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I’m continuing the story of my father and his horses, and our time when my parents
ran the Taheke Hotel in the Hokianga.

The first photo is a mystery in that we don’t know the name of the child, but it does demonstrate how my father enjoyed working with horses. He would know that the horse would hold still while the child sat on its neck. I find it very interesting as a photograph, the composition is arresting for a start, quite apart from the unusual view of a horse’s head. The white triangle that comes in from the left is strong too. I doubt if my father ever knew how good this photo was.

Here I am hanging on at the back, onto my sister Natalie. The little boy at the front is one of my cousins but without a bit of research I would only be guessing which one. When I look at this photo I can see why it seemed such an awful long way down at the time. I was right.

The last photo is another of Natalie, this time in the bar of the hotel. The smell of horse was a big part of my childhood and lo and behold I think that I can smell horses right now. It’s warm and spicy.