Riverrock Farm is on the move, and we couldn’t be more excited about the future.
For over 3 years, with little luck, Chad and Aliesha had been trying to secure a larger block of land to call Riverrock HQ. Just when it seemed all hope was lost in a crazily inflated market, their luck changed and they were able to secure their dream farm.
“We decided to have one last crack at buying a farm and if that had failed, we were going to downsize and take it easier for a few years while we saved, but that’s not what the universe had in store for us, quite the opposite actually”
“I remember riding one of the young horses, while Chad was finishing building his bull ring when the agent called. I really thought it was going to be another call saying we had been unsuccessful, so it was quite a shock. Many of the agents had started to say what we were looking for was an elusive unicorn property, so we had all but given up” explains Aliesha.
The new block on Maungatautari Road is 120 acres and offers plenty of scope for Riverrock Farm to develop.
“We were looking for a farm that could offer our horses diversity in their work and possessed natural beauty and a relaxed vibe. We wanted something close enough to the track that had an X-factor. The new place provides plenty of scope to develop an array of tracks including forest walks, hill gallops, and a stream to refresh any horse's tired legs, in addition to the normal arena work. It will be an ideal place to educate young horses and keep the older ones fresh mentally. We certainly have our work cut out but I'm looking forward to the challenge and creating something quite unique at our new farm” Chad explains.
So far the team has developed two barns (18 boxes) and around 30 paddocks, with the work on the arena and round yards well underway. The team will be busy starting to move the horses over to the new property over the next few days meanwhile the existing 12 acre block will be used to agist around 10 horses.
Stay tuned to see more progress on the new farm over the coming months.