Vestlandsbandens Robin - 2 years old.

I just wanted to share a few pics I shot of Robin today.

He will soon be 2 years old and is developing into a nice young stallion.

He is really special with his white head, red body and blond hair :)

Of course - just like his father Ickie - he is a little sweetheart and very calm and easy going....

He will be for sale to the rigth home!

Sorry - he is not to clean in the photos, I hope you can see the nice young stud behind the hair and mud ;)

Here together with his best pal and brother - Teddy.

Hope you liked the update.

And while I`m here I also want to wish you all a very HAPPY EASTERN!!! :)

~ Elisabeth ~

Stallion approval 2010

I guess some people are curios to see photos and the results from the stallion approval which Simply Red and Camella Boy attended Thursday 25th of March, so - here they come :)

Red - who now is four years - charmed the judges with his blond, long hair and got some really good grades! He got a straight line of 8ths and the judges said he was a nice, harmonic young stallion with a pretty head, nice body, nice legs with good joints and really good movements.

You can imagine we were pleasently surprised!

He is like the ugly duckling who blossomed into a beautiful swan! :)

But unfortunatelly we haven`t had the time to train him enough in the wagon, so he didn`t do the driving test this year and couldn`t be approved due to this......

I guess we will show him again next year and train him properly so that he can do the test (and hopefully he`ll be approved then).

Mona doing the last finish before the show...

He`s has a grown a lot and the vet measured him to 146 cm in hight.

Two happy friends :)

Camella Boy - now 5 years old -has also developed much over the last few years.

The jugdes said he was a stallion of good type with a good shoulder and really good movements. Unfortunatelly he didn`t get approved because of the angles in his legs weren`t good enough (don`t know the English term for this...sorry...)

But he has such a good temper and and is a great driving horse.

He did the best driving test of the day and achieved 46 out of 50 points!!

He really loves to pull the wagon :)

He was measured to 143 cm in hight.

Showing off for Simply Red and telling him who`s the boss!

Unforunatelly he is a bit bogburned, so he looks a little funny.

Camella Boy, me and Mona during the driving test - the judge was really pleased with this well mannered boy :)

Well, that`s all for today - I have some movies to, but haven`t edited them yet, so they will have to come later ;)

Hope you`ve enjoyed!

~ Elisabeth ~

Camella Boy Warrior

It`s been a while since Camella Boy Warrior (or Corny as we call him here at home) has been in the spotlight, so here are a few new photos of him.

He will turn 5 years this summer and is developing into a nice, compact stallion with an exciting colour!

Not cleaned up in the pics, but I think he looks pretty good anyway ;)

Showing off.....

He is a buckskin pearl and we are very excited to see if he will give away some crazy colours to his offspring this season.

Love his brown stripes in the mane - it looks so cool!

He will be attending a stallion approval at the end of this month, hopefully it will turn out in our favour ;)

~ Elisabeth ~

Coates Amee

So, it's about time to tell you about my latest deal.

I had an email from Amy at Coates in England. She was interesting in my mare Nefatiti. Lots of e mails ... and suddenly i found myselfe waiting for a new mare. A traditional SMAL black and white one. Perfect for my dream about a 4 in hand drive. She is only 3 years old. 135 cm tall - In foal to a pretty, pretty boy.. I'm already fallen in love with her perfect temper en personlaity. Nefatiti will be arriving in England monday - hopefully Amy will be happy with her.

I let her out for the first time today. Simply Red was really happy about it:) She's been on a long travel - and need to put on some weigth - I'll share some photos of her anyway.

- Mona -

Sooon....

- Mona -

Reflections.........

I just felt like writing a few words about LaCoste and why we did what we did. I guess the rumors have already started flying around, so I think it is better to be honest than keep everthing in the dark. Like some of you now know, we put LaCoste to sleep yesterday and it was one of the hardest decissions we have ever made......I know many people think we are crazy or losy horse people because of this, but from our point of view, it was the only solution we could see at this moment.

We believe that working and dealing with our horses should be a joy and not something we do with fear and a bad feeling in our stumack.

The thing is that he was a big and heavy horse with a really strong mind, and when he decided not to co-operat (which he decided to do a lot) - there were not much we could do to make him change his mind. And when a 650 kg heavy horse gets on two feet and starts to kick with a "little" human dangling in the end of his lead rope.....well, it is easy to figure out who will win the fight........And naturally it is a little scary when you know there might come a hoof flying aimed at you at any time.

