2003 news
Here you can read about the most important events in 2003, namely the
2003 foals (section 1) and the 2003 show season, that gave us a number of great
results (see below – part 2).
1. 2003 foals
In 2003 we expected 5 foals but due to 3 different
and very sad incidents the season ended up as a catastrophe with only 2 live foals.
That hit us very hard, but after a while we realised that the 2 remaining foals
after all were of very high quality – and thus we regained our spirit.
The result of the season was these 2 foals:
Valhalla’s Victoria
(at the right) & Valhalla’s Imperial (at left)
In the photo above they are both together with
Victorias dam, Emma, playing twins. But being only the 2 of them they developed
a very close friendship throughout the summer.
Valhalla’s Victoria - bay filly, born on the 29th May 2003
Sire: Fronarth Victor Dam:
Valhalla’s Emma Sire of dam: Laburnum
Magic
We have already
decided to keep Victoria at Valhalla as a future brood mare. Therefore you can
read more about her in the section ”Photos & Results”, where she now has
her own page. Here you can also see photos of her outstanding forefathers!!
Valhalla’s Imperial - black colt, born on the 10th June 2003 FOR SALE!
Sire: Menai Sparkling Imperial
Dam: Valhalla’s Hillary
Imperial is, as
you can see, named after his great sire. He has developed really nicely since
he was born, and he is a well coupled colt and a great mover. His dam is
probably the most successful show mare we have got, so in many ways her son
Imperial has got the potential. But as we have were high demands for colts of
our own breeding, we have decided to sell him to somebody that either will give
him a chance as a colt or use him as a ridden gelding/stallion, as he will have
a lot to offer under saddle.
Since the above
photo was taken (he is very young in this photo) he has changed his coat and he
is now black, which looks really nice with his perfect markings.
2. The 2003 Show Season
2003 was a fantastic show season with an
outstanding record set by Julie and her super-filly Hazel; in the following you
can read about all the results in chronological order starting with the Spring
shows.
* Youngstock show at Dorthealyst,
26th April
The first show of the year is normally the
youngstock show at Dorthealyst and also the 2003 season started this way. We
showed 2 fillies, namely our own yearling Valhalla’s Maggie May and Julie again
showed her super-filly Valhalla’s Hazel (now 2 years old).
Maggie May had good grades but didn’t reach
it to the finals; in her ”semi-final” she ended up as no. 4 and only the 2 best
go on to the finals.
But Hazel and Julie again really “swept
the floor”! In the finals Hazel went all the way and one more time in her young
life she finished a show as BEST-IN-SHOW !!!
It’s therefore very understandable, that Julie
looked ”a bit” happy and proud!!
In the bottom photo you can see the Welsh
judge, Mr. Mitchell, alongside the proud winner, the proud owner and the proud
breeder!!
* Youngstock show at Fyn (Funen), 3rd
May
Hazels next challenge appeared just 1 week
later at Funen, when she had to defend her 2002 success; already as a yearling
she won the Overall title of this show as Best-In-Show 2002!
We showed the same 2 fillies, and results
were also almost the same!!
Maggie May again had good grades and again
she came close; she ended up among the last 7 in the finals.
And again Julie and Hazel won the grand
title: BEST-IN-SHOW !!!
* Roskilde Agricultural Show, 30th
May – 1st June
For the Roskilde show we had entered our
new brood mare Trevallion Lady Lillian, but as she lost her foal we couldn’t
show her as they don’t accept mares without foal at foot.
In stead we could celebrate the continued
success of Julie & Hazel. They gave all of us an outstanding performance and were
awarded 23 points (24 are absolute maximum!) and a special prize. In itself very
impressive for a 2 year old filly!
It became even better when they in the early
Sunday morning competition won the ”Overall Filly Championship” in the inter-breed competition between all the winning fillies from app.
26 different horse breeds.
We were 2 very proud breeders at the ring side
because in this way Hazel continues the outstanding string of top results, that
we over the years have achieved with Rotherdale Heiress and her offspring in
the prestigious Roskilde inter-breed championships. Heiress started it herself
winning the filly championship in 1990, and since then her foals have won the
foal championship twice, her daughter Hillary has won the female championship,
and now Hazel again won the fillies; amazing!!
