Home again!

Sharon arrived home around 1:30 am Friday morning from her strenuous judging tour. She arrived at the airport in Abilene at 11:00 pm only to find a dead battery because she left her car lights on the whole time she was gone.  It was definitely one of those days.  Then, to add insult to injury, she had to leave Friday afternoon with Lynn to go to San Angelo for a surprise birthday party for one of her oldest friends.  They spent the night after the party and came home this morning.  Sharon is really looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow.  She said she saw some very nice horses and foals and had a great and educational time judging.  All of the sites were well prepared, well run, and had great hospitality.  She will be writing an article for the American Hanoverian quarterly magazine with much more detail about her tour.  There was a lot of air traveling and auto traveling and she, Volker Ehlers, and Hugh Bellis-Jones were definitely sleep deprived and physically exhausted by the end.  It makes us all remember how big the US is and how many people wish to have their mares placed in the Hanoverian Stud Books- which is a good thing for the AHS.

While Sharon was gone, Patrick and Alyssa held down the farm and kept the horses going in preparation for Championships coming up soon.  We will leave with our 6 horses for Champs in Houston on Tuesday, October 27.  Patrick will be riding 4 horses and Alyssa will be riding 1.  This year, Sharon will be horseless but will then have the time to fully enjoy seeing her old friends again, and calling tests for the open show, etc.  We are excited to take our new 6 horse trailer.  

Also, while Sharon was gone, Patrick rode La Coruna in the Heike Kemmer clinic and it was very instructive and gave him lots of good things to work on.  He will be debuting La Coruna at Third Level at the Open Show in Houston in 2 weeks.  She has mastered her single flying changes with ease and the rest of the Third Level work is ready for her first round in the show ring.  

Sharon was very excited to find out that she may be able to take Born in the USA to Stallion Licensing at Silver Creek in Oklahoma at the end of the 70-day Stallion Test that is being held at that farm.  There will be the required German Stallion Judges available to License him if he passes.  Needless to say, that would be SO MUCH EASIER for us then dragging him all the way to Maryland next summer.  If this is approved by the AHS and the Verband, he will be presented on December 13 in Oklahoma.  We will keep you informed on the results of this plan.

Alyssa and Patrick were planning to take 2 mares and foals to Stargate today for the AHS inspections which will be held tomorrow.  Unfortunately, both foals have snotty noses and we had to cancel because we don't want to spread this to any other unsuspecting horses.  Because we were not going to Stargate, we decided to wean the rest of the foals today.  As usual, we take their mothers with them to the pastures across from them, and then, when the foals are in the new pasture, we quietly move the mares back across the way.  It was a perfect weaning as no one really cared one way or another.  The foals were fine after about 3 mins and the mothers just seemed grateful.  We plan to move all the horses and pastures around in the next couple of weeks which is quite a project.  We are also in the process of planning when and how to start the 2 year olds which will soon be coming 3.  

Most of you have heard that Lyndon Rife, one of our clinicians and trainers, was bucked from a horse and hurt rather seriously.  Apparently he is going to be OK and we wish him and his wife, Julie Madriguera, all the best and a speedy recovery. 

Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for reading our blog!  Sharon ran into numerous people during the tour who commented that they read our blog.  It makes us feel that it is worthwhile to continue!