Staff Profiles

 

Name: Antoinette Foster
Position at Hi Form: Managing Director
Birthday: August 16th
Hometown growing up: Adelaide
Hometown now: Melbourne
Best horse memory: Riding the then current world champion reining mare at Shorty Russell’s stud in the United States and the first time I laid eyes on my beautiful horse Leroy who sadly passed away this year.

Few of my favourite things...

Horse breed: Quarter horse
Equestrian discipline: Dressage
Food: Japanese
Drink: 2005 Battle of Bosworth Cab/Sav
Album: The Bends Radiohead
Film: Juno and Donny Darko
Pastime: Listening to music, walking
Place: Cologne Germany

Something most people wouldn’t know: I sang in a band once and love singing, and some say I am not so bad?

An average day in the life of: Usually get up about 7.30 and take Bella for a walk, then have breakfast, I have to start the day with a good breakfast, then I head off to the office. My day at the office normally begins with book work and then more book work; I then attend to any customer enquiries/profiles/phone calls/emails. This is the part I enjoy the most, I have never lost the enjoyment and pleasure of helping horse owners with their horses and assisting in finding the best way to feed and provide increased health and well being.

Animals in the family: My gorgeous new paint yearling, Forrest, our German Shepherd Bella and our cat Mocha. Antoinette also just purchased the lovely 17 year old Warmblood Dressage gelding Corylis or 'Ludo'.

 

Name: Nicci Foster
Position at Hi Form: Operations Manager
Birthday: 13th July
Hometown growing up: Bunyip, Victoria
Hometown now: Pakenham Upper, Victoria
Best horse memory: Very recent actually. Our stallion Megabyte got stranded in NSW due to the EI lockdown. He was on his way home from Qld to us when the disease broke out and I waited almost six months for him to be allowed back in to Victoria. My best memory was seeing him walk off the truck and giving him a huge scratch. I don't think anything else will beat that for a while!

Few of my favourite things…

Horse breed: Quarter Horse
Equestrian discipline: Reining
Food: Rib Eye Fillet, Sweet Potatoe Mash and Red Wine Sauce
Drink: Jameson & Canada Dry Ginger Ale
Album: Skylarking by XTC
Film: East of Eden
Pastime: Relaxing when I can!
Place: Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula... nothing beats the scambled eggs and bacon at the Flinders Bakehouse even in summer when other areas are flooded with people. Pure bliss!

Something most people wouldn’t know: I worked in the music industry for 8 years and lived in England for over 4 years.

An average day in the life of: I get up at 5:45am, feed the puppy, the cats and then head down to the stables. I have three horses in boxes at the moment so the two I am not working with I put out in their paddocks. I am usually in the saddle by 6:15am and work for about 40 minutes. I am mainly working my stallion, Megabyte at the moment as we have a big season coming up. Then once I finish riding and put him in his paddock and then it is time to clean the boxes, tidy the tack room, sweep up all the walk ways, and prepare the feeds for dinner (we have 12 horses on the property at the moment!). I then wander down to the broodmares and check them over and throw out hay to those who get it. I get inside about 8:30am, have a shower and then it is off to Hi Form. At work I usually start the day with a coffee and a bowl of cereal, and look over emails that have come in and reply to what I need to. Then I need to look at my schedule and see if there are any ads that need designing, any sponsorship, trade stand or marketing that needs doing and plan my day around that. On Tuesdays I do our feed profiles which are very time consuming but fascinating. Throughout the day I help people on the phone with problems and also oversee the dispatching of orders. My job is very different from one day until the next which is wonderful and it makes it a challenge. Right now I am working on updating my profile that you are enjoying now! I finish at 4pm and then it's time to bring the boys in to the stables, feed out all the tiny hard feeds and head inside to cook dinner with my other half and look after the other pets. One of my favourite parts of the day is when I get to curl up on the sofa with my boyfriend and watch TV and just relax with a glass of whiskey!

