"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in...

So Many Exciting Things Happening at SSF! It would probably make more sense to split this journal entry into multiple postings rather than one long post, but we all know how much difficulty I seem to have finding the time to write in the first place, so I’m just going to go for it, and see how much I can cram into one entry.   It has been an absolutely insane summer and fall. Due to COVID, Gaudi’s popularity over the previous two breeding seasons, and fewer foals due this year, I was...

I spend a lot of time each week answering people’s questions about breeding. It seems as if I always have multiple text, email, or Messenger threads going at the same time. I always enjoy these conversations, and I’m always happy to share what I can from our experiences breeding and raising dressage horses these last 30+ years, but it does take some time and thought. The series of questions below came in a couple months ago. I intended to have a telephone conversation with this person because...

Well, I hope all of you are surviving the craziness engulfing the world these days. Was just listening to a pandemic expert being interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air--sounds as if this is far from over. Stay safe out there. It’s been a really busy breeding and sales Spring for SSF. I had anticipated a drop in both breeding and sales due to COVID-19, but that hasn’t been the case. Gaudi is closing in on 100 bookings again this year, and we’ve sold two foals and three yearlings. Michaela does a great...

This piece is a response from a North American point of view to the article that appeared on Eurodressage.com this morning, “Stallion Owners Demand WBFSH to Take Action against Sperm Fraud”. Speaking as a North American breeder with 30-plus years of experience and a frequent buyer of frozen semen from Europe, there are two sides to this story. I’ve been breeding KWPN horses in North America and the Netherlands for a long time. I fully understand the maxim, “The best way to make a small fortune...