SpindleTop Farm Warmblood Breeding

Today we got a super email from Shelly who owns Romeo. Romeo is another Puerto foal, who is turning 5 this year. And.............. another 18h giant! Even with the size, this guy is beautiful and elegant. Im so excited with this boy and am looking forward to updates from Shelly in the future.

Training coming along with the horses. Halizar is getting strong and stronger. Merlot went a whole way around the pasture without tripping or falling down! Boy, were making progress! LOL Dream is getting stronger after our time off with me being sick. Overall we are doing well and getting back into the program again.

Player is a few weeks into his training and going very well now. I still love starting babies, but I swear this IS my last year to start outside horses and this year I DO mean it! :)\

Seth and Griffin ended up the year well with the completion of their first CIC** in Ocala. He came in 11th out of 40 starters including the likes of Bruce Davidson, Leslie Law, Darren Chaicchia, Holly Pane and other big guru's of the eventing world. Remember, Seth is still a JR rider at that! We are so proud of him here at SpindleTop farm and wish him a huge and successful competition year for 2008!!!

Seth has Rolex goals for 2009 and we are there to support him for his goals! For those of you who were not part of the news last year, Griffin is a offspring of our stallion, Puerto and Seth is a very talented and dedicated Young Rider.

Kristen gave us an update on Whisper, who is doing well. She said she has not been marketing her heavy as she is one of her riding horses, but she is def. still for sale. Kristen says that the mare has tons of talent for dressage or fence work. Another nice baby by our stallion to be proud of -

What funky weather it has been. Cold in the 20's one day and then in the 70's the next. The horses dont know if they should start shedding out or growing more hair. Poor things. Today was another chilly one and the soft heart that I am, I let the baby kitties into the house to keep warm. If anyone wants some very cute kitties, please call us! Free to good homes!!!

It was almost 80 degrees and sunny today here. I snapped some pics for the fun of it.

Ghiri about to turn 2 yrs of age! Yall dont make fun of him!! I swear in two more yrs he is going to be beathtaking!!!! TRUST ME!

Don Tomas above. He is going on 9 months old in this pic. He is sired by Don Schufro and that mares butt you see in the right hand side of the frame is Summer, who is 15.2h. Yes, Tomas is gona be a big boy!

Ghiri above. I know a lot of you make fun of him in his funny growth stage now, but he IS going to be totally handsome and super type. I cant wait to tell everyone "I told ya so!"

Mitzi stallion, Halizar above. He was full of himself today (as full as Halizar can get that is...)

Yup, little Tori is now under saddle and ready for a "job!" Her current/right now price is set at $20,000 but will increase as more training is put into her. If she does not sell within the early spring, I may breed her and keep her, I'm not sure yet. If your interested in Tori, Id act now if I were you before I change my mind. She is a superbly bred mare with 3 direct lines of Grand Prix horses in her sire AND dam pedigree. She is still growing and currently 16h+ with a super easy attitude. Ride and do embryo transfer!

I had a long talk with Jennifer Benjamin today who owns Azaela. Azaela is actually located here in the San Antonio but Jenny is moving back to Colorado shortly (in two weeks actually). Azaela is one of the 2000 foal crop of our stallion. She stands 17h (yes, another big one...) out of a TB mare. This mare was bred by Jenn and Dr. Stacey Tarr of Cody WY. Jenn Tarr has two more Puerto babies due this year (08) as well that we are excited about.

Jenny (the mares owner) has decided to offer Azaela up for sale due to lack of time and other obligations. If your interested in this mare, please contact her at Dreampolox@aol.com

Missy is due with the first Puerto foal in 3 months. She is as big as a house!! OMG! The other day I was out feeding the mares and she was standing there next to me. The baby kicked so hard that it made her take a step to the side from the movement. How BIG is this one going to be! *sigh* We will have the foaling cameras put up again, so feel free to join in. I will have the cameras through www.marestare.com again. They have been a huge help in the past on foal watch help!! Love them!

Missy below about two months ago. She is even BIGGER now! Mitzi says she looks like she swallowed a round bale! LOL

Amanda came in from big ol' California to live and work here on the farm. Its been about two months and well, she is still here. Guess we did not scare her off yet. She has been riding some of the horses for us, giving some lessons and seems to really get along well with the stallions and young horses. We are happy to have her here, even if she is a bit sarcastic to me about not being a morning person (which is NOT going to change). I'm very grateful for the help, she has taken a lot off my shoulders due to me being sick and weaker than normal over the last year. Things are looking up and all is getting back on track, that is all that matters.

Well he has grown up!!! He sold shortly after we backed him for the first time to a wonderful woman in Dallas. I got an email from her a few days ago and he is now doing PreGreens and doing wonderful at his job. Im excited for the pair and am so happy to get updates from them! Congrats to Stephanie and Zar on their super partnership!!

Today I got an email from Katie to give me an update on Carmella. They are doing very well and hopefully will be moving up to the next level soon. She sent me some pics I wanted to share. Carmella is a 2002 Puerto baby.

