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December 31th
Unfortunately the misery seemed to continue.
Therefore I didn't feel up to updating my website and I got so far behind, that it has taken me until now, to finally catch up, and get the updates done.
On April 12th at 20.30 pm., after 3 days of being waxed up, Pumpkin foaled, and as I feared, there was an infection in the placenta.
A lot of pus came pouring out during the labour, but to my delight the foal was alive!
Pumpkin continued her antibiotic treatment, I flushed her uterus, and the little poor foal. had to be held down 3 times a day and shot full of 2 different types of antibiotics, because he was in emmidiate danger of developing sepsis.
Luckily both Pumpkin and her lille foal made it, and after about a week I could breath a sigh of relief and slowly started to believe it would all be okay.
Just like last year, Pumpkin had a cremello colt, but this year he was alive, and she got to be a mother for the very first time.
She has done incredibly well, and been a perfect mother to her little "polar bear".
In the beginning I had a hard time bonding with him, sine I wasn't sure he would survive, but luckily he made it, because he is just fantastic.
Despite all my torturing with needles ect. he has been so trusting and tame rigth from day 1.
Because of his rough start in life, I have named him: Shady Acres Perseverance
The day after Pumpkin's delivery, Regina also started foaling.
Unfortunately only one front leg and the head came out. and I struggled to get the foal pushed back, so I could retrieve the other leg.
I simply didn't have the strenght, as Regina's contractions were too strong.
I had to call on the help of a very ecperienced equine vet.
He arrived, and quickly mannaged to push the foal back and find the missing front leg. Unfortunately once he had done this, the head did not wan't to come back out again.
We fought and fought, with hooks, ropes ect. but to no avail, and finally we had to give up.
Regina was complete ruined and blood was gushing from her, so I made the decision to let her go. My beautiful lovely Regina!
Never again will I feel that well known, bump to my thigh, as Regina presses her bum against it to get me to rub her.
The only small comfort is that I have retained her daughter and her granddaughter, to carry on her genes.
In the days following Regina's foaling, I was a complete mess. The first day I was completely numb. I felt empty inside, and felt no joy nor sorrow. It felt as though my brain had shut down my emotions, as a kind of defense mechanism. The next day I felt it all, and even the smallest thing made me cry.
It was good to get it all out, and in the following days, I slowly started to crawl my way out of my black hole. However I could not shake the fear and worry about the foalings yet to come,
and the general health of my ponies.
Every time I saw a pony lying down in the field, my heart was in my throat!
R.I.P. my beautiful Regina. Even now more than six months later, as I am writing these words, I get a knot in my stommach. The thought of the horrible way she had to leave this earth.
All of 9 days would then pass, until something else went horribly wrong.
I had been up every hour on the hour for more than a week, because both Sine and Minnie were waxed up.
Finally on April 20th it looked like Sine was getting ready to have her foal.
I sat in the stable with her as I usually do, and she kept pacing around, sweating more and more. Finally at around 5 a.m. she suddenly stopped, startited eating, stopped sweating and started to dry.
I chose to go inside an monitor her via the surveillance camera. She just kept relaxing and eating.
I was so tired that I dosed off for about 15-20 minutes, before waking
suddenly. I looked at the monitor and Sina was stood with her head down, like she was having a drink. But then I noticed her belly had gone.
I ran to the stables, and there was her gorgeous bay dun colt, lying dead in the sack, with the umbilical cord og placenta still attached.
I could not handle it! Not on top of everything else. I did not know if he had already been dead when he was born, but I still felt so guilty for not being there.
Once again, Sine was standing there with a dead foal!
My good friend Louise came that morning, and watched over Minnie and the other ponies, so I could get 3-4 hours of coherent sleep for the first time in 1½ weeks. That evening my other friend Kate arrived and sent me to bed, and the wathched over Minnie all night long. I am so grateful to the both of them.
I was completely falling apart, and without them, I don't think I would have made it.
After a full nights sleep I felt like a new woman, and I was better equipped to handle the grief of all that had happened.
The following day it was time for the Dorthealyst Youngstock Show. I had initially decided to stay home, because of all that had happened and because Minnie still hadn't foaled.
But I felt that I had to get out of the house and talk to people to get a bit of distance to it all, or I would loose my mind.
So i left Minnie in the stable with the surveillance camera and had my friend Kate on stand by, in case something happened while I was away.
The Dorthealyst Show went really well.
I have never done very well at this perticular show before, so this was the first time getting red rosettes there, when both Yesterday and Tristar both managed to get an overall score of 8.
Tristar was a bit tense that day, and Yesterday moved like she was walking on hot coals, because she was afffraid of the new shavings in the indoor arena. So none of them showed off their nice movements, but got a lot of praise for their type and conformation. Espcially Tristar's 9 for type really pleased me.
Unfortunately I failed to take any pictures on the day, but the descriptions from the show in on their respective pages.
