We were saddened to hear about the sudden death of Happy Guest, but thrilled to see some of the new hopefuls preparing for the upcoming approvals. Seeing some of the most famous stallions in Holstein like Cassini I, Corrado I and Caretino is always a special experience. Mr. Boley took time to explain some of the basics of the Verband breeding program, saying that the young stallions are limited to 150 mares, but the older stallions are allowed to breed up to 300 mares per year. Most of the stallions are collected each morning starting at 6:00 am when there is less traffic. The beauty of the situation now with the addition of frozen semen is that the young stallions have the opportunity to prove themselves in sport as well as through their offspring.
True to form, on our way to the site the following day in Rendsburg, we had left 30 minutes early and were foolishly feeling confident that for once we were not going to get lost and would arrive on time. Much to our surprise we were pulled over by the Polizei, shortly after exciting the Autobahn (and after unknowingly passing the site!). A look of sheer terror came over Abby’s face (this would have been her second ticket since parking in the wrong place the day before in Elmshorn), so with me speaking little German and the police officers speaking little English, we discovered that they thought our vehicle was stolen! Thus we learned the make and model of our rental car with a suspiciously loose license plate, matched the description of a stolen car that they were looking for. So, we smiled as much as we could, and the officers escorted us to a gas station so we could get the license plate fixed. We laughed until we cried because now we could be late and were nearly arrested in a foreign country. Perfect! I was sure Dr.Steffani Walker and Dr. Nissen would not believe our story, but luckily we somehow managed to arrive on time. At this site Maggie and Abby and I split up. I sat on the outside panel while Maggie stayed inside and watched the mares at liberty. We met back at the end of the day to watch the final line up and make our picks for who the site champion would be. It was interesting to discuss the mares after the site was over and compare what was seen at liberty and what was seen on the triangle.
After Rendsburg, we had the weekend off and so decided to go and watch a horse show on Saturday in Hannover. The show was a national level show that had dressage and jumpers. We got to see Isabell Werth and a young Prix St. Georges horse as well as the Holsteiner Verband stallion Dolany (by Donnerhall) in the Grand Prix Special. Dolany did well scoring a 67% and placing 6th overall. In the jumper ring, we watched a speed class where the American Gabby Salick competed on two horses. Gabby is best known for competing the AHHA stallion Sandstone Laurinn on the American grand prix circuit even competing in the 2005 World Cup in Las Vegas. In the end Marcus Beerbaum ended up winning with his 2007 World Cup mount Leena, though. It was interesting to see the difference in European shows compared to our American shows. The show only had two rings, one for dressage and one for jumping, and each ring only had 3 or 4 classes per day. The show grounds were in the middle of a field off the main road, and once again we got lost when close to the final destination. When we got directions we were sent further down the road that we had once already been down! On Sunday we rode with Mr. Boley to several breeders’ farms to look at their foals and some potential stallion prospects. It was interesting to see how much the breeders respected his opinion, good or bad towards their horse, even though he isn’t a judge.