'End of an era' is a saying often bandied about - but for Nick and Jill van der Sande of Pirongia, Saturday, April 8 really will mark the end of an era.
On that day at their Pirongia Clydesdales property, PGG Wrightson will hold a reduction sale of wagons, harness equipment and associated paraphernalia as the van der Sandes slow down after three decades working with Clydesdale teams for a living.
The couple were thrust into the limelight in the mid 1980s when DB Breweries founded the famous DB Clydesdale team - with Mr van der Sande at the helm.
That era finished ' rather abruptly' about 15 years ago, but the van der Sandes established their Pirongia Clydesdales business and have been welcoming people to the property, or taking the teams to events, ever since.
We are fit and healthy and can keep our hobby going, while doing other things we enjoy.
Now they say it is time to hang up the reins and have some time to themselves. But it isn't a complete retreat - the couple say their hobby became their job, and now it will be their hobby again.
The couple plans to keep a pair of Clydesdales, their Friesian horses and solo and pairs wagons so they can still offer rides at the property.
The Coach House Cafe will still operate under a lease arrangement and the venue is still available for weddings and other functions.
And Mr van der Sande still plans to do horse work - focussing on his EMRT therapy . In recent years Pirongia Clydesdales has hosted the annual Royal Rumble Classic Car Show, which will continue, and farrier competitions, which the couple are keen to also continue.
But they are also in the process of building a new motorhome, with room for horses, and plan to see much more of New zealand, but this time at their own pace.
Their Clydesdale story grew from their upbringings and then opportunities as a couple. Mrs van der Sande's parents ran a riding school on Auckland's North Shore, so she grew up on horses and did pony club events.
When she met her future husband he was in to eventing and hunting.
As a married couple they continued riding - but the Clydesdale story wasn't far away. They purchased their first farm near Kaipara and a neighbour had an old draft horse which had foundered and was to be shot. Mr van der Sande took her and healed the problem - then used her for for work on the farm.
That fuelled his interest in working horses and he attended the inaugural workshop on the topic and was soon buying and using Clydesdales for farm work, then logging. NZ Forest Products showed an interest and Mr van der Sande was asked to try his hand at forestry on a steep plot inaccessible for machinery.
The trial was a success and for a while he was contracted to NZFP - hard, physical work, but Mr van der Sande loved it.
The couple shifted from dairying to a dry stock farm, meanwhile Mrs van der Sande was working as a school dental nurse, they were rearing calves, working horses and Mr van der Sande was pruning trees.
It was long, hard work and the couple also had their first child - too much to continue. They sold their farm and the same day it was signed over an offer came to head across the ditch to work with a film crew making a film in the outback.
The film used 25 horses and 500 head of cattle and Mr van der Sande was employed as the bull wrangler.
His work didn't go un-noticed, and as they were wrapping up their contract in Australia another opportunity arose - DB Breweries was establishing a Clydesdale team to spearhead their advertising and promotion as a wholesome Kiwi brand.
They were given six partly trained Clydesdales to work with horses and a property at Papakura to work from.
The van der Sandes got the team up and running. It soon expanded to 14 horses and they were shifted to the Waikato - first a leased property at Rukuhia then a company owned property at Paterangi.
The DB Clydesdales were a success story for about 15 years, and for the van der Sandes it was a great lifestyle.
With three children by now, the entire family would often take to the road to attend events all over New Zealand.
"We were a bit like a family circus," says Mrs van der Sande.
But the company headed in a new direction in 1999 and the operation was disestablished with no prior warning.
The van der Sandes leased the Paterangi property and bought some of the team and were given much of the DB memorabilia so they could continue their own business.
They had purchased the small block of land at Pirongia as an investment, so moved 'home' to establish Pirongia Clydesdales. Mrs van der Sande says people ask how they can downsize after building their business.
She says that it is time to do more for themselves after busy lives since they were married.
"We are fit and healthy and can keep our hobby going, while doing other things we enjoy," she says.
She says their three children were consulted, but as they have their own careers and lives, it wasn't possible for them to carry on business as usual.
Looking back the couple have no regrets about the choices they made the lives they have led. Mr van der Sande says he used to be very shy, but he had to learn to overcome that. They have friends all over the world through horses, and have no doubt they will make more as time goes on. They have places to see, people to visit and animals to look after at home.