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The Year 2012
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January 2012 - and so we’re starting another year at Stall Europa..... Not sure what we’re going to do as far as breeding goes - it just seems that after last year’s debacle our heart just isn’t in it anymore. Our mare Showbiz by Jazz is in foal to Ampere and due to deliver around April 15th - tax day! Yes, I’m very excited about what is rumored to be a colt and he should be an incredible dressage prospect. I also keep looking at Eccobria S. E., a 3-year old I bred by Sandro Hit and out of my Contango/Doruto mare Volimbria as a possible match with Charmeur, as well as a probably last breeding of Natuur Ster Preferent by Wanroij/Oran..... time will tell.
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Special Announcement!!!!
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On the brighter side, a different kind of breeding took place this month and this one involved my favorite Shiloh Shepherd daughter of my stud Elvis. Her name is Raya and she is owned and loved by Gale Richardson of Sunstar Kennels in Encinitas, CA. Raya was bred to the gorgeous stud Tamarack owned by Heather OConnor of Sequoia Kennels in Maryland. The puppies are due February 11th and I can’t wait to get the first pictures of them. I have dedicated a special page on this website to this litter and hope that you will come visit often to see what’s going on.
Shiloh Shepherds are considered a rare breed and are based on the old style German Shepherd - large framed, straight-backed, and with a very good temperament. I got my first Shiloh in 2002 and have been totally taken by this breed since then. Go to my Shiloh page to see my “kids” and also pay a visit to my gallery where you can see lots of pictures of the guys.
Tune in often to follow the progress of the Raya/Tamarack litter. I hope to have lots of pictures as they grow and you can always get in touch with Gale or Heather (or myself) if you’re interested in finding out more about these kids.
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The Year 2011
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October 21st and 22nd, 2011 - Just came back from Lexington, VA and the Region 1 Finals where Bardot S. E. and James Houston had their debut! Well, I couldn’t be happier with the results and will include pictures to show you what I’m talking about! Here is a mare that had very little training because she had a foal last year - Flash Gordon S. E. (3rd in the country!!) - and then went to James Houston of Middleburg, VA in order to determine whether or not we should continue with her training. Judging from her performance at Lexington, VA, I think that question has been answered and it looks like the girl will follow James Houston to Florida for this winter and continue her training with him. Look at these pictures of her doing 1st Level at Lexington and you will understand why I thought it was the right thing to do..... :-)
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October 2011 - Anybody who reads my News Section knows that I’ve always been extra proud of this pair - Amy Miller and Waterloo S. E. (OO Seven x Jazz)! Well, this year they’ve outdone themselves by winning CDS Horse of the Year Open Champion at 4th level; USDF Region 7 Open Champion at 4th Level, as well as a trophy for High Score at 4th Level -- Congratulations and thank you for taking such good care of Louie! You guys rock!!
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September 2011 - More good news this month......!! 2-year old Enya S. E. (Soprano x Jazz), owned by Lori Fabian wins the Reserve Grand Champion Filly in the Great American Insurance Group/USDF Breeders' Championship Series Southeast Series Finals. Way to go, Lori and Enya, as well as Dean and Megan!!!
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Here is Enya practicing with Dean to make sure they’re ready for the big show...
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September 2011 - check out my Gallery! I’ve added tons of new pictures and hope that you will like them.
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September 2011 - Stacy Lynne Wendkos Photography hurried and got the pictures taken at the keuring out very quickly - thank you, Stacy!!
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Goldenbria S. E. by Jazz and out of my Contango/Doruto mare Volimbria got a 1st Premium......
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Goodman S. E. by Jazz and out of my Ster Preferent mare Natuur (Wanroij/Oran) got a 2nd Premium because he was “not rectangular enough, didn’t have enough power behind, and was too upright in the pasterns!”
Goodman clearly showed better than the filly but Toine Hoefs, the judge apparently just couldn’t get over Wanroij in the pedigree.
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September 7th and 8th, 2011 - Keuring time at Iron Spring Farm. Stall Europa took two mare and foal combinations - Natuur and her colt by Jazz, Goodman S. E., and Volimbria and her filly Goldenbria S. E., also by Jazz. Tropical storm Lee decided that this was the time to make his presence known in Pennsylvania and the results were pretty devastating - lots of flooding and very bad road conditions. Feeling like the Postal Service where neither rain nor storm could keep us from doing our job, we braved the 3.5 hour trip to Coatesville, PA and were welcomed by the extremely helpful staff at Iron Spring Farm. We got the mares and foals settled in very roomy stalls at the “satellite” barn and were looking forward to the foal judging the following day. I happened to have two of my clients there - both new owners of the 2011 foals - one who came with me, and another who met me there. My thanks to both of them for all of their help in getting the foals ready, hanging on to my horses while in the holding pen, getting my trailer and helping in getting mares and foals safely on the trailer again.
On Wednesday we watched some of the older horses being judged at the satellite barn and that’s when one of my clients remarked “there’s Toine Hoefs!” Not knowing the person she was referring to I told her that a Mr. Hoefs was the Dutch delegate and with that the main judge at the keuring. You should have seen the expression on her face!... and when questioned she remarked that Toine was well known for selling horses to the US in pretty large numbers, and, as a matter of fact, had sold the stallion Juventus to Iron Spring Farm! At that point neither one of my clients thought that Mr. Hoefs should be judging horses produced by American breeders - his competition - and I felt sort of blind-sighted by the KWPN-NA.
