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Hoosier Horse Fair a Great Experience - Thanks to All!
A big thank you to everyone who was so kind and gracious to us at the Hoosier Horse Park this past
weekend. Everyone was eager to learn and showed much appreciation for everything
that was done. I would especially like to thank Mike and Melinda Gerrish for
handling everything, and thank you to the lovely young riders (especially Natalie and Madelyn) who participated in all my
clinics and lecture sessions. I would also like to pay a special thanks to Mary
Johnson, our hostess with the mostess, for so kindly helping us each day to find our way during the new construction of the
Indiana State Fair Grounds (which looks very promising) to the arenas and the lecture halls, and for even participating in
all the sessions.
The last and greatest thank you must go to one of my best
young riders, Paige Miller, with her lovely gelding, Pantros-S, for their participation in all my clinics, and even, at the request of Richard Shrank, participating in one of his as well.
Paige and Pantros excelled in all aspects of their work this weekend, including their audience-pleasing freestyle demo rides.
They are well on their way to qualifying for Young Riders again, as well as to showing at the Grand Prix level this season! I wish all the riders much continued success with their mounts.
Our first foal of the season has arrived!
On Easter morning a little filly, after only one try, hopped right up like a bunny after one time with helping
her very long legs get under her. She is a tall bay with four whites (short one on inside of left front) and
a moon-like star like her dam's. She is by Rashka out of Paloma (Pit 1) and should be international quality with both
dressage and jumping ability.
| April 2, 2013 |
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Opus #1 again!
According to the ISR/Old. records, once again, in 2012, Opus produced more Premium Mares and Premium grand daughters
than any other stallion for the ISR/Oldenburg registry.
Congratulations to Jill Schabel and Romeo (Rousseau/Opus), winners of the 2012
Hassler Dressage Breeders Challenge Sweepstakes!
Romeo is a 2012 colt by Rousseau and out of Chloe (Opus/Butow). The announcement from Hassler Dressage commented,
"Romeo was the clear favorite for our judges panel, earning the same score of 8.26 overall from all three judges. Romeo
earned a highlight score of 9 for his canter and won this year's Sweepstakes by a clear margin. For a video of
Romeo go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmjTz7rKtRI.
Chloe was bred by Little Bit Farm, and she is passing along Opus's wonderful canter.
We love hearing from happy clients!
Robyn Armer bred to our stallion Verro Dello before he was sold to Stephanie Celander Schultz. He is now a gelding
competing in Cross Country, qualified to 3rd level, and earned a qualifying score at his only 4th level show - a wonderful
athlete. Robyn wrote to us to tell us of her great success with her Verro Dello filly:
"I thought you might like to know that the filly I have by Verro Dello, now 5yrs old, has won 2012 year-end champion
awards with my local dressage/eventing club (CDCTA) in both Intro Dressage and Green as Grass Combined Tests. This is her
first year showing, and I could not be more pleased. She has also won 2012 year-end champion of the Green as Grass Division
with the Missouri Horse Show Association (MHSA) and is High Point Combined Test horse with them for 2012. Being the older
amateur adult that I am, I have brought her along slowly, hoping to have a happy, confident horse. She has the best attitude
and has been extremely easy to train often offering me more than I am asking for. She will jump just about anything, only
going up to 2’6 right now, whether it’s cross country or in the arena, and does it very happily. I get compliments
everywhere I take her. Please let the young lady who owns her sire know he has a very cool daughter here in Missouri!"
Check out
Ken’s article in the December 17 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse.
In “Who’s
Your Daddy” Ken discusses what you should consider when breeding your mare. He
received a lovely note from Holly Veber of Cedar Hall Farms: “I was pleased to read your article in the
Chronicle. We breed ponies to be hunters in Va. Beach, Virginia. With growing
success, this past year was our best yet with one exception…. Problem is our 2yr old is now 14.3. We were disappointed
but soon realized that we will have a spectacular Small Hunter. He is beautiful, will win the Hack and is jumping with great
style and proving to be very brave…. Breeding ponies is tough but your article made be smile
and gave me encouragement to continue. We have a foal on the ground by this
same cross and the mare is bred back to foal in May. Thanks
again for your wealth of knowledge and for sharing it with those of us who are never too old to learn.”
SWANA inspection at Little Bit Farm
Maestro (Masterpiece x Friendly Furiosa) is Class I
Brioso is an approved stallion for SWANA
Raybol Approved by ISR/Oldenburg
On Sunday, October 14, at the ISR/Oldenbug Advanced Stallion Test at Meadowbrook Farm, Raybol (Raymeister/Parabol)
became Little Bit Farm's newest fully approved breeding stallion. Throughout the process, Raybol was quiet, took everything
in stride, and improved day over day. His soft mouth even needed less bit by the end. His temperament score during
the entire test was a 9, and one expert dressage rider gave him a score of 8.5. All his scores were between 7-9.
Raybol is for sale. He is ready to show at 1st level. His canter is always balanced, and he already has good
lead changes. Ken says if he were in almost any other barn, he would be a hunter, but if he is still at Little
Bit Farm next year, he will show him at 2nd level and do the USEF Five-Year-Old Young Horse test.
September 7 - 9 USDF Region 4 Championships in Mason City
Ovation was Region 4 Champion 3 YO Colts and Geldings. At the earlier breed show
he won his class, Young Horse Champion, and Grand Champion, with a score of 81+%.
