Brian ( right) on Freedom and Andrew on his horse Major.
riding with friends
Brian on Fredom
Brian on Freedom.
Marianna( below) on Venus and Lana with Venus.
WELCOME TO THIS SITE.
IN THIS SITE I WANT TO SHARE SOME OF THE THINGS GOD HAS SHOWN US OVER THE YEARS WITH REGARDS TO OUR HORSES, HOW GOD FOUND EACH ONE FOR US, WHAT WE DO WITH THEM AND HOW GOD USES THEM TO BRING PEOPLE TO HIMSELF .
This is not our commersial site. We have that too, because we need to earn some money somewhere along the line to support this ministry. But this site discusses the spiritual nature of the ministry and to connect with people who have a similar ministry or would like to help us in this ministry.
We rely a lot on overseas helpers that come for an experience with horses.
We give them free accommodation and they get to experience working with our horses, ride them and help us generally with the farm and hostel.
Our commercial site is http://horses4fun.tripod.com/
But just to give you a bit of my background.
I am a female and am 49. I was born in Holland, lived the next 2 years of my life in Nigeria and then an other 2 years in Brunei. My Dad worked for SHELL so we lived in many places.
Once we settled in Holland, I started riding when I was 13 years old.
At 15 years old, I got a pony to look after from a farmer nearby. I had 10 riding lessons before that but just carried on looking after that pony for 2 years.
After the pony was sold I did some riding at the stables, mainly trekking on a Saturday.
The love for horses never left me .
I did my nursing training in Amsterdam, then I travelled to New Zealand to visit my uncle and aunty that had lived there since 1974. I was 20 when I visited them. This is November 1980.
They showed me all around the North Island , but my first visit was to a small town called" KatiKati" where me and my cousin went for a tramping holiday.
There I met Brian, a local farmer who was asked to carry my backpack for me when we tramped in the bush. ( I was an ex nurse with a sore back)
Brian hung around for the rest of that week....( I wonder why???)
At the end of that week he gave me a box of chocolates and his address and asked if I wanted to keep in touch....
I did keep in touch and at Christmas time I sent him a card thanking him for the chocolates.
He rang me at my aunty's place to see if I wanted to see more of Auckland. The others had already gone back to work and school, so I thought, " why not?"
Long story short, we went back TOGETHER to Holland in March 1981 and were engaged there on April 1981.
I went back to NZ July27th 1981 and we were married November 14th 1981.
My parents were able to come to the wedding and God provided a house for us on the family farm.
We milked 140 cows for the next 16 years. God gave us 4 healthy boys. First one born April 1983, second born Oct 1984, third son born November 1986 and fourth son born 1991.
Why I didn't get any girls I will ask in heaven but I may not need to as I have a fair idea...
During the time we milked cows I wasn't allowed to have horses but one day I was able to have a horse. From that time I looked after one for a few years.
But it wasn't until Brian's Dad wanted to divide the farm up and become independant from him, that's when I could have horses.
Once we got a good amount and a good team of horses together, we started a small riding school.
I started teaching kids to ride and take people on horsetreks .
Our neighbours let us use their big 300 acre farm for us to ride through and an other neighbout through their forest and river to get to the farm.
Once that was running for 4 years, together with the backpackers hostel that we have opened at the same time, I started seeing God use the horse to bring people to himself.
Now oppertunities have opened to start doing horsecamps and to bring people to the saving grace of Jesus.
Even though horses themselves have a healing influence on people, Jesus is the reason for our work with horses.
Jesus heals people and He uses his own creatures to bring people to Himself.
People often ask me how come our horses are so gentle, loving and kind and so willing? I say it is God who had brought each one of them here.
That in itself would be a separate chapter.
But now the Lord has given us 6 great horses. They are: Lady, a suffolk punch cross, chestnut, 15 hands and she is 16, Freckles, white ponym 14.1 hands, 16 yrs, and cross arab/welsh , then Prince, Bay gelding, 15.3 hands, 14 years, very gentle, Snoopy, Bay mare, 14.2 hands, ex polo , cross bred, big built, lovely nature, 15 years, then Freedom, tri-coloured horse( skewbald), 9 years, 15.2 hands, part clyde and very calm and laid back, great for beginners, gelding, and Venus, our blacl baby, 16.3 hands, half clydesdale, hald quarterh/arab, 5 years old mare.
Very quiet learners horse.
Now the oppertunities to go to several different locations for Christian horsecamps: Lakesranch , Rotorua, a christian camp where I am taking 32 people on the 18thto 20th September.
Camp at our place on the 16th to the 18th of October .
And Matakana island treks on the 30th October to the 1st of November.
Photos of Matakana treks are: www.picturetrail.com/horses4fun
Please pray for this ministry as the Lord is coming very soon and he wants lots of people to be saved.
