Knabstrupper USA

SO we have finally recovered from the Horse World Expo in PA. We took the lovely Cita and X-man (Xavoy) as representatives of the Knabstrupper breed.  The lovely Cita was, of course, a fantastic hit, with so many people falling for her elegant good looks, She posed for many many pics with little girls (and few bigger ones)!

X-man was amazingly well behaved and managed not to bite anyone, though he lipped a few!   In the arena Cita was a bit nervous at first, but settled down to put on a really good show. X was pretty good and did most everything Hilery asked for though in his own inimitable style, of course.

Matt McLaughlin used both horses in his Teaching Piaffe and Passage demo, with Cita showing her talent for piaffe, by ‘getting it’ right from the get go.  Xavoy  did excellently as well, showing the intermediate stage of training.

In the booth we soon found out that it was essential to have a horse in the stall at all times. And people loved to see them.

Cita in the Knabstrupper booth

Ena came all the way from Denmark to help us in the booth and a fantastic support she was.  We were crazy busy, the first two days were slowish, but the Saturday was unbelievable. By 4 pm we were out of everything, all the brochures, all business cards, and most of the flyers.

Ena had brought from Denmark a selection of pictures of Knabstruppers from the past, a wonderful historical display. Much though I begged, she would not leave me with them, theough she did promise to get copies of some of them for me.  It was really neat seeing all these old pics of Knabstruppers from the past.

Ena arranged the booth space we had so that one wall was Knabstruppers in the past- old historical pictures, and one wall was Knabstruppers of the present- current horses competing and in training. On the 3rd wall was  Knabstruppers of the future- Pics of youngsters and of stallions available for breeding.

It was a very long and exhausting 4 days.  Many many thanks to April Shultz and Hilery Williams, who looked after the horses, and rode them in the breed demos.  Thanks to Matt McLaughlin who helped April and Hilery during the riding demos and in the warm ups. Also to Ena for her tireless explanations of “Just what was a Knabstrupper”.  Having her there added so much to the level of information, she has an encylopedic knowledge of the breed and it’s past.

We had a great time, and I think we introduced Knabstruppers to a lot of people.

MW

Miss Cita has come home from Florida!  Yes, our little beauty queen is no longer cruising around in the land of the hunters.  She had been with Mark and Michelle Stopford for about a year and she has done really well, being the Knabstrupper ambassador to the world of show hunters. But time and money ran out, and so we brought her home.

She looks fantastic, Mark and Michelle have taken superb care of her.  Fat, slick and shiny, poor girl she came home from the 60 degrees of Florida right into one of the worst winters we have ever had in Virginia. Snow, Ice and below freezing temps!   But being a Knabbie Miss Cita has adapted fast.

I had forgotten just how lovely she is, so light on her feet and so compliant and willing. She and April look so in harmony together.    She hasn’t forgotten any of her dressage training either, she has come back better if anything. Stronger, more relaxed and forward. Her changes are light, even and  through.

So next year we will show her in dressage again, what level remains to be seen.

Once we get some better weather I can take pictures or even a video, but in the mean time here’s one from when she showed with Mark last winter in Ocala.

Mark and Cita at the HITS showgrounds in Ocala in Jan 2009.

My only regret about the whole Hunter exercise is that due to her being in Florida in Oct, she missed the KNN visit and a chance to do her ridden test. But no biggie, she’s home now and we can do it if they come this Fall or next Fall.

If you are planning on going to the Horse World Expo, Feb 24-26th in Harrisburg PA, you will have a chance to see her. I plan to take her along to show off at the Expo.  If you are there come by and say Hi!

MW

Just for grins and giggles here’s Miss Cita when I showed her in 2007/8

Melyni and Cita Normark at the BLMs in 2007

X and I doing the extended trot, this really puts us on the 4hand, oops lots of work to do!

The week after the Region 1 Championships we had a clinic with Jim Koford. He comes to a farm about 1 hr away, so we load up and drive over.

The first day I rode Xavoy, and Xafaire and April rode Payana.  Xavoy and I are currently showing at 4th 3 and not doing as well as I had hoped. We need a 60%+ to qualify us to do a 4th level freestyle, and we got a 59.2%, at the show. We can’t do the November show cos we will be at Equine Affaire, so that’s our last blast for the year.

But Jim (who has just returned to us from a stint in Germany) has plans for us to move up to PSG anyway next year. So we have been diligently working on PSG stuff!  Like pirouettes on the diagonal and the canter zigzag from the side to X and back to the side. We also need to do 5 x 4 tempis and 5 x 3 tempis. It’s hard enough for me to count when I just have 3 of them to do.

X is getting so much stronger and more assured at all this stuff. but he still gets a bit too much on the forehand and then when I ask for the changes he falls forward and takes over!

So Jim had us working to get him up in front and off his forehand, boy does he gfeel powerful when we do that. We got a really nice line of 4’s and 3’s, then Jim says Okay now do the 2’s. I must have looked horrified (or worried) cos he adds, you gonna have to get used to them ready for I1 anyway, it’s not so hard, change, ask, change, ask, change, ask…… and so I did, and X did them, 5 of them! What a boy. When I get him off the forehand and stay in the saddle so he stays off the forehand then the changes are easy, well, not so difficult anyway.

Getting him off the forehand helps with the pirouettes as well, he can really sit and turn when he is carrying the weight on his hind end!