When I got home, I moved Sine and the foal, to the outside stable, so she could leave the foal in her own time.
Now I had to decide wether to bring in Pamela or Zilver, in the stable next to Minnie.
They had been progressing pretty evenly, but none of them seem too close to foaling. I ended up taking in my lovely little Zilver.
Minnie was waxed up, on and off, so I kept checking her regularly through the night. Her udder seemed to relax a bit though, so I decided to check her one last time, then go to bed, and set the alarm for a couple of hours later.
I went in to Zilver too, to say goodnight, and suddenly realized she had started sweating.
I stayed in the stable with her, to keep an eye, and she soon started to get more and more unsettled.
My heart was in my throat and I was more nervous than I had ever been at a foaling starting.
Zilver is normally a bit of a drama queen when she is foaling, but this time I thought she seemed even more dramatic, so when only one foot and the head came forth, I completely panicked. Flashbacks to Regina foaling, made cold sweat appear. Steffen was not home to help, and I kept calling my two friends, Lena and Kate who live nearby, but noone picked up.
Zilver was throwing herself violently around the stable and kept rolling and rolling, making it almost impossible to try and help her. I kept frantically to try and push the foal back, but to no avail.
Suddenly as my hands slipped once again, I felt the othe foot, inside her. You can't imagine my relief when I realized the foal was only flexed at the elbow, and I mannaged to pull foreward the other foot. After this the foal came really quickly.
I did have to grab the foal quickly though, to save it from Zilver landing on it, as she kept thowing herself around in pain.
When she had passed the afterbirth and I had given her some painkiller, it helped and she could relax a bit, and I could now concentrate of takeing care of the foal, getting more straw ect.
Zilver had a gorgeous little mushroom colt, who I am very much in love with.
When everything was allright, Zephyr was drinking ect. I was going to go to bed, but now realize that Minnie is dripping milk.
So instead I go and watch her on the monitor. Here I can see she keeps looking at her belly, and seems uneasy. She lays down and gets up again a few times, and it is not long, before she starts pushing, and I run back to the stable!
The foaling is completely textbook, and exactly 2 hours after Zephyr is born, Minnie pushes out her big strong foal. Everything seems perfect, foal is stading quicky, nice!
Just to make sure, I go and check the other pregnant mares in the paddock, and get some extra straw.
When I come back, the
foal is now laying flat on his side and is sort of convulsing. I panick, shake him and get him to his feet.
He he takes a few stiff steps, before he stops, and the look like he is straining, until he collapses again.
I remember it could be meconium impaction. I run to get a laxative, and give im a couple without any succes.
Finally I just use my index finger to dig out 6-7 really hard balls of meconium from his rectum.
After this, everything is fine. He gets up right away and starts nursing.
Finally I can go and get some sleep!
Minnie delivered yet another colt, a lovely very strong bay teddybear of a foal
A little over a week later, on April 30th in the morning, I discovered that Pamela was suddenly waxed up.
I kept an eye on her all day, but it wasn't until
11 p.m. she finally started foaling.
Again this year she had another textbook foaling and again this year she delivered a buckskin colt, with the prettiest head.
Little Patriot has been sold already, and went with his mother in the beginning of july, to his new home in Sweeden.
I am sure they will both have a great life with Annalena from Stud Acera.
Immediately after Pamela had foaled I looked over at Blondie in the other stable. Now she was suddenly breathing quite heavily.
She usually has her foal about 3-4 weeks before her due date, but this year, the due date was only 1 week away. I continued watching her.
She kept me waiting until 3 a.m., but then finally, after a bit herder foaling than she usually has, she delivered a nice strong cremello colt.
We have been so lucky, that some new neighbours have moved in, and they have a daughter, Ida, who absolutely loves horses.
She comes around and cuddles the foals, help with training the ponies and helps around the farm.
It is so nice, and her and Papaya enjoy each others company, when dealing with the horses.
On May 6th Papaya and Ida went with the to the new show Maj-Fest.
We brought Tristar, Silke and Brightlyn. Papaya and Ida were meant to use Silke for agility, but she proved to be too big and strong for them, so they ended up using Brightlyn instead. She had only been trained 2 x 5-10 minutes prior to the show, and before that, hadn't even worn a halter since she was a little foal.
Both her, and the girls did amazing and completed the course with no problems. I am so proud of the girls and little Brightlyn, even if the judges at the show didn't think much of her and her type.
I knew before hand, that she probably wouldn't be their type, and that they would most likely comment on her blue eyes. However I had hoped that they would complement her for her great movements, but they didn't like those either, even if several other breeders came up to me and commented on her lovely movements. Anyways, it was great for her to get out, and experience a lot, and she is definately coming back strong, also for Ida and Papaya to do more agility.
Silke and Tristar however, really impressed the judges.
Silke got a very respectable 23 (out of 24) points and a lovely description.
The judges commented that they liked her more and more the longer they looked at her.
Very nice comments to get.
