At the Trakehner show and grading this year we took three mares and their foals for showing, one mare for the performance test and one three year old colt for grading. The foals where all by our residential stallion Chabrol and is his first crop of foals, so we thought we would bring them along and show them to people, as we are so proud of them. We had to enter the boys in the part bred classes as they get white papers instead of pink papers due to their father not being able to pass his 70 day performance test due to injury.   

We brought Henny with her colt foal Singing Hector, Luana v. Steinberg with her colt foal Singing Lancelot and Umbria with her colt foal Singing Urban Rhyme. Singing Elischa was up for the performance test as she was awarded premium at her grading last year and needed to pass the mare performance test to be able to use her premium status. Elischa has been produced by Clair Powell with a lot of help from Peter, (Peter is from Hungary and has been helping with the horses since November 2006) and she looked really well and was going fantastic under saddle. The colt we brought up was Singing Herbstglanz by Arentino out of Herbstwolke and is out of Arentino’s second crop of foals. He has been produced by Peter, which is a fantastic horseman with a lot of knowledge on how to produce horses, and he really has done a fantastic job with Glanz, which just looks amazing. So a BIG thank you to Peter for all the hard work and his full commitment to Herbstglanz day and night.  

The foals where up on the Saturday and we where so pleased when Hector was placed 1^st, Lancelot 2^nd and Urban Rhyme 3^rd with Hector becoming Reserve Champion of all part breeds entered. Herbstglanz was shown on hard ground, which was a bit difficult as the pen was not big enough to show the horse in, but it was managed. In the afternoon Glanz and Elischa had to loose jump and Glanz was really flat and we where very disappointed in him. The night of arriving at the show we had to move him 3 times due to the stables allocated. He was so stress out, as mares and foals where walking right by his nose all the time and within an hour was white with sweat. Peter was so worried as he told me Glanz would now loose a lot of energy and this could mess up our chance of grading him, which was quite depressing to think about as Peter has worked so hard for 5 month just for these two days and to think it was all wasted was not happy thoughts. Elischa jumped well but I did feel she went in to close to the fence before jumping them. In the evening Clair took Elicsha out to ride and Kim noticed that she was lame and fetch me to have a look. Yes she is lame I said and thought I would get Peter to have a look. (Quite amazing that you need three people to tell whatever a horse is lame or not) I went to find Peter, which again said yes she is lame…. BIG disappointment to everyone involved, as it now looked like she had to be retired and all the hard work wasted.

 On the Sunday Herbstglanz was first up for his showing on the triangle and he looked FANTASTIK…. He just showed everyone, which wanted to look at him, how he can move. He has three amazing paces and just kept showing them off. I was so proud of him and to think as a foal he was so laid back and LAZY (he still is) that he was always last in showing classes. The time came when we where to find out whatever Herbstglanz had graded or not and what a relive it was to finally realizing he had graded (I could not hear the speakers and only realize he was graded when Victoria came in with her little basked with the sash and rosette) The judges was very pleased with him and he got very high marks for movement and one judge commented that it was very rare to find a horse with such good movement in all three gaits. We are the first in England within the Trakehner Society to grade two stallions right after each other and to have a graded stallion from Arentino’s first and second crops of foals is just amazing. We then pulled our self together and thoughts went to Elischa, so out she came and we lounged her to see if she may be sound. Sadly the answer was no, she was still lame and had to be retired from the mare performance test ….. Such is life with horses.

In the afternoon we showed the mares and Henny and Luana was first up and in the same class. Henny won the class and Luana was placed 3^rd. Umbria was in the next class and also won her class. Then the mare Championship was on and Henny was made Reserve Champion mare and she also ended up as the Overall Reserve Supreme Champion of the Trakehner show so we where flying on a high at the end of show.

A big thank you to Clair, Kim, Peter and to Bernadette for sending Tim in to help us with the loose jumping, Tim for helping Peter whip Herbstglanz over the fences, Paul and Laura for helping us with the mares and foals and to Jo for coming up to see us and helping us out with the mares and foals and then to help us muck out. My god it is the first time I have seen someone in good nice white clothe with small fine brown leather shoes mucking out……. Thanks again to you all and to Victoria and Caroline for a well run show.

Wow, what a weekend and wonderful end to the showing year of 2006. We took 2 mares and their foals, 1 filly for grading and our first colt ever up for grading to the TBF show this weekend of the 24th and 25th.The Saturday was the grading and our filly out of St.Pr.u.Pr.St Elistra by E.H Mackensen graded with a Premium and will now have to go back next year to do the mare performance test to be able to use her new title. Our colt Singing Horatio, out of Arentino's first English crop of foals did a excellent performance on the hard ground in the morning and jumped for fun in the afternoon, where he also showed how powerful he is in movement, with wonderful high knee and hock action and very loose floating movements like a well oiled Meccano set.  

