My road to the stallion inspection... Part 4

In October, I decided to write up my path to stallion testing.
In my blog series I am going to take you into a world that is strange to me, the NWPCS stallion approval! Because as an athlete and hobby breeder you don't belong there was always my thought. But I hope I can convince you to give it a try! Because it will cost you some years of your life but what a cool experience! Of course, I also share the tips I received! I think everyone knows the outcome of our adventure. And if not, that will come up naturally, maybe even more fun!

Let's get started

So the big moment has arrived. Richard Dekkers has groomed Jaimy from head to toe because I was too nervous to do it myself. I gave Jaimy one last brush and combed out his mane and tail. Right now, we’re taking another critical look at Jaimy from head to toe. Richard gets pretty excited and says, “He really is a beautiful pony!” But Richard also points out that you have to look at the ponies in the group together to get a fair assessment.

Off to the preliminary ring—a long walk across the grounds, and Jaimy can’t believe his eyes! There’s so much to see, and so many people walking around! My nerves are still rising; even as I write this down, that tension is coming back! In the preliminary ring, Davy and Yorick Wormgoor come over to help me. At this point, Jaimy was still wearing his blanket, and both of them were cautiously excited! Now, off with the blanket, and off into the ring with his group.

Nerves

I’ll never forget this moment! I ran straight up to the bleachers and was totally shaking, because how would he do in the group? Would he stand out enough? All I could do was watch Jaimy! At that moment, my phone was on vibrate, and it just kept vibrating so much that I thought it was me, haha…

Apparently, Jaimy didn’t just catch my eye—other people had noticed him too! I got messages asking if he was for sale and compliments on how beautiful he was and how much he stood out—and he hadn’t even shown yet that he could move so well. The first interested parties came right up to him, but no, he’s not for sale and is staying with me, and no, he’s not for rent either.

Messages and Compliments

His individual presentation went really well—he behaved wonderfully, and I received compliments on how smoothly he moved and how consistently good he was. It was clear that the extra training I’d done on this had really paid off. Once again, I got lots of messages and compliments saying how cool he was, how good he looked, and how well he moved, too!

Back with the group at the arena, and I was literally shaking in the stands—what a thrill! The moment I heard that Jaimy was allowed to stay in the ring, I immediately ran off. I was so proud and happy that all the tension just burst out of me! I was crying with joy like a little kid! What I didn’t know and didn’t see was that Jaimy put on quite a show during the victory lap. ? Davy told me very enthusiastically that he even did an extra lap because he was doing so well!

Veterinary Inspection

Off to the vet—to be perfectly honest, I didn’t know exactly what was expected of us. Although it was clearly listed in the questionnaire, I just hadn’t counted on it. Luckily, Richard Dekkers and Martijn de Vreeze explained to me where I needed to go! First, a quick measurement—and just like at home, 1.18!

And off to the lunging circle—practicing this at home is really important because lunging correctly isn’t that easy! We had him walk and trot in both directions on the lead and checked to see if both hind legs were moving properly. Back to the trailer for a moment before we had to head out onto the small road. And once again, we had to wait at the small road—the wait actually took longer than the little trot we did, haha. We didn’t get any feedback, so off we went home to come back again tomorrow!

It was pouring rain

On Saturday, we didn’t head back to the stallion show until the afternoon. By then, the program had run quite a bit over schedule, but that’s often the case at shows. We got Jaimy ready again with Richard Dekkers, but this time it was pouring rain! So we got him ready on the trailer and hurried over to the ring.

I just forgot to bring a rain blanket with a neck flap! Luckily, I had a good travel blanket that kept the rain out, but here’s a tip for next time: make sure you have a rain blanket with a neck flap in the car! ?

Tears in my eyes!

The second viewing was basically the same as the first one—I was just as nervous, but I was able to enjoy the moment more! I still watched Jaimy go through the course with tears in my eyes! Maybe what I enjoyed most of all was the applause and his reaction to it.

Another nerve-wracking moment, waiting to see if he’d make it to the next round! And sure enough, he did! Back to the warm-up ring and waiting—the tension was through the roof at that moment! I walked around with Jaimy at least 100 times, hoping it would ease up, but no—nothing helped! Then we were finally allowed back onto the course with all the ponies that had advanced to the next round.

At that moment, there were still 8 ponies left, and everyone knew that at least 2 more would be eliminated. But which ponies those would be was still anyone’s guess. They lined up at the exit, and as soon as the judge made a comment, the pony was eliminated—luckily, Jaimy’s pony stayed calm! So he was allowed to stay in the arena a little longer with five other ponies!

Tears of joy and pride

Just then, the judges announced that everything had been approved! I was so happy—I was crying tears of joy because I was so proud and happy! Yorick Wormgoor threw his arms around me—he was so happy for me, it was really great! But first, the ponies still had to be positioned, and after some moving and shuffling, Jaimy was allowed to line up in third place.

Since the ponies ranked above Jaimy were both English-bred, Jaimy was the highest-ranked Dutch-bred pony. Back home, I realized that this meant Jaimy had won the Dyoll Starlight trophy. It still needs to be mailed to us because last year’s winner didn’t return it on time, so we’re still waiting for it.

And then you’ll go home with your own approved stallion. Since we don’t have a large breeding operation and only have a few mares, we’ve decided to offer him for public breeding so that he still has every opportunity. It’s now been 3.5 weeks since the stallion inspection; the DNA testing has been completed, and the final bills have been paid. On to next year!

I had no control over how this story would end, but I knew for sure that I was going to document it. I hope you enjoyed reading our story, and if you have any questions or want to know more, feel free to leave a comment.