Top 1% Dressage Stallion Rankings are out!

For the third consecutive year, Dressage Royal is ranked in the top 1% of all breeding stallions in Germany!

http://www.pferd-aktuell.de/Anlage83379/TOPeinProzent-Dressur.pdf

Congratulations Dressage Royal!

Sally Cousins Clinic

We are accepting sign up entries for a Sally Cousins Clinic in late December before she departs for Aiken, SC. More information about Sally's riding and teaching philosophy can be found at www.sallycousins.com .

Group, semi-private and private slots are available.











I can personally attest to her calm approach that results in a confident horse & rider combination. This was my first lesson at Sally's in August 2009 -








Schooling in November -








And this is the second to last fence at Rubicon Horse Trials in November 2009 -

Ryan Wood Clinic

We are in the midst of scheduling a clinic with the successful Event rider Ryan Wood (www.woodstockeventing.com) in early December. We should hear back from Ryan by the end of the weekend with a firm date & time schedule. He is quite good with working with green horses and riders. His biography & riding accomplishments is available on his website, so please take a moment or two and learn more about Ryan's teaching & riding philosophy.

If you have any interest in attending, please contact us (info@watermark-farm.net) to set up a group, individual or semi-private session.

HOY Awards are out and what a great year!

We got our official notification for the Horse of the Year Awards for 2009 today. As You Wish WF (Adamant x Volante by Volturno) was the Overall Eventing HOY!





Our former broodmare Aly Alice (Aly North x Hot Beat by Bold Lad) has been quite busy with her rider Jessy! Here is a bit of a note from Jessy's mom Barbara -
"Well, it has been a busy few weeks. We were bringing Alice back to work. Things have worked out wonderfully. I actually expressed the 2009 Youth AWR Entries for Hunter & Jumper 2009 just for the last month for Jessy & Alice. I managed to squeeze 2 shows in right before the cut off. Jessy & Alice are doing great together. The first show they went to at Frying Pan Park, Herndon, Va. It was a Jumper Show and they jumped in 4 classes with 30 riders in each. They placed in all, had clean rounds and made the time. By the last class Jessy and Alice were cantering all the jumps. Alice is truely an incredible jumper. You were right! Point her towards the jump. You can see her prick her ears and lock on... Alice is beyond the Queen Bee in the pasture. She spends her day in a pasture with 2 little Pony Club ponys and a 7 month old Chincoteague Pony. She is the Supreme Ruler. She comes in at night to her heavily bedded stall. She is a little on the skinny side right now. She dropped a good bit of weight at the trainers the month she stayed there for her refresher course. So she is enjoying the process of putting weight back on. She is on Oats, small amt of Sweet Feed, Rice Bran Pellets, De-wormer, & Vitamins. The kids dote on her and she loves it. Jessy's confidence in riding her improves each time they ride. It is incredible to watch them. The photographer took some great shots of them jumping at the Jumper Show Nov 8th. When the disc comes I will send you some of those pictures. This is a shot of the last show at Frying Pan Park, Nov. 14th (a Hunter Show, VHSA). They rode in 3 divisions, 9 classes. They placed 6th in one class and did not place in any others. We don't ride Hunt Seat so we were lucky to place in anything at all. But they took all jumps and it was a good, safe & successful show."

The follow up email note arrived just a few minutes ago - "Jessy & Aly Alice won 1st Place in the American Warmblood Registry Youth Awards Program, Jumper Division. I cannot wait to tell her when I pick her up from school!"


So congratulations to Alice, Jessy and As You Wish for such a successful year!

Another photoless post

Sorry to not have any photos from today but I can not allow any more time to pass without giving some serious praise to Again and Again & Waldaire. Their little descendant Wylie is one of the most cool customers on the planet. While I was riding her today, Mom and Pat were setting the new jump course and she could have cared less about the tractor that was moving standards & rails, the barrel that is part of the corner jump, the gate, the cones...none of it bothered her in the slightest. For a horse who has roughly 60 days of training, I am thrilled to bits. Her gaits are steady & relaxed and she is just a lovely ride.

It is one of the most rewarding experiences to have ridden this young horse's sire, her dam's full brother, her maternal grand dam and maternal grand sire...no surprises, no excitement and just a lovely mind to work with. She is quite intelligent and you only have to teach her something once - she's got it after that! Wylie is a good girl all around, that is for sure!

Extra carrots for Wylie tonight!