I had entered Tristar to get him out showing as much as possible before the assesment in the fall.
Again he got a really nice score, a great description and again a 9 for type!
All in all it was a great day, a lovely show, that we all hope they will repeat next year.
All the stallions except Paschal and Waldo, moved to my friend Lena for summer grazing.
After a few power struggles, the group soon settled in, and have been enjoying themselves all summer.
Little Patron also went with the others as he had already revovered a lot. Only 2 months since I got him home, and he was hardly recognizable.
The girls have ejoyed their summer, back here at Egegården.
And Waldo has enjoyed the summer with his ladies.
The last weekend of May was spent at the annual agricultural show in Roskilde, in great weather and lovely company. Ida came with us and her and Papaya had a great time.
We didn't bring any ponies this year, as I just wanted to relax and enjoy myself, but maybe we will bring one next year.
One day my neighbour Rikke, suddenly wrote me while I was at work, that she had found a very small foal, on the wrons side of the fence and had put it back where it belonged.
I had no idea who, of the last 3 pregnant mares, could have given birth, since none of them had shown any signs, but Fanny was the closest to her due date, which was in 2 weeks.
When I got home from work, it turned out it was her, and she had a tiny little palomino colt foal.
I was so grateful that everything went according to plan, especially since we weren't there, and this was Fanny's first foal.
The little man has been named Digby, and he has already been reserved, and is moving to his new home efter weaning, together with his friend Marshall.
This was the 6th colt foal this year, and now only Gucci and Tamelone were still hanging on to their foals.
They were both stabled to be able to keep an eye on them at night. Gucci was starting to bag up, and had wax on/off but didn't really seem ready.
Tamelone had not really started bagging up, but was also stabled to keep Gucci company.
Therefore is came as a big, and not very nice surprise, when I wen't to check on Gucci udder, and to let Tamelone out before going to work, only to find her standing over a dead buckskin colt foal.
Poor Tammy was so disstressed. I put the foal in the outside paddock for her to leave it when she was ready. It would take more than 2 weeks before she accepted that the foal had died.
Later in the summer, I could not understand why Tammy kept having milk, until it turned out she had secretly adopted Fanny's little foal Digby, who was more than happy to have 2 mothers.
Only 2 days later I go to the stable to check Gucci one more time before bed. I had checked an hour earlier, and nothing seemed like she was ready to pop.
Now I come to find a lovely leggy filly foal toddle around the stable, and Gucci is standing there eating like nothing hasd happened.
Finally the foaling season had finished, and the last one had luckily been textbook, and without my help, finishing off the season with this years only filly foal.
Shady Acres Gorgeous Geisha
In the middle of June we went to a show in Bråvesta in Sweeden.
We had brought Tristar, Yesirée and Zita.
Botht the girls, got the sought after 40 points and gold. Tristar had to settle for 39 points, only one point from the gold.
All in all I was pretty happe, and all 3 of them got very nice descriptions from the judge.
Zita also participated min the agility calss, so all the kids could try a turn.
All in all we had a great trip to Sweeden, where we spent the night with my good friend Mia before the show. Thanks again Mia.
The day before we left for Bråvesta, Galaxy was picked up and began his journey to his new home in Norway.
He has already settled in very well.
The weekend after, it was time for another show. This time it was a Mountain and Moorland show at Dortheaslyst.
We had Tristar, Tamelone, Yesirée and Brightlyn with us.
This time Brightlyn was vindicated, and got a lovely score of 39 points, with a great description. She was 2nd and Yesiree was 3rd in the group of yearling fillies.
Yesirée had to settle for 38 points this time, and with a nice description.
At first, Tristar was put first in the group of 2 year old colts, but after several rounds, he was beaten by his eternal rival, Sandø's Dag. This time the boys both got 40 points, and I was especially pleased with Tristar's 9 for trot.
Finally it was Tamelone's turn, and I was very dissapointed when my beautiful mare, did not impress the judge and had to settle for 37 points.
I can only console myself with the fact that, unlike the judge who judged the other 3 ponies, her judge was not actually a shetland pony breed judge, but rather at New Forrest judge.
Ida and Papaya both participated in the inhand showing competition and the agility class with Brightlyn. They did great and Papaya even won the agility competition for her agegroup.
I have made an album with a lot of pictures from the different competitions that Ida and Papaya enter. I have called it agility and more.
2 weeks later it was showtime again, as Ida and I went to the annual Gørlev show.
We had brought Tamelone and Zita.
Tamelone got her vindication this time, as she got a perfect score of 24 out of 24 points + an honorary prize.
Zita got her usual 22 points and a nice description.
Ida also competed in the in hand showing competition with Zita and she got a very nice 3rd place, even though this was only the 2nd time in her life trying this.
So proud of both the girls.
On a lovely summer day, Lena and I mannaged to take some lovely pictures of all the boys, who had been enjoying life at Lena's place.
It was especially nice to see how great little Patron looked after only a few months of proper feed and then some nice grass.