Here is a small impression from Julies
& Hazels success in Roskilde:
You can see and read more about their 2003
successes in Julies and Hazels own homepage! (See in the section called ”Photos & Results” in the main menu)
To conclude Julies & Hazels 2003 season:
3 shows - 3 victories
CONGRATULATIONS, Julie!!!
* The Annual National Grading Show,
2nd & 3rd August
When we came to the National show of 2003 Julie
had left us to work a few months in Norway, and thus ”the rest of us could have
a go!” We exhibited the 2 year old filly Valhalla’s Cherry in the show and our
new mare Trevallion Lady
Lillian had to compete
in both the grading and the show; and thus she really had her debut in the show
ring!!
In fact Lady had never been shown before,
but she stood up to everything (even the bathing) and more or less enjoyed most
of it. Lady won the grading class and was graded in 1st Class. In
the Sunday show (the UK way) she again won her class, and she continued winning:
She was Female champion and also Supreme Cob champion. In the end it was
obvious that she was really tired, but still she managed to end up reserve to the
Best-In-Show title!!
A truly fantastic showring debut that
promises a lot for the future!!
Also the filly Cherry did well, winning
her show class and ending up as Youngstock champion sec.D !!
* The International Welsh Show in
Aachen, 23rd & 24th August
At Valhalla we have a long tradition for
participation in the International Welsh shows! In fact it was exactly in
Aaachen in 1986 that we had our debut (then with a 2 year old chestnut colt)
and thus it was with great pleasure that we one more time entered a chestnut 2
year old (this time a filly)Valhalla’s Cherry.
Cherry did really well in tough company ending
up second to Fronarth Falmai - the
outstanding filly from the Panayiotou’s that earlier in the 2003 season won a
number of championships in major shows in Wales.
* The All Welsh Day, 6th
September
The largest show in Western Zealand each year
is the “All Welsh Day” at Tuse Naes. Most exhibitors concentrate on the ridden classes
(dressage and show jumping), or even agility, both the show also has in-hand classes.
This year we had decided to show the yearling filly Valhalla’s Maggie May that hadn’t been out since the Spring shows.
Maggie had a great day and won her class
which qualified her for the finals against all the mature ponies and Cobs from
the ridden classes and performance show. Much to our surprise the judges
preferred the filly in the end and thus Maggie ended up with the glorious title:
BEST-IN-SHOW!!
Unfortunately we have no photos from this
event; therefore we offer you this photo of Maggie in the field with her best
friends in stead.
* Foal- & Youngstock show in
Sunds, 13th September
The last show (for us) of the year has become
the foal- and youngstock show in Sunds in Jutland. Even if it is quite a long
journey across 2 islands, 1 peninsula and 2 bridges it is a great show to come
to; year after year!! To us it has become a really nice tradition and Ib &
Sonja are truly great hosts for the day that attracts more and more entries and
spectators from all over the country. Even the judges, that come all the way from
Wales!!
In 2003 we decided to show our new star Valhalla’s Victoria – the only time out in 2003 - but luckily we were also partly responsible
for one of the fillies in the show, namely the yearling Valhalla’s Hot
Chocolate, that now belongs to our very good friends Henriette & Jakob from
the newly formed Mailund Stud (see “Links”).
Victoria had a great debut: She won her class
and ended up 2nd in the foals finals which means that she was res.
Best-In-Show among the foals - a
fantastic start of a promising show carrier. As you can see from the photo
below she was very tired in the end, but that is quite reasonable thinking of
all the new things she had experienced in 2 days; until then she only new of a peaceful
summer in the field with Mum.
Photo:
Laila Larsen
Also the yearling Valhalla’s Hot Chocolate (or Choco as she is known among friends) had a super show.
She had a great career already as a foal (see 2002), but she lived up to
expectations and won her class.
Photo:
Laila Larsen
In the finals she went all the way to the top
and was BEST-IN-SHOW!! Exactly the same
result as her halfsister Maggie May had achieved just one week earlier!! - that is a great achievement by our young
stallion Menai Sparkling Imperial, who is the sire of both these fillies!!
The success of Choco is very much based on
great balance between Henriettes perfect way of feeding and preparing the filly
and Jakobs very skilled showmanship!!
Congratulations to both of them, who have thus formed a good base for their
new Mailund stud !!