Sunday, August 23, 2015

Crazy Summer Recap!

I don't even know where to start...

I've spent the summer either with my arm up a mare's rectum or cooking for a happy multitude of visitors.  And, yes, I washed well in between!

Breeding Update, oldest to youngest:

LaVita (Elcaro x Belisar) is in foal to Florianus II.  She will be 23 when she foals.  Amazing.

Mistral (Vincent x El Corona) has had two cycles to UB-40 with no luck yet.  Will breed her this weekend with our experiment stallion.

Nemels (Samber x Lector) is back in foal to Governor.

Orchis (Jazz x Roemer), after a failed attempt to Apache, is in foal to our experiment stallion!!!  Fingers crossed, knocking on wood, praying to the breeding gods.

Werites SSF (Freestyle x Jazz) is in foal to Sir Sinclair.

ZaVita SSF (Contango x Elcaro) is not in foal.  Tried once with Apache, but no pregnancy.  She hasn't been cycling well.

BoWendy (Sir Sinclair x Jazz) is back in foal to UB-40 for the fifth time.  This one better be a filly!

Carpe Diem SSF (Farrington x Pass the Glass xx) is in foal to Connaisseur.

D'Orites SSF (Donatelli x Jazz) is in foal to Sir Sinclair, after a couple of failed attempts to Fairytale.

Eliscia SSF (UB-40 x Pass the Glass xx) is in foal to Governor.

Felicites SSF (Rousseau x Jazz) was bred to Florianus II, checked at the trainer's not in foal, but she's never come back into heat.  I don't know what's going on with her.

Gazania (Bon Bravour x Santano) didn't take with two perfect breedings to Bordeaux, so she's in foal to Florianus II.

Honorites SSF (Totilas x Jazz) is in foal to Florianus II.  This foal already has a first option reserved.

Hyacintia (Charmeur x Santano) is in foal to Chagall D and R.

We should have a busy foaling season in 2016!  Anyone want to sign up for foal watch now?  Happy to have you.

We had to abandon our Family Competition.  Out of the four planned breedings, mine is the only one that worked.  Carol's choice of UB for Nora ran into a bad collection day, so we ended up with Flori; Michaela's choice of Bordeaux for Gazania was a couple of thousand dollar bust; Keagan's pick of Apache for Orchis, then a switch to ZaVita, didn't work out for him, and was another couple of thousand dollar bust for us...HATE buying frozen without a LFG.  Didn't I swear last year that I wouldn't buy frozen without a LFG this year?  Stupid.  Just stupid.  When it works, it's great--like the Governor.  We've used four doses and gotten four pregnancies.  When it doesn't, all you have to show for it is an expanded credit card balance or a cashed check.  Really pisses me off.  At least I'm doing my own breeding work, so I don't have thousands of wasted vet bills on top of the lost money spent on the frozen.  I know, "bitch, bitch--moan, moan."  What are you going to do?

The issue remains that we just don't have enough options for KWPN dressage stallions standing in North America. Thank goodness there are a few that cross well on my mares. Not everyone is so lucky.

KWPN National Championships in Ermelo:

I had an absolute blast attending the KWPN Paardendagen in Holland last week.  Of course, it was extra special because our mare Hyacintia was invited to the National Mare Show.  There were over 40 mares invited, out of about 1200 mares entered into keurings throughout the summer.  These 40+ mares showed in four groups; Hyacintia was in the third.  In her preliminary round, she placed FIRST and was invited into the top 12 to show again in the final class later in the afternoon!!! It was a magic moment. I had goosebumps everywhere.  I'm not sure exactly what happened between the preliminary round, and I'm certainly not complaining--it was super exciting--but two of the mares she beat, the Davino VOD and the Quando-Quando granddaughter, placed first and third in the finals.  Oh, well.  At the end of the day, Hyacintia is the mare I wanted to take home...so it's a really good thing that she's already ours!  She's a really lovely mare.  We're going to leave her in Holland to produce the start of a breeding program for us there.  Eventually, she'll make her way stateside.

I have tons of observations about the foals, the mares, the riding, the PAVO Cup, etc., etc., but haven't had the time to put any of my thoughts into writing.  Will try to get to that.  If you have questions about specific horses, give me a shout.  I watched all of the babies and babies--and almost all of the riding tests.

Open House and Keuring:

As you can imagine, we're in the final stages of getting everything ready for August 29th.  It will be a busy week, but we're excited for everyone to see our horses.  The day starts at 8:00 sharp at Taramore Farm, in Keene. We move to SSF for lunch at around 12:30.  We end the day by showing babies, starting at 1:15.  The jury has to be in the rental car and headed to the airport by 2:45.  If you'd like a full schedule or directions, just shoot me an email.  Everyone's welcome.