A few weeks ago...

I returned to the show ring! Melissa was a good sport and helped me out for the whole day! :)

Here are the videos:

Don William WF in the USEF Four Year Old Test -





And Wizard WF in the FEI Five Year Old Final Test -



Apologies for those not going up sooner - technical snafu on my end!

There have also been some major revisions/updates for quite a few of the pages on the website. Have a peek and if you catch any typos or errors (broken links, missing images) - please let me know! Thanks!

Happy Riding!

Congratulations to Laurey R.!

Our Wolfgang WF is a lucky fellow! He has an awesome new owner and fantabulous new home awaiting him in Ohio! Congratulations and best wishes to his new person Laurey!!!

We're so excited to see their progress together! Congratulations!!!!

I find myself torn as to what should go up first...

Honestly, I am sitting here debating which bit of good news should go up first - show results & breeding news or clinic photos and synopsis? What to do? Which to choose? Does it bother people if I put it all in the same update? If you have a strong opinion either way, please feel free to comment and let me know! No hard feelings!

My logical side is overpowering my super-psyched & happy self at the moment, so I'll go for the show results! Eurodressage currently has a wonderful article with lots of commentary on the Nuremberger Burgpokal Warm Up Test from Verden HERE. It goes into great detail about the changes in Desperado OLD (by Dressage Royal) since he was crowned World Champion as a five year old in 2008 under Nadine Plaster. Desperado OLD is now matured into a steady, relaxed competitor and they clearly won in their group last week over 33 other competitors from 4 other countries. This excerpt is from the Oldenburg Horse Breeders Society website from a competition several months ago - "Desperado OLD (Dressage Royal x Balalaika (Rouletto) bred by Karl Lenk, presented himself in top form. Under Carola Koppelmann, he won with an outstanding 71.800% in the Prix St. Georges qualification for the 2011 Nürnberger Burgpokal, a championships for the Developing Young Horses held in December in Frankfurt, Germany! Desperado OLD already made a name for himself having not only been the top priced horse at the 2007 Oldenburg Fall Elite Auction, but for winning the 5 year old Dressage Horse Championship title at the 2008 World Young Horse Championships in Verden, Germany. So with this latest victory, he confirms his exceptional class."

In and amongst the other competitors were top riders like Isabell Werth, Fabienne Lutkemeier, Former European pony champion Marion Engelen, Stephan Framm (from the Brandenburg State Stud of Neustadt/Dosse) and the USA's own Jennifer Hoffman. Stephan Framm saddled Doug & Louise Leatherdale's Damsey (by Dressage Royal) for a third place finish in the test with a score of 70.83%. Damsey is now 9 years old but was apparently a crowd favorite in the class. Incidentally, he was bred by Dorit & Hermann Kothe who own Dressage Royal.

Please click on the link to see photos of the horses and to read the full article. If videos are uploaded to You Tube I will add those links as well in the future.

As a small reminder, we have SIX Dressage Royal offspring here on the farm. Dreamcatcher (2008), Dream Girl (2008), Drummond (2009) and Don William (2007) are currently for sale. We also have a plentiful store of high quality EVA & CEM negative Dressage Royal semen in storage at SBS in MD for distribution here in North America. All of our DR youngsters were bred here in the States and we have a very high first cycle conception rate.

Now I mentioned a name a few moments ago who will lead off my Catherine Haddad-Staller Clinic news! Don William WF received permission on Tuesday evening to go along with his big brother Wyatt WF and have a school off the farm at Hawk Hollow Ranch! The facility is fabulous. Very, very nice people - Randy is honestly just delightful! The footing is perfect. The barn is lovely. The indoor is delightful. The boarders and other clinic participants were friendly and kind with nice horses. In any case, I was able to ride him for a few minutes during the lunch break on Wednesday and I am in awe of this horse. He is quite tall at 17.2 1/2 and while we are pouring feed and hay into him, he is still in need of some groceries to bulk out to his full potential. However, he is not thin or thrifty - merely a tall, lanky fellow who is still growing with a shiny coat and healthy appearance. Here are some photos -

Liam was beautifully behaved and relaxed quickly into his work. We practiced the more forward gaits and leg yields from the training system and it produced lovely results with more swing over his back, better contact and frame - all of which gave a better impression of throughness and connection!