We meant to bring him to the assesment this year, but he got an injury to his hind leg, and also got way too fat, so we decided to wait for next year, when he would hopefully be fit for fight.
Tristar can come along and give it another go then.
They will both be seperated from the young colts, until then, so their manes and tails can grow back.
My two yearling buckskin boys, Phoenix and Thunderstorm are developing very nicely, and I hope to be able to start showing them a bit next year.
Finally we also mannaged to get a few pictures of Ghost who is for sale. He is looking really great, well put together, but unfortunately too big for me.
2 weeks later we went to the annual mares assesment.
It was quite a depressing day.
The scores were really low all day, and only 1 mare made the cut for first class. Most of the mares would have to settle for green rosettes and 2.kl.B.
The following day, as the assesment continued in Jutland, a total of 3 mares even got low enough scores to go into 3rd class!
With this in mind, I probably shouldn't be too sad, as Pumpkin actually did mannage to get a blue rosette and an assesment with 2.kl.A. Only Fanny had to settle for the green rosette and 2.kl.B.
It was a bit sad to be standing there with a mare, who won Best Medium Mare, with only 34 points.
I in no way expected any of my mares to get a 1st class assesment, but I did hope for 2 blue rosettes and maybe a little more than 37 and 34 points.
Following the assesment there has been a lot of debate among danish breeders, discussing what to do about this downward spiral our assesment results seem to have.
I don't know what the solution is, and I don't know if the problem is that the quality of the danish ponies has suddenly dropped dramatically, or if the sytems need updating.
I will see what haååens and in the meantime, I have enjoyed showing in Sweeden very much, and will continue to do so.
The following weekend I went to Holland to see the big Jubilee Show.
I am going to make an album with pictures from the trip, when I get the time.
I stayed with Anna and Akko from Stal van Break of Dawn, and they drove me and the other visitors around to visit studs and to see the show.
The first day I got to see Anna and Akko's beautiful ponies, and the same night we went to visit Stal de Bosrand, and saw even more lovely ponies.
On thursday we went to the opening ceremony with some yearlings mares for the show.
On the weekend it was time for the big show, and it was amazing to see so many gorgeous ponies together in one place.
On monday, Anna and Akko, drove os around to vitis studs. Frst we went to Stald de Toom, who had some amazing high quality minis.
I had been looking for a high quality black mini ever since I lost my lovely Arwen, but they were proving hard to find.
I eded up being offered to buy a very nice kleine maat black mare, Black Pearl v.d. Toom.
She is measured at 89 cm, but is already at the age of 9 a Preferent mare. She already has an apporved 1. premium son and a 1. premium daughter.
Akko also mannaged to talk them into selling me her colt foal, who is a full brother to the 2 above mentioned offspring.
And as a final plus, she is scanned in foal to Winningmood v.d. Toom, the 2 time mini champin stallion, who is the sire of all 3.
Winningmood himself is also well on his way to becoming preferent, with yet another approved son this year.
After visiting De Toom, we went to visit with Stal de Belchur, where they breed some very nice black standard ponies.
Finally it was time to go home, and I just want to thank Anna and Akko for their hospitality and some very interesting and fun days!
I had only just gotten back from Holland, before it was time for another trip.
This time we went to Sweeden for the Golden Crown Shetland Show.
Again this year we stayed with Anneli and Magnus from Stud Hasselbo.
I had entered Tamelone, Clover and Yesirée.
First up was Yesirée and she won her class.
One of the judges gave her 39 points, and he thought she was too well developed or fat, for her age, and the pther judge gave her an amazing score of 43 points!
That gave a joint score of 41 points and gold!
Then it was Clovers turn. This was her very first show, and she was understandably a bit nervous,
but despite hardly having trained her before hand, she did really well.
She placed 2nd in her group, and got 39 poits from one judge and 41 points from the other, giving her a joint score of 40 points and gold.
Finally it was my darling Tamelone's turn. She measured in at 87 cm and had to compete in the large standard group.
She held her own and won the class, with amazing points. One judge gave her 42 points and the other gave her 43 points!
So proud of my gorgeous 3 girls! 3 x Gold!
Ony 2 weeks later we went to Sweeden yet again, as we had entered the big 50 year Jubilee show!
The show was divided into 2 seperate shows.
On saturday there were 3 rings, with a sweedish judge in each.
First out was Yesirée.
A bit dissapointed she went 2nd to last in a big group, but with lovely 39 points, only 1 point from gold.
Straight after it was Tristar's turn, and he went all the way, with his 40 points, and became Young Stallion Champion.
The judge in his ring thought he would have a very good chance at the assesment. A prophecy which would turn out not be come true I am affraid.
Clover ended up somewhere in the middle of a very strong group of 3 year old mares, and again got 40 points and gold!
Last in the ring was Tamelone. Again she was measured at 87 cm, and had to compete with the large group of standard mares, and again she did me proud and won the class with amazing 42 points!
