Farm news & schooling photos

Over the past few days our young stallion Wizard WF (Waldaire/Again & Again) has been traveling to Select Breeders Service in Colora, MD (www.selectbreeders.com) to begin his training in the breeding shed. After each training session & collection Wizard has been declared to be 'perfect' in every way...quite a compliment for a young stallion! And as SBS is one of the top facilities in the US...we are very pleased to have our opinion of Wizard reinforced by such knowlegable professionals. If all goes according to plan, Wizard will be available for both fresh cooled and frozen semen breeding in the spring.





On the riding horse front - Avebury & Ruben had lovely schools with Ryan Wood today over at True Prospect Farm. And as there have been some comments that Avebury is jumping small fences...please blame the photographer (me) for not positioning the camera properly so the perspective is more accurate. Most of the time, Avebury is jumping at 3'6-9" with plenty of room to spare. There are several pairs of standards with the heights marked by the holes, so I am positive on that.

True Prospect just redid the footing surface in their lovely outdoor arena and it was a treat to be some of the first horses out on the new footing! It is really great to have access to this fine facility to help develop our horses...

Waredaca and weather

Earlier this year Kitty went to Waredaca with Sally and had a good go in the mud. Yesterday we did a repeat of the weather experience with one exception - it was not raining like it did on Saturday!

Dressage was a bit tricky with very deep muddy spots and then firm footing elsewhere, so Kitty go a bit quick when she was slipping. Stadium was super and cross country was simply AWESOME!!!

Sally was kind and walked a bit of cross country as I had some questions about a combination, so I couldn't have had such a good day without her help. Some congratulations are due for her - she had another super weekend with her Preliminary horses with a second and third

As you will see from the photos the leaves are beautiful and it was a lovely sunny day!

Thanks Mom for driving and schlepping for the brown mare! She is always happiest when you are there to tell her she's a good girl!

Simply an awesome afternoon

...well, except for the plummeting temperature and increasing drizzle!

Thanks to Ryan for another super pair of rides!

Super jumping lesson over at Sally's

So Kitty and went with mom over to Sally's yesterday for a jumping lesson. We've enjoyed jumping over at True Prospect Farm over some different material, but it was time to settle down and concentrate on our focus, form and preparation for show jumping.


I had asked Sally to jump Kitty for me so I could see her go and Kitty could work on some harder questions with Sally's guidance. It was really fun to watch them work through different exercises together. As one expects, Jelly Bean was paying close attention to what Sally was teaching Kitty - what else can you expect from the Head Trainer?
















It is worth mentioning that Kitty has been a very kind horse who has taken exceptionally good care of me for the past 2 months. She has been a very confident and relaxed horse in allowing me to regain my form and timing over fences. Kitty is really special in that she is so focused and dedicated to clearing the obstacles in front of her - especially out cross country. I'll admit that the 3'6" obstacles at TPs aren't looking very big anymore and complex jumping questions are becoming more common and less 'tricky' for both of us...not something that needs to be done every ride, but it is quite fun to look back at how far we've progressed together in such a short amount of time! We're off to Waredaca Horse Trials this weekend with 2 more events to come in the next few weeks...


On the farming front, Dad brought in our final cutting of hay for 2009 yesterday. It is a lovely mixed hay with orchard grass, alfalfa, clover and some other grasses...the horses all voted and let us know the new hay should go straight into their stalls and not into the barns. :) Waldaire made a special request for the prime alfalfa bales to be placed directly into his stall for immediate consumption - he does love to eat the 'good stuff'!

Wylie WF 2006 Waldaire Filly

Here is the video footage of Wylie with Roddy...such a good girl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W_iNw0dgts









Wylie is now confidently walking, trotting and cantering with a rider both in and out of the ring...and she's just reaching the 30 day mark in her training. Roddy did make a point of mentioning how brave she is in new locations and how much she enjoys hacking out - very bold and confident in the lead with a calm outlook from the very beginning. Apparently this is quite unusual for youngsters, so perhaps an eventing career is in Wylie's future?

Video to follow in a couple of hours!

Schooling Day for Avebury WF

The chilly weather has retreated for a bit, so we have hay down and hope to bale later this week...our final cutting of 2009! :)

With the warmer day, we took Avebury & As You Wish (Dillon & Kitty) over to True Prospect for a bit of a school. Ryan had another super ride on Dillon. Their partnership continues to grow and his jumping style just keeps improving.



















































Kitty tagged along so some of my rust could be brushed off and we had lots of fun.























Like all our stallions, Dillon is unfazed by traveling with a mare. He and Kitty are 'buddies' having grown up together and enjoyed their afternoon together out in the bright sunshine.

Mare Performance Test

Adelaide WF completed her Mare Performance Test (MPT) at the recent AWR/NASPR Inspection. Video footage is available here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1zODhQt2X4

Thanks go out to Sally Cousins and Innisfree Farm for allowing us to use their facility and superb riding skills. Sally's website is www.sallycousins.com and you will be hard pressed to find a better rider to showcase your youngster's jumping abilities...

Congratulations to Karin on her lovely mare's successes and I promise to upload the in hand footage shortly, so everyone can see what a lady Addie is as she performs her other tasks. :)

Belated thanks on the inspection front (and beyond)

In expressing gratitude for the assistance with our very successful inspection I forgot to mention the above and beyond contributions of Rohrer's Feed (www.rohrersfeeds.com) and Alltech (sponsors of the 2010 WEG). Cindy of Rohrer's was kind enough to bring an outstanding display and spent quite a bit of time speaking with participants about their feed questions. She also brought samples and provided everyone with her expertise and additional information about a variety of feed manufacturers.



Extra thanks go out to Pat and Ric for their assistance in parking, secretarial duties and moral support. And Sonja & Verena for continuing to educate us all with their vast knowledge of sport horse breeding. :)

Changing gears a bit

So after the hustle and bustle of preparing for being the inspection hosts for a second time, we've all enjoyed a bit of down time for the past week. The immense pile of paperwork is diminishing, the website continues to have revisions posted and You Tube has most of the footage added that was on the To Do list...

A nice surprise arrived in the mail the other day and I forgot to post it - Kitty's photo from Fair Hill's Starter Trials! Just in time to get me revved up for Waredaca this coming weekend and then Plantation the next! :)


Photo credit: GRC Photography & Design