On the Sunday morning it was time for Horatio to go loose and although tired, he continued to show himself off and graded that morning. We are absolutely delighted because it is the first ever colt by Arentino to come up for grading and Horatio is from of Arentino's first English crop of foals. It really is just amazing and so wonderful that he is now a fully graded Trakehner stallion. Only 4-7% of Trakehner colts grade every year world wide, so it is just so wonderful to be part of those 4-7% and now Arentino's wonderful and very valuable bloodlines will go on in his beautiful son Horatio. A BIG thank you to Tim and Bernadette for having Horatio since May and presenting him for his grading, this would NEVER have happened without their help and they really have done a super job of him and we are so grateful to them for having prepared him so beautifully.  

We were going to bring Hallesen up to do the mare performance test, as she graded with a premium last year, but we sold her this year and she will be coming up to do her performance test next year under her new rider and owner Laura Busby, who brought up their mares, H.G Irroy and Sintesi with foals at foot by Arentino. H.G Irroy graded and her foal showed expressive loose big movement and will make a fantastic sports horse. Sintesi graded with an amazing 52 points and beat our mare Henny in the mare class, so well done to the Busby family, I didn’t see her foal Sintino so can't make a comment on him... sorry Julie, but he is a very stunning chap to look at and I am sure he has big powerful movements with his wonderful pedigree and hey, we only have to look at his mum and dad to know he is a very special fellow.

Henny came 6th in her mare class and so did Singing Elischa, which was just sooooooooo tired after the grading the day before, but Aida, which was in Elischa's class won their mare class. She then became Champion mare and was the overall Reserve Supreme Champion of the TBF show. Henny's filly owned by Chloe Class came 3rd in her filly class and Singing Alondo was 2nd in his colt class and we had many people admiring him and telling us he is a wonderful stallion prospect so there is another colt for Tim and Bernadette in 3 years time to take on. 

Chloe was also at the show with her gelding Singing Heaster by Solero out of Henny. It was their first outing and has never been to a breed show before. They came 1st in the potential competition horse in-hand class and 2nd in the ridden class so a BIG congratulation to them both. What a shame, that Chloe didn’t know she was supposed to be in the Championship as she was 1st and 2nd and so she missed out on being Reserve Champion. Never mind and as the judge told me "That is a serious dressage prospect for the future" but we didn’t need him to tell us that, as we already know this and now wish Chloe and Heaster all the best out in the dressage world next year.

July

This year we again attended our favourite show the British Dressage Young Rider and Breeders Championship with our wonderful mares Pr.St Aida and Henny together with their foals Alondo and Hermione. Babies did really well coming 2nd and 4th with mum's coming 2nd and 1st. Henny also became Reserve Champion of the mares and we are absolutely delighted with the outcome of the weekend. Tim from Woodcroft stud came along with his wonderful wife Bernadette and run our mares up for us, but we saw that poor Tim had big problems in keeping up with Aida, my god she is a BIG mare with a massive stride and to get her to engage you really have to run... Sadly we have only seen her really show her trot at the auction in Germany (poor runner perhaps he was practising for the Olympic) and then in the field. She is just such a lovely  lovely mare with fantastic powerful movements. However we say a BIG THANK YOU to Tim for running our mares up for us, I could not have done it myself and wouldn't try as I have to jog keeping up with her walk. Kim and I have been talking about that maybe we should now say goodbye to the mare and foal classes and start to enter the young stock classes, as Arentino's children really should go out and be shown, so look out for next year we might just start to invade the shows with Tino babies.

September

June

2004

September

We attended the Trakehner show with four mares and four foals this year, as we had to grade three of our mares for their foals to get pink papers.

Henriot graded well with 51,5 points and Herbstwolke with the amazing score of 57 points, the highest marks of the day making her the Champion of the grading.

Hightech was retired on the request of the judges, due to her bad foaling this year where her foal Highlander ripped out her rectum and vulva. We cannot breed from her again, as we cannot take the chance that this might happen again and that if we do breed from her, we might not be so lucky next time to still have her with us. The judges decided that it was not fair on Hightech to grade her for movements, as she was not moving to her ability due to her problems behind and so we retired. She has been accepted into the studbook and is graded with the Trakehner society and her foal Highlander will get pink papers. Hightech will now have to go through operations and then when she has recovered from these, she will  go under saddle and start work as a show jumper.

On the Sunday morning Henriot’s filly was found in the stable with a nasty cut on the leg and so we retired the mare and foal from showing.

We decide to show Hightech and her foal, as it would be good for Hightech to get out and about. Her foal is very lazy just like Herbstwolke’s foal and we didn't expect to get anywhere with them, but they where at the show and so we showed them. Highlander came 6th and Hightech was given a special rosette for attending her show class and as Lars Gehrmann said to me when presenting the rosette “ you know why”

We also took Henny with her filly foal due to having a space left on the lorry. It was Henny’s first outing and she had only been in for two weeks before the show, as it was a last minute decision. She was 3rd in her class due to being a “bit” weak behind and her filly was 2nd, which we where very pleased with, but we did bring her as we thought we might just nip the Championship with her. I understand from Kim “my little helper” that the filly was keeping well up with mum in trot, (Henny was jogging according to Kim, I thought we where flat out … I know I was), but was not showing her excellent high hind leg and front leg action, which she can do and this then explains the 2nd  place. But look out for Henna she is a future Champion in the making just like her mum.