In the mares championship, she stayed in the ring for a long time, and beat a lot of very nice standard mares, but was finally beaten by amongst others, the unbeatable Almnäs Ulvide who is Best in Show at every show she enters!
The following day it was a UK judge and a sweedish judge in one ring, and a dutch judge and sweedish judge in the other ring.
In the morning Yesirée vindicated herself winning the large class of yearling fillies with 40 points and gold!
As expected Tristar did not do well with the dutch judge and only got 35 points this day.
Generally the points were a lot lower on sunday, compared to saturday for most of the ponies, and Clover also had to settle for 37 points on this day.
As we reached lunchtime, most of the sweedish breeders started to pull their ponies from the show, as they were horrified to see that most of the ponies that got gold the day before, now had to settle for silver or bronze.
One pony actually went from 41 to 30 points in 24 hours!
Considering this, I probably should have pulled Tamelone too, but I never in my wildest thoughts would have expected her to get the judgement she got.
Even if the show had moved to the indoor arena because of rain, and this did make Tamelone a bit stressed and tense, I certainly didn't expect her to end up with a last place and 34 points!
I was completely shocked, and following that I was really sad. Partly because Tamelone, in my eyes, is one of my most beautiful ponies, but also because the judge that judged her is one that I really respect.
This is the first time I have been truly saddened by a judgement of one of my ponies.
Normally I am quite able to have a great time, no matter how I do at the shows, but this time it was hard not to let it ruin the whole weekend.
Thankfully Ida and Papaya had entered several different diciplines of utility classes in the "Sweedish Shetland Championship", that had no less than 350 entries, and we could find joy in the girls´ wonderful results.
Papaya won the agility class for minors! Idag got a very nice 2nd place in handler jumping, and a 4th place in in agility for juniors!
If I just try to forget about Tamelone's sad result on sunday, it was actually a really great trip, and we had the best company from other danes. Martin and Kathrine from Stutteri Skovgaard and Steffen and Serina from Stutteri Aarupgaard. We all had a very nice time together, and Steffen was also a great help, when I had several ponies in different rings at the same time.
On top of it all, we won an extraordinary amount of prizes.
At the start of september it was showtime again, and we headed of for the Youngstock show in Roskilde.
I had entered Yesirée and Arenduil. This was Arenduil´s first time out showing, but she did very well and got a really nice description.
The 2 girls were placed 2nd (Arenduil) and 3rd (Yesirée) in a large mixed size group of yearling fillies, and both got a very respectable 39 points.
Had hoped for just 1 more point, to make it to the finals, but I am very happy with the girls´performance.
The day after the show, Akko arrived with my new mare, the lovely Black Pearl v.d. Toom and her gorgeous colt foal Levani v.d. Toom.
My other mares looked with interest at the new ones arrival.
The following weekend it was time for the annual stallions assesment.
I had entered Tristar and Albert. I was hoping they would both make the cut, but probably had the highest hopes for Tristar, seeing as he had done so well showing this year, in front of many different judges of different nationalities. Nut that was not in the cards, and my lovely Tristar had to settle for a schocking 32 points!
In his description were a lot of critique points that a lot of the other stallions that passed the assesment also had.
After Tristar it was Albert's turn, but since Tristar had been rejected based on his movements, and he is a far better mover than Albert, I was sure Albert would also be rejected.
But to my surprise Albert was put 2nd in the class, and with just enough points for his approval. The rest of the group were all rejected.
Personally I think he has a lot of qualities that he did not get credit for, but I am happy he made it, and now I can use him, and see how he produces with my mares.
I hope he will make me some lovely foals, like his brother Arthur has done.
The day after the assesment there was a happy renunion in the stallion group.
The following weekend was the 3rd weekend in a row, that we went on the road. This time to the Gørlev Foal and Youngstock Show.
I had entered Yesirée and Arenduil again. They both got 22 out of 24 points, and very promosing descriptions, but Yesirée won the group of very lovely yearlings of mixed sizes.
They gave her an entry into the yearling championship across breeds!
Yesirée behaved perfectly and won the championship by a landslide! So proud of my gorgeous little Arthur daughter!
Finally we had a bit of "time off" from showing ect., that is until the end of october, when I fell in love with a double champion yearling filly, that was being auctioned at the Select Sale in Holland.
Very impulsively I decided I had to go to Holland to bid on this yearling. Luckily I mannaged to convince Martin and Kathrine to go with me, and Ida also came with me on the trip.
Martin and Kathrine had bought ponies at the same 2 times before, so they were great to help me and explain about the auction.
The day of the auction started in the stables, inspecting the ponies and possibly seeing them on the hard surface.
I quickly located the yearling filly, and even though I was not too impressed with her movements, I really liked her type and conformation, and decided to bid on her.
On the other hand 3 mini mares that did were originally
on my list, suddenly caught my eye.
The pictures on the auction website certainly didn't do them justice, and when I saw their amazing movements, I was sold!
