For a while I have been thinking about starting a blog. A blog about my life with my horses in Austria, how this started and what else I experience. I really enjoy writing down and recording memories. I make many photo albums, about traveling, skiing seasons and also about my horses. You take many photos in your life, but everyone stores them on the computer and then never actually look at them again. Sin! Through this blog I can always relive my memories, but friends, family and even strangers can read my memories this way.

At the time of writing, we are in the middle of the corona crisis. Enough time for me to put everything on paper, or actually on the computer. For those who don't know me, I will introduce myself.

I am Fabiënne, 25 years old and have now been living in Austria for almost 4 years. In the summer I work at a campsite where I give riding lessons and in the winter I am a ski instructor. So tourism... That is of course completely out of place now, so I have no work at the moment. Fortunately I have my own horses, at the moment I have 2 mares with foal and a two years old mare. One mare and her foal are on the campsite where I work and also take care of the other ponies. The others are in another stable. I get a lot of energy from my horses, which also means I still have something to do every day.

Love for Horses.

In this first blog I would really like to tell you about how it all started. But where is the start then? Of course it starts with the love for horses. Without it, I would not be where I am now and I would probably have had a completely different life. I started riding lessons when I was eight. My parents had a camper, which was stored on a farm. They had cows and some Welsh Ponies.

My very first lesson was on a little white pony, her name was Nikita. I ride here for about 4 years, until the riding lessons stopped here. I had to look for another riding school. In 2008 I started at 'Manege de Dragonder' in Veenendaal, The Netherlands. Soon I had a grooming pony here too, Rhian, a dark brown New Forest pony with one blue eye. We had a whole club of girls here, every Saturday we had a lot of fun, hanging out at the riding school all day. After two years with Rhian the challenge was over and I went on with Jeni, a brown mare. I rode a lot of dressage with Jeni, until she got a bit too old for the real thing. In 2014 I got a care horse. Audey, a young, chestnut-colored KWPN mare, I think 1.80m high! I continued to take care of this until I left for Austria for the first time in 2015.

Haflingers.

The love for horses was very big, but the love for Haflingers was even bigger. How could it be otherwise, this love originated in Austria. Together with my parents, we went on holiday to Austria for many years, to Zillertal. Of course horse riding also had to be done on holiday. In the beginning that was possible at the campsite, but when that was no longer a possibility, I had to look for another option. It was quickly found, a beautiful Haflinger breeding farm, the Kiendlerhof. They offered outdoor rides. I had to try that. From the first ride, instantly fell in love with this breed. Beautiful golden fur, bright white mane, a very sweet character, but some also sometimes spicy with riding them. I went for a ride as often as I could. Soon I had a favorite horse, Rivella. If it wasn't Rivella, it was most of the time a stallion, which of course I certainly didn't mind!

My first own horse.

My own horse had been on my wish list for a long time, but could not be purchased until I finished school. I knew, as soon as a horse would come, it would be a Halfinger! In 2015 the time had finally come. I had my diploma and was able to slowly start looking for my own horse. I searched all over the internet, looking for beautiful Haflingers. I also looked abroad at Haflingers, especially Austria, because you never know where you will find your dream horse. After my school I was still young and I did not know exactly what I wanted to do for work, skiing is also a great passion of mine and so I decided to do something with it first. I signed up for the anwärter, ski instructor training, which started at the beginning of December. In the meantime I had found a mare on the website of an Austrian Haflinger association that caught my attention.

On December 5, 2015 I drove to Austria with my father. Before we drove to my shelter for the next six months, I wanted to see that mare. It was located in Arzl near Innsbruck, not very far from the Zillertal.

At the end of the afternoon we were in a small stable along the road. A few boxes with access to a paddock. Issy stood in one of the boxes. A three-year-old mare, pregnant and with a thick winter coat. I was in love immediately. But as I learned from my old instructor, you should check a horse before buying. So she was taken out of the box, walked back and forth a few times, I walked around it, looked at the hooves, lifted a foot and then she was able to walk freely in the roundpen. She ran around a few rounds. When I think back to it now and look at the pictures, she was certainly not the prettiest at the time. But everything in me told me, this was my horse!

Now I was going to be a skiteacher a whole season, where the hell should I go with a horse. The then owner of Issy asked if I knew the Neuner family. Yes, I knew that one, I had made those great rides there for years. He would call to ask if she could stand there. No sooner said than done. A week later after a clinical examination, she was at the Kiendlerhof. A dream come true, owning a Haflinger and then also bought it in Austria. It wasn't even 1, but I immediately bought two, Issy would have her first foal in February!

The winter.

When I bought Issy, she already had a saddle on her a few times. The old owner had told me that she was also been ridden, but to what extent, that was a bit of a mystery. That was a matter of trying it out! I could borrow a saddle from the Kiendlerhof and that's how it started.

December 23, 2015 was the day, today I would go ride Issy for the first time. Saddle and bridle on and lets go. She did a great job, she let me get on quietly, we could go out for a walk and I left it at that for the first time. A few days later I got on again. This time I also tried a bit of trot. Steering was not that easy, but I was satisfied. She didn't had to do much more with that big belly. In January we took a walk around the village to see how she reacts to traffic. No problem, she walked with me everywhere.

Infinity.

On February 8, 2016 Issys first foal was born in the night. In the morning I immediately went for a visit. What a sweet little cute foal and especially MY foal. In Haflingers there is a rule with the names, mares must start with the letter of the mother and stallions with the letter of the father. So this name had to start with I. I knew a name immediately, she was called Infinity.

It was decided in advance that Infinity (Finn) would be sold if she was allowed to leave the mother. Selling that turned out to be not that easy after all. In fact, I was so infected with the 'breeding virus' that I wanted another foal. When Finn was a month old I took Issy to Weer, there was the stallion Almquell, Finn's father. I decided to go with him again. After a week I could pick her up again, about 18 days later we made an ultrasound and she turned out to be pregnant again.

This was the beginning of my horse life, my life in Austria, my breeding!

Love Fabiënne