Woaw, what a heat wave. Don’t really understand where it came from but I sure hope it will go away again. Mostly because I am more of a winter person than a bikini on the beach kind of type. Also a bit for the horses. In all I don’t believe horses have any problems in dealing with any of the elements given to them by planet earth. Even so, us humans are normally in the way and or interfering making it hard for horses to cope with extreme weather. But heading into the weekend I totally screwed up the blog during a planned update so for now some images – read a lot of them – are missing. So for ..read more

Military Boekelo, the Netherlands is like no other event on the planet. Boekelo is party VIPs and thousands and thousands of people during cross country. But the last couple of years this legendary event have lost a bit of its former glory. To me the breaking point seem to have been when the event was forced to moved their main arena to its original location. Even though they suddenly could offer all weather footing for dressage and jumping. It kind of felt like a quick and painful death in regards to the party factor. And the 24/7 party factor for just about any visitor was kind of the trade ..read more

Out of journalistic and equestrian curiosity I am part of a group on Facebook which is about my national federation. To sum the content up we could just refer to this group to “hate your federation as much as you can and when you’re done hate it a little bit more“. And the thing about federations is that 9 out of 10 times the ones screaming the most in regards how bad the federation is – no matter the sport – are the ones that are; 100% clueless about their own sport, society and national and international regulations that may have an impact of their sport. Would never ever – over their dead ..read more

This would be me – and my closest friends, all brought up being taught old school where horsemanship* was the foundation of all education- after buying a new horse after getting it to its new stable. Horsemanship, the art of riding, handling, and training horses. Day 1. Stay inside and get to know the environment and each other with a good brush. Day 2. Be out on the field/paddock alone to check the surroundings. Day 3. Same as day two topped up with a lunging session. Day 4. Same as day two topped up with a short lunging session and then a good old fashioned hack. Day 5. Same as day two, ma ..read more

With this corona lock down around I had a little bit too much time on my hand. Time that I partly invested into one of my older favourite things to do – pedigree research. Once upon a time this whole thing of pedigree research was actually something I was paid to do when working at one of the biggest breeding organisations in the world. Like the best job EVER But lately this kind of stuff is all about the one and only special mother line. And to my great surprise and very much liking I have not completely lost my research skills being “tied up” at home. Instead they feel more solid than ever ..read more

Within the European Union most things are regulated. Sometimes good sometimes bad. Sometimes even stupidly crazy. Within the airline industry anything and everything incident is written down and turned into a report. In cross country rider and horse falls are recorded. If the breaks of a baby stroller malfunctions it immediately is taken of the market. But when a horse trailer malfunctions there is like nothing. And me, I started the morning by reading a sad news story about a trailer that unhooked itself on a bridge and crashed into a car and just like that the horse was like mysteriously gon ..read more

So this weekend there was one of those competitions that wasn’t a competition. Cause competitions are still not allowed, but let’s run it anyway and just call it a pay-and-jump.. I could write a lot on that topic but I won’t. Instead I will address the topic of eventing safety which was one of the main things me and friend discussed in relation to events like these. In regards to “will it really be safe to run a pay and jump like this”. Reading and watching the social media flows after wards I’m thinking NOT. In example one combination fell and were allowed to continue. Falling with or without ..read more

For this year I am breeding a new mare, a maiden. Do I want an eventing offspring? Yeah, maybe. It really doesn’t matter to me which discipline my home bred horses end up in. I have a top notch rider to place on top of them so I’ll be fine either way it goes. But as long as my horses are good looking, got a good temperament, are easy to ride, move great and can jump I am happy. So maybe we should just agree my shopping list for good traits is quite extensive.. My previous attempts in the world of horse breeding have gone quite well. No I didn’t breed any world champions or 5* eventers. But I d ..read more

Some topics never die. And the Yellow Cards vs. safe sport for sure is one of those topics. I have followed the yellow cards for YEARS and let me tell you there are a LOT of discrepancies. But lately with the “updated” system I am once again flabbergasted and stunned about how this system really doesn’t help anyone. At least not in regards to safe sport. Cause suddenly everything and anything Dangerous Riding ends up as a recorded warning and NOT a Yellow Card. Of all things eventing you’d think that anything horse abuse and or dangerous riding should automatically give those yellow cards. Me ..read more

I will continue on a topic I’ve already touched down on during this corona lock down. Cause I am still not really sure what people are actually training for? With no official competitions really around. No nationals either for that matter. It feels like some people are taking their careers as amateur – and in some cases professional – riders a little bit too serious. Some train – not hack – like every day. Jumping, dressage, cross country you name it. The more the better. At least that is what this group of riders seem to believe. Others could not wait for the first event to get going and ente ..read more