Therefore I ended up bidding and buying all 4 ponies! Definately impulse purchase, but so far I am very happy with my new girls!
Two of the spots in my trailer were already occupied by 2 yearlings from Duke Stable.
A nice little mushroom tobiano colt for me, Keep the Change of Duke Stable, and a lovely little black and white filly for Anneli and Magnus in Sweeden.
So I only had room for 2 of my new mares, and therefor the other 2 would have to wait in Holland until monday morning, when Rikke Hald was kind enought to bring them back to Denmark for me, as she went to collect the 2 ponies she had bought.
On tuesday evening I then went to Rikke's place in Jutland and collected the two full sisters.
Meet all the new girls:
Flora v. ´t Terp
Diamora v. ´t Terp
Alysha v.d. Drosthoeve
Kaitlynn v. Landskaande
I have not had the time to make seperate pages for the new ponies yet, so that will have to wait for the next update.
The 3 adult mares from Holland should be in foal, and most of my own mares have also been scanned in foal.
Next time I will update the services page with this years breeding plan and expected colour outcomes from the different combinations, like I usually do.
I am really looking foreward to my two Waldo daughters having their first foals!
River and Clover have both been scanned in foal to the lovely mushroom stallion Picasso fra Holla.
In the beginning of november, we went to Sweeden again, for this years 2nd last show.
The annual Halloween Show in Sölvesborg.
We brought Arenduil, Zilver and her lovely little foal Zephyr. Then ofcourse we also brought the yearling filly from Duke Stable with us, as we were staying with Anneli and Magnus again.
All 3 ponies got 39 points and really good and correct descriptions, sadly all 1 point shy of the gold.
Zephyr did however win his class and went on to the championship, where he managed to win the title: Champion Mini Foal! So proud of my gorgeous little boy.
Papaya and Ida also participated in agility and handler jumping with Arenduil, and despite not having had time to train much, they did great and got some really nice placings.
The following weekend Siv-Anita came with her mother and her brother to collect the 2 ponies she has bought.
Thus we have had to say goodbye to Yesterday and Geisha, who have both gone to their new home in Norway.
Thus a few ponies have left and some new ones have arrived.
Some that were previously for sale, I have now decdede to keep, and some I am still debating wether to sell or keep.
My trip to Holland in the summer, certainly got me thinking.
All the lovely ponies at the show and at the stud visits, opened my eyes to the fact that that is the type I have always
been drawn to the most.
I think I have always been a bit divided between what I preferred, and what I thought I was supposed to prefer, based on what the judges here in Denmark liked.
My flock of ponies also shows this as they are a good mix of the old heavy UK types and the lighter dutch/european types.
I decided to work towards breeding a more uniform type, with the type of ponies that I like, and my new purchases are part of that plan.
This also means that the salges page will be updated over time, as I decide which ponies to keep and which to sell.
They will ofcourse only go to the best of homes as always.
I have already decided on a couple of the mares, but they will not be sold until after foaling next year.
It can be hard making descicions like this, with the mind, and not the heart, but I can fel that this is the right way for me to go, if I want to move forward with my breeding.
It has been quite a horrible year for our little stud to say the least, and the year also did end with misery and death.
About a month after the auction in Holland, it turned out that the ponies at the auction had been infected with strangles, and thus we and a nother stud in Denmark, plus 3-4 studs in Germany, brought the disease home with us.
Thankfully mine seemed to have made it though now, but it was really hard having 20-25 sick ponies at a time, having to treat them ect. And it has ofcourse been really time consuming.
The strangles also meant that I had to stay home and miss the final show of the year, the Mountain and Moorland Christmas show,
which I had been looking very much foreward to, as it was one of my favorite judges judging.
Thankfully it looks like neither Anneli and Magnus, nor Siv-Anita, who had all gotten ponies from my place in the time between the auction and the time we found out about the stragles, have brought the disease home with them.
So it looks like luckily the spread stops here.
As a final closure to this terrible year, I had to say goodbye to my lovely little Patron.
The injury he got this summer, did seem to be getting better, but as soon as he came home from summer pastures and started patrolling the fences he got really lame again in his hind leg, and it looks like he had injured some ligaments in his knees. Since he is a pony that stresses easily and I would not be able to keep him calm I decided to let him go. I was not going to put him through a lot, considering what he had already been though in his short life.
R.I.P. my gorgeous little hot tempered cutiepie!
With this I will end this update.
I hope to return with a new update soon.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We hope to leave all the horrible misfortune in 2017, and welcome a new year full of hope and joy.
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April 9th
Spring is slowly showing its face.
We have been longing for sun and warmth, and are now longing for the little foals. The first mares are already bagging up.
I hope I will have at least one or two foals in my vacation, which starts wednesday.
The foaling season didn't even get to start though, before something terrible happened.
I have lost my gentle, beautiful black pearl and her unborn foal.
I came home late from work one day, and I went out to feed the horses.
