Wellington is so much fun!

Grateful doesn't come close to how I feel these days - I am so blessed with having been able to come south and enjoy some of our horsie contacts and to make new friends! The weather has been outstanding - maybe a bit too nice and sunny as my legs are a wee bit burnt but it is nice to just be warm. :)

The people down here have been exceptionally kind and understanding - couldn't ask for better 'old' friends and I've been so fortunate to meet new friends who are also extremely positive and fun!

It's late Sunday afternoon and I spent the morning at White Fences Equestrian Center with Wally's former owner - Dana! She is a very accomplished FEI trainer and just a super person (who else would have been generous enough to share the big fella with ME?) :-D We had a super time at the show and it is really lots of fun and a super venue. When we finished a bit of lunch, Dana took me up to the "new" White Fences facility - which is just gorgeous!!!! There are 8 spectacular rings and lots of stabling, so it was a treat to see 2 such nice venues within less than a 1/2 mile of one another!!!

The small chunk of the afternoon was spent with the awesome folks at Equalign! They rock. Plain and simple. My neck and shoulders have never felt better and (brace yourselves) my ELBOWS are staying in all the time when my shoulders are back!!!! It's like the Christmas miracle! :) Wendy and Dave are just super fantastic folks and WOW the work they do is stellar. The whole trip to FL has been totally worth it to have my body all put back together and ready to start riding! :) I am trying to organize bodies (horse and equine) for them to do a stop on their way back north to CT. If you are interested in having an adjustment - just email me and we can set something up for April. :)

So with that as a bit of a photoless update - I hope everyone is doing well and they are enjoying their days. So excited to get home and go to Rothman but it will be tough to say goodbye to all my good friends down south - both the old ones and the new! So this post is turning into an early 'you guys are awesome & thank you so much' note!!! :-D

A bit of undersaddle news on the horses and a few shots from Wellington!

So the weather is pretty darned near perfect here in south Florida. :) Aiken is/was fantastic but I find myself growing used to being kissed by the warm sunshine, a gentle breeze that is both refreshing and cooling and then the super friendly folks that are here.

There are some photos to resize of Dana and her fantastic Redford. It was great to catch up with her yesterday and we had a lovely chat catching up on all the events in our lives since the last visit...it is always good to see an old friend! Redford is doing super and it was just a fun day.

I've gotten to go back to the Wellington show grounds and enjoy all sights, smells and people that are there - just really fun to visit another 'new to me' place.

Mom and I had a chat and the word from Roddy Strang (Sport Horse Training, Inc.) is that Whodini and Wall Street are doing fantastically in the training. Both geldings are 'uncomplicated, willing and extremely straight forward'. :) We couldn't be happier to hear such wonderful things about the youngsters.

Speaking of youngsters - there is a lovely 4 minute video of Don William WF here on my MacBook Pro and I am completely unable to upload it to You Tube. Talk about FRUSTRATING!!!! I'll keep messing with it and get it up for everyone to enjoy as soon as I can figure out what I'm missing...

So check back in a day or so for links to Liam's video and then to See Dana and her Redford! :)

Talk at you all later...

Photos and some travel thoughts...

Here are some snap shots from the lovely house where I stayed in Aiken and some photos of the facility out at Paradise Farm.

These are some photos of Avebury WF from the warm up in Show Jumping...

Now for some slightly random thoughts on having driven from Aiken to Wellington -

I'm not sure precisely what it means but it is a first for me - a Pawn Shop on the side of a State Road that has a FULL parking lot at 6:30 AM on a Tuesday. The lights were on and the OPEN sign was lit. As a bit of contrast, the service station less than a block away was still not open and the parking lot was empty.

Once I arrived in FL - wow! It has changed quite a bit since I was here trying Waldaire out! :) Or maybe I look more as a mature driver and less like a single minded rider. The weather is a bit warmer than I was used to in Aiken and borders on 'too hot' in the afternoons with higher humidity. It has been great to see some of my friends as well as the wonderful things that make Florida Florida. :)

For everybody back home in the frozen land of ice, snow and slick roads - I will do my best to bring some warmer weather home in the suitcase. It would be nice to see green grass soon and enjoy being outside without a bazillion layers on all at the same time. Please drive safely and hopefully spring comes back soon!!!

Don William WF Photos!

A few pictures of our big baby Don William WF (Dressage Royal x Savannah WF) 2007 Gelding here in Aiken yesterday! Ryan Wood (www.woodstockeventing.com) is schooling him at the cross country area in Bridle Creek.

Just please remember he is not quite four years old and these are not very large jumps. :) But he is a lovely boy and just the sweetest to work around. The staff at Red Oak all have wonderful things to say about how good he is to handle and a pure pleasure to ride.

I will be shooting a lengthy dressage video of Liam over the weekend, so this will probably be the only over fences shoot - unless someone would like to see more.

Avebury Dressage Photos

A few shots of Dressage this morning at Paradise. More to follow later...

Competition News! And a new listing service!!!

Our stallion Avebury WF is competing at Paradise Farm in his first Preliminary of the year with Ryan Wood riding. Results will be posted here as well as an update here on the blog on Sunday.

Speaking of Aiken - Ellie is traveling down south to shoot photographs and videos of Avebury WF and Don William WF (Dressage Royal/South American Way xx/Abundance) in the next few days. If there is a bit of something special you would like to see, please email Ellie@watermark-farm.net Or if you are down competing in Aiken and would like some photo or video of your own horse(s), please let her know and she will work it into the schedule. :)

And on the horse sales/stallion marketing front - there is a new service in town! Carol Austin of Superior Equine Sires has branched out her fabulous service and now offers a lovely marketing tool for US stallion owners and horse breeders! Check out Superior Equine Sales for more information! Or you can see Avebury's listing!

