I mostly wrote the previous blog, Part 1 of 2023, in August 2024. This one was not posted until February 2025. The motivation and time for writing was lost for a while, but I am now trying to get back into it in good spirits. So now still February 2025, I am going to do my best to at least finish the 2023 blogs and post them soon as well. So this blog I will discuss the middle part of 2023.

May.

Impressive finally had her first foal at the beginning of this month. With a mare having a foal for the first time, it is always a matter of waiting to see how it will go and when it will happen. With Issy I know exactly what she will show when the time comes, with Press it is a different story.

Press was due on April 26, she had no milk in her udder yet, so we just had to wait and see. On May 7 her udder was full and there were even small drops on it. Normally you would then say, it won't take long anymore....

On May 8, the drops were even bigger. So the night of May 8 to 9 I thought, that's going to be staying awake.

May 8, at 10:30 pm I looked at the camera for the last time. Here she was still tremendously relaxed and it didn't look like it was going to happen any time soon. So off to bed with a whole bunch of alarm clocks for the next few hours. But my plan went sideways....

At 0:30 am I looked at the camera. (Camera time is actually an hour earlier) And yes, I was too late. Impressive had already given birth to her foal on her own. And this handsome foal even stood! So I quickly put on my sweatpants and jacket and went to the stable.

Once in the stable, I couldn't believe my luck! What I had not been able to see on camera was that this foal had a beautiful wide blaze! As I told in the previous blog, of course you want nothing more than a healthy foal. But a blaze is something that makes me extremely happy. And then the moment of truth, mare or stallion. The night got even better, it was another girl! WOW WOW WOW! I could only laugh and cry at the same time and was extremely proud of my handsome mare Impressive for bringing her first foal into the world all by herself. After I had checked everything, I could go back home and sleep for a while. Through the camera I kept an eye on everything, because I could not really sleep anymore.

It was beautiful weather in the morning so it was nice to stretch the legs for a while.

Now, of course, another name had to be thought of with I. With Impressive, I knew I wanted an English name. The name was quickly thought of, no doubt about it. This foal got the name INCREDIBLE.

So this month was finally the Clubinspection. Issy, Impressive, Infinity and Ilaysha had to compete. Issy and Impressive had a box, so their foal could come along. Infintiy and Ilaysha were on a beam. With Impressive it was a bit exciting. Her foal was just a week old and so being away from the foal was quite a task, but despite that she showed super.

From Infinity I knew she is not the best for breeding, but she put up a great result. Ilaysha was also not in top form, but was allowed to come along for the experience.

However, a real highlight of the day was Issy's result. In her class she got 3rd place! Our first real big ribbon, how happy and proud I was of my mare!

Finally the Show where Infinity showed herself in dressage and Issy did her best in the agility training.

What a great day, enjoyed it tremendously and so grateful that I could be here with 4 mares.

Something less this day was that I didn't come out completely unharmed.... Ilaysha was a bit excited when it was her turn. She pulled forward and gave a big buck, hitting the back of my ribs with her hind leg.

I couldn't breathe but the show must go on, it was my turn and fortunately the adrenaline takes over quickly.

When I got home, I quickly noticed that I had quite a bit of a mark on my back and started to feel it more and more. It turned into a beautiful bruise, with a little bruised ribs, but nothing I can't handle, so we just keep going!

Further this month, Issy was scanned pregnant again. Sensation did extremely well in training and developed beautifully.

Issy and Infinity went to the dentist.

And finally, after a long time, I was on a warmblood again! I got to ride this beautiful mare.

June.

They say an accident can happen at any time. I experienced that myself this year. After Ilaysha's kick on my ribs, I got a good kick on my shin this month during an outdoor ride. Stubborn as I am, I thought, oh it's not so bad. But this also became a big bump and I was limping for a while. But this also goes away by itself.

Sevimli developed into a beautiful mature horse. He was clearly in good shape and visibly less bothered by the summer eczema. His mane began to grow back nicely and he could go outside in the morning without a blanket, without any problems.

This month we also received the price of the Clubinspection. Nice for in the trophy cabinet!

July.

This summer month I never have very much time for anything. But this year Julia came to help me for a few more weeks. So suddenly there was more time to work with all the horses. We let all the horses free-jump once. A little gymnastics is always good. And fun to see what they can do. Every single one of them felt like it and showed their best side.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one this year who had a little accident from time to time. I was walking past the stable and heard a lot of noise. If you work with horses, you know the noises you hear when nothing is wrong. But you also hear very clearly when something is not right. I ran into the stable and found Sevimli standing trembling in the wrong box.

Just to clarify, I have two boxes side by side that share a large concrete feed trough. This feeder is across the entire width of the two boxes and because of this there is a small gap between the wall and the partition of these boxes.

Sevimli had been standing with his front legs in this trough before and had managed to get through the trough to the other box before. This time, it just hadn't gone quite right. He had probably been stuck in the feeder for a while. He was dripping all over with sweat and had quite a few scratches. Fortunately, the scratches were all superficial and after some cooling only some thick legs remained but not much else.

Sensation is making giant strides in training and so I was already able to walk a nice lap on the lunging line. And after some time even trotting loose. What a wonderful horse!

Also with Impressive I picked up riding again and we ventured our first canter.

August.

A busy month, so not much special and not so many pictures. Sensation was slowly allowed to participate in the camping program. He did very well at the Pimp My Pony morning. Ilayana developed beautifully and became big.

The next and final months of 2023 come in Part 3 of 2023.

Love, Fabiënne