About me
My name is Toma, it's a Lithuanian name and Lithuania is that tiny little country in eastern Europe and one of the Baltic states, I did mostly grow up in Germany though and that's the accent you can hear. I started riding in Germany at the age of 8 and only got my first horse Tui after I moved to Australia at 25 years old. My horse keeping and training these days is based on consciousness, kindness and communication. I try to give my horses as much choice as possible and our relationship is my highest priority.
I'm a mum of two girls, mum of 2 horses, a dog named Hank and a wife to my very supportive husband.
There are 3 main reasons why I wanted to start a business in agisting horses.
1. I wanted the company of likeminded people. I always agisted my horses and loved the social part of it (at the right places) the random trail rides that sometimes came out of nowhere and the ability to ask for advice and help if needed. After some time of having horses at home by myself I lost motivation to ride ect. Then a friend moved her horse to mine and it was so good!!! She pushed me (without pushing) to get my bum back in the saddle. The idea grew to build my own little community to ride and learn with likeminded horsey people. I'm more of an introvert but feel so comfortable around horsey people on a similar journey as me.
2. I wanted to offer the opportunity and benefits of a life on a track system to as many horses possible, as I was fascinated by it from the first time I've heard of it. It's quite hard or even impossible at a "usual" agistment center. And I wanted to create a place I was looking for when I needed agistment, a place that's there for the horses first and foremost. And where they equally get looked after as their own.
3. I wanted to expand my family and be able to be home with my kids instead of going away to work somewhere 9-5 mo-fr and somebody else raising them. So instead, I choose to work all day long from Monday to Sunday but with my kids by my side (haha).
My track journey so far
I first heard about the track system/Paddock paradise in 2017 at a hoof trimming clinic run by Wild about hooves. Mainly about how different surfaces have so many advantages for our horses’ hooves and because I’ve always had horses with ‘’ouchie feet’’, it was something that interested me immediately. Also, how quickly their feet are suffering with the influence of the sugars in our grasses and with what we feed them was eye opening for me. It just made so much sense straight away just from the hoof perspective (so far that was all the benefits I knew).
In 2019 We finally found a property where I could have my horses at home with me but it was only a bit less than 3 acres. Just enough space for my two horses in a traditional setting.
I fell pregnant but started on a simple perimeter track pretty much straight away and already had so much fun with it. I then took it down once I had my baby though, it felt too hard to handle at that stage of my life. Mainly because I didn’t have a ‘’good’’ set up and didn’t yet know what I’m doing with this new way of horse keeping.
In 2021 I’ve set the track back up and really dove into it, with some mistakes, big learning curves, lots of research and plenty of trial and error, I gained a deeper understanding of the track concept and fell in love with it more and more. Well, the horses and my land showed me how beneficial it is every day, so that kept me motivated. Thats when my friend mentioned above moved her horse here and the dream of offering agistment reignited.
Then out of nowhere in 2022 the amazing and unexpected possibility came up to buy some extra acres of our joining Neighbours and now this property, that was only just ok has become my dream property (still not huge, just under 8 acres), but I was able to set up a better track than I ever thought possible, with a very interactive forest part and a good size. PLUS, now I am actually able to offer agistment and this amazing way of live to more horses and their owners, who are just like I was in the past, wishing there was track agistment around. So grateful and feeling very blessed that this has ‘’happened’’ to me, or did I manifest it?