Just to set the record straight...

The horse industry is an interesting place! Through the extensive network of horse breeding, raising, training and competition in the 50+ years we have made many friends. Along with having made so many good friends there are a few people that seem to feel the need to spread gossip and ill feeling towards us personally, Watermark Farm and our horses.

So to lay some of the current rumors to rest-
1. No, we are not going out of business and getting out of horses entirely.
2. No, we are not selling all of our stock. (currently there are some good deals to be had though on some of the riding horses and young stock)
3. No, we are not bankrupt and/or in dire straits.
4. Yes, Anne did have shoulder surgery in December and is progressing nicely in her rehab & physical therapy.
5. Yes, Ellie was in a car accident in November and is still not able to ride but sees the specialist in early March and is hoping to be back competing by early May. (at the latest)
6. Yes, Bill is doing fine and looking forward to the spring like weather we are due to have over the weekend.

If anyone is curious as to the current status on a horse, individual person or the state of the farm in general – be a dear and contact us directly.
Anne@watermark-farm.net
Bill@watermark-farm.net
Ellie@watermark-farm.net

So now that that bit of unpleasantness is out of the way, onto more important things!

Good luck to our other four legged friends!

Westminster Dog Show is in full force today! Good luck to our friends who are up in NYC enjoying their canine companions! There are results and day sheets available here if you would like to keep up with the current placings and have a ringside seat.

Special good luck wishes go out to our good friend and member of the WF family - Karin Roseman! Her Great Dane "Daisy" is going into Westminster ranked as the Top Female Great Dane in the COUNTRY!!!!!! Whooohooooo! Fingers crossed that the Diva struts her stuff and shows to the best advantage! Good luck to Karin, Zak and Ken as they are watching their girl show off what makes a Dane such a good dog! Daisy has a lovely webpage with a progression of photos that show off her loveliness from her puppy days to the current magnificent manifestation. :) Enjoy!

:)

Here is Daisy's breeder's website. Daisy's show name is Hladik's Jump Up and Kiss Me - so keep an eye out for her name in tomorrow's results!!! Good luck to the Roseman family, Hladik's Great Danes and all the competitors at Westminster!

How fitting! Our 350th post is a big Waldaire BRAG!

It is a special treat at the end of a cold wintery day to open a super positive note from a happy owner! This is the lovely note that I received earlier this evening and it has certainly brightened my day!

"This is Warrick- a Waldaire son out of a TB mare Happening Baby. He's coming 5 this spring and is the best guy ever! Roddy Strang had him for a few months and when I told him who his father was he told me id never have to worry about him bc he's had plenty of waldaire babies and they're all blessed with his great mind.
He's begun his showing career with me, an amateur, in the beginner hunters. Hes been Champion or Reserve every time out! Always in the top of the pack for the hack classes. We're schooling 2"6' with lead changes with great ease. His jump style is classic and we're so excited about his great athletic ability paired with his laid back personality. He will for sure make a top hunter.
Can't thank you enough for what a special guy he is! I've trained all my young ones myself and he's by far the most talented and most fun to ride. As soon as we get outside showing at the larger rated shows I'll be sure to forward you a better picture."

So it is with great joy I am sharing my pleasure with everyone! Another Waldaire out doing what he's supposed to - proving every ride is a joy and how talented they are too!

ETA: Trish is a good sport - she shared more photos of her special guy with us!

Thank you so very much for sharing your success Trish! Best of luck in the coming show season!

New purchasing opportunity!

If you have enjoyed Ellie's photography over the past few years - please take a moment and peruse the new Online Gallery! You can order everything from straight prints to coffee mugs, canvas prints and framed images!!! New images will be added daily as there is a decade's worth of photography to upload.

There have been recent instances of her work popping up on other people's sites, so if you are using an image, please be courteous and include a hyperlink back to either the Watermark Farm website or directly to SmugMug.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration! Happy Shopping!

A great start to the season!

Avebury WF and Ryan Wood (www.woodstockeventing.com) had a great start to their 2011 Eventing season! They had a super dressage test, clean show jumping and great cross country run to finish the day on their dressage score!! Congratulations Ryan!!!!

Photo links will be added shortly so we can all see the proofs...

Thanks to the staff of Red Oak Farm for all their hard work and to Ryan for doing such a wonderful job with our boy!!

Eventing Rocks!

The USEA (United States Eventing Association) is really on the ball! They have had online entries for several years - that store your horse/rider results and electronic signatures. Event Entries also has LIVE scoring for the competitions they accept entries from! No waiting days and days to see how a division turned out...like dressage. Now they have really stepped it up - the USEA now has all of their entry forms ONLINE!!! The system even stores your Coggins test, signatures...pretty much EVERYTHING! :) Color Watermark Farm happy to be able to avoid a special trip to the Post Office, all the wasted paper, ink...this is so much more efficient and secure!!!

When will the USDF get with the program????? *Rant Over*

So onto the real reason for mentioning how awesome the USEA is -

Live Scoring is up for Sporting Days Horse Trials! Avebury WF (our licensed stallion) is competing for the first time this season with Ryan Wood! Check the Open Training Division for how they're doing today!!

http://www.evententries.com/livescoring/index.php

HOY AWARDS!

Huge thanks go out to Dover Saddlery and Sox for Horses, Inc. for their generous support of the AWR Awards program!!! Our two eventing stars As You Wish WF and Avebury WF were Horse of the Year in their respective divisions! It is a real treat to open the mail and have lovely gifts and Award Certificates arrive in this slow time of year!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

Having sponsors for the Awards Program is fantastic and it helps to make the hard work, sweat and effort a distant memory - it was all worth it! :)

Thank you Dover Saddlery! Thank you Sox for Horses, Inc!