Arwen was standing a little outside the flock, like she usually does, and she neighed when she saw me, and then ran to me when I called for her to come get her dinner.
I put her in the stable, and started eating right away. I went to get some hay, and when I got back 4-5 minutes later, she was laying flat on her side. At first I thought she was probably aborting her foal, but I very soon realized she wasn't breathing.
I pannicked and started frantically pushing, beating ect. to wake her, but she was gone.
A bit of blood in her left nostril was the only sign I could find.
I have no idea why she died, but thinking it could be an aneurism, that burst. She was lying completely peacefully right on the spot where she had been eating a few minutes earlier.
She was in great shape, looked amazing and was carrying her pregnancy beautifully.
I had gotten so especially fond of her since I got her home again, and she trusted me and always came when I called for her.
I was so looking foreward to having the first foal from her that I had planned for myself, and was already planning on bringing her to assesment this year.
She was meant to go to a show with me on the following saturday, if I hadn't had to pass on the show for a meeting.
It is all so unreal and incredibly sad!
Now I can't decide wether to keep her filly from last year, instead of selling her as planned, or to try to find a new black star.
No one can ever replace Arwen, but if I am getting a new black beauty, she will have to be perfect.
Nice build, pretty little head, lots of hair and super movements. And ofcourse she has to be mini. If anyone know of a mare like that, please let me know.
On a happier note, Patron is doing great.
He has almost recovered completely and is now full of vitality and hormones!
He has gained a lot of weight, and now he just needs to built up more muscle in his hindquarters, topline ect.
He's movements have also improved 100-fold, and is now almost back to when I last saw him as a 2 year old.
He has an amazingly thick fur, was sweating a lot, and kept itching and scratching, so about a month ago I decided to clip him.
That helped in combatting the lice, and also some fungal infection along his back. He cheared up a lot after I clipped him completely.
He has gained even more weight since then, and he is soon ready for summer pasture with the other guys.
Below are a few pictures from the day I clipped him. I will try to take new ones as soon as possible.
Today was another nightmare, as I woke up to realize the Zita had lost her beautiful little filly foal during the night.
A pretty little chestnut filly, lying on the ground, with the umbilical cord and placeta still attached.
Zita seemed bright and not very interested in the foal. She didn't look like she had been sweating or anything. She wasn't due for almost 3 more weeks, and hadn't really bagged up or showed any signs of emidiate foaling.
Later today she seemed a bit pained by her very swollen udder, so I gave her a bit of pain medication, but other than that, she seems fine and in good spirits.
Zita was expecting my very first 2nd generation foal, which I ofcourse was very excited about: Right now though, I am just happy that she is allright, and then we can always try again.
Well as if all of this wasn't enough, Pumpkin now has a suspected placental infection, so I have started her on antibiotics and Regumate, to try to help save her pregnancy.
She isn't due until another 3 weeks.
I almost feel like giving up soon, and I really can face anymore trouble.
This is the 3rd year in a row that I loose foals. 2 years ago, I lost 3 foals and almost lost my darling Zilver, last year I lost one and this year I have lost two allready plus my lovely Arwen, and thats before any live foals have even touched the ground.
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March 5th
Amazing start to the showing season!
We brought Tristar to the Mountain and Moorland Winther Show.
First he won the class for 2 year old colts, across breeds.
He was then invited to compete in the Junior Championship against 15 other horses who had all been invited. Tristar mannaged to take home: Res. Junior Champion across breeds!
He was then invited to compete for Best Shetland, and here he won Res. Best of Breed, of all the entered shetland ponies..
Finally he was the only shetland invited to the Best in Show finale.
Here he was beaten by a very beautiful fell mare and a stunning Welsh stallion, who took home BIS and Res. BIS.
He did amazing all day, allthough my sweet little boy became a bit of a man :)
We thank Libo Design and Blue Hors for the lovely honorary prizes we recieved!
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February 24th
I promised to return with some stallion news.
Waldo is staying here this year. He was meant to go to Germany for this, and possibly next season, but sadly, the stallion I was getting up here instead, died in an accident.
This is so sad, but means that Waldo will stay home and service mares here instead.
Besied Waldo, we have also rented Stjernens Mini-Paschal, who will serve mares here this season.
Paschal is a great stallion, with great movements, and I have always fancied him.
He is shown at assesment and won his class, with 43 points. Awarded 1. prize and was both Mini Champion and Overall Res. Champion.
As I am using Paschal on quite a few of my own mares, he will only be available to a very few visiting mares.
Back in 2013, I actually got a very nice colt foal from Paschal, out of my lovely mare Tamelone. His name was Patron. I gave him this name, because it means protector or guardian angel.
He was born with placenta previa, meaning the placenta had detached, and was showing before the foal sack in the birth canal.
If we has not been there, he would have died.
When he was 6 months onld he was sold to my friend Dina, and there he grew up with his friend Amazing, who is a foals out of my mare Arwen, who Dina had at the time.
