June 22nd, 2008

KEYS TRIP 2008

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PHOTO WORKSHOP WITH GABRIELE BOISELLE!

DONKEY NEWS

Heavenly Weekend

It was a great weekend for the Inspo crew at Dressage at Heavenly Waters in Bel Air, MD on June 21 and 22. Amber Trainor took Iron Spring Farm's Tsjesse (Olof x Jillis), and John and Audrey Shoemaker's MVP (Amethist x Ariban), and Alex Robertson took Iron Spring Farm's KWPN stallion Riverman ISF (Kenwood x Voltaire). It was Amber's first show with Tsjesse, and she did a great job with him, finishing 2nd twice at Prix St. George with scores of 68+% and 69.2%. Tsjesse is a super horse who just loves to show, so we are looking forward to more from these two in the future. MVP and Amber were really on their game this weekend, as well, winning both of the I-1 classes with scores of 66%+ and 69%+.

Since this was Riverman's first show of the season due to his busy breeding schedule, we did not know quite what to expect. Let's just say that he exceeded whatever expectations we may have had by a mile. On Saturday Alex and Riverman won a 4th Level 1 class with a score of 72.1%, and a 4-2 class with a score of 70.9%. Ah, but he was just warming up for Sunday.

Alex and Riverman ISF, Photo by Belinda Nairn-Wertman

Alex and Riverman warmed up with a 4th Level 1 class win, scoring 73.48%. To cap off his show, Riverman  and Alex scored an almost unheard of 78.12% at 4th Level 2 in a test that included not one, but two 10"s; one for the medium trot, and the other for a working half pirouette that has a coefficient. Not bad for a stallion who started his career as jumper, and only changed careers two years ago. For more information on this great horse, go to Iron Spring's website: www.ironspringfarm.com.

FOOOOOAL!!!!!!......FOAL FOAL FOAL

In honor of the the Dutch soccer team that is playing in the European Championship right now, the news of our new Dutch foals has an appropriate theme. This is the first year that we have had three foals, and we were very fortunate to have had no trouble or trauma, even when Krishna's foal came about ten days early. When Jeanne, who was on foal watch in the mare barn, came running in the house at 4:00 am to announce that we had a foal on the way, we thought it was Margo's. But nooooooo, out of the foaling stall went Margo and into the stall went Krishna. Dr. Berkowitz showed up around 4:30 to assist, and less than 25 minutes after she opened her eyes, DeNada was on her feet looking for something to do. That was about all the real excitement we had, thankfully.

The season started off while we were in Holland. With our crack foaling staff, Jeanne Pakes, Amber Trainor, and especially Kara Flood who stayed in the barn all night, our first foal was born on the 28th of April. Not exactly breaking news, but hey, I've got a lot on my mind. It was the first foal for Vienna (Paddox x Donau x Unicum), and he is by Sir Sinclair (Lord Sinclair x Flemmingh). Vienna is a great example of why we like the mix of riding stallions with mares of GP and TP blood. She is a great mover, and so far is proving to be a good mother. We really like her foal a lot.

As far as his name goes; that is still under discussion. My suggestion was De Mazzel, and it had great support in Holland. Let's just say the the response was tepid at home. Since he is for sale, Belinda thinks the new owner should have a say, but Jeanne and I have settled on Dave, and we're sticking to it.

Next up was the afore mentioned Krishna (Flemmingh x Amor x LeMexico)), who most of you may know as the mother of Sir Sinclair. Last year when her breeder and owner, Monica Drohm decided to sell her and concentrate on breeding to Krishna's daughters, we were very happy when she agreed to sell her to us, with the provision that she would own half of this foal. She had originally decided to try a breeding to Dayano, but when she didn't take, they tried Johnson (Jazz x Flemmingh) and the rest is history. Monica told us that Krishna never had a bad foal, and this one certainly does nothing to disprove that.

Krishna with De Nada

The last to go was Margo (Gentleman x Waterman x Oscar...remember what I said about the motherlines of our mares? I see a pattern developing. Have you ever seen such verbosity in parentheses?) and her latest Sir Sinclair. As usual, she had it like it was nothing. But this one is something. At birth, he looked like a foal two weeks old. She must be some kind of relieved. Since our partner in the foal, A.J. Stapleton, had the choice of names this year, he is named Daytona. I hope he doesn't end with NASCAR decals all over him.