Rashka was Region 4 Mature Stallion Champion. At the earlier breed show he was Reserve Grand Champion
with a score of 81+%. He also placed 3rd at PSG for the Regional Championships. It was only his third time showing
PSG.
Sinderella was Reserve Champion Mare of both Region 4 and the earlier breed show.
Rindercella (Sinderella's 2012 filly by Rashka) was Region 4 Champion Filly, and Champion Filly
of the earlier breed show.
Congratulations also go to Paige Miller on Pantros S and Cheryl Wilson on The Fantom, our Young Riders at the show.
Paige is Region 4 I-1 Champion, and I-1 Midwest Reserve Champion. She also was 3rd at PSG for both Midwest and Region
4 Championships. Cheryl is Midwest 3rd Level Reserve Champion and 3rd in 3rd Level Region 4 Championships.
We also want to congratulate the other qualified horses from Little Bit Farm who did not attend. Every one is a
winner in our eyes!
ISR/Oldenburg NA Awards Breeding Licenses to Five LBF Stallions!
On Monday, August 27, an ISR/Oldenburg NA stallion inspection was held at Meadowbrook Farm, and five Little Bit Farm
stallions received breeding licenses! We were finally able to present our eight-year-old stallion R Cor Ray, and he
passed with flying colors - top score of the inspection with 221 points! Little Bit Farm stallions had the three highest
scores of the day.
R Cor Ray (GP Raymeister/Cor de la Bryere) was injured as a yearling, which left him with a permanent irregularity.
Several vets have said he is in no pain, but he is unridable and therefore was never eligible for inspection as a stallion.
Nonetheless, his conformation and jumping ability recommended him as a breeding sire. Because of a rule change, the ISR/Oldenburg
NA agreed to evaluate him, and the results speak for themselves. He had not only this highest overall score (221), but
the highest conformation score and the highest jumping score of all the stallions presented. His foals have also
proved his worth as a sire. All but one presented have been premium, and all can now be fully registerd ISR/Oldenburg
NA if they are out of mares approved by the registry.
The other boys who now hold certified breeding licenses from ISR/Oldenburg are Ovation (Opus/Weltmeyer),
who had the highest dressage score of the inspection, Rotendro (Rashka/Contendro), Brioso
(Briar/For the Future), and Coco Hit (Coconut Grove/Stedinger).
Happy clients make us happy, too!
Suzette Sontag of Smart Start Stable in Somerset, WI posted this on Facebook:
The 3 new youngsters from Ken Borden Jr. are doing fabulous!!!! They have the most wonderful personalities & are adjusting well. Maybe we've dealt
with problem horses too long? But I tell ya, we can see easy, wonderful personalities in horses a mile away and these three
have them. We think it reflects on a good breeding program of talented, trainable horses. They learn quickly and adjust well.
We had a 90th birthday party on Sunday outside the horse barn & in the lounge with a tent, people, the whole nine yards
& all 3 didn't bat an eye at moving from outside pens to stalls with all the goings on! We couldn't be happier with our
new horses!!!
Rashka's first foal crop is starting under saddle.
We love to get feedback from satisfied clients. We recently got this update from Katie Lawrence.
"Wanted to send you a note to let you know how absolutely amazing Radicus has turned out to ...be. He is the most intelligent horse I've ever been around and his personality is unbelievable. I
backed him a couple of times at 2.5 and just put him into light work at the beginning of May. Yesterday was the 14th time
up, to include the earlier backings. He is BRILLIANT ... He basically learns everything he's taught immediately. From day
one his balance has been phenomenal and his gaits are very soft/elastic. His canter is quite good and his ability to sit down
is mind-boggling ... He can do a walk to canter and canter to halt that are unbelievable. His canter to so fun, I have to
remind myself to make him work in the trot :) He's sensitive to the aids with an easy forward and excellent downwards. The
horse never loses his balance ... it's the most amazing thing to see a baby carry his body so well. He loves to work, his
temperament is excellent (sleeps in the cross-ties), and he knows a bunch of tricks that he'll perform for a cookie. He's
fabulous. We absolutely adore him and could not be happier."
| Radicus |
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"He thought he had no limits..."
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| courtesy of Hilltop Farms |
We are deeply saddened to report the sudden and unexpected
death of Grand Prix stallion Reuters Tiamo Trocadero on Friday, February 11, 2011. The
24-year-old Hanoverian stallion was found within an hour of being turned out for the second time that day. He appeared to have gone quickly and quietly, dying of natural causes.
Tiamo touched many lives in his long and successful career. He
has been winning at Grand Prix since he was eight years old, competing in Europe’s
top CDIs and scoring over 70% at Aachen, Hichstead, Arnheim, and Munich.
He qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was an alternate for the British team, and subsequently took his American amateur
owner, Karin Offield, to multiple USDF year-end awards at FEI levels. In 2010,
at age 23, Tiamo continued to be sound and successful in the show ring with Ken. His
Grand Prix Freestyle median score was over 70%.
Tiamo was
playful and showed great joy for life; and when it was time to groom and tack up, he was happy to get to work. “He loved to work. He thought he had no limits,”
said Borden of his stallion.
Although his career as a stud has been relatively short (with
one exception, his first foal crop arrived in 2008), it is clear that Tiamo passes on his elastic movement, his flashy chrome,
and his brave, confident temperament. His legacy will live on in his sons and
daughters, including Borden’s “next stallion prospect,” Tiamo’s Royal Reid, who was bred by Karin
Offield. Frozen semen will ensure that Tiamo Trocadero will continue to enrich
the world of high-performance partners for years to come.
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