Aubrelieu Takes Champion!

She's growing fast, getting bigger, smarter, and prettier. And now, she's got an attitude! And why shouldn't she? She KNOWS she's a champion. September 18, 2008 was the date of her first keuring. It took place at Shaman's Circle Ranch in Heber Valley. Just a little place sitting on 60 acres with about 20 friesian residents, and an enormous barn/arena. There were about 20 or more other friesians, from surrounding states and towns, attending this keuring for either their first inspections to get chipped and registered in the foalbook, or they were being tried for "ster" (star). As I mentioned in my previous writings, the judges (straight from Friesland)can award 1st, 2nd, or 3rd premies to a friesian they have determined is of highest quality and breeding. Beyond that, they can also award a star, model, preferent, predicate and crown (kroon, being the absolute highest quality).

We loaded the girls up in the trailer Wednesday morning and took off for Heber Valley. We got there about 2:00 in the afternoon. The rest of the afternoon was spent bathing and grooming both Elke and Aubrelieu. My friend, Jeanne, clued me into a great little secret. When you make use of lavender, either in pure oil form, or in your shampoo, it has a fabulous calming effect on the horses. It really worked and Aubrelieu really seemed to enjoy her bath. Elke did too, but hers took much longer. By the time we were done with Elke, she looked so gorgeous she should have been trying for HER star! But she wasn't ready yet, and this keuring was for Aubrelieu. We put them both up for the night in the 5-star stall there at the ranch. When we came back in the morning, it was time to put the finishing touches on them. Elke got the whole treatment. Her mane, tail, and forelock had been braided the night before and we had put lots of conditioner on them. The result was awesome. Long, shiny, wavy and soooo black. Then her hooves were polished to a high, black sheen. She was stunning! Then there was Aubrelieu! She was so excited she was about to jump out of her skin. She was having a very hard time containing herself, and in the process, managed to kick me three times! She's very agile with those darned long legs. She could kick forward, backward, and out to the side! So you could never tell where it was coming from. We tried to give her some last minute touch ups, and maybe polish her little hooves to match mama's, but there was NO WAY any of us were getting near her feet. That was a suicide mission! So she just had to go out there looking naturally fabulous!

It was a good thing we were up first, since I was getting sore and tired from all that kicking. But her crazy high energy paid off in the ring. She was in rare form. And so was Elke! Even though Aubrelieu had never experienced anything like this before, she instinctively knew she was "on stage", and set right in to her performance. She might have taken a couple of tips from mom. Elke looked amazing. And the most amazing part to me was that her tummy looked so much smaller and tighter. I swear she was sucking it in! And she had all four feet coming as high off the ground as she could get them. She never does THAT in the pasture. They both stood for inspection by the judges. Even though Elke wasn't really being judged, the baby was being partially judged on the looks and performance of her mother. When it comes Elke's time next year to try for star, Aubrelieu will also be there and will provide some influence for the judges, and visa versa. They'll both need a good 3 months of training prior to that.

Out of the 20 something friesians that had come to this keuring to be inspected, there were 6 fillies, including Aubrelieu. Upon her inspection, she was given a 2nd premie, which is awesome!!!! She only missed a 1st premie by two little tiny variables. 1) They said she was a little less than perfect at her pole (the part where the top of the neck meets the top of the head, and 2) her hind action was not as strong as they would have liked to see. But, she was also the youngest horse there. She was only 2 1/2 months old. The other fillies were all older than her by several months. So, to do that well at that young of an age, I was very happy! After we took them out of the ring, posed for some photo ops, and put them back in their stall, one of the runners came out and told me that they wanted my horses back in the ring. I didn't know what for. I thought it was like some final run around for posterity or something. So, we got them back out into the ring, and that's when the judges pronounced Aubrelieu as the Champion Filly!! There was another filly out there in the ring that was given the Reserve Champion award. It took me awhile to finally realize what had happened. Things were moving at an awfully hectic pace, and this WAS my first keuring. Then it finally dawned on me - they liked Aubrelieu the best out of all the fillies! How cool is that??

It was kind of hard to keep a dry eye when I thought about what we had just accomplished, and who it was for, and why we did it. I know Aubrey was smiling down on the whole event because it was "blessed". The whole 2 days were like a whirlwind. It was all very fast paced, wildly entertaining, stunningly beautiful, and quite fruitful. We met lots of fellow freisian lovers and their beautiful friesians. Even Aubrelieu's daddy, Feike, was there. There's just something about a friesian stallion. They can take your breath away. You just want to reach out and touch them because they almost don't seem real. I imagine that some day, I will have a stallion like Feike. I just wonder which one of my girls will give him to me. I'm obviously going to have to wait for awhile, but that's okay. And if he shows up in eight years, I can name him Aubrey (for real this time). I've got plenty to do in the meantime. Next year Elke will be trying for her star, and I know she'll get it. All we can do with Aubrelieu is keep trying her for 1st premie until she turns three, then she can try for star too. With two gorgeous star mares, I have a wonderful foundation for my breeding program. And Aubrey's Honor Friesians will become the tribute and legacy I envisioned. We're off to a great start!