Holbrook Hire Auckland

Horse owners: Before you take ANY machinery into your paddock, do this 30-second test.

How to avoid making your winter-damaged paddock even worse.

The time is almost here to start helping our grass and ground recover.

My property is finally almost dry again!

But if I jump into it blindly, I could cause more damage without even realising it.

So before you hook on the roller, harrows or aerator ➡️ grab a spade.

Dig into one of the worst areas and look beneath the grass.

🪏 Does the soil smear against the spade?

💧 Is it sticky, heavy or holding water?

🌱 Are the roots shallow or growing sideways above a hard layer?

If so, your paddock may look ready on top…but underneath, it isn’t.

Taking machinery over wet ground can compress the soil even further, squash out the air spaces and leave you with deeper wheel marks, poorer drainage and grass that struggles to recover.

Sometimes waiting one more week can save you months of trying to repair the damage.

Once the soil is firm enough to work without smearing or sinking:

🔘 Roll raised and lightly pugged areas back into place.

〰️ Harrow rough surfaces, dead pasture and manure.

🌱 Aerate areas where repeated traffic has created compaction beneath the surface.

The right tool matters.

But the right timing matters even more.

✨ Now I’m curious…

Which part of your property refuses to dry out… the gateway, trough, raceway or somewhere else?

It’s like we have a hose on one section of the property.. possibly an underground drain? It’s just a little wet there 🤥😬🫣

Did you use a sacrificial paddock through winter like I did, or have you had to use the whole property?

For 60 seconds, your horse can speak perfect English. What would you choose… 👀

Would you rather:

A) Ask your horse ONE question and receive a completely honest answer.

OR

B) Say nothing and listen to whatever your horse wants you to know.

No follow-up questions.
No second chance.

Once the minute is over, they go straight back to demanding food and pretending they don’t understand you. 😂

Which would you choose?

& if you picked A… what’s the one question you would ask?

If you have multiple horses, would if be the same for each or different?

As I’m getting the fertiliser spreader ready for tomorrow’s hire, my brain is in overdrive…

Is it really that time already?

Are people’s properties already dry enough to fertilise?

I really need to start doing more marketing to people so they know that they can hire this equipment instead of having to buy it. 🤔

While tomorrow’s customer gets on with their day today, I’m here greasing, cleaning and checking every function to make sure the spreader is ready to pick up and use without any issues.

The time it takes them to collect and return it probably won’t equal even a quarter of the time I’ll spend preparing it for them. Their time is now better spent elsewhere.

So why would you buy one?

You might spend $3,000–$5,000 on a machine you’ll use once or twice a year. Then you have to service it, replace tyres or seals as they deteriorate from sitting, and find somewhere dry to store it.

And if you discover something has seized or failed on the day you need it?

Absolute headache. 🤕

Or you could hire ours for:

$210 for the whole day
$40 for the transport trailer

You know it will be checked, maintained and ready to go without any hassle.

It won’t slow you down. You can get the job done efficiently, without adding repairs, maintenance or unexpected problems to your day.

Then you return it.
Without having to find space for it in the shed or watch it slowly deteriorate outside.

So, why not hire?

Are you planning your property’s spring fertilising as early as tomorrow’s very organised customer? 🌱

Anyone else looking across their property as we reach the end of winter… and only seeing everything that needs fixing? 🫣

The pugged gateway.

The fence that needs repairing.

The bare patches, rutted paddocks, blocked drains and the w**ds that somehow survived winter better than the grass did.

Suddenly, the spring season we’ve been waiting for feels like one very long list of jobs.

Where do I start?
How do I fix it?

It can feel overwhelming.

Winter is hard on our properties, but you don’t need to fix everything at once.

You already know how you want your property to look by summer.

You just need a map to help you get there. 🗺️

So, we’ve created a simple After Winter Property Revival Checklist for horse properties and lifestyle blocks.

It covers what to inspect, what to repair, and which jobs may need rolling, aerating, harrowing, reseeding, fertilising or w**d control.

There’s also a Match the Tool to the Job guide to make working through that spring list a little easier.

Would you like a free copy?

Comment CHECKLIST below and I’ll send it through. 🙌🏼

Hopefully, it will help you feel a little less overwhelmed and get your property looking fabulous for summer. 🌺

Instead of wondering when your next vacation is..

Build a life that you don’t need to escape from 🥰

If that for you, is hooking on the float and disappearing once or twice a week for a ride, like it is for dani & I..

Then, you know where to find a float 😉🦄

A horse owner’s bank account should never be audited. 🫣💸

We, horse people, will always put our horses before ourselves!

