What's Happening on the Hill

October 2011 The final standings are in, and were are so proud of our Felicha! She was Champion of the New England Dressage Association's Breeder Sweepstakes, and finished third place overall for the mares/fillies of Region 8. What a terrific showing for this young filly, we can't wait to take her out next year!

September, 2011 Felicha's first foray into the world of breed shows has been a resounding success! After her terrific showing at Windswept in August, she went on to compete at NEDA Fall Festival in Saugerties, NY. Just like her dam Atacha, Felicha showed off her beautiful gaits and garnered impressive scores for movement and conformation. Reknowned trainer Christoph Hess gave her an 8.5 for conformation and 8.3 for her trot - we'll take that!!! Remarks were "elegant, uphill type, excellent sport horse prospect". Felicha won first place in the Yearling Fillies Class, won a High Point medal, and went on to compete in the USDF Regional Final where she placed third overall. We are extremely proud of this filly and know that there are lots of blue ribbons in her future!!!
August, 2011 Huge success for Felicha CHF at the Windswept Farm Breed Show! We are so proud of our "tiny Tacha", who has grown into a really beautiful yearling. Her very first show was terrific -- Reserve Champion Filly, Reserve Champion Young Horse, Winner of the Dutch Individual Breed Class, and RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION of the whole show!!! Her trot scores were amazing, 8.9's!!! Can't ask for more than that!

It really was a great show for Carnival Hill, as we also won the Breeder's class! Dexter Chin, our 3-year old gelding by Chin Chin won his class also, (his one and only dressage outing I'm sure), but very respectable scores in the 70's. Dexter is doing extremely well in his training and is blossoming into a super young horse. Below are photos of Felicha from Windswept.

July 2011 We have been postponing the updates, hoping for some good news on the breeding front, but it hasn't been our year for black dots.......after MANY tries, just one foal, BUT Wow -- it is going to be a really special one!

Our young Flemmingh x Nimmerdor mare, Cassalidin CHF, is confirmed in foal to Olympic Lancet. We are so excited about this cross. Cassalidin is a beautiful mare, and we are just thrilled with our Lancet colt, Gameboy, this year -- we know that this is going to be a very special baby!! Lancet brings refinement, size, lots of action and a beautiful head to the equation. Paired with Cassie, this is going to be an exceptionally attractive horse!

After much thought, we have decided to take Felicha CHF (Silvano N x Metall) off the market and keep her for ourselves. She could quite possibly be the last Silvano filly ever born, and she is turning out to be simply special. She'll be making her debut at the breed shows, starting with Windswept Farms on Aug, 13-14, and NEDA Fall in September.

Since we are keeping Felicha, we have made the most difficult decision to part with our lovely Uphill filly, Fanta CHF. She is now available for sale at $15,000. Fanta is a tall, well-developed filly, very laid back and friendly in temperament. She is a sweetheart, and absolutely loves attention of any kind. This is going to be a fabulous horse for sport, and has super bloodlines for breeding also. Wish we could keep them all, but someone is going to be very lucky to acquire this one!

Dexter Chin has moved on to the next phase in his training, and is now under the expert tutelage of Colleen O'Connor-Dzik. Colleen is doing a fantastic job with him, and he has learned so much! Dexter loves his work, and loves his people! He is such a special young horse, we are so proud of him and his progress.

May 2011 A big welcome to two newcomers to Carnival Hill this month -- hello to our super colt, Gameboy CHF, by Olympic Lancet, out of our keur mare Ovanta II (Wellington Keur x G. Ramiro Z Preferent). Gameboy is a very modern and refined type, excellent conformation, and has a wonderful personality. He is a charmer, very bold and friendly. We couldn't have asked for more from this pairing, LOVE LANCET!! Gameboy will be for sale.

Secondly, we would like to welcome Brenna Lindahl, a senior in the Equine Management program at the University of New Hampshire. Brenna will be joining us for a few months as she completes her intern requirements for school. Brenna is very interested in the breeding aspect of the horse business, so we hope to give her some good exposure to the workings of a breeding farm. It will be great to have some help with the young horses this year! Terrific to have you Brenna!

Breeding updates - we are going to attempt four this year - Lidin (Nimmerdor x Uniek) to Campbell VDL (Cassini I x Carpaccio); Ovanta II (Wellington x Ramiro) to Carlton Hill VDL; Atacha (Metall x Ahorn) to Flemmingh; and Cassalidin (Flemmingh x Nimmerdor) to Lancet. If the breeding gods are with us, we should have some fantastic foals for sale next spring!

Fanta CHF (Uphill x Wellington) will be making her debut at the Sport Horse Handling Clinic in Rhode Island on May 22nd, Brookside Equestrian Center. Fanta has grown to be quite a big girl, like her Mom, with a super temperament. She will be joining the other broodmares someday here at Carnival Hill. We also plan to take Fanta and Felicha (Silvano x Metall) out to the breed shows this year. Should be fun!

March 1, 2011 It all started with a lady... Congratulations to Lady W (Farrington x Heidelberg) granddam of our Atacha, on achieving her Preferent status!! Owned by fellow Dutch breeder Allison Hagen of LaPrairieAire Warmbloods, Lady W is a solid producer of high quality horses. We always look for a clear history of quality within the mareline, and the mares in this line produce exceptionally well. Lady W scored 78.5 points at the EPTM test (Stationsmerrietest) in Drachten, the highest score, and has been extremely successful as a broodmare. Son Pipkin, (Inferno X Farrington) (1997) was trained in the Netherlands and competed in dressage at the M level (3rd level), jumping L level before being sold to Sweden where he competed Internationally in Grand Prix show jumping under Malin Baryard-Johnsson. Pipkin has competed against, and beaten horses such as Arko II, Luidam, and Eurocommerce Lanapoule.