Animals in the family: Mega, Elmo, Diamond, Cheeky, Shine and Topaz currently make up the horse herd and I have Marli and Tenille on lease to breed with currently too. Lewis and Otto are our cats, Gus is our puppy and then there is Catalina and Joy our Rhode Island Red Chickens, Bert and Ernie our Peking ducks, Cassidy and Sundance our Sufflolk Cross Sheep and our 18 Tropical Fish.

Name: Sharyn McConchie
Position at Hi Form: Warehouse Manager
Birthday: 4th July
Hometown growing up: Dandenong
Hometown now: Narre Warren South
Best horse memory: Riding without falling off and singing around the campfire that night with sore buttocks.

Few of my favourite things…

Food: Chicken, avocado, chocolate
Drink: Hot chocolate with marshmallows, coffee, white wine
Album: Jimmy Barnes – Working Class Man
Film: Any Hugh Grant film – Love Actually, Bridget Jones’ Diary
Pastime: Sitting on the beach eating scallops, fish and chips watching the kids play.
Place: Inverloch or Apollo Bay

Something most people wouldn’t know:  I don’t keep much a secret!

An average life in the day of:  The alarm goes off, I snooze it at least 3 times by 7:45am, then I awake and get myself ready, my children get ready, we all have Weetbix for breakfast, do our hair, teeth etc pack our bags and leave for school.  I normally go into class and help with reading for 15 minutes then take Joel to mum’s and then head to work for a 10am start.  At work I dispatch orders, invoice customers, stock take and work on office management.  I finish at 2pm head home to mum’s to pick up Joel then to school to pick up Nathan and Jessica.  We then have afternoon tea and depending on what day it is we go to what sport we have to.  My kids play basketball, do swimming and Nathan is starting football when cricket finishes.  We then all arrive home about the same time as my husband Scott, we cook dinner, feed the animals and the kids do their homework and readers.  Then it is time to get ready for bath, bed and story time.  Nathan, Jessica and Joel go to bed at about 8:30pm and I sit down about 9:30pm watch TV and then start all over in the morning after hopefully a great nights sleep.  Nathan is in Grade 4 and 9 years old, Jessica is in Grade 2 and is 7 years old and Joel is 2 ½.

Animals in the family:  Holly our 8 year old black Labrador and Jackson is our 3 year old black DSH cat. Sadly we recently lost our beautiful 2 year old Kelpie/Lab to cancer.

And meet our newest member of staff... sales consultant Kyliann Foster (strangely no relation to Antoinette or Nicci!)

Name: Kylieann Foster
Position at Hi Form: Sales consultant.
Birthday: 25th of May
Hometown growing up: Carrum Downs
Hometown now: Blackburn North
Best horse memory: For my 12th birthday my father gave me a QH mare named Cindy Sue, my Parents had leased this lovely mare for about 4 years to get me out showing western, I thought that she would never be mine. This memory is extra special as it is also my favourite memory with my late Father.

Few of my favourite things…

Horse breed: Quarter horse
Equestrian discipline: Western (Reining)
Food: Indian
Drink: Coronas, with a wedge of lemon.
Album: Thriller. Yes, Michael Jackson was once an awesome artist!
Film: City Slickers.
Pastime: Riding my gorgeous and reliable QH Billy, preferably somewhere pretty.
Spending time with my family Phil and Julieann, taking my beautiful French bulldogs, Dobby and Cooper for a walk, listing to music, watching training dvds.
Place:  Capri Italy, Warrandyte.

Something most people wouldn’t know: That l am an active song writer and composed a song called ‘We’ll be one’ that was used for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’ closing ceremony.

An average day in the life of:
Wake up coffee, cuddle my dogs, breakfast with the my daughter Julieann, get ready for the day, tend to my horse, then off to work at Hi Form. After work I ride Billy then head home to walk the dogs, be a Mum and a Wife.