Mahutonga Stud

23/08/2026

A little update on Finn.... still entire! Off to a fabulous home to become a breeding stallion in the coming years - will be watching this one closely.

Downsizing is continuing at Mahutonga Stud and Dougal, (my little surfer boy - very laid back) Marama (utterly adorable) and Mabel the Marvellous (huge presence) are also looking for forever homes.

Dougal (2) and Mabes (1) are out of Chatto Creek Freya by Alexander the Great
Marama (2) is out of Amour and by Kerian of Castlecomer.

Pm for more info
Video taken Friday (21st Aug) will add more.

16/08/2026

To all those asking for info about Finns (little Yak) parents - here goes.....

Will be reg as Mahutongas Grand Finale (Finn) emh 16.2.
Buckskin and white.
Very lightly handled - has had feet done, drenched etc
Would benefit from some one-on-one and consistency - he had no idea he was a c**t until very recently.

Out of Weiti Calamity Cleo - 16.2 buckskin mare. Solid, level headed, quirky - in the way of knowing what she liked and what she didn't - would take a minute to warm to you but once the walls were down, she would do anything for you. Never nasty but would let you know if she wasn't pleased. Never ridden here so i can't comment, on her under saddle but she could stop me in my tracks when she was having a hoon and doing gymnastics in the paddock

By Alexander the Great - 17.1 Drum Horse (50% Shire and 25% each GC and Clyde) - incredibly light movement for a heavy horse. stamped his foals with the same. did very well at lower level dressage, was jack of all - ride, drive, wagon, work - now retired.

15/08/2026

Wee Finn (aka the little Yak) is booked for weight loss surgery on Tuesday (will be losing two stone😉) - buckskin and white c**t Drum Horse (Alexander the Great) X Station bred (Weti Calamity Cleo) Finn would make a solid stallion prospect for the future.

Emh 16.2 - 17hh.

Jumping lines through dam, dressage, trekking star or hunting partner. Lovely soft nature, very keen to learn and will be a super all rounder in the coming years.

Miss Mabel - is also ready to find her forever home.
Big, bold and beautiful she is a unit! But also very soft and gentle - wants to hang out with you Drum Horse. Loves kids.
Emh 16/16.2(+) hh. Shes a solid girl, with a bit of spice she has huge paces and got dressage star written all over her - but in typical Drum horse style will be a great all rounder - good harness or driving prospect if thats where your interests lay.

Both are lightly handled, and will thrive with a bit of consistency and time.

17/07/2026

17/07/2026

Mabel the Marvelous ... is back!!!

Now weaned and looking for a forever home.... this girl is big, bold and beautiful - she also has and has a bloody big ego (though somewhat knocked down a peg or two since being in with the mob) and some sass.

Shes on the lookout for someone looking for a big moving, big presence, head turning show pony/all rounder. Someone experienced with big horses that will set her properly up for the big future I can see for her.

15/06/2026

Downsizing continues - due to a change in circumstances Quest (in paddock condition) has come back to the farm to find her forever home - now a stunning almost 3 yr old she is a healthy and robust filly, standing almost 16hh she is going to be a great sized riding and/or harness horse. She has a sharp mind and is perfectly ready for some more dedicated groundwork, mouthing, long-reining, desensitizing etc while waiting to start her under saddle.

She loved the routine of being brought in daily and made a fuss over - although perfectly happy being in paddock condition with her pals, I have no doubt there is a princess in there, she loves a pamper and attention. She calls out to greet you, and is up for a cuddle anytime.

Quest is a thinker, and under the right person will go a long way in any discipline - she is used to a busy environment and well socialized within her wee herd, she fits in well wherever she is.

Travels well (takes a minute to load).

27/05/2026

We have a couple of lovely young horses looking for forever homes - perfect non-ridden winter projects.

Dougal - Stunning F2 Drum Horse gelding,
out of Chatto Creek Freja,
by Alexander the Great
Rising two (Nov) emh 16.2hh. Big solid, beautiful nature, lovely to look at. Well handled and gentle, but would benefit from some consistency. Well socialized, been in a herd all his life - will need company. Perfect Show Pony and will turn heads wherever he goes. Level headed and calm, he could easily be brought through as ridden and/or harness if that's your thing.12.5

Marama - Beautiful Foundation Drum Horse,
Out of Mahutonga Amour (F2 Drum Horse)
By Kerian of Castlcomer
Rising two (Jan 15) emh 16hh. Beautiful nature, (very people orientated). Well handled and gentle but will benefit from some consistency. Beautiful paces, (huge knee action) when she's in the mood - very quite by nature. Will make a fabulous ridden and/or harness prospect. 12.5

Lil boi (not his real name) - Partbred Drum Horse c**t
Out of Weiti Clamitiy Cleo
By Alexander the Great
Rising one (Dec), emh 16.2++. Full siblings all around the 17hh mark. This wee chap is a blank canvass - lightly handled, can be haltered, feet done, drenched, happy in the mob. He is sporty and athletic - mum was a great jumper. Perfect Hunter prospect or keep as a Stallion and breed your own. 7.5

07/05/2026

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments, I appreciate every one of you for taking the time to reach out - and i thank you all for your support - now let me address some other comments and some Pm’s that arrived over the past 24 hours. I'd just like to clarify a couple of things now I've had some time to process.

Over the past 20 or so years that we've been breeding we've learnt lessons the easy way and the hard way - there's no doubt this is a hard road to pave - I don't profess to know everything and never will – how much of a fool would that make me? What I can say though is my horses mean the world to me and I would never deliberately compromise that.