The main reason that the above was all possible is the Catherine is one of the most amazing instructors I have encountered. She allows her students to actually RIDE in her Stubben Genesis Special D. I can not emphasize how rare this is. Most riders sanctify their equipment to the degree that I have a deep seated fear to even touch someone else's saddle, let alone RIDE in it! In any case, Stubben had sent a new GSD up to the facility for people to try but Catherine allowed us to use her saddle time and again. (!!!!) The new GSD had been on Wizard on the first day - again I was the first person to ride in a(nother) new GSD! - but Catherine's has been broken in properly and as she put it, "It has good karma!" :-D But the horses all like the saddle(s) and I ride best in them - which becomes an ever increasing circle of positive reinforcement of why the training system and techniques work so well. My position is correct, the weight aids are able to influence the horse better, so they respond better, which allows my position to relax and swing, they go forward with more positive energy into the bridle, and so on...

Anywho, the big red guy was excellent! So forward, so elastic and also so, so, so good. We have a show coming up this weekend at Fidler Run Farm, so hopefully we continue to develop in a positive direction. :)

And this brings me to my Weltmeyer son - Wyatt! This was his second interaction with Catherine as we had gone to VA for our first CHS Clinic in June. So much has changed - I am able to ride most every day now, he is fitter and we have been working on all that Catherine had introduced to us since then...so I was quite excited to get a progress report! It was a thrill to have it be a positive one!

As Catherine has so much experience with Weltmeyers and Wyatt is my first - I value her insight and techniques more than I can properly explain. It is not that they are the most unique horses or anything super complicated to ride - but it is more that they are clearly stamped by their sire and there are few training tools that work really well with them. :) We worked on controlling the tempo while increasing the engagement from behind. His gaits became even better with a clearer rhythm and better use of the hind legs - if this makes sense - we worked on slowing the front legs just a bit while speeding up the articulation of hind joints as well as closing his base. Wyatt also has a trot that requires the rider to have great flexion and range of motion in their hips and pelvis. Because of the GSD - I can accomplish this and it makes riding him so much easier!

I do not want to get overly optimistic about what the future holds for us. But if the training improves steadily, hopefully we will make up for the lost fall/winter/spring and be able to compete in the new year with good results.


The first morning of the clinic (Tuesday) was Wizard's time with Catherine! I was quite excited to take him to work with her - as you all know - he is my special horse - so it is with some trepidation and anxiety we ventured to Hawk Hollow Ranch.

The comment of "he is the most gorgeous color" is lovely to hear but as a rider I prefer to hear compliments about his gaits, his temperament or his mind. But then I take a step back and acknowledge that he is an amazing shade of chestnut! And to have his symmetrical white markings with the dark hooves is a very rare thing -

So other than having a great looking young stallion - I was thrilled with how calm he was. We had a few moments to walk in the lounging ring and it had an overhanging willow tree. I don't know how many of you ride young horses, but it was with a feeling of 'well, this could be a dumb thing to do" I pushed him forward in a big walk and we wound through the fronds stretching a bit around my inside leg while we waited for the first horse of the day to wrap up their lesson. One of Wizard's most endearing traits to me as a rider is that he is a sensible horse and it was reinforced as there was absolutely no shift in the length or speed of his steps as the branches scraped on my helmet and shoulders. :) Moments like that are always filed away for future reference - perhaps he will be as unfazed by a bouquet of flowers in a victory gallop someday? :-D

Flowers and fronds aside, we worked on developing a true collected canter - rounder strides with greater jump, more engagement, more elevation of the front end and a clearer transition between medium/working and collection. All of which went quite smoothly and showed great improvement! We also worked on improving the quality of the canter-walk-canter transitions. Catherine praised him for the clear quality of his walk with 4 pure beats. We also worked on the technique of stretching him properly in the frame and then bringing him back together as would be necessary within the test pattern. Wizard did so beautifully and was just delightful from where I was sitting. As he is just five years old I am quite pleased with how he handled the increase in the difficulty of the work and the atmosphere of the environment. We will continue to polish the transitions - upward, downward as well as those within each gait while stepping up the requirements of the training program. Wizard responded quite well to the new Genesis Special D that I rode in. I was also cautioned to not approach each ride with large, earth shattering goals with this horse. Concentrate on the quality of each gait, each transition and each stride rather than a "today we will go through the PSG" frame of mind. Small goals with consistent improvement are the best way to bring Wizard along in Catherine's mind and I couldn't agree more. He is a smart horse with good potential, so there is no sense of rush or impatience on my part. The breeding season interfered with his training schedule (and mine) but that is behind us now, so hopefully we can continue on the road to success. :)

