Originally posted 01/18/2015
August 2013 - Katie's ISR/Oldenburg NA inspections were a good, stressful, learning experience that came at a time when our family needed a bight spot. The day previous to the inspections, we buried our Grandfather. Though he had be ailing for some time, it is still a difficult process to say good-bye, recalling all the memories and hoping his spirit was at rest. A day of horses was just what we needed to help with healing.
The morning of August 27th, 2013 dawned bright and warm. We were amidst a heat wave with high humidity and daytime high's in the nineties; not unusual for a Minnesota summer, but not at all appealing for the work ahead of us that day.
Miare and I got up early, dressed and fed the horses at our farm (the 'training' center) then packed up the dogs and headed to our parent's farm. We had bathed Tess the night before and placed a scrim sheet on her in a futile attempt to keep her moderately clean. Thankfully the efforts seemed mostly to pay off, as she had only one manure stain on her when we arrived.
We pulled Tess and Katie from the 'maternity ward' stall and tied Tess out in the courtyard. First, we tackled spiffing up mom while baby ran loops around us. Hold in your energy kid - you've got a big day, I thought. Once we finished Tess, then came the work of giving a 3-month old foal a bath.
A foal who is still learning about halters and pressure. Needless to say, we all ended up getting partially bathed but Katie was the cleanest. We left Katie and Tess in the barn to dry and have some downtime while we refueled with some coffee. A little while later, it was time to braid manes. Tess, being the bottomless sponge of attention she is, soaked it all in and lavished each moment. Katie was braided quickly and in short segments. Braid a little, give her a rest. Braid a little more, give another rest. Tape, tape, tape - rest. This way we weren't going to sour her on the experience.
Once the ponies were ready, everyone loaded into the truck, trailer and car and headed towards Thomas Farm. The inspections were scheduled to start at 1 PM, so we arrived around noon. As it turns out, the inspector was none other than Dr. Christian Schacht, author of 'Sport Horse Conformation', the book who's methods we used to evaluate Tess and her prospective matches!
After checking in, filling out paperwork and making small talk, we headed back to the barn and the stalls in which our ponies were waiting (box fan blowing on them to help keep them cool). Color me unsurprised, both ponies had pulled an audience. It seems that pint sized sport horses are still a bit of a rarity and ours had garnered some followers.....
When it came our turn to enter the ring, Tess, ever the entertainer, marched confidently up to the line we were instructed to stand on. Katie followed reluctantly, taking it all in. The walk on the triangle was uneventful. Then came the part where Dr. Schacht said 'turn the foal loose'. And then the fun started.
In theory, the mare handler trots the mare around the triangle, showing off her gaits. Baby follows the mare, showing the quality of trot as well.
But in our version, Tess trots around strutting her stuff while Katie canters as fast as she can around the entire arena, ignoring what is happening with her mother, in the form of a figure 8, calling to the horses in the barn whom she apparently made good friends with.
There were tiny moments of trot sprinkled in the cantering (3 strides here, 4 strides there) and finally after several more minutes of waiting to see if she'd finally cooperate, Dr. Schacht resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to see her real trot that day.
Despite not actually trotting, Katie got an overall score of 7.9, missing the coveted 'Premium Foal' award by 0.1. She got a score of 7.8 for conformation and correctness, a score of 7.8 for movements (based mainly on her walk since she hardly did trot) and an 8.4 for overall impression.
Though we barely missed the mark on Premium foal, it was highly rewarding and reinforcing to hear her complimented from the man whose methods we had employed to make our decision. Katie was branded ISR and is eligible for evaluation as a 3 year-old for the Main Mare or Premium Main Mare book when she turns 3. Thankfully, at that time we won't be turning her loose on the triangle.