“Brandy would get very ‘bolshie’ when there was food around and Kandy was very gentle – she would never kick or bite back,” explains Emma’s twin sister Faye, who rides Brandy, another Kaimanawa.

For Emma, it was the end of a beautiful partnership that had seen her and Kandy collect multiple championship ribbons at Kaimanawa shows since Kandy first joined the Carey family when the girls were 11 years old and just novice riders. Brandy had arrived first with a secret surprise – she was in foal with her colt, Blue. Her gentleness with children impressed the Careys, so they had sought out a second Kaimanawa and Kandy joined the family.

    “She had a bad start in life,” explains Faye. “She was one of the Kaimanawa ponies selected for a contraception programme carried out by DOC. The horses had just got left on land and had to be rescued by the Kaimanawa Wild Horse Trust. She had another home as a stock horse before she came here, arriving with a bad back. We wondered why she kept bucking us off. When her back was better, she was wonderful to ride.”

Kandy’s sudden death left a big gap in Emma’s life. It was clear that a new pony was needed, and as soon as possible. First came the fundraising to buy a new pony. Mum Ann and the girls started baking. Coming home from a full day’s work, Ann organised big bake offs. Delicious muffins, cakes, apple pies and biscuits were snapped up each day by Ann’s workmates. The girls baked and baked and baked as orders flooded in. With half of the cost of a new horse in the bank, the quest began to find Kandy’s replacement.

    “We looked at another Kaimanawa, but it was lazy and wouldn’t canter. I asked mum ‘how will I know when I’m looking, if it’s the right pony?’ She told me, ‘you will have no doubts. You will smile and it will feel just right.’ We went to Manukau to see Herbie. When I rode him he felt and looked good. When we cantered, it felt cool,” Emma says.

    Herbie couldn’t have been more different from Kandy – he was bred for racing, a thoroughbred with an impressive siring.

“But his legs were too short and he was too slow. He is quite a character, a clown, very laid back and easy to work with. But he is clumsy, tripping over his own feet and sometimes he’s just not ‘with it.’ In the beginning he would ‘try me on’ every day, with different problems. I was quite small and we knew we had to cut out problems before they became major.”

    Enter Blyth Tait and some very professional lessons for Herbie and Emma.

    “Blyth rode Herbie to show him who was the boss. I worked with Herbie for three years, it was a lot of hard work, but finally we got our first champion at a riding day. Not long ago, we were placed third in Showfields Dressage. Herbie really concentrated on what he was doing. He did so well. He’s pretty special!”

    These 13 year old sisters count themselves as very fortunate to live on a totally animal and horse-friendly rural block, developed by parents Steve and Ann after the family emigrated from England seven years ago. The girls pitched in to help with the fencing, stables were built and a riding track carved out. The girls often have other ponies staying, riding them to help settle them for their owners. There’s also Fudge, the Shetland pony who is a kart pony. From urban England to rural New Zealand was a real learning curve, but the whole family learnt lots of life skills.

     “Kandy and Brandy showed us that wild horses can become so tame,” says Faye. “Brandy is great in cross country and show jumping. She likes tough jumps, anything with action, but doesn’t like to be in the stable. I have to get up early and get her out in the morning. She starts pounding on the stable door when dad gets up early to go to work. She’s like our alarm clock!”

Faye sometimes rides Brandy to school, with mum Ann confident knowing that Brandy will look after Faye. They call her a “bomb-proof pony,” an ideal pony who can switch ‘from kids to a cross country champ.’ Her son Blue is exactly the same.

 “Brandy loves to run, winning all the races she enters. She’s a pony that thinks she’s a racehorse and Herbie is a thoroughbred who thinks he’s a pony,” laughs Emma.