The foal was weaned because the mother was beginning to lose condition, she was an older mare and coming into winter needs to be able to maintain her condition.

Her foal is almost 6 months old - you can debate me all you want about what age to wean another time - but here it’s never before 5 months (unless under vet direction) and usually before 10 months – he is independent and eating well, and I will add, not appearing to be pining at all. They had been fully integrated into a small mob of older mares and younger horses before weaning was even thought about - he is well established in the herd.

Our fences are all a mix of rail and approved equine wire with electric fencing - those particular paddocks are where we normally wean the foals and the electrics are only connected very loosely, so they can break away if the fence is ever compromised (thank god it did and thank you electrical husband). It's worth noting here that i have seen many worse injuries from timber rails and posts.

As I said the injury was sever and quickly confirmed as such by the vet when he arrived – yes it was clean but there was obvious tendon damage and with almost 50 years of horse’ing behind me now – I know a bad one when I see it. Our beautiful old Clydesdale Stallion Victory sustained a similar, far worse injury (which please note happened when he was grazing OFF our property). Had I had the means to put either of them to sleep before the vet arrived I wouldn’t have hesitated – I do not.

Letting her go as quickly as we could was the final honor I could offer Cleo, she had a handful of carrots and some of her favorite feed before hand – she was proud and stoic right until the end.

Whether or not I do things that you agree with or disagree with – makes no difference to me or this outcome, I only share my stories so people can read, learn and understand from my experiences that sometimes things go right and sometimes they go wrong, thankfully it’s mostly right – but we’ve had some bloody hard lessons to get us to this point.

Its also worth noting that if i am ever asking for advice you will notice I will ask a proper question and there will be a question mark somewhere in my post - they look like this ? - I'm happy to discuss almost anything - but not on post like this - debate with me another time.

As we all know we could put a horse in a padded room it could injure itself, just as we know it could walk through a mine field and not get a scratch.

I check all the horses around midnight every night, rain or shine, nothing was amiss then.

I hope you have a good day wherever you are.

Please enjoy some more photos of Cleo

06/05/2026

Ive got some sad news following the last post on weaning. And in keeping on with the take the good things with the bad mantra. Despite all attempts to avoid it, as suspected foal attempted pushed through the hot fence and brought down two wires in the process

He is unscathed but poor old Cleo got tangled in the wire and cut her leg badly. . . She had to be euthanized. Thankfully he disconnected the electrics when he broke through and the wire was not electric (that would have been even more horrible).

Cleo was a stoic and proud mare right to the very end. It was obvious as soon as she knew she was tangled she stopped, it would have been so much worse had she struggled. It was a clean deep cut, a little blood, but an obvious big injury.

She was calling out to me that morning when I was taking my grandbaby on a walk down to check them ... I knew even before I got down there to turn around, take grandchild back to mum and get the Mule (side-by-side) with my tools on. She stood like a statue while I cut away the wires, i knew immediately what the outcome had to be so called Gerry home from work to try and get the fences mended while I called every vet in the district - urgent and unplanned are never easy to organize and it took quite a few calls but thankfully they were on scene within about 30min. A bucket of her favorite feed and all the carrots Gerry could find were brought down to her before she was laid to rest.

Im gutted. She had earned her retirement here and im so pi**ed off with that c**t its not funny.... but ive only myself to blame and even then its pointless - I had a feeling this wee one might be tricky ... hind sight is a wonderful thing, right!

Scuse the swears but "Life learning lessons" and all that can f right off at the moment... I need to wallow in this for a bit and deal with the loss. That big buckskin mare was as quirky as they come, but I knew her well - and we had come to a very respectful understanding these past years. She did not ever suffer fools - of any species and had a kick on her like a lightening bolt... oh boy she was fast! Each one of her foals were mothered adequately as necessary but she was unlike any Drum mare I know that are generally helicopter mums.
She'd always protect like a mother bear and retribution for bad manners was swift and sharp when administered - then forgotten just as swiftly, as it should be - her foals were all very independent of her from a young age - there was always an air of feral horse about her - despite her love of getting pampered and spoilt - she didnt let many people in (or even other horses) - you knew you were special if she let you in.

Cleo you were always a cat rather than a dog and never apologized for it - I respected you immensely for that. Im so sorry retirement didn't work out as we planned but Im content that you were well looked after and always cared for to the best of my ability while you were here - i'll miss you yelling out when I was late or things not going right (i suspect you would be the head of a union somewhere if you were human) the inappropriately fast backing up for a bum scratch (she took that quite seriously), the incredible acrobatic displays you put on when the feels got to you - that often belied your age, the sensible calmness you brought to the heard and willingness to follow me through thick and thin - I appreciated you and your wisdom so very much. You were the goodest girl and I made sure to tell you that on repeat, through my tears as you drifted off. Thank you special girl - I will miss you.

Thanks also to Owen from Waikato Equestrian centre. Cam Parker from Transforma Bobcats, and as always Gerry (my love) for letting me leave that part of it to you.

Buried now with your herd mates on Mahutonga Stud's Memorial Hill.

04/05/2026

This chap is now a strapping lad ready to be weaned (and find a new address).

Drum Horse (Alexander the Great) x Nz Stationbred (Weiti Clamity Cleo) Buckskin and white. Emh 16.2+

Maturing beautifully in a heard situation, learning the ropes - not a push over and will assert himself when needed.

lightly handled for basics - haltering, tirming etc, blank canvass. would benefit from some consistancy.

Would make a fabulous stallion prospect to the right home or stunning all rounder.

7.5 carrots