"I just want to say again how pleased I have been with my mare from Blue.
She is amazing, and we recently just moved into the 3'6" junior hunters.
We got champion at our first show in the junior hunters!!!

I am so very pleased!
I just want to thank ya'll again for offering this wonderful stallion to the public

Katie"

Congratulations to Katie and Carmella and we are "right there beside" you cheer you on in 2008 competition year!!

Tori is coming along well under saddle. She is honestly the EASIEST horse I have started.... EVER! She learns the first time, does not forget and is so willing. I wish they were all so easy!

Sundance has really matured into himself over the last 3 yrs. He has really turned in to a majestic looking boy! If any of you are interested in breeding to him, please let me know. He makes very nice TB crosses for all the disciplines. All of his babies are very amateur friendly!!

I hope everyone had a super valentines day. Or if your single (as Amanda puts it) Singles Awareness Day, which is also not a bad thing either!

Liz and Alena are in Ocala and we are happy to report that they had a very good season at the HITS. Alena (Puerto D'Azur x Cookies Delight xx) did her first Ocala circuit and placed very well in classes of 50-90 riders. Liz's younger sister (Katie) showed her the first week, along with their trainer Kim Mulligan and we are all very happy with the results.

Hi LaNet!

I just got home from Ocala and wow! What fun! Alena was incredible!! The second week with my sister she was 5th and 2nd in the 3'3" Low Children's Jumpers. This week I rode her in the Level 1 and Level 2 Jumpers. It was my first show as a professional and although I did not get any ribbons, I was really happy with both of us. The first two days I was clean but slow and just out of the ribbons. The second two days I was fast (which she loved!) but not quite as smooth so I had a rail in each class. My trainer, Kim Mulligan, also showed her in two 3'6" classes, which was her first time showing at that level. The first day she was good but did get a little green between the jumps, fussing with her head. She had a rail because she was so busy fussing that she forgot about her legs! But she was very brave and clearly had NO trouble with the fence height. The second day she was MUCH better, more rideable between the jumps and jumping really, really well. She went double clean and ended up second out of 65! Alena just continues to get better and better! I had such a lovely time down there and she was just such a pleasure to ride and work with. We went for bareback trail rides around the show grounds every day. I love this horse like a child and am glad to say that my little sister does too! I am really looking forward to showing her this summer, when I will start doing her in the 3'6" classes. I will get you some photos as soon as I can, I just have to scan them in!

Liz

Congratulations to Liz, Katie and Kim for a super job! We are very patiently (ummm, impatiently) waiting for pics! We are so proud of our Equikids!!!!

Its turned into beautiful riding weather. We have been taking advantage of it as much as possible and riding several horses a day. It looks like summer is coming so we want to utilize this before the 100 degree weather gets here, that's for sure.

Even though the "Big Man" is retired, he still enjoys his work. He will stand at watch us get the tack out and you can see in his eyes he wants to go and do something. He truly has a huge work ethic that I dont see in a lot of horses.

March 21, 2008 - Beautiful day to ride again. Mr. P and I took advantage of the weather!

Well Missy is about a month out now!! Can you believe it! Time has flown by. She is huge and the poor thing is starting to get lose in her hindquarters which makes it even more miserable to watch her try to drag that huge belly around looking double jointed in the hips. Please send good, healthy and safe foaling thoughts to us on this special baby.

So, Ghiri is now 2.... and is growing into a big boy. I did a new video of him the other day with his best bud Tori. Still a gangly and odd looking equine creature, I have full faith that he will turn out to look just like his daddy soon enough. This is Ghiri and a funny little video I did the other day while the kids were napping -

Talking about his daddy, Cielo B did awesome in Gulfport and gained his permanent breeding licenses with the BWP based on his performance. This is a huge accomplishment to a young horse. Congrats to Ronda Stavisky and her super stallion. Rick Harris has been training and riding Cielo and has brought him up the ranks and its been fun to watch Cielo grow from a 2 yr old (when I first knew of him) till now as a mature and stunning horse. This is Rick and Cielo at Gulfport in week 5 at the Young Jumper Championship rounds. And yes, all clear! ;)

Here is a still pic from the YJC that Im "stealing" off of his owners website *wink*-

Missy is so big this year that when she walks into a stall, her belly slightly brushes the sides of the door frame. I feel awful for her! She is 322 days today, which is 17-18 days from her due date. Poor girl has to go almost another month like this. She has never gone early in 4 foalings, so I don't expect her to this time either. Please think of us for a safe and happy foaling for her.

Puerto has been enjoying what he was really bred to do and that is to jump fences. Yes, he has the talent for dressage and the freedom, elastic movement and power, but he LOVES to jump. This is Puerto with Shane Brashar -

As we mentioned in our ads, the stud fee was reduced for a limited amount of mares. We Thank everyone who took advantage of the $650 Special for 2008. Puerto's regular stud fee of $1550 will be in effect from here on out and we are willing to give reduction for Elite and proven mares. Please email us with details/questions along with your mare info.