Margo and Daytona

HE'S BACK !

After almost two years of frustration brought on by a series of seemingly unrelated ailments, Sir Sinclair is back in the show ring. When Sir Sinclair won the 2006 version of Dressage at Lexington (VA) Prix St. George Challenge, a very popular event that annually draws some of the top PSG horses on the East Coast, his future seemed very bright. Not long after that show, Sir started to act as if something was wrong. Iron Spring Farm and Inspo left no stone unturned (or so they thought) trying to get to the root of his discomfort. Sir has always been a brave, willing horse, so we knew that it had to be something serious or he would have shrugged it off. Chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, tea leaves, reiki, X-rays, aroma therapy, New Bolton, sonography, a visit from the men in white coats, and even a very odd recording of Buddhist monks chanting the Canadian National anthem had no positive effect. Then one day we began a serious dialogue about the possibilities of Lyme Disease. It has been a long and arduous treatment, recovery, and conditioning period, but it has more than paid off. Thanks to the dedication of Sir's owner, Mary Alice Malone, his rider Belinda, his devoted caregiver, groom and general co-enabler Jeanne Pakes, his favorite acupuncturist Sandy Perkowski, and especially his massage guru "The Amazing Martha Grace", Sir Sinclair is not only back in the ring, but winning at FEI Level again.

Memorial Day weekend found us in Leesburg, VA at Morven Park for a two day PVDA  show. The weather was perfect and the show went better than we could have hoped. We took four horses; Watch Me (Sir Sinclair x Wolkentanz II), Ziggy (Sir Sinclair x Krack C), Santos Utopia (Flemmingh x Elcaro), and Sir Sinclair himself. Watch Me and Ziggy were there to get all important scores to try to qualify for the National Championships in Lexington, KY in the 5 and 4 year old classes respectively, and Santos was there for his first Grand Prix in the US and also his rider, Alex Robertson's first time at GP. Sir was there not only to test his readiness to show again, but as long as she was at it, Belinda thought it would be a good idea to get a score to help qualify for the National Developing Horse Championship, also in KY.

How did it all work out, you ask?

Ziggy (Ziggouras TAR for all you sticklers for accuracy; but honest to Judas H. Priest, who names their horse Ziggouras anyway?) started the ball rolling with a win in Saturday's warm up class, followed closely by Watch Me (they lumped all the Young Horse Classes into one for the warm up). Not to be outdone, Ziggy and Watch Me's sire, Sir Sinclair, won his Developing Horse warm up class with a score of 68.1%. The whole crew from ISF and Inspo was there to watch, and the sense of relief and pride was almost palpable. Then it was Alex and Santos' time to shine. In their first time down the centerline together, they won the FEI Test of Choice class, doing GP, with a score 62.9%. Alex rode the test like veteran and he and Santos had a great debut.

But could the euphoria last?

Well, yes it could. Belinda and Sir started off Sunday with a win in the Qualifier Test for the Developing Horse Championship, with a score of 69.1 % under Judges Gary Rockwell (O) and J. Ashton Moore (S). Next up was Santos and Alex in a Test of Choice Class under the same two Judges, and with the same result: 1st Place with a score of 64.5%. I guess it would be a little over the top to say that they are still undefeated at Grand Prix in North America. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.

Then it was the kids turn. Ziggy had one of his best test ever, scoring 7.86 to win the 4 Year Old Test, and Watch Me won the 5 Year Old Class with a score 7.52. So now it's on to Raleigh to take on the best young horses on the East Coast and compete for spots in the National Championships for Young Dressage Horses.

We were not the only ones with young Sir Sinclairs in the show ring this weekend, however. Emily Gershberg, from NY, who bought Zatino (Sir Sinclair x Equador) last year, took him to Allentown, NJ and showed him in the 4 Year Old Class. Not only did she win with a score of 8.2, but Judge Axel Steiner said she should start making plans for KY. Now for a shameless plug. If the breeding of Zatino looks familiar, it's because his full sister is for sale on our sales page. Cool, eh?

If there are any other devoted readers of this page who had Sirs out last weekend, please send those cards and letters so we can brag on you too.

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