The second lesson was shared between Payana (P Pony) and X2 (Xafaire), Jim is so popular that we only get 2 slots to ride in, but Jim lets us share one slot. Xafaire is still convinced that the corners of Pati’s arena contain dragons so we had some what of a discussion about that, but once he was assured that no one had him on the menu, he settled down and did some nice work, he needs to learn to stay soft and round and lengthen and shorten stride, it does not take much to distract him so we work on him staying with me and listening to what I say, not worrying about the state of the Universe!

P Pony and April are working on 2nd level stuff, shoulder in, haunches in and lengthening stride, plus walk canter and canter walk.  The plan is for them to come out in 2nd level next year.

The second day we took Xavoy, Payana and Halifax. Another problem with only having a 3 horse trailer and 4 (or more) horses is that we have to decide who gets to go and who does not.  It was Halifax’s first time to an away clinic, he handled it all with his usual aplomb. Of course being a young stallion we are hyper careful but he really is a good boy. He and Xavoy shared a lesson with X and I working on such stuff as our canter zigzags, this time we did the one from I1, going from center line to 1/4 line, change and to the other 1/4 line change and then back to the CL. I had to learn to straighten the halfpass as we approach the 1/4 line, then change and immediately into the new half pass! Let me tell that takes some co-ordination. but X got it pretty quickly.

Halifax did lots of trotting and cantering on a 20 m circle and learned to bend and move off the leg, both forwards and sideways.  He’s only 3 yrs old but already he focuses on his rider better than some older horses!  He is so balanced and athletic he has no problem turning and doing transitions.  The plan is for him to do Training level next year, just how we are going to haul all these horses to the shows I don’t know!

Payana and April had their lesson still working on the lateral work as well as the lengthening stuff. Halifax got to stand on the trailer and behave while P was doing her lesson. He dealt with it all really well and was mostly a very good boy.

So in this week X and I have been doing our homework mostly working on staying up in front and keeping the right bend, but also on transitions within the gaits. I got another line of 2’s with April counting and we have been doing our canter zigzags as well. Look out for us coming out at PSG/I1 next season.  It is so exciting to be finally riding at this level after all these years, thanks to X and my teachers, Jim, Matt and Ronnie!

Well off to Equine Affaire, I hope to see plenty of people there.

Yours

MW

Yes we did it, we had the inspection and grading at Cedar Creek, Mariners Cove and at Baroque n Dreams.

CCS Faramir and Peony with their ribbon.

All in all 27 Knabstruppers were inspected and graded.
2 mature stallions both passed their ridden performance tests, Atlantis and Pegasus now both have lifetime breeding licenses.
2 young stallions had their initial inspection, which they passed and now have a temporary breeding license. Welcome to Halifax Middelsom and Leofric the Dane.
7 foals were inspected and graded as well as 19 young mares, 1 yr to 5 yrs. This means that we have available to us 19 mares approved for breeding, at least!

Danish Judges look over CCS Boromir

It was a very long day what with vet tests, running all the young horses as well the two young stallions.
Plus we had two horses forward for their ridden tests.
As well as Atlantis we had Payana von Rosenof who also passed her ridden test.

Pictures were taken by Pam Talley Stoneburner, to see them go to pamtalleystoneburner.com, click on KNN inspection there’s about 15 pages of pictures!

It was a great start and I hope we will be able to continue with these KNN inspections/gradings as it does so much to help us.
Congratulations to all the horses, their owners and many thanks to all the folks who helped make it all happen.

Yours
MW

CCS Tinuvel trots her stuff for the Inspection

The date of the KNN approval in Virginia is October 11th. All day starting at 9 am. We will have lunch available. So come on and join us.
Lots of lovely spotted horses, two ridden performance tests plus 2 young stallions, mares and foals and young horses.
It will be a day to remember.

Cedar Creek Farm, 2435 Shutterlee Mill Rd, Staunton, VA, 24401.

Exit 225 from I-81, go west on 275/262. At the 2nd flashing yellow light take Shutterle Mill Rd to the right. We are 1 mile on the right, HUGE green and tan building down in the Valley.

Everyone is welcome.

It’s been a long time in the planing and organising, but finally it’s going to happen. An inspection committee from the KNN are coming to the USA this October to do an inspection and branding tour.

Fairbanks Skrodstrup at the Inspection in Denmark.
I’ve bought the tickets and sorted out the venues, now we have to organize the personnel! Vets, guest riders, presenters etc.
There are 3 mature stallions to do their ridden tests, of course no such luck that they could all be at the same venue, no one at each site. Of well that’s only 3 vets, 3 guest riders, and 3 presenters! Plus 3 sets of jumps and gallops and dressage arenas!

Theis af Virklyst at an inspection in Denmark.

We should have 3 or 4 young stallions doing their initial presentations for temporary breeding licenses, they have to walk and trot in hand and then free jump down a chute, again they are spread out over all 3 venues, so 3 jump chutes to organize!

Plus all the mares and babies.
In Denmark they do the mares and foals on one day and all the young geldings, colts and stallions on another day, but then they have far more horses in a far smaller country.

The first stop will be Cedar Creek Stables in Virginia, we should have between 10 and 19 horses depending on who shows up.

Then it’s on a plane and off to California, to Diane and Patrick’s for their horses.

One day in California and then it’s back on a plane and off to Florida to Hardford Farm, Reddick (near Ocala) for Penny Rivers horses.
and then finally home again to Virginia for me and to Denmark for the team.

Running a young stallion at an inspection in Denmark (Calypso )

Running a young stallion prospect. Calypso
I hope people will come and watch the inspections, these things are always so much more fun when there are plenty of folks.
Any questions email me on Melyni@foxdenequine.com