Classical Dressage Art in Motion

Once you take the leap of faith and move your horses from full-time livery service to keeping them in your own backyard it truly is, hard to go back. Not because the boarding barn owner wouldn't be happy to see you, but because once you've taken your horse care matters into your own hands you quickly learn the nuances of all aspects of horse care matters, and learn they are more important than you ever imagined.   Early Days At WVH North Blessed with my husband being as avid a dressage personage as I am, the notion of keeping horses at home was never far from our minds when we moved from the U.K. to the U.S.A. way back when. With his vast experience training horses and my lesser experience with formal riding education but lots of 'hands-on' experience spent riding and working in foxhunting, elite showjumping and horse breeding yards in England, our combination of experience worked well. Gambol's Georgy Girl - one of our WVH DWB homebreds   As you age toward mileston...

Our 1st warmblood purchase, Oldenburg premier colt, Fenix, Furiano/Aktuell/Weltmeister.   Everything in life comes full circle and in horse breeding it is apparently no different. As dressage competitors/clinicians we began our horse owning experiences with two geldings, a Morgan and a Standardbred. The former was trained to do anything but stay grounded with four legs on the floor is seemed. Meanwhile the 16 year old Standardbred had spent his previous six years as a successful Grand Prix horse before we bought him. Only trouble was, the Grand Prix experience was in the showjumping arena not the dressage one. Of course since those early years in 1981 and forward from that time there were many breeds of horses that found their way into our yard, initially mostly male gender.  But then of course the horse breeding bug began. And after several OTTBs, Quarterhorses, an Appendix Quarterhorse, an Arabian and Welsh pony for the kids, we branched out into more mare ownership and stal...

If you've ever produced a foal from your mare and orchestrated the entire breeding process from start to finish from sire selection, AI and delivery with imprint training and weaning, then you know how rewarding the process of horse breeding is and how it has enriched your life. Sure there are ups and downs, and I do count my blessings that in 25+ years of breeding registered Hanoverians, Dutch and Baroque horses, we have never lost a foal or mare or had any mishaps. Aside from one mare who resorbed her foal one year and went through a false pregnancy period thereafter. I know that false pregnancy is not strictly a veterinary term, but it certainly fits the experience we had in that particular instance. Now it is time to retire from the business of horse breeding. All the horses running about out there with the Willowview Hill Farm WVH, either as a prefix or suffix, are a testament to our dedication to produce kind, athletic sporthorses for the dressage world. Their progeny con...

As I watch the freezing rain descend on this damp gray day, my thoughts turn to the joys of Spring.  In particular to the immense pleasure I derive from watching a foal take his first bounce around the pasture. Here's an oil painting I produced this time last year.  Inspired by the lure of Spring foals. For those that are interested, the foal captured is a Hanoverian colt ( WVH Majik, Maronjo x Gimli/Grande ), that we bred at our farm, Willowview Hill Farm back in 1993. He enjoyed a career as an event horse and then went on to dressage. Although born bay he turned into a massive gray beast, full of true bounce and at times a good measure of questionable attitude. The picture is for sale at my studio by the way http://www.NikkiAlvinSmithStudio.com . Sorry, have to plug my art. And I donate a percentage of proceeds to equine retirement organizations. This horse and the many that came after him, taught me so much. I never became any better at bouncing during a fall and at...