Four Seasons
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone!
Some may still know me, some probably won't. I haven't posted in here for the past 4 years I realised. I have done the occasional reading here and there, but you know, life happened...
So where to start... do you remember my thread of the World Cup dressage in Omaha, USA? Well in September of 2017 I broke my back, of course because of horse riding... Accenta had an absolute rodeo fit and had me flying. I landed on my neck and was out for a minute or so. When I woke up I couldn't feel my legs. Trauma heli and ambulance came, they called off the trauma heli (DAMN IT! I've never been in a helicopter before!). They drugged the hell out of me and to hospital I went in the ambulance. Stayed there all evening, x-rayed my whole body, but they said nothing was broken and I would be very muscle sore for the next few days. I tried my best to walk as much as I could, walked the dogs, tried little things around the horses, but the pain was immense. Finally managed to convince the hospital that they needed to check again. This time they did a full neck and back CT scan. T8, T9 and T10 broken... stable, but broken. At that point, I had been walking around with a broken back for 10 days! Of course I cried, at least 3 months of no riding, no walking, stuck in bed. I was bouncing off the walls.
So, to add to all of that. The person who I worked for, as a FEI groom, completely freaked out on me. Stupid me, had a verbal contract with these idiotic people. I wouldn't be able to work for at least 4 months. They refused to pay me in the time I was off. Luckily I have insurance for legal cases, so I went after them and I had a whole lotta FEI grooms willing to back me up and provide evidence against them. They stated I had previously only ever worked 18 hours a week for them (I worked +/- 64 hours a week for them, even more when we were at shows). I was so ready to take them to court over this and give them an insane amount of negative media attention. This was the last thing they wanted, so they gave me a good pay-out after 5 months of battling. I also wished I could have filmed some of the behind the scenes training and dumped it on the internet for everyone to see. FEI does not check the nosebands properly, that is a fact! I remember how tight my poor horses noseband was (not fastened by me!) and the FEI could not even get a tip of a finger between the noseband. They passed the European championship check after the Grand Prix test in 2017. Do not ask me how and why. This is the case for multiple dressage horses under other nationalities and it's disgusting. Before all of this happened, I adored some of the worlds best riders. Now I have lost all respect for 75% of them. A lot of people don't believe me, but I couldn't care less. What I have seen with my own eyes, it still makes me tear up after 4 years.
In 2019 I had to let my old boy, Norman, go. He had severe arthritis and was in so much pain. There was nothing we could do for him anymore. He was 26 years old. He taught me everything in life. To this day, it still feels like a huge part of me is missing. He was the softest, moodiest, but cuddliest old guy. He deserves a mention.
Onto something more positive now! So I quit horses after breaking my back. Physically not possible for me to work with horses anymore, just can't handle it. So I now have an office job and weekends! Who knew they existed.... My black mare Elena has come along so much since the last time I posted about her. This is 4 months after my accident, back on and riding again.
This is about 6 months after my accident, but of aqua training on the beach.
This is back in 2019, little body builder!
And this is the most recent footage I have of her (a year ago!!). Our first outing after lockdown in the Netherlands and our first time together at this level.#
At the moment I'm just training her and enjoying some occasional hacking. Hopefully we will be out and about again in August.
Onto Breitlingh. She has been living the easy life, bit of riding, bit of hacking. And she is now preggers!
They are both getting on in age (they still have at least 20 years in them I hope!), but wanted a piece of Breitlingh for the future. I had a look at some KWPN stallions, Oldenburg stallions... but my eye fell for Cassanova du Bois. A Welsh pony, standing around 147 cm tall, perlino in colour. Guaranteed a palomino or a buckskin and a nice small sized horse for me. She is due 20-05-2022!
And last but not least, Miss Bitcherino (her nickname after breaking my back), Accenta! After my fall, my mum didn't dare ride her anymore. Accenta has been ridden since, but I moved across the bloody country (my parents live in Rockanje and I now live in Eindhoven), so I couldn't ride her anymore. We decided to breed with her, as she is a rare breed (Frederiksborg). She foaled last year, we named the foal Saffron and she has been sold to a very loving home. She is now in foal again, also to Cassanova du Bois! We didn't choose a Frederiksborg stallion this year, as Denmark (the head studbook) are being complete and utter **sholes (excuse the language). So very excited to see the result of this combination! As she is a palomino and Cassanova is double dilute, guaranteed a colour.... could be palomino, buckskin, perlino or cremello! Very exciting! She is due 23rd of March, 2022. Photo of her foal from 2020, Saffron.
And now it won't let me post anymore pictures. So I will leave it there. I'll try to keep you all more updated on things, as it's going to get quite exciting next year! Foalies on the way! Congrats if you made it all the way through!