Herbstglanz was as always so dam lazy, a real nightmare for us to watch, as we have a fantastic photo of him on our web site (see mares due 2004) showing just how good a trot he has. He came 5th, but we where not surprised, however he will show of his quality when he grows up and we truly look forward to seeing his amazing trot then, he is going to be as good as his mum. Herbstglanz’s mother was a real star. Champion of the grading with the marks of a total of 57 points, wow…. and to see her trot was wonderful. She has a real fab canter and also a fantastic walk and should have been under saddle, but I don’t ride, I breed horses and so we shall have many foals like her and Glanz really has got his mums good walk, trot and canter. Herbst didn't stop there she went on to win her brood mare class and then was Champion mare and then she was Champion In Hand for then to be awarded Overall Supreme Champion of the show. A truly good ending to a good year out showing.

August

We attended the best British foal show and auction at Addington this year and took two very nice colts foals with us. Herbstglanz, which got good marks of 74,6 % being 2nd in his class and Highlander which got marks of 64,4 % being last in his class. We were very disappointed in the laziness from Herbstglanz, and poor Highlander didn’t seem right and had lost all his oomph when in the ring. It was Highlanders first outing and we think it might have been too much for him. But we are very happy to wait to see him under saddle, when he is 3 years of age.

July

At the Royal Show this year we took Herbstwolke and her colt foal and was placed 6th with Herbst and out of ribbons with Glanz. We are not going to come up with excuses, but we just had a very bad day. Herbstwolke was very irritable and even kicking out at other horses. We also had her feet trimmed the day before big mistake and Marleen had torn a thigh muscle on the Wednesday and still insisted to run the mare up and only manage 3 good strides to the disgust from her staff, which commented that this was absolutely appalling, as the mare only showed 50% of herself, so why didn't Marleen let her run the mare up. Talk about eyes that could kill. However we really had a lovely day, as we manage to have a good look around the place the big favourite being the heavy horses all dressed up with their wagons and the people also looking great. What a shame someone has to be last in those competitions, as there is so much preparation to be done before hand. We where lucky with the weather and will be back next year to hopefully do a better job.

June

June 25th: The Singing Stud went to Addington, where once again we entered the mare and foals classes of the British Dressage Young Horse and Breeding Championship. We took Herbstwolke and Luana von Steinberg and their two foals. Herbstwolke came 1st in her class and Luana von Steinberg came 3rd in her class. Herbstwolke won her mare class and became Dressage Champion brood mare for then to become Dressage Breeding Champion and then she was overall Young Horse and Breeding In-Hand Champion out of over 100 horse of different warm blood breeds. After all this she also went on to be awarded the Young Horse and Breeding In-Hand Championship out of over a 100 horses entered. Luana von Steinberg's filly Singing Lantana came 4th in her filly class and Herbstwolke's son Herbstglanz, came 5th, which was last in his class, but he was very tired after running around after his mum so much before his class.
 
However on the very next day Saturday the 26th, The Singing Stud went to the Midlands In-Hand National Championship in Malvern and although our horses had not had much sleep (neither did the staff) they went on to do really well. Herbstwolke came 1st in the mares warm blood class with Luana von Steinberg coming 2nd to her and then Herbstwolke won the Warm blood Championship. The foals did really well to. Herbstglanz which did not have to do to much running before his class came 2nd out of 10 warm blood foals and Lantana came 4th again out of 10 foals, so all in all a fantastic weekend for showing.

August

The singing stud did very well at the TBF show in August, where Singing Lugiano and Singing Halando by Arentino came first in their foal classes and Lugiano went on to become Reserve Champion foal. This was Arentino's first English foals so we where very pleased to see them do so well. Our mares Luana Von Steinberg and Unica also came first in their mare classes with Unica becoming Reserve Champion mare. Unica also became Champion of the grading and was awarded a Premium.

July

The Singing Stud did well at Addington at the British Dressage Young Horse and Breeding Championship. We took Ultravioletta by Caprimond and Unica by Honeur, which came 1st and 4th in the broodmare class for 4-7 years old. Ultravioletta went on to become Reserve Champion Mare. Their foals by Arentino came 5th in a strong filly class (Ultraelegance) and 2nd (Ulando) in the colt class.

We also achieved Reserve Champion Foal with our Mackenson filly, Singing Elischa.

At the TBF grading and show in August, our lovely mare Holme Park Vincenca was awarded a Premium at her grading and became the Reserve Champion of the grading.

At the TBF show and grading, our beautiful foal Holme Grove Boizel was 2nd in her foal class for thereafter to be Reserve Champion foal.