September, 2007-My first keuring! We attended the event in Monroe, Washington and showed Xylander van Hiwan in the colts for foal book category. He received 2nd premie! He is so tall and has beautiful confirmation, we just knew he would do well. He prances around here like the king of all horses and we thought for sure he would show his stuff there. But no, he was so relaxed, he just plodded around behind his mother, sniffing the ground and looking at the audience. Would have been nice to see him perform, but on the flip side, it's also nice to know he is so confident for his age. We picked up our mare, Baukje, in Langley on the way home. She is pregnant!!!!!! We will be blessed with a Maiko 373 foal next fall. She looked absolutely amazing and we owe a HUGE thank you to Dr. Juan Samper and his crew!

August, 2007-We suffered from a serious blow and August 29th. Our boy Thys passed away quite suddenly. We called the vet out immediately, and discovered it was a form of colic. We had the vet out a couple weeks ago and had been treating him for a possible stomache ulcer. He seemed to be doing much better. Energy coming back, appetite increase, generally happier. What an unbelievable shock to find out he had passed away. It felt like all the air had been knocked out of us. I can not describe how empty and wrong this place feels without Thys around. He was an absolute joy and such a sweet and wonderful young boy.

July, 2007 -OK. We're gonna have one of those crazy years. Or maybe it's not crazy. This is probably normal, but for me (being as it's my first year) it seems crazy. Brent and I have been back and forth to Vancouver constantly for breeding business. We are in a smaller town and therefore cannot get semen couriered on the weekends! And of course, that's the only time our mares seem to ovulate. ARG! Renske is open :( We have decided to wait now until next year. She is an absolute tub! My fault. I have spoiled her, and now I need to help her get her girlish figure back. Due to extreme lack of time, we have moved our star mare, Baukje, to Langley for breeding. We found a great vet thanks to Ken and Henrietta VanderKooi! Unfortunately, we have to liquidate our Warmblood mares and geldings. Time, money, space...three things you definately can't buy with magic buttons. We will ensure they go to approved homes, but it doesn't make it any easier to let go.

June, 2007- We were so happy to hear Lys and Fardau were confirmed in foal! Both to a wonderful young stallion Tjesse 400, owned by Jack and Regine Brockway of JRB Friesians. We picked them up in Enumclaw, WA early this month and were so pleased to see how well they had been cared for by the boarding facility- Country Lane. We must extend a heartfelt thank you to Regine for her attentiveness to us and her patience at our constant phone calls and emails! Needless to say, we missed our girls and we are ecstatic to have them home!

We have also bred Baukje to the magnificant Teade 392, and Renske has been rebred to Tietse 428 and we are sure to get another spectacular foal from this combination!

May, 2007 -Sorry we haven't updated our news for so long. There has been some great big changes at the ranch (one of them is me!) and it's taken some time to settle into the new role. If this is ranch life, I'm LOVING it! Renske blessed us with our only foal this year. Xylander van Hiwan, by Tietse 428, is showing himself to be quite the little prize! A beautiful colt with tons of personality, he will surely be as big of a hit at his keuring as he is here on the ranch!

On a sadder note, we had to say goodbye to our three year old gelding, Marcus. He took a bad fall on the ice over the winter, and although numerous attempts were made to rehabilitate him, he got progressively worse and a humane decision had to be made. He brought much joy to us during his short time here, and his presence is truly missed.