A beautiful day in the outdoor ring

It seemed like it had been ages since the weather was nice enough to allow us to ride in the outdoor. Now, there is nothing wrong with the indoor - you're out of the weather, dry and warm - but the sunshine was brilliant all day and the footing was perfect thanks to Mom's efforts yesterday. The horses all seemed to thrive today...just loving being back outside and so did I!

Wylie and I had a marvelous time - even after our babysitter grown up buddy left the ring...she just keeps going nicely forward and has super balance. Puddles were no big deal and she is a super fun ride.







Wylie has definitely inherited Waldaire's canter - it is so smooth, ground covering and balanced - just delightful from the first stride! And I'll admit, it makes me a little teary to have another 'chip off the old block' to ride...he's been such a good boy and a gift in my life and to have another super prospect that's just like him, well, it is special in a softie-sort of way.

Wylie's pretty level headed too - she didn't mind when the 2009 youngsters galloped right next to the ring. Or when her old turn out buddies on the hill left the round bales and went out of sight up the hill...she just kept trotting and her focus on what I was asking her to do. What a super star she is!

Awesome schooling day

Wylie and I are having a marvelous time together getting to know one another. She is one of the most (if not THE MOST) straightforward youngsters I have every had the pleasure of riding. :)

































Ruben and Ryan had an awesome school today over at True Prospect. He is really coming along nicely and enjoyed the warm afternoon temperatures. It is good thing that he is fully clipped --- look how sweaty he got without his winter coat!
















































I rode Lacey (Wallace WF) while Ryan schooled Ruben and then he jumped her a bit. She is maturing into quite the beautiful mare - so tall and elegant! :) It is very interesting to have ridden Artie (Wylie's mother's full brother and Lacey's half brother) as well as Adelaide (also out of Aly Alice)...all the siblings are similar and then you add in Waldaire and the other Waldaire offspring I get to ride -- it is a wonderful experience to see how clearly the big fellow stamps his offspring! The super work ethic, intelligence and good movement just make each and every ride a pleasure!

Riding horse update

I am so excited about the awesome ride I had on Wylie this morning!!! She is a star! Just so very grounded and pleasant to ride! Very balanced, obedient and calm...wow! What a good girl!

She was my third horse of the day and there are just not words to express how excited she makes me for the future...she's really a fascinating blend of Waldaire and Again & Again with her balance and power combined with a willing attitude. Wizard (Waldaire/Again & Again) was my first of the day, so it is like having a dream come true to have so many mini-Waldaires to ride in one day.

Her 'auntie' Lacey was my second to last horse of the day and the resemblance is astounding...they are both by Waldaire and while Wylie is out of Amelia (Again & Again x Aly Alice) Lacey is out of Aly Alice. Lacey is a 2005 model and it is just so cool to have such closely related horses to sit on in a matter of hours. :)

All of the other riding horses have been wonderful this week and Tasker is on the mend, so I must say 'Whew! We're getting through it.' :)

Training Updates

As the fall has progressed, so have our young horses! Wylie has returned home from Roddy Strang's Sport Horse Training, Inc. over in Kirkwood. She is still a brave and sensible horse out in the open and just very, very smart about new situations with a high degree of focus on the humans around her. It is always quite fun to have the youngsters go away looking so immature and then return in a few weeks with a mature mental outlook on their world. Wylie is a fascinating blend of her sire, Waldaire, and Amelia by Again and Again...very intelligent and sensible with enough 'flash' to draw attention to her. With the low pressure weather system sitting down near South Carolina, we will be working horses in the indoor arena for the next few days, so still photos might take a bit of time to get (natural light looks much better)...so please bear with me. Wilona (Waldaire x As You Wish by Adamant) has taken Wylie's space over at SHT, so we expect her to return home in about a month with the same transformation into a mature, settled youngster. Wilona was actually quite annoyed that she was not the first of the fillies to go to Roddy - always the first at the gate, following you in the pasture, so her wish has come true. She is important and will be the center of a human's interest each and every day.

On the competition news front, our past broodmare, Aly Alice xx is enjoying a show career with Jessy MacKnew in the jumpers. They competed down at Frying Pan Park in Herndon, VA last weekend and had a very successful show. Congratulations to Jessy on her fine riding and I will post photos as soon as they arrive on my desktop! It is worth mentioning that Aly Alice is Wylie's maternal grandmother.