Next up is Part 3 of 2024, where I’ll be discussing the second half of the year. From buying to selling, from training young horses to giving the older ones a break. There’s a bit of everything in here.

July.

When I bought Jazz, I already knew that someday I’d want a foal of hers. Now that she’s 3 years old, I started looking for a stallion to breed her with, but this turned out to be harder than I’d expected. Of course, I had some requirements: he couldn’t be too far away, he had to be the right height, and he had to have a nice coat color too! Eventually, I decided it might be easier to buy a stallion myself. So I started looking for young stallions that met my criteria. After posting a request on Facebook, I received a lot of offers that I first had to sort through. It soon became clear that most of the ones I liked were further away. One chestnut-coloured yearling colt was closer by, and I decided to go check him out with a friend. He was a well-built pony whose conformation would have been a perfect fit, but unfortunately, he had a severe undershot bite—and you don’t want that for breeding.

I continued my search and decided, together with that same friend, that it might be a good idea to go on a pony tour. We planned a route from Tyrol to Salzburg and then on to Upper Austria. We planned five stops and would spend the night near the last stop. We were set to hit the road the following month!

I had started riding Impressive again, and now that she’s all grown up, it’s time for her to have her own saddle. I’m a huge fan of interchangeable saddle trees, especially for broodmares, whose bodies will inevitably change shape over the years. I bought a beautiful brown saddle from Krämer, and it turned out to fit perfectly.

August.

Ready for the pony tour! Trailer hitched to the car, dogs on board, so we’re ready to go! Early Saturday morning, we headed to stop number 1, a breeder of mini Shetland ponies—all of them multi-colored. Super cute foals; the colts that were up for consideration were born this year, so if I were to buy one, it would be a while before I’d get a foal. Made a very good impression, though—we’ll keep them in mind and move on to the next stop. Location 2 was in a remote spot, high up on a mountain—quite a bit nerve-wracking with the trailer. This stallion was 2 years old and a bit larger; he didn’t really appeal to us. The sales photo was nice, but in person, he was a bit of a letdown. He also seemed a little shy around people, and we mostly just felt sorry for him. This would be more of a rescue than us actually loving him.

On to the third one. This was an American Miniature Horse, completely black—not exactly what I was looking for in terms of color—but he looked very nice in the photos and videos. Unfortunately, he turned out to be quite itchy, and we weren’t sure if it was summer eczema, so he was ruled out as well. The day flew by, and we were actually supposed to move on to number 4, but unfortunately, that wasn’t going to work out, so we let it pass us by. The last stop was, on paper, our favorite! A black-and-white 3-year-old colt. And he didn’t disappoint. They were able to lunge him a bit, let him run free, and he moved fantastically! Actually, we knew right away—this was going to be the one. That evening at our place, I made the final decision: I would buy him. This little stallion was named Sterntänzer. The next day, we picked him up and brought him home! At home, he was eventually named Star.

Later that month, I continued working with Press; Sensation was also moving nicely under the saddle, and Stanley’s training was going well too. He was incredibly well-behaved and always eager to ride—he really inspired confidence. So much so that, since I didn’t have any riding pants, I just hopped on wearing shorts and boots. By the end of the month, I was already able to ride him loose, and we even did our first little canter.

Issy had a minor accident this month; after her ride, she was standing with the other horse in the pasture next to the arena. She probably felt cornered and jumped over the fence. It turned out to be a bit too high, and she scraped her leg on it, but fortunately, it wasn’t serious.

By then, I had decided to sell Adylano and made a video for a potential buyer. Whether he was free-running or on the lunge line, it didn’t matter to him; he cooperated nicely even though he wasn’t used to it at all.

Romeo had a severe allergic reaction this month, which really gave me a scare. When I let him out in the morning, he rolled over but then jumped back up hysterically. He was shaking from head to toe right away. I knew immediately that something was wrong. The vet came and gave him a shot to counteract the allergic reaction. He’d probably been stung by something, but we never figured out what it was.

To wrap up the month, Ilaysha and Incredible were, of course, still out on the Alm, where they had a wonderful time!

September.

This month, Issy got to head out into the countryside with the horses from Kiendlerhof—just to be a horse for a while and put on some weight, which is exactly what she needed.

I took some great photos of Adylano to use for sale, so now he’s officially online.

As every year, the foal preview was held in Schwendau. Adylano performed very well there and was selected as a stallion candidate. Unfortunately, this fell through a month later when I received a call informing me that he had been rejected at the last minute after all.

I taught a lunging class focused on lunging foals. By then, I had practiced a lot with Adylano, and he performed flawlessly during the class.

Finally, I bought a new trailer this month. My dad and I went to check it out. The World Exhibition is on the schedule for next year, and I really wanted a new trailer for the occasion so we could make a good impression. We ended up choosing a beautiful two-horse Böckman trailer with a tack room.

October.

This month, the campground got some nice new hay bins. Three smaller ones for the back of the riding arena and a larger one with a roof for the paddock. It’s great—now the horses don’t have to eat from a muddy ground anymore, and I can fill the bins the night before for the next day.

Issy was still enjoying the pasture, and now that things had settled down at the campground, I was able to let Finn ride a bit more on my own, and I was training a young mare that belonged to a friend.

November.

Stanley was supposed to be picked up this month; he would then be heading to his forever home in Germany. One last ride—he moved so beautifully! What an amazing horse he was, so wonderful to work with! I knew all along that he would leave someday, but it’s still hard to swallow when the time actually comes.

For Incredible and Ilaysha, the alm summer is now truly over. We’re walking them down, where they’ll spend one more night in Mayrhofen and one more night in Schwendau before they finally head home. Once home, they’ll clearly need some time to recover from their exhausting summer.

December.

Winter is here, and with it, the year and this blog have come to an end!

Love, Fabiënne