April 1st, 2008

KEYS TRIP 2008

MORE OCALA HERE

PHOTO WORKSHOP WITH GABRIELE BOISELLE!

More Donkeys!

(Gee..I never saw that coming)

Ever since we got Whitney for Gigi, I knew that we would eventually increase our herd of one. Xena will always be the queen, but she needed some companions to round out her kingdom. First came Janis, who is a wonderful donkey, but not quite mini enough for the increasingly sophisticated Inspo breeding program. That's right, you heard it right; THE INSPO BREEDING PROGRAM. I foolishly thought for awhile that we would be different from the others who have succumbed to donkey mania, and not actually reproduce these little darlings  (and I do use that term loosely) ourselves. But no, we had to go visit a potential sire for our foundation foals (the great Merle Haggard Jr., but more on him later), and there in the pasture were two of the cutest little money pits you ever saw; Saucy and Sizzle.

Here is is Lucy (formerly known as Saucy). She is only 9 months old, so she will have plenty of time to learn about the weird and wonderful world of Inspo, before she has to enter the"Breeding Program".

Here is Sally (formerly known as Sizzle). Sally is by the same sire as Lucy, Chili Pepper, and is 2 years old. Next year we will bring her down to get bred to Merle.

Speaking of Merle Jr., here is in all his diminutive glory. Merle Haggard Jr. is the pride and joy of Dan and Carol Greenfield's farm called Dinkie Donkies in Webster, FL. You can get more information about them and their breeding and sales programs (yes Virginia, they actually SELL their donkeys) at www.dinkie-donkies.com.

As for Janis, she is in foal to Merle and waiting at Dan and Carol's to be sold to someone who needs a slightly bigger miniature (I know, I know, it's a mild oxymoron not unlike jumbo shrimp, but I digress) donkey. She is very gentle and well behaved and would look wonderful in harness.

Here is a picture of Castille Xena. There is only one, very obvious problem: Where do we attach the Lucy/Sally wing?

On to other news. A couple of weeks ago Nancy Smith came up to Ocala to look at a couple of our young horses for sale. As always, we asked her about one of our very favorite mares that we ever sold, Donatella aka Dolly. Caroline Ashton from NJ is the owner, and Nancy the lucky rider. We last saw Dolly at a show at Fox Lea a couple of years ago and hadn't heard much since then. In the meantime Nancy has been training in Germany with Hubertus Schmidt and Dolly came home a fledgling GP horse. That makes us very proud and happy for Nancy, Caroline, Dolly and their whole crew. It is, after all, no small feat.

Since coming home, Nancy and Dolly have done very well at I-2 and GP during the tough Florida Winter Circuit. Congrats to all.

GREETINGS FROM OCALA

Greetings at last from Ocala, our home away from home during the winter season. Once again we are wintering at Mary Alice Malone's wonderful Iron Spring Farm South. In the barn, in addition to our own string, we are showing 3 of the Iron Spring stallions: Sir Sinclair (Lord Sinclair x Flemmingh), UB40 (Olivi x Michelangelo), and the latest addition to the Iron Spring roster, Riverman ISF (Kenwood x Voltaire).

To say that Sir is well represented in our barn would be a mild understatement. In addition to Sir himself we also brought 5 offspring to show. His 4yo son Ziggouras (Sir Sinclair x Krack C) went to his first show already and exceeded our high expectations. In his first test, under his regular rider Alex Robertson, he won handily with a score of 73.6% at Training Level. We used this show, Twice as Nice Dressage at Canterbury in Newberry, FL to get his feet wet before he starts his FEI 4yo campaign. Ziggy is a very special one, and we hope that he can follow in the footsteps of Watch Me (Sir Sinclair x Wolkentanz II) and make the trip to Lexington, KY later this summer. Alex also took Ruth Anne Liebman's Divali, a horse that Alex had very good results with last summer, and won both the PSG and the I-1 with scores of 66% and 69% . Showing John and Audrey Shoemaker's MVP (Amethist x Ariban) for the first time, Amber Trainor had a very good go in the PSG for a 3rd Place finish. If not for the nice row of one tempis that MVP very proudly laid down during the 4's and 3's, she would have challenged Alex for first. I think he's trying to tell us something.

Ocala Winter Dressage

Well, It didn't take long for for Ziggy to show that his first show was not a fluke. At the Florida Horse Park Ziggy turned in two more winning Training Level tests, scoring 69.28% and 70.4%. His second test on Saturday was also the High Score for the show.

Watch Me (Sir Sinclair x Wolkentanz II) has started her 5yo campaign with good results, as well. Belinda and Watch Me were 1st in a First Level 2 class with a score of 65.5%, and was 2nd in First Level 4 with a 64.2%. Her legion of fans continues to grow at each show.

Amber and MVP continue to have a very good season, racking up another win at I-1 with a score of 64.5%. Amber also won the Third Level 1 with Ate (Teunis x Oepke) the wonder Friesian, who is owned by A.J. Stapleton a retired gentleman of leisure from Lytle-Five Points, OH.

MVP and Amber winning the I-1

What would an update be without news of Xena Warrior Donkey? When Peter Atkins came over for a lesson the other day, he brought his wife Amy and their son Owen. Peter being from Tasmania and Belinda being from NZ, it was only natural that they should throw the kid up on a donkey (a first for both kid and donkey, by the way) for a spin around the farm.

Sorry about cutting Dad's head off in the shot, but it was all about Owen and Xena anyway.

Stay tuned for an "Images of Ocala" page..........

and news about Xena's new "Life Partner" Janis ...and....and...and

I had no idea how far behind I am.