This summer they were both given
to a family, who instantly loved the two boys. I asked for the name of the new owner, tracked her down on facebook, and then we wrote back and forth a bit. I sent her pictures from when Patron was a foal, and finally asked her to contact me if they ever had to get rid of the guys.
Below are a few pictures of Patron when he was a foal, and from the last time I saw him at Dina's place, when he was about 2 years old.
2 weeks ago on friday I was contacted by Patron's new owner, asking if I wanted him back, because they had to have his friend euthanized.
To make a long story short, it turned out that Patron and his friend had been starved to
near death, and the veterinarien was forced to euthanize little Amazing, because he was too weak.
Patron was brought to the animal hospital to give him a chance of recovery.
I took a whole week, before he was strong enough to travel the short distance to my home, so it wasn't until friday last week, that I finally got him home.
He was litterally skin and bones. He could hardly walk, because he had no muscle mass left. Besided this we has also riddled with lice, but didn't have the strenght to scratch himself.
I treated him for the lice, and often scratched him allover his body, which he enjoyed very much.
Besides this I just slowly gave him more and more food. In the first few days, he was lying down a lot and had a bit of colic on/off.
His appetite was okay, but also went up and down, partly because of the colic. In the last 2-3 days a lot has happened though. He is lying down a lot less, his appetite is great,
and he seems more energetic.
Today he even showed off to the mares and the other stallions, and mannaged to trot a bit without loosing ballance.
On sunday I measured him with the weight tape measure. He measured at 80 kg, but given the thick fur, which also hides in pictures how horrible he really looks, it was probably a lot less.
Now 5 days later it measured at 87 kg!
I have put up some movies on my facebook page, from the day he arrived and from today. I will keep updating on his progress.
Well lets get back to some happier news.
We have also gotten another new stallion at the stud.
I got him all the way from Austria, but he was actually bred here in Denmark, by my good friend Kate.
I was completely in love with Bakkegaard's Albert, when he was a foal, but unfortunately didn't have the opertunity to buy him back then.
He has the most amazing colour: Smoky Cream Tobiano.
Instead I followed him in his new home at Dragonstone Stud in Austria.
When I suddenly got the chance to buy him, and bring him back to Denmark, I jumped at the chance.
Buying him is quite a gamble, since he has not been showed for assesment yet, but fingers crossed he will make it through and become a new breeding stallion at our stud.
When we welcome new ponies, it also means we have to say goodbye to some.
Little Rover has moved up the road to my neighbour Rikke. Here he lived with her two riding horses, and Tamelone's son Trouble.
He has already settled in very well.
Another one of our colt foals from last year, has moved all the way to Austria.
Little Comanche is now living with Stefanie at the Dragonstone Stud.
He has also settled in very well, and loves to play with Stefanie's other foals.
Today one of the mares also left.
Yesmine has given me two lovely filles, that I have kept, and she will now continue her breeding career with my friend Janny from Stutteri Stjernen.
It was a bit sad to say goodbye, since I have been very fond of Yesmine, but I am happy that I will be able to see her again, since I visit Janny several times each year.
Two other ponies from the sales page have also been reserved.
Pamela is moving to Sweeden, but first she will stay here to give birth and then to be covered again with waldo. She will leave for Sweeden after her foals this year has been weaned.
Galaxy has also been reserved, and the plan is that he will be moving to Norway in june.
In january I was, once again in Holland, together with 3 amazing sweedish girls, to see the annual stallion show.
Again this time, we managed to do a few stud visits. This time we visited Stal de Lagevoort, Stal Groenkamp and Duke Stable, where my little Pamela is from.
We saw some amazing ponies, including the very famous, Shady v. Bromishet
at Stal de Lagevoort. At Duke Stable I fell in love with the amazing little Attention of Duke Stable, even though she is both red and roan!
Now we are just waiting with excitement for the first foals to arrive. One foal less, now that Yesmine has left, but still counting on 12 lovely foals this year!
See all the expected foals as the Services page.
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The past year
Last year offered us a much better foaling season than the previous year.
Only poor Pumpkin's foaling did not go to plan, and she lost her lovely cremello colt.
We got 8 foals all together. 5 boys and 3 girls, even though my statistics said it was going to be a girls year! Well I guess that means we will have loads of lovely filles this year!
We are crossing our fingers for a lovely and completely problem free foaling
season this year.
The show season alse went very well. My little favorite of the young girls, River, became Best 2 year old filly at the Gørlev Youngstock show.
The highlight though, was again this year, the mares assesment. For a 3rd year in a row, we took home the title of Best Mini Mare. This year with a mare of my own breeding, Zita. First time ever showing my own breeding for assesment.
2017 was also the year we started showing abroad for the first time. Not just once, but twice we went to Sweeden for showing, and it was great fun.
Definately not the last time I have done this.
We thank you all for a wonderful 2016 and hope that 2017 will be equally great!
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