazing too, I've always wanted to go along the Desert Road when one of the volcanoes is erupting but haven't managed it yet, plus see the wild Kaimanawas.

There's downsides to NZ, like the regular earthquakes (you do stop noticing them), but on the whole, I love it here.