It is quite exciting to come away from the clinic with so many tools to use with Wyatt, Wizard and Don William (and the others who stayed home) and what a relief it is to have mom's training background reinforced with so many 'new' techniques. Her German instructor worked with her in the 70's and 80's with a smattering of English mixed with French and Spanish...which made for language lessons to be mixed into explaining training techniques. Catherine's teaching style and methods might not be for every rider out there but for us and our horses - it feels tailor made for bringing up Grand Prix horses. Her positive comments and helpful critiques of the three horses that went to the clinic are without equal - she knows what it takes, what the top level requires and what the judges are looking for...all invaluable facets of bringing horses along into successful competition careers. The consistent emphasis on the quality of each gait, each transition while the rider maintains an active but sympathetic position with forward hands and good impulsion - that is huge! I feel honored to work with her while riding such nice horses. It is a lovely place to be in life!

After 2 days with Catherine I am saddened to return home to my old saddles but it is just a few more weeks until my saddle arrives from Switzerland, so not much longer...but we are hoping to have Stubben come to the farm for a saddle fitting clinic in the near future. As soon as a firm date is established - I will post more information about setting up times.

FEATURED HORSE **Wendolyn WF**

Approaching this new project from the logical end - there seemed to be just 2 ways to do it - either youngest to eldest or eldest to youngest! Since fall is approaching and we are all feeling the lack of baby cuteness - here is our 2011 filly Wendolyn WF! PEDIGREE

Lynnie was born on Easter Sunday and has been a delight from the first introduction. She is a very intriguing combination of her sire's high intelligence and her dam's cooperative nature. Add in the uncanny built in metronome she came with and we have very high hopes for her both in breeding and sport. Lynnie stands quietly for grooming, the farrier and is just a daily delight to us all. We are expecting her to mature 16.2-3 hands.

Her dam Wallstreet Rose WF (Wallstreet Kid [Hanoverian] x Flaming Rock [TB]) was purchased specifically to add her valuable combination of Warkant & Eiger I with a touch of TB to lighten up those 2 substantial sires and ensure a good flowing walk. Wallstreet Rose is best known around the barn as Gretta "the little black mare" as she is only 16.0 on her tippy toes. Gretta is very easy to handle, was an absolute delight to ride and is a superb mother. Her gaits are ground covering and show good elasticity with excellent freedom in the shoulder. She has a very good engine and showed very good form over fences prior to becoming a broodmare. Thus far her offspring have consistently inherited her strong frame, beautiful face and Warkant trotting mechanics! In our evaluation they show equal talent for an eventing or dressage career but are certainly high quality animals that can be targeted towards a show hunter home as well.

Wendolyn WF is offered for sale at this time as her sire and dam are both young (we can breed another in the future) and we'd prefer her to go to a competition home so as to help promote her sire Wizard WF.

Video at 5 days - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5JuTIGAK9Y

May 5th & 6th video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OX-hhof32U

Video from 8 weeks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg2gZb3W6Xg

At her foal inspection, Lynnie earned a score of 8.0 with the following comments - "good sporthorse filly. Feminine. Neck well developed and set on. Leggy, excellent proportions & substance. Moves with balance and suspension."


So if you find her to be of interest - please contact Anne@watermark-farm.net to discuss viewing her in person.

Something new for our followers!

Now that we've celebrated 99% of the equine birthdays on the farm, we're going to start something new - a "Featured' horse each week! Some may be for sale, others might be at stud and still others are going to be treasured members of our 'equine family'. A short bio will go up along with some photos and video links! We hope that everyone enjoys learning a bit more about each listed horse!

But I will confess to going slightly out of order with this post! :) *blush* Our July Birthdays are listed below -

Dad celebrated his birthday on the 18th!

Mom had a birthday on July 31st!!

Again and Again was born July 15, 1978 and while we lost him a few years ago, we still celebrate the big mover each year!

Smart WF aka Tasker the schoolmaster turned 16 on July 4th!!

There is a busy week approaching!

Sadly, our cooler, less humid weather seems to have departed. Today it is sultry, sticky and just plain old HOT when the sun peeks through the clouds. Yuck.

That being said, the horses were lovely today and while I could bore you all with more photos of neck & ears - I'll skip ahead to the meat and potatoes of what we have on tap this week!

On Tuesday and Wednesday I am riding in the Catherine Haddad-Staller Clinic at Hawk Hollow Ranch in NJ. Auditors are welcome ($35) but please contact Randi directly to let her know that you are coming. If all goes according to plan

Wizard WF (Waldaire/Again and Again) will go on Tuesday

and Wyatt WF (Weltmeyer x Savannah WF) will go on Wednesday.



