So while 70% of Spain are getting ready to march out from where they are towards their holidays I am just staying, thinking phew it is so great I don't 'have to' go away! I am lucky to have the freedom to able to take a holiday in my normal day to day, I go and do other stuff just around the corner for one day, sit in the sun, go for a swim, I can take a day off and go to Madrid and then ping I am energized and happy to get back to my routine again. My work gives me change in routine when a visitor arrives or I need to do a new specific-horse-search. Like this routine doesn't become leathal but I know it can. Perhaps it is the farm and the nature, animals and earth that I need and love so much and that grounds me because I do love a normal day just as it is for me. I have visitors booked in for next month so I am now busy with preparations. I focus on all clients at the same time but the ones that are visiting have to have preference naturally. I am only one person but I am learning how to focus which is a good thing when you have to have many irons in the fire!

Today we had a holiday from the scorching sun, the heat dropped drastically and a refreshing rainy thunderstorm swept over us and now the arena was  p e f e c t  and I was so happy riding my horses under the fullmoon with bats flying over my head this evening. Simple pleasure yes but I enjoy so much! Greatful. 
Beautiful Dilaila is sold to Sweden if she continues her confirmed pregnancy with Quinto! So perhaps she will be travelling with 'Nero' that is staying with me for a month before he also leaves for Sweden. He is such a wonderful PRE and lovely representative for the race, he's the type that is nowadays is very hard to find and I just hope more breeders will keep on breeding this type that is not only pure pleasure to ride and handle but also looks like a spanish horse, here he is! 

https://youtu.be/o8C64x_XPpY 

So to all of you getting ready for your holiday go safe make your heart laugh, have fun, be happy and then be containgeous with your feel-good vibe when you come back! 

Having summer schedule here and working out boys in the late evenings it's hot hot hot! Quinto is now doing his tempi threes and D and S is doing gymnastics and top line workouts. Good boys. I have been to view more horses, one new selected but most did not fulfill the quality/health criterias unfortunately. 

I enclose a link here to my uncle vet who has dedicated over 30 years to the development of high performance athlete horses, he is what I call a no-ego professional, 100% dedicated to his work with the horses' health as the only and genuine interest. 
Blog swedish veterinarian Per Spångfors; www.spangfors.com 

 

And right now Margareta in Sweden is (and if she is not she should!) celebrating that this wonderful advanced PSG PRE is now hers!! Thank you so much for great teamwork to vet. Jorge, trainer Javier, farrier Paco and everyone else that has helped Margareta to make her dream come true!!!!

Its like an oven out there and I am working full on, when working alot in this heat  its easy to overdo it. But this weekend I will take some time for rehabilitation and slowing down, trying to get into semi/holiday mood watching Falsterbo Horse show in Sweden on FEItv and drinking ice lemonades with mint and stay cool! Boys are working but more light work and living outside when temps are cool. Abit disappointed I cant go to my favourite competition of the year with Donoso and Start in Segovia,.  but hopefully I will be able to do some competitions this autumn, I just don't feel strong enough. The outdoor guys got all hooves fixed again yesterday, the stable is being summer cleaned and I have bought new outdoor feeders from Stubbs England, made for recycling old cartires and cant be tipped over, great ones!

Here a writeup regards my latest byrocratic experiences as a non/spanish PRE breeder and competition rider in Spain, perhaps this