By now it is already fall 2023 when I start writing and much later when it comes online. That regular blogging doesn't really work yet.... Still, I like to record everything, relive it and save the memories for later. Because who remembers in 10 years what you actually did. Certain things do stick around of course, real highlights are not lost, but some events fall away and are still just as fun to remember.

In this blog I look back at the second half of 2022. The months of July to December. Scare training took center stage, Cavalettis were made and my jumps finally came in. Below I briefly discuss the highlights for each month.

July.

My intern's assignment for school was to organize an event. This was going to be an obstacle training for the Haflinger Association at my stable. So obstacles had to be made and also tested out. The ponies and Ari showed their best side in testing and did everything very well. Even Ilaysha was allowed to try the bridge and did this super!

Then it was on, the real event. I demonstrated everything with Ari. He acted as if he had never done anything else. The participants could go through the course with my horses. The course consisted of a slalom, a bridge, a tarp, a gate with red/white bands, a path with flags and a seesaw.

All the horses competed super. Finn was the only one not to go over the sail. Press first jumped over it with a very big bow, but then bravely let himself be guided. All in all, a successful event.

Furthermore, I had started breaking Impressive in. She picked up everything super well and so slowly we were able to take a step further each time.

August.

The stallions were allowed out on the mountain this month. Just being a horse and nothing else! I can always really enjoy this. Just sitting with them in the evening after work and enjoying the sun, the surroundings, the peace and quiet and the horses!

Together with my intern, we had crafted cavelettis. I definitely had to test these and Issy got to be the first guinea pig and then it was Infinity's turn too.

September.

Early this month, the foal inspection was scheduled for Ilaysha. I knew she would not get the best assessment because her colour was not quite right. The mane was not quite white and rather a bit towards the red. So I decided not to take her to the auction and keep her. The plan was to then just let her grow up a bit and sell her after the yearling assessment. This has now turned out slightly differently a year later, but that will follow in the next few blogs!

This month was also a bit dominated by ailments... Press had a huge cold and a huge runny nose all the time. Finn had a huge allergic reaction, to something I don't know to this day what it was. In the process, she developed fluid bumps all over her body. Fortunately, this had completely disappeared after 2 days.

Ilaysha also fell ill. She had inflamed lymph nodes under her jaw. Panic, because at first I immediately thought glanders.... But still thought it was a bit and crazy place for glanders, it was too low. The vet came by and confirmed my feeling, it wasn't glanders after all! But the gland did burst open and a whole bunch of crap came out.... Fortunately, Ilaysha didn't feel very sick and soon got better too.

At the end of the month, the stallions came down again. The grass was pretty much gone and it had already started snowing up the mountain. Together with a friend, I picked them up. It was foggy and snowing lightly.... We had to walk all the way up because the horses were not coming down. The way down was even less pleasant, the grass was slippery from the wet snow and the horses were not so motivated to go with us. Once down, they bravely went onto the trailer and I drove back to the stable. Arriving at the stables, I first got Stanley out of the trailer, then it was Sensation's turn, but he didn't want to go into reverse.... At 2.5 years old, he was actually a bit too big to turn in the trailer. But after much trying, this turned out to be the only option.... Eventually he came out, lame!!! Perfect..., stable first, tomorrow we'll see.

The next morning, I found him lying down. He finally got up but stood on 3 legs.... So this month's ailments were not over yet. Vet there because this did not look good, he was really going tremendously lame. It turned out to be a hoof bruise that had now probably developed into a hoof ulcer. Unfortunately, the ulcer was deep and high in the hoof, so cutting it open was not an option.... So lots of cooling and hoping it would break open on its own....

October.

After a week, the hoof ulcer came out at the top. Certainly not a pretty sight and the smell was unbearable, but Sensation luckily went less lame and could stand on his foot a little better again. Because he could not walk well on it, his hoof had already become very steep and his tendons thick. It was uncertain whether this would recover, but it seemed to be going in the right direction. Washing out twice a day and making sure the wound stayed clean. The hoof was coming loose from the crown rim and it was not improving. I kept the farrier informed and she came several times to trim the hoof a bit so it wouldn't tip forward even more.

It became a matter of time and a huge amount of patience, but things came back to normal.

At the end of this month, I finally received my jumping equipment! Ordered in May, a lot of e-mail traffic and hassle further, but it was finally there! Just before winter, though, so I couldn't use it much now. But how happy I was that it was there!

November.

Of course, my hurdles were all too keen to try out. Issy came first and was full of motivation! Issy has always liked jumping and is always right on.

With Infinity I had never really jumped outside the cavalettis before, so this was our first time. But she did super well!

Another obstacle training was also scheduled this month. This time participants were allowed to bring their own horse. I myself participated in another one with Impressive.

At the end of November, I received a phone call. It turned out that Sevimli, Infinity's second foal that I had sold, was not doing well. After a visit, many conversations, without going into too much detail, I decided to pick him up again. He was allowed to settle down again with me along with Stanley and Sensation. He was very stressed and no longer knew how to deal with other horses. The first few weeks were very tough but fortunately he seemed to get used to it quickly.

December.

To wrap up 2022, one last photo in the snow.

Liefs, Fabiënne