SHE’S HERE!  I am so excited to announce the arrival of Wyn’s Mocha Noir, our beautiful black and white Friesian/Trakehner cross!  She is just beautiful and nothing but legs!  May have to nickname her “Roo” after “kangaroo!”

She is everything we had hoped for and sweet as can be!  Both first time Mom and filly are doing great and it is indeed a wonderful day filled with many blessings!

Wishing you all a healthy and happy spring!

Wyn's Mocha Noir - 6 hours old!

ROZALINDA - In Her Prime

~IN LOVING MEMORY~

~June 27. 1989 – December 9, 2011~

1st Premium Star & Model Mare
Jochem 259 x Goudhartsje, Star/Preferent 5934

Our beautiful and oh so sweet mare, Rozalinda passed with quiet dignity and grace.  She was bright eyed, still full of joy and eating like a champ.  However, as she aged, it became more and more difficult for Rozalinda to get up and down and we had exhausted all practical means to restore/maintain her abilities and she was deteriorating quickly.  I felt it best to let her go before she could no longer rise on her own without suffering and while she was still able to enjoy a good quality of life each day.  As many of you know from your own experiences, their is no more difficult a decision than to let a horse go, yet we hold the power to grant our beloved horses the greatest gift – a gift they have both earned and deserve…the ability to ease them from this life with a peaceful passing filled with the love and devotion of those around them.

I was blessed to find Waller Equine Clinic – this Texas clinic cremates horses for a very nominal fee including the pick up of your horse and the delivery back to you of their ashes.  Rozalinda has now returned to me and a portion of her ashes have been spread over the pasture she so loved to roam and also over Aswyn’s grave, so he is never again alone. The clinic also returned a portion of her ashes in a beautifully engraved box along with freshly washed/braided mane and tail hair.  I am having a brass plaque engraved now for her ashes and she will always be near to me.  I only wish I had known of this clinic before Aswyn and Rixt passed.  I know Rozalinda now runs free and easy alongside her best friend, Rixt and in the shadow of her stallion protector, Aswyn van de Pluum.  May they know only the joy and freedom of Heaven for eternity…

Rozalinda & Laralie at 3 days old

In  June 2011, our beautiful Rozalinda presented us with a magnificent filly named Laralie de Pluum WEF by our 2006 IFSHA World Champion Stallion, Wyn de Pluum v.V.   Laralie is the epitome of beautiful Friesian femininity and she is going to so closely resemble her mother – Long of leg, lots of mane and feathering and full of sweetness and light!  We are very excited to note that Laralie, along with our handsome young stallion, Arawyn van de Pluum WEF, both registered with the Friesian Horse Studbook of North America (FHSNA) are currently slated to become the first Friesians to be imported into Ecuador!  To have a filly of Rozalinda’s become the foundation Friesian mare in Ecuador is an honor and we are very proud of every contribution Rozalinda made to Wyning Edge Friesians…but even more important is the way she touched our lives every day here on the ranch.  Her sweetness and joy, her loving nickers and nuzzles will be greatly missed…and never, ever forgotten.  

Rozalinda & Echo at 4 mos

Rozalinda also delivered a very handsome colt in March 2009.  Echo van de Pluum WEF is by our famed Elite/Preferent, Aswyn van de Pluum and was awarded the prestigious 2009 FPZV North American Champion Colt!  He is now living the high life with Jean and Mike Spires in Pennsylvania!  And from his recent photos, is developing into an incredibly handsome young stallion!

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~Rozalinda was a Star and Model Mare, exceptionally beautiful and with an outstanding FPS pedigree. She was renowned worldwide for her refinement and flowing tresses, all of which she passed along to her exceptional foals.  As a broodmare, she was the epitome of a loving mother and possessed one of the highest premium foal records for the Friesian breed. Many of her foals have gone on to Champion status in Dressage, Driving and excellence of Breed.  In 2000, Rozalinda passed the MPT (Mare Performance Test) with excellent scores to become a Model Mare.

We are so excited to welcome our first foal of the season, a beautiful, healthy and sweet filly named Laralei de Pluum WEF!  She was born 6/8/11 at abut 8pm and is just perfect and already trotting and cantering around the pasture with her beautiful dam, Rozalinda!  And I am so grateful to Rozalinda for not putting me through another night of foal watch!  Here are some pics:

Hi, All!

