Championships and KWPN-NA Keuring results!!

September was a very busy month. Two shows, a clinic, and the KWPN-NA keuring (aka Baby Wrangling) made for early mornings braiding and long days. The weather mostly held, it was a typical September for the PNW with intermittent rain punctuated by sunny days in the 70s. I started with ODS Championships at the always fabulous Devonwood, where Prom Date (Pablo x Hohenstein) continued his very successful first show season at Third level, winning the ODS Championship Third level open. Cathlyn (Flemmingh x Weltruhm) capped off her first full, but stormy, show season with a fabulous show, finishing Reserve Champion Second level open. She's come so far this year, considering I started out the year barely able to get around the arena. I was very proud of how well she did!! Video below is her last test in 2nd level test 3, where she scored almost 70%.

The following weekend I switched gears to Baby-Wrangling mode with the always fun and exciting KWPN-NA Keuring, hosted by Sonnenberg Farm. Dan and Gina always put on a first class event with a lot of spectators, and it is fun to see all the foals and other young horses competing. This year, due to a minor virus at Sonnenberg, the keuring was split between Sonnenberg and Wild Turkey Farm. Both venues are amazing and despite the last-minute change of plans, the keuring was well-organized and well-attended. 2 year old mare Mokabria KF (Ferro x Hotline), bred by Lisa Dickman and owned by myself, impressed everyone with her fabulous movement to score an overall 80 on movement! The first foal I've bred, Odesza (Vitalis x Sezuan), finished 5th in the very competitive foal class. I was very impressed with the quality of horses that were presented at this keuring; congratulations to all our NW breeders!!

Finally I finished out the month with the USDF Region 6 Championships, held at Devonwood. Prom Date once again put down a very solid Third level test, and despite an unscripted flying change in the extended canter, finished with almost 69% and overall fourth in a very competitive class. But the talk of the town was Izabella (Sezuan x Riccione), who made an appearance in the open First level classes to get some show ring experience. Ridden by Molly Eastridge, she scored a gigantic 78% in her first test and almost 75 in her second test. Both tests included many 8s and multiple 9s. Watching her this weekend, I realized that she is an 80% horse. We haven't even really tapped into her talent yet. What a fabulous mare and Molly presented her so beautifully!! The future is very bright. Video below is her 78% ride.

Now onto fall and winter training!! Exciting things are in the works for next year...