We also have Don William and Wizard showing on Sunday down in southern New Jersey at Fidler Run Farm! Both horses will do their respective Young Horse Tests and we are quite excited about how they are progressing in their training.


If you haven't been to our website or seen our horses in person, please take a few moments and peruse our Under Saddle Horses For Sale. With the summer winding to a close and the fall show season upon us, we are looking to have several of our youngsters move along to competition homes. A number of them are totally ready to go out and compete (like tomorrow), so please contact Anne@watermark-farm.net to discuss the one(s) that are of interest to you. As the photos illustrate, while we are a dressage barn, many of our horses have above average talent over fences and enjoy jumping!


Here's a sampling of some of the horses -

There are also a few yet-to-be-started youngsters that are full/half siblings of some of the above horses. Their pricing will only increase with training, so perhaps now is the time to take advantage and get a steal of a deal on a really nice horse for your riding future?

Woot! Woot! Big congrats heading overseas!

Congratulations to Carola Koppelman on her big win today at Verden! Desperado OLD (x Dressage Royal) won the Prize of Nürnberger Versicherungsgruppe
Einlaufprüfung zum Nürnbergerburgpokal der Dressurreiter 2011
Nat. dressage competition cl. S*
Test: S5

With an impressive score of 71.750%!!!!! Desperado is just 8 years old and this is an impressive win for a youngster! He beat several horses with much more experience and a bit more age, too - including his famous licensed sibling by blood - Damsey (also by Dressage Royal)! Damsey is 9 this year and scored 68.750%.

There were other Big Name horses and riders in the class - Estobar NRW, Lord Fantastic, Danone II, Rubinio, Flatley with Isabell Werth, Fabienne Lütkemeier, Wolfgang Witte...quite a big list of big names!

These photos are from 2008 when Desperado won the WCYH Five Year Olds with Nadine Plaster! (images courtesy of Pferd24)

We do have a stock of Dressage Royal frozen semen (EVA, CEM negative) with a proven conception rate here in the US. It is stored at SBS and available year round for shipment to the US and Canada.

Buck's County Horse Park notes, thoughts on the day and the sport...

So after an 11 month hiatus, I have returned to the competition arena! It is a place that I have missed more than I care to admit but it is still a return that comes at a price. My horses are not quite as prepared as they could be, my ankle is a constant problem while mounted and there is the niggling fear that it will become extremely painful when I need it most...but all of those mental hiccups aside - golly, it was good to go down the centerline again!!!! Even on a 90+* day at the end of July!

I have to start this post by singing the praises of common sense that have crept into dressage. I did not see a single top hat at the show. Not one. Everyone was wearing an approved helmet and most were even adjusted properly! :) So good to see many people setting a good example for other riders! I honestly have not seen that before, so it was good on a basic level to observe so much practically over 'fashion'! That being said, I did not adhere to the 'coats are waived' concession and wore my coat for both tests. My tests are quite brief with plenty of forward momentum, so it does not feel hot until after the final salute. :)

For those of you who haven't met our Liam (aka Don William WF), he is a very tall, lanky horse who is the kindest equine you shall ever come across. His main goal in life is to please the humans around him while cooperating to the fullest extent. But did I mention he is quite tall? Liam is creeping ever closer to 17.3 hands but is quite a nice shape where the rider sits, so he is a very manageable size to work with - especially when his amazing attitude is factored into training. This was Liam's first 'real' show and I am very pleased with how it went. He handled the new location beautifully, settled into his work with no outbursts - unlike some of the other horses who were cavorting around the arena with explosive bucking/rearing/running backwards exhibitions. Liam would watch them bucking or bolting and Melissa and I shared a laugh in the car ride home since his expression is 'Dude, why are you putting so much energy into THAT?' with a very quizzical look on his face. He is a cool customer that is for sure! :)

His test was a bit conservative and that was my fault/decision. As per the usual pattern, Liam warmed up nicely with excellent steering but our collection was lacking a bit - so the 10m turns and 15m canter circles lurked in my mind as potential problems in the test. But true to form - Liam trotted down the centerline and settled into his test nicely. The 10m turns in the trot were lovely, his rhythm was like a metronome and he was very obedient. On the negative side, I made the rider's choice of going for rhythm rather than brilliance as he was carrying just a bit of tension in his back, so we lost points for not enough power in the lengthen trots. His walk was lovely and other than a small 'looky' moment at the end of the medium walk, he was brilliant and relaxed. His canter in a test always surprises me - he was a tad high headed but the connection has improved so much in just a month and he is starting to relax his topline with some self carriage and push from behind. That being said - he is a big horse and it very hard to push him to show off his ground cover while we are trying to stay IN the ring! :).