Daughter Raliena Keur (Flemmingh x Farrington) scored a 9 for takeoff during her IBOP jumping test. Full brother of Raliena, Unescoba Ster won the 2002 yearling competition in Washington State, the USDF Breeder’s Colt/Gelding Championship and Reserve Grand Champion. Lady W’s son by Orame, Vivaldi, earned a 1st Premium at his keuring. In 2010, Lady W’s daughter Cashew, by Johnson, achieved her ster/keur eligible predicate, and was also among the KWPN-NA Top Ten of 2010. Lady’s daughter Sacha Prok, (Olympic Ahorn x Farrington) was imported to Canada and has since been a consistent producer of top notch offspring at Century Ranch in AB. Our mare Atacha Ster, daughter of Sacha, was High Point Dressage Mare and Top Five in all of NA 2008. Weltina Ster, Atacha’s sister by Flemmingh, was also High Point Dressage Mare and Top Five in all of NA 2006. Two direct daughters achieving the same awards - very rare!

Felicha CHF (Olympic Silvano N x Metall) is yet another fine filly to join the lineup of top producing mares who descend from this Performance breeding family 1631. Recently she attended a clinic with Christian Schacht, breeding director of the Oldenburg ISR, who was wowed by her movement and presence. This is one that we’ll definitely be taking out to the breed shows this spring! Felicha is available for purchase, see our Sales Page.

February, 2011 Dexter Chin leaves this month to begin his education in the very capable hands of Joe Forrest. This is such a special young horse, and we can't wait to see him going under saddle. I'm sure all of the girls will miss him, not !

January, 2011 Received a great email from the new owner of Fiesta CHF (Polansky x Prestige), along with some updated photos: “Hi Debbie! Fiesta says hello too. She is doing well. I have already let her halter out one hole, and I think she grew one inch in front and 2-3 behind. I would love to get some more pics for you, especially if I could get her in one of her “Levades”. She is amazing, she can stand up a bit (rear), then jump into the air, kick out straight with both hind legs and then return to standing in the same spot she started from. I look forward to some showing next season, if she shows the judge what I have seen here she should do well! Her walk is huge, and I will have to stay fit to trot her. Obviously I am quite enamored with her!”  Thanks Trish! We just love to hear about the babies and how they are doing, it makes this venture all worthwhile!

Check out the January edition of Warmbloods Today magazine and read all about our Dutch Foal Expo. Hopefully we’ll be able to put on another one this year, stay tuned....

December 14, 2010 We love to hear how our former horses are progressing in their new homes. We are so pleased to report that Lidin's Indoctro filly, Baelidin CHF, is doing very well in the hunter ring!
We treasure all of Lidin's babies, they are so much like her. At only 4 years old, Baelidin shows a real maturity and work ethic, and is already acting like an old pro, easily handling the courses with solid flying changes. This month she WON all five of her classes in the low hunters --what a terrific result for a young green mare! Reports owner Karina Busch, "She is a really good girl, very straightforward and easy for such a young horse. She will make someone a very nice hunter for sure, and is definitely starting to come into her own. She just jumps around at the shows without ever looking at anything. We don't even school her over the jumps ahead of time or do a warm up class because she is so brave and easy. She is very sweet and enjoys having a job to do. " Baelidin is currently available for sale, and is a fantastic hunter prospect. More details available at www.halcyon-hill.com

It's time to start pouring over stallion choices for next year, and we are planning a couple of very special ones, stay tuned! With any luck, we will be having five foals in 2012! Ovanta II's foal by Olympic Lancet, is due April 29th and we can't wait for that one! Her filly by Uphill (Fanta CHF) is terrific, and we expect this one will be too!

Nov. 28, 2010 - Bon Voyage Fiesta! Britta's first foal, Fiesta CHF (Polansky x Prestige) went off to a beautiful farm in New Jersey. This was a fabulous cross, and one that we will definitely repeat one day. Congratulations to Patricia Harrod - we know that you will love her as much as we did!

Well, we made it through our very first KWPN Dutch Foal Expo! What a tremendous amount of work, but with our partners in this event, Kathy Hickerson and the Majestic Gaits team, it was actually fun! Thanks again to our gracious hosts, Phil and Orintha Silva of Ten Broeck Farm. Their facility provided the perfect setting, and they even joined in the spirit of the show by dressing in KWPN orange to honor the heritage of our Dutch horses! We couldn't have pulled it off without you guys, thanks!

Even though it was a stifling hot August day, all of our babies managed to muster the energy to strut their stuff for our enthusiastic guests. Thanks so much to everyone who attended, we really hope that you enjoyed yourselves. Kathy and I are very proud of our foals this year, and it was great to share them with everyone.

We took Felicha (Silvano N x Metall), Fiesta (Polansky x Prestige), Faralidin (Olympic Cardento x Nimmerdor) and Fanta (Uphill x Wellington). All four girls came through the experience with flying colors!

Below are a few photos from the event, and the videos from this Expo are posted on their individual pages, enjoy!