My god. I was sure when I retired/refocused to be able to spend more time on farm work that I would be writing more regular journal entries. Hasn’t happened. There’s so much to catch up on, this entry will be incomplete, but it’s a start. Thank you, and sorry, to those of you who have been messaging me and practically begging for a new entry. It turns out I get more done when someone else is imposing a schedule on me than I do when I create my own schedule… Gaudi Foals We could not be more...

 What a show!  Super high quality horses, a brilliant champion, and one of the most emotional and satisfying presentations in my 20-plus years in Den Bosch. This may be one of the best photos I’ve ever taken. It’s so hard to capture the emotion, the history, and the relationships that led up to this presentation, but this picture comes close for me. Having attended the first ring in December, I was interested to see if my impressions of the horses would change significantly.  Well, two months...

And, so begins another year.  2019. I remember sitting in my second grade classroom thinking I’d be 40 in the year 2000, and feeling that that was really old.  Forty doesn’t seem so old anymore. 2018 was a great year for SSF.  We purchased Gaudi, and he was really well received by breeders; we sold out of sales horses; we already have sales or options on a number of our 2019 breedings; and, most importantly, we welcomed Ava Tolman Low, our first grandchild. I am systematically and...

There’s so much to talk about I should have split this into multiple entries, but, alas, here we go… Franco SSF   Let’s start with a great picture of Franco SSF, aka, Jimmy (UB-40 x Sir Sinclair x Jazz).  He’s the first of five full brothers out of our best moving mare, BoWendy (Sir Sinclair x Jazz x Ulft).  Jimmy is well on his way to becoming a super star in the eventing world. Of course, we don’t purposely breed event horses, but “an athlete is an athlete.” Some of you may remember that the...

Yes, I’m officially retired from teaching, and, no, I have no excuses for why it’s been so long since I’ve written a journal entry. Lots of ups and downs in the breeding business this summer, but I won’t bore you with the downs. We need more people starting breeding programs, and the downs we’ve experienced this year would discourage those of you who are contemplating harnessing your emotions and fortunes to the ever-fickle fates of this business. Let it be said, the joys outweigh the agonies....