It's the time of year for everyone to make recaps, so this is as close as I'm getting! I'm still terrible at creating videos, but hopefully, I will get better. Here is Stu's life, up until now: https://youtu.be/QOK_63a5zxQ The more I get to know him, the more I love him. The highlight[...]
Stu has now been on my farm for a week and a half. He was a bit shy when he first arrived, but he's really come out of his shell now. He was shy, but curious before, and now he's not as shy, but still very curious. He loves to start mischief, and one of his first orders of business was to get into t[...]
Saturday was the day I have been waiting for since last Sunday evening. Stu came home! Finally, everything was in place, and we were ready for the babies to come home. We made the trip down, and it was so nice to see both the babies and all the other babies on the farm! Stu was also laying do[...]
The day I went to Germany was Stu's ball day. He got them taken off, as well as had his hernia fixed. I was provided all the photos by Stu's breeder, although I will only share the non-gross ones. The castration went in the normal fashion, but the hernia fix was quite interesting. A[...]
The second day was the free jumping. The dressage horses went first, followed by the jumpers, although the format was the same. First, they were run around the arena in a figure 8 to show those lead changes, then they were sent down the chute. Sadly my battery wasn't charged (dang confusing foreign[...]
The afternoon of the first day was the 2nd Inspection. First, all the jumping stallions were led into the ring and then free lunged. After they got a chance to strut their stuff, they were collected and strutted their stuff out of the ring. The DJ would put on an up-tempo song, the au[...]
After a very wet morning, the rest of the inspection was inside. Thank goodness! There was a lunch break which allowed for some time to explore and marvel at the facility. I'm very upset with myself because I failed to get pictures of the door handles, which were the "W" inspection brand. But, maybe[...]
After visiting the fantastic Bavarian region of Germany, we moved on to the actual reason for our visit. As a member of Westfalen NA, I was invited to make the trip to Germany to attend the Westfalen Stallion Licensing. Likely this was the kind of invite that is only extended out of politeness,[...]
I'm back from Germany! Happy to be home, but sad to leave such an amazing place of castles and fabulous horses, definitely two of my favorite things. It was an incredible learning experience. On the horse side, I learned so much about the stallions, the breeding, the inspection process, tra[...]
Way back in September of 2015, I learned of an incredible device that would allow me to record my riding without the assistance of someone else. The SoloShot 3, the automatic cameraman that tracks you and pans to follow you around as you ride. What an incredible invention, especially for someone who[...]