Please come out to support a great cause this coming Saturday, 10/16 at 10:00am at the Travis County Event Center in Austin, Texas!  I am taking Wyn up to be presented at Liberty and I am sure he would love to see the stands crowded with horse-loving fans!  When his bling goes on, he hears his song “Bad to the Bone” come on the speakers and then he hears the crowd, he’s ready to drop some jaws! Ha!

All proceeds will go to help the Bluebonnet Equine Rescue, so if you can make it, come and say “HI” and help out an organization that is doing it’s best to help abused or homeless horses find the needed care they deserve!

Hope to see you there!

Hugs,

Paula

2010 WEG Opening Ceremony - Nicole & Eelstje F. (Bob!) Rockin' da House!

Hi, Everyone!

I can’t even express how incredible an experience this was!  Here’s Nicole and Bob flying around the stadium in a full canter (hence the blur!!) in front of 25,000 people going absolutely WILD over them during the Mardi Gras Finale!  :-)  Ron Steur, riding Fridse 423 Sport was doing a fantastic extended trot across the stadium as well!  They absolutely rocked the house and the applause/cheers were deafening!  See the photo gallery below for lots of great pics of our entire time spent at the WEG.)

The “Friesian Train” was amazing!  The combined performance of the ten highly talented riders along with the ten incredibly well-trained and athletic stallions, proved to be one of the most concisely executed equine demonstrations I have ever witnessed!  They really brought their “A” game to the WEG and the crowd went wild over them all. Since their appearance, I have had a constant stream of accolades from all across the globe from those that were either at the opening ceremony and experienced it themselves or have now watched it via the internet.  As one of the commentators stated at the conclusion of the Friesian Train performance:  ”For an equine performance, FLAWLESS!”

Here is a list of the riders and Friesian stallions that participated in the 2010 WEG Friesian Train:

#1 Christa Laarakkers on Ielke 382 Sport (KFPS), #2 Hans Megank on Rintje V (FPZV), #3 Saskia Meinema on Casper van de Oostwal (KFPS), #3 Susan Bouwman-Wind on Marten Hendrek (KFPS), #5 Brad Cutshall on Mintse 384 Sport (KFPS), #6 Nicole Glusenkamp on Eeltsje F (also known as “Bob,” KFPS), #7 Sabine van de Loenhorst on Haitse 425 (KFPS), #8 Kelly McGinn on Lolke 371 Sport (KFPS), #9 Lynn Jendrowski on Moud (KFPS), #10 Marijke Fulmer on Jerke 434 (KFPS). Fridse 423 Sport (KFPS) was in the Mardi Gras with rider Ron Steur along with Nicole and Eeltsje (Bob).

To watch the Friesian Train in action click here:  Friesian Train (with orchestra) The commentary is in German.

Here is a link to watch the Friesian Train in action!   It was shot by a member of the WEG audience:  YouTube of Friesian Train

You can also go to www.usefnetwork.com and watch the full opening ceremony.  The Friesian Train is about 1:14 into the show and the Mardi Gras Finale is about 2:53 into the show.

To our wonderful new KFPS friends that put this fantastic performance together in Holland, Jason Tice of FHANA for all of his help, and a special thank you to Ron Steur, who invited Nicole, Bob and myself to take part, we are forever grateful and so proud to have participated!  It was a great pleasure to have met everyone from Holland and our U.S. partners!  We hope to join you all again soon!

GALLERY OF WEG PICS By Cally Matherly & Paula Marsh:

HCEF visit WEF for their first Breed Clinic!

Saturday, August 21 was a day filled with fun, beautiful Friesians and a bit of education on the Friesian breed!  It was my great pleasure and honor to host the Hill Country Equine Friends first ever Breed Clinic!

We began at the arena at about 10am with a dressage presentation made by classical dressage trainer extraordinaire, Reinhard Dorsch and our 2006 IFSHA World Champion Friesian Stallion, Wyn de Pluum v.V. Reinhard and Wyn performed a variety of dressage movements including the half-pass, side-pass, piaffe and passage to lovely classical music.  During the performance, I spoke on the history of the Friesian breed and the WEF breeding program.  It was wonderful to have a group with such an avid interest in the breed and an obvious deep love of all horses.

HCEF Member's Meeting 8-21-10

HCEF Member's Meeting 8-21-10

Once back in the cantina and barn, we commenced with the monthly HCEF member’s meeting which included lots of newly planned events including the upcoming tack sale to benefit an equine therapy group and another Bandera trail ride at the end of September.