Yes - with a lot of time - we could maybe train him to better manners, but we were not willing to risk our health to do so.

You may ask why why we didn`t try to sell him, but as we saw it we didn`t want him to cause injury to some one else either - that would be even worse than putting him to sleep. And it wasn`t like we could sell him to whom ever either.....

La Coste had a lot of good qualities too and he was a really beautiful horse, but sometimes we just have to be reasonable and think of our safety first and also where we want to go with our breeding.

The gypsy horse is supposed to be a loving, easy going and kind horse, therefor we want to breed on cobs with those qualities. Like we all know - looks isn`t everything!

And even though everything feels horrible at the moment, I believe we did the right thing......

~ Elisabeth ~

Simply Red of Comrue

This weekend I went to Stavanger to wisit Sissel and Inger. It's always a lot of fun to play with these girls. I brougt allong Thinka and Simpley Red. Red is starting his driving training now - and it's good to have som helpfull friends getting you started. And the boy didd splendid! Hes such a sweet and calm little stallion. I'll soon have him going in the waggon.
Lots of photos - all taken by Sissel Heigre.
Tank you for all the good work, and fun time girls!

- Mona -

What colour?

Ok - I admit it - I`m really excited about this season foals to be born.

Only a few months left now, and the first foals will step into this world! :)

I`ve made a little list of my mares due dates and the possible colours of their babies - we`ll just have to wait and see if my list is correct ;)

Camella Boy Warrior

x

Emily

Her foaling date is May 3rd and possible colours of her baby you can see below.

(Camella Boy Warrior also carries the pearl gene which wasn`t included in the colour calculation, so I think there is a chance of getting a pearl baby as well ;)
19.14% - Buckskin Tobiano
19.14% - Buckskin
19.14% - Bay Tobiano
19.14% - Bay
3.13% - Palomino Tobiano
3.13% - Palomino
3.13% - Chestnut Tobiano
3.13% - Chestnut
2.73% - Smoky Black Tobiano
2.73% - Smoky Black
2.73% - Black Tobiano
2.73% - Black
I`m hoping for buckskin baby from these two cobs :)

Holm`s La Coste of Picasso
x
Nancy
Her foaling date is April 19th and she will definatelly have a chestnut baby :)
75.00% - Chestnut Tobiano
25.00% - Chestnut
I just love La Costes`mum Mischa, so I`m crossing my fingers for a foal like her - a solid cestnut filly foal with 4 white legs and LOTS of hair!

Ickie

x

Bess

Her foaling date is May 12th and my guess is that she will have yet another beautiful black and hairy baby :)
87.50% - Black
12.50% - Chestnut

Vestlandsbandens Golden Victory has been bred to my 3 young mares in addition to Corrie.

I`m hoping for some really nice, chunky and hairy silverbabies from my girls :)
Golden Victory x Vestlandsbandens Lilo (Her father is Ickie).
Her foaling date is April 19th.
35.16% - Silver Bay
35.16% - Bay
11.72% - Silver Black
11.72% - Black
6.25% - Chestnut

Golden Victory x Vestlandsbandens Irina (Ickie is her father as well).
Don`t know for sure her foaling date, so we`ll just have to wait patientelly.....
35.16% - Silver Black Tobiano
35.16% - Black Tobiano
11.72% - Silver Black
11.72% - Black
4.69% - Chestnut Tobiano
1.56% - Chestnut

Golden Victory x Otis` Olivia
Her foaling date is May 22nd.
26.37% - Silver Bay Tobiano
26.37% - Bay Tobiano
8.79% - Silver Black Tobiano
8.79% - Silver Bay
8.79% - Black Tobiano
8.79% - Bay
4.69% - Chestnut Tobiano
2.93% - Silver Black
2.93% - Black
1.56% - Chestnut

Golden Victory x Corrie

Her foaling date is May 5th. It will be interesting to see the result of this colour combination - for the two last seasons she has given us a tobiano pearl palomino filly and a solid palomino filly - maybe we are up for a silver buckskin filly this year??!!? That would be something! :)
16.67% - Palomino
16.67% - Chestnut
8.33% - Smoky Black
8.33% - Silver Smoky Black
8.33% - Silver Buckskin
8.33% - Silver Black
8.33% - Silver Bay
8.33% - Buckskin
8.33% - Black
8.33% - Bay

Looks like May will be an exciting and busy month!!!

I just hope everything runs smoothely and that the foals will be strong and at good health.

~ Elisabeth ~