His transitions from canter to trot have to be mentioned - he takes the half-halt beautifully now and settles instantly into a balanced trot rhythm --all with minimal effort on my part and that is often a real sticking point for some big movers as they progress in their training! As we have come to expect - Liam's stretchy circle was flawless and he halted squarely at the end of his test. Some of the judge's comments include - "willingly forward w/ clear rhythm" (trot), "relaxed, expressive Walk w/ clear rhythm and very nice overstep", "clear 3 beat rhythm" (canter) and "with more work on development of topline and balance, he'll move up the levels".

Needless to say, I am very proud of Liam and while a score of 7.16 indicates we have lots to work on - he is certainly proving to have the right attitude towards competition, so we will just continue to work on our skills together as a pair!

Now many of you know how I feel about Oz (aka Wizard WF). From his first breath I have seen all of Waldaire's greatness in this youngster - even through the awkward years and strange growth spurts that happen to most young horses. Deep down in the pit of my stomach, I feel as though he is The One and recognize a match for my temperament, my riding style and basic nature. As silly as that might sound, I can be pressed into admitting that while he is not perfect to every human on this planet - he is the perfect horse for me. :) Now his dam Abracadabra did contribute quite a bit to him as did her sire Again and Again and we all see some of Abundance's influence as well - to me his is Waldaire's upgrade - a bit more sensitive but like his sire and damsire 110% attuned to the rider's aids and mindset.

So with all of that in mind, I was actually a bit nervous about showing my stallion. It has been almost 11 months since he was in a show environment and the warm up was quite crowded. My leg is not where I would like it to be most of the time and I can not rely on it to hold my weight and balance. There were 3 rings going with all the horses warming up in the community space, the usual show commotion was going on...well, Oz took it all in stride, puffed up a bit and put on a show of what every stallion should aspire to at a competition! He was lovely in the warm up traffic, no disobediences, no calling for Liam back in the trailer. Steady, steady, steady rhythm, soft in the contact, light off of my leg and just super cooperative. I will admit I need to shorten our preparation time by about 5-8 minutes as it is hot and he was so good - it took a bit of 'shine' off of our test to be on him for so long. (my mistake!)

In his test, there were a few small errors (like me forgetting the turn on the haunches at C) and he was a touch on the tight side finishing the 2nd simple change but over all I am thrilled with how steady he was, willing to do whatever I asked and just a star in that environment! The canter was delightful, the trot work did show he was a bit tired but the walk was just lovely. I should have pushed him more in the medium trots and also in the workings as well but went for rhythm and compromised the brilliance. His canter also suffered from the same rider decision. It was a conscious choice and it lies in my strong desire to present a harmonious impression rather than drama and possible explosions...just like with Liam!

His scores included the following comments - "steady rhythm w/ good ground cover" (trot) 7.2, "clear overreach/relaxed strides, going somewhere" (walk) 7.8, "balanced canter but could show rounder jump" 7.3 and "as he strengthens more behind, he should make a good prospect" (general impression) 7.4. His overall score was a 7.34 and while that is not a record breaking achievement - I am quite pleased with his attitude, cooperation and execution of the test.





Thank you's go out to Melissa Gartland who is an International Silver Medalist, groom and support staff extrordinaire, time keeper and good company! Mom (the birthday girl) and Dad for breeding me such nice horses to ride! BCHP and Jacqui R. for running yet another super competition for all of the competitors to showcase their efforts and equines! Karin R. and her sister Kimberly B. for the cheering squad that came to the show! The usual suspects - the vet, the farrier, mom-the-trainer/coach - are always included in the thank you list!

So from here we will look towards the clinic with Catherine Haddad-Staller, Fidler Run Farm's dressage show and then possibly Dressage at Devon, if we achieve the required scores. If not, there are certainly many things to work on with all the young horses and it was lovely to get a validation of the quality of the animals that we have bred in the performance arena from an experienced licensed official! :)

Happy Riding!! Stay cool! Hydrate!!!

ETA: I have finally watched the videos from the show and am debating purchasing a new video system as the horses look short strided, choppy and hasty. Which is all quite distressing as they were very fluid and relaxed with great rhythm - even the judge commented on how good that facet was!!! Any suggestions for a new video camera?