$15 delivery for something I need?
“Hmm… maybe I don’t need it after all.”

$180 for a bodyworker for my horse 🤷🏼‍♀️
When I struggle to bend over far enough to put my own socks and shoes on? ❤️‍🩹

Well… that’s completely different. 🤣

New shoes for me:
“I’ll wait until they’re on sale.”

Even though they are looking like they are starting to resemble Swiss cheese 🧀

New shoes for the horse:
“Can you come this week?”

And somehow, spending $40 on ourselves feels wildly irresponsible… while an unexpected horse bill with an extra zero gets explained away with:

“Oh well. They needed it.” 😂

Or the slightly more responsible sounding:

“I need to look after them the best I can, so they’re feeling the best they can in their old age.” 🥹

No judgement here ➡️ What’s the best example of horse-owner maths you’ve ever managed to justify?

Maybe it was only this week… 👀

Well done to those who rode at woodhill this weekend &

A special well done to those who placed 😍

Class 43: HOLBROOK HIRE Cat C Champion Pony 80cm (*Series Finals Qualifier)
1 - Molly Buckingham (Swanson) Grassendale Gin
2 - Alice Walker (Ahuroa) The Ginja Ninja
3 - Ellie McDonald (Helensville) Piripi

Have you heard of catsear?

One little yellow flower can tell you two things about your paddock and one of them matters to your horse’s welfare.

At first glance, catsear looks like another harmless dandelion scattered through the grass.

But it may be telling you something about the paddock beneath it.

Catsear tolerates low-fertility soil better than many productive pasture plants. So when it begins taking over, the w**d itself may not be the whole problem.
🕵 It can be a clue that the grasses are struggling and leaving space for it to spread.

For horse owners, there’s another reason to notice it.

Catsear has been associated with Australian stringhalt, a condition that can cause sudden, exaggerated lifting of the hind legs. The exact cause isn’t fully understood, but cases have been linked particularly with horses grazing large amounts of catsear when the plant is under stress.

The important part is knowing that catsear and dandelion aren’t the same plant.

Although looking almost identical 👯‍♀️

🌼 True dandelion: smooth leaves and a single yellow flower on each hollow, unbranched stem. It is not known to be toxic to horses.

🌼 Catsear: hairy leaves with wiry, branching stems that can carry several yellow flowers. This is the plant associated with Australian stringhalt.

Both can take advantage of bare, compacted or weakened pasture.

However, catsear is particularly tolerant of dry conditions and low fertility.

So the best response isn’t necessarily to rush out and spray every yellow flower.

Sometimes a w**d is more than an unwanted plant.

It’s your paddock showing you what needs doing?

Be honest: until today, would you have assumed this was just a dandelion? 🌼

WOULD YOU RATHER… 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yesterday’s & todays blue skies had me thinking 🤔

If you get one perfect spring day, one of our floats ready to go and absolutely nowhere else you need to be.

Would you rather take your horse…

🌊 To the beach — even though they’re convinced every incoming wave is coming specifically to eat them?

OR

🌲 Into the forest — where one suspicious tree stump could bring the entire expedition to a halt? Probably a deer 🦌🤣

Im very 50/50 but I think I’d choose the beach 🏖️
but I suspect, if I’m on one of the babies, my peaceful ride would involve travelling backwards to sit down in the waves on Sicarrii cause suddenly the white foam on the waves we have been in the last 5mins become scary & my boots will get wet!
Luckily Arlo has everything is under control always & looks after dani. 🦄😂

Which adventure are you choosing—and what would your horse make unnecessarily dramatic about it?

The destination might be beautiful 🤩

…but it’s normally the unplanned bits that become the story you keep telling. 🦄

The Best news!! Im soo excited to go to some 😍
Make sure to Hire one of floats to help you get there.

If you tell me your reason to hire is to attend one of these events at woodhill, we will even give a $20 DISCOUNT 🙌🏼🙌🏼😍

Here's what's we are running at our fantastic venue, **Woodhill Sands**! 🐴🌿

Please note that the **ESNZ Grand Prix Show Jumping** scheduled for **5–6 September** has been cancelled and replaced with a **Training Jumping Weekend**.

We are continuing to work through the remaining requirements to host Grand Prix events and are looking forward to being ready to welcome everyone back for our **first Grand Prix Show in October**.

A very small group of volunteers are currently responsible for delivering these events, and we'll need the support of our amazing equestrian community to make them a success. Whether you can spare a few hours helping in the arena, parking, the office, or with setup and pack-down, every helping hand makes a real difference.

Thank you for your continued support as we work towards getting Woodhill Sands fully operational again. We can't wait to see you all back at the venue! 💚