Things only got worse as the keuring dragged on..... We were told to have the foals ready 2 hours early since quite a few people had backed out due to flooding, only to wait for over two hours since somebody decided to have a private keuring for the Iron Spring foals, and then to add insult to injury, we had to wait another half hour because they were doing the stallion show at the main ISF facility, something impossible for us to attend since we were told to be ready. When Mr. Hoefs and jury finally made it to the satellite barn there were only 5 dressage foals left, and when I entered the ring with my Jazz colt out of my Wanroij mare - Wanroij being a name Mr. Hoefs repeated with obvious disgust - I knew that I had wasted a lot of money and time and hard work.
As a breeder who has been doing this for quite some time I have a hard time seeing my keuring fees go to finance Mr. Hoef’s trip to the US, a place where he obviously does a lot of business, and I’m at a loss as to why the KWPN-NA would go along with such a choice of judge.
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August 2011 - time for an update on the breeding front! We are so fortunate to have Dr. William Ley as our reproductive vet now - I never knew that a breeding season could be so low-key and easy on my mind and wallet. Google Dr. Ley to get just a glimpse of his qualifications and background and you’ll understand how lucky I feel. And yes, initially Natuur checked in foal to Bretton Woods but by the 60-day check we joined all those folks who weren’t successful with Bretton Woods semen, either.
I must say that I’m VERY disappointed with some of the stallion owners in Holland who think nothing of selling unproven frozen semen to unsuspecting breeders in the United States. I’ve had bad experiences before, specifically with the Dutch stallion owner Joop van Uytert who stands such notable horses as Krack C and Vivaldi, and who tried to blame American veterinarians for being incompetent instead of admitting that he should revisit his freezing procedures. It has certainly taught me a painful financial lesson and at this point I can only discourage anybody that looks to Holland for frozen semen, unless they’re dealing with reputable and knowledgable studfarms such as VDL and Team Nijhof. I also do not intend to go to the next KWPN-NA Annual Meeting that will be held in Holland around the time of stallion approvals there, because I don’t want to support the very stallion owners that take my money and give me nothing in return. Rant over.....
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.... tune in next spring to see the results!
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May 1, 2010 - another star is born..... Goodman S. E. by Jazz and out of Natuur Ster Pref (Wanroij/Oran). This colt is quite well put together with a good amount of bone added to the equation, and we hope that he will live up to our high expectations!
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I thought it would be fun to insert a couple of pictures of the kids here the way they look now - the middle of September 2011....... And that would be Miss Goldenbria S.E. on the left, and her little brother Goodman S. E. on the right.
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April 10, 2011 - a little star is born..... Goldenbria S. E. by Broere Jazz and out of Volimbria (Contango/Doruto). Here she is at all of nine hours young!
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Jan. 2011 - Why don’t we start the New Year with a real bang?? How is this for great news.....?
Julia Koehler and Zorba SE will be training in Germany with Jonny Hilberath - starting January 19th, 2011!!
Here’s what Julia wrote me regarding this.....
I first met Zorba as a four-year old, shortly before he left for California. I remember standing in the arena at Wyndham Oaks and thinking to myself that whoever got to ride him was one incredibly lucky person.... Little did I know that a good year and a half later I would actually be that lucky someone. After riding him for about 6 months now and getting to know him and all his little quirks better and better, I can only say that my initial assessment was right! Whoever gets to ride this horse is incredibly lucky and I am so grateful to get to work with such an awesome animal.
While the riding was going well, I was also losing a fighting battle with the US immigration officials forcing me to make the decision to leave the US and return to my home country, Germany for now. I had approached Lori Larson, Zorba’s owner somewhat hesitantly before, asking if she could even imagine sending Zorba with me should I have to leave. Much to my surprise, she almost immediately agreed and therefore paved the way to this dream come true. I approached several trainers in Germany to see if they would be willing to take us on and couldn’t believe it when Jonny Hilberath’s answer to my inquiry was a simple “sure, when do you want to come?”! I have little doubt that I have to thank Marianne Robinson, a friend introduced to me by Jaralyn Finn, for that answer..... Marianne trained with Jonny for four years in Germany and has only positive things to say about her experience there. Although not many people know Jonny’s name here in the US, he is somewhat of a legend in Germany. He has trained and shown countless horses to Grand Prix and is currently coaching the German Olympic Team together with Holger Schmelzer. I can’t imagine a more qualified coach to teach both, Zorba and me how it’s done! I am hoping to stay for at least a year - after that we will just have to see what the future holds.
Tomorrow, January 17th, 2011 is the big day - we are both flying to Germany. Unfortunately we are on separate flights. And although I’m sad to miss out on the trip with Zorba, it is good to know that I can see him off when he leaves Wyndham Oaks in Maryland in the morning and then be so much quicker in my own journey that I can greet him when he arrives at his new barn in Germany.
I’m incredibly excited to begin this adventure with Zorba and can’t wait to soak up all that Jonny has to teach us. Who knew that not being able to get an American work visa could turn into such an amazing opportunity! It truly is a dream come true and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Siegi for breeding “my boy” and Lori for making the trip possible, and all the others who supported me and helped me get to this point!
Julia
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.... and we all know that you have to have pictures to go with a a story as good as this one, so here we go......
All photo credits go to Johannes Markus who did one heck of a job capturing the essence of horse and rider!
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Zorba S. E. (OO Seven x Natuur Preferent (Wanroij x Oran)) shown with his rider Julia Koehler, and then getting some “air”
Zorba is owned and loved by Lori Larson.
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