Some may still know me, some probably won't. I haven't posted in here for the past 4 years I realised. I have done the occasional reading here and there, but you know, life happened...
So where to start... do you remember my thread of the World Cup dressage in Omaha, USA? Well in September of 2017 I broke my back, of course because of horse riding... Accenta had an absolute rodeo fit and had me flying. I landed on my neck and was out for a minute or so. When I woke up I couldn't feel my legs. Trauma heli and ambulance came, they called off the trauma heli (DAMN IT! I've never been in a helicopter before!). They drugged the hell out of me and to hospital I went in the ambulance. Stayed there all evening, x-rayed my whole body, but they said nothing was broken and I would be very muscle sore for the next few days. I tried my best to walk as much as I could, walked the dogs, tried little things around the horses, but the pain was immense. Finally managed to convince the hospital that they needed to check again. This time they did a full neck and back CT scan. T8, T9 and T10 broken... stable, but broken. At that point, I had been walking around with a broken back for 10 days! Of course I cried, at least 3 months of no riding, no walking, stuck in bed. I was bouncing off the walls.
So, to add to all of that. The person who I worked for, as a FEI groom, completely freaked out on me. Stupid me, had a verbal contract with these idiotic people. I wouldn't be able to work for at least 4 months. They refused to pay me in the time I was off. Luckily I have insurance for legal cases, so I went after them and I had a whole lotta FEI grooms willing to back me up and provide evidence against them. They stated I had previously only ever worked 18 hours a week for them (I worked +/- 64 hours a week for them, even more when we were at shows). I was so ready to take them to court over this and give them an insane amount of negative media attention. This was the last thing they wanted, so they gave me a good pay-out after 5 months of battling. I also wished I could have filmed some of the behind the scenes training and dumped it on the internet for everyone to see. FEI does not check the nosebands properly, that is a fact! I remember how tight my poor horses noseband was (not fastened by me!) and the FEI could not even get a tip of a finger between the noseband. They passed the European championship check after the Grand Prix test in 2017. Do not ask me how and why. This is the case for multiple dressage horses under other nationalities and it's disgusting. Before all of this happened, I adored some of the worlds best riders. Now I have lost all respect for 75% of them. A lot of people don't believe me, but I couldn't care less. What I have seen with my own eyes, it still makes me tear up after 4 years.
In 2019 I had to let my old boy, Norman, go. He had severe arthritis and was in so much pain. There was nothing we could do for him anymore. He was 26 years old. He taught me everything in life. To this day, it still feels like a huge part of me is missing. He was the softest, moodiest, but cuddliest old guy. He deserves a mention.
Onto something more positive now! So I quit horses after breaking my back. Physically not possible for me to work with horses anymore, just can't handle it. So I now have an office job and weekends! Who knew they existed.... My black mare Elena has come along so much since the last time I posted about her. This is 4 months after my accident, back on and riding again.
This is about 6 months after my accident, but of aqua training on the beach.
This is back in 2019, little body builder!
And this is the most recent footage I have of her (a year ago!!). Our first outing after lockdown in the Netherlands and our first time together at this level.#
At the moment I'm just training her and enjoying some occasional hacking. Hopefully we will be out and about again in August.
Onto Breitlingh. She has been living the easy life, bit of riding, bit of hacking. And she is now preggers!
They are both getting on in age (they still have at least 20 years in them I hope!), but wanted a piece of Breitlingh for the future. I had a look at some KWPN stallions, Oldenburg stallions... but my eye fell for Cassanova du Bois. A Welsh pony, standing around 147 cm tall, perlino in colour. Guaranteed a palomino or a buckskin and a nice small sized horse for me. She is due 20-05-2022!And last but not least, Miss Bitcherino (her nickname after breaking my back), Accenta! After my fall, my mum didn't dare ride her anymore. Accenta has been ridden since, but I moved across the bloody country (my parents live in Rockanje and I now live in Eindhoven), so I couldn't ride her anymore. We decided to breed with her, as she is a rare breed (Frederiksborg). She foaled last year, we named the foal Saffron and she has been sold to a very loving home. She is now in foal again, also to Cassanova du Bois! We didn't choose a Frederiksborg stallion this year, as Denmark (the head studbook) are being complete and utter **sholes (excuse the language). So very excited to see the result of this combination! As she is a palomino and Cassanova is double dilute, guaranteed a colour.... could be palomino, buckskin, perlino or cremello! Very exciting! She is due 23rd of March, 2022. Photo of her foal from 2020, Saffron.
And now it won't let me post anymore pictures. So I will leave it there. I'll try to keep you all more updated on things, as it's going to get quite exciting next year! Foalies on the way! Congrats if you made it all the way through!