Also in the works for the group out at WEF will be a group riding lesson with Reinhard, followed by a beautiful trail ride through Cordillera Ranch’s open spaces and down to our park on the Guadelupe River!  It’s a lovely ride and I hope many HCEF members can make it!

Time for a Yummy Potluck!

Then it was time to dig into an absolutely fantastic potluck brunch and to chit chat amongst the members!

Sadly, after we could eat no more and were all talked out, it was time for the HCEF members to head home!!  I had so much fun with these great people that I can’t wait to have everyone back again for a ride!

HURRY BACK!

It is with the heaviest of hearts that we have lost one of our dearest friends…Amanda graced this earth for only 19 years, but in that time, she touched so many hearts and minds.  Including Michael and I.  Amanda was one of the most genuine, loving and faithful of God’s children and even though she only had a few short months with Cirawyn, we all know they were the happiest of her life.

Amanda’s dream was to have an equine therapy facility for the handicapped and she wanted Cirawyn to be her foundation therapy horse. Her parents, Randall & Cynthia have decided that the best way to honor Amanda’s life would be to continue with her dream and to follow through by having Cirawyn trained as a therapy horse.  It was always Amanda’s desires to give back to others and with her family’s decision, Cirawyn will carry on for Amanda and give her life in the service of those that most need it.

We love you, Amanda…and know you are wandering through beautiful mountain meadows wrapped in the loving arms of those that have gone before you and surrounded by the loveliest of the horses in heaven.  Peace and Love Forever!

We are so busy preparing for our trip to Lexington, Kentucky for our participation in the opening ceremonies of the World Equestrian Games!  We can’t believe it’s less than a month away!  Nicole and Bob have been busy rehearsing their portion of the performance.  We were provided a video of what their part would be and once they practiced it a bit, they had to submit a video of it to the KFPS in Holland for final approval.  Now it’s just getting the final details put together for the trip.

The KFPS has rented a farmhouse for all of the riders and grooms to stay and we are really looking forward to meeting all of the rest of the riders and grooms both from the U.S. and Holland.  I’m sure we will all make lifelong friends after sharing such a fantastic experience together!

Here are a few pics that Nicole sent to me of she and Bob practicing their piaffe!  He’s so cute!

We have been so busy at the ranch over the last 8-9 months or so!   Between Mike, Eddie, Santiago and myself, we have put in new drainage channels and ditches all around the ranch/barn/paddocks, refurnished & landscaped all around the ranch cottage and then resurfaced all of the roads.  Due to all the rain in the winter here, the mulch we had been using just created deep pockets of mud and wet areas that never dried out, so we removed all of the mulch and instead first put down a good base covered with crushed granite.  We also began laying down footing material (old mulch!) for the first section of the trail system we are putting in all around and crosscutting through the ranch.  The first section is complete and oh my gosh, it is so great to be able to flat out gallop without worrying about the horses hooves on the rocks!

The cottage is just adorable, but there was never really any emotional investment put into it when it was occupied by our former Ranch Manager, so we have given it the love and attention it deserved!  Now it feels homey, comfy and we spend about 4 nights a week out there with Santiago & Eddie staying out there other nights.

It was lots of work and their’s still tons to be done, but it’s so rewarding to see the results thus far!  And we are pretty proud of doing it all ourselves…so we had to share with ya’ll! HA!

The Alamo on parade day!

I had a fantastic time and it was a great honor to have been chosen as an official judge & dignitary for the beautiful 2010 “Battle of the Flowers” Parade in San Antonio, Texas.  It was the 119th year of this incredible event!  The Grand Marshal for this year’s parade was Gordon Hartman, the founder of the Morgan’s Wonderland located here in San Antonio and the first amusement park in the nation catering to the disabled, but also great fun for all families alike.

I was part of the team given the exciting task of judging the Cavalcade (equine) entries!  All of the entries, the Cavalcade, Antique Cars, Floats, Marching Bands,  Military Troops & Bands and the Balloons were simply amazing!   The Judging stands were located directly across the street from the famous Alamo and the crowds were huge!

All of the Cavalcade entries were just spectacular and they had all worked so hard on their presentations that it made it very difficult to chose between them, however, their was one that stood out to us all as the winner of the Cavalcade.

We chose the fabulous and entertaining “Charro Zona Sur,” for their exciting presentation, followed by precision of  ”The Horses of Peru Drill Team” in second and the lovely costumed ladies and horses of “Escaramuza Rosas de Castilla” in third place.  I can only hope to have the honor of judging this magnificent event again in the future!

Here is just a selection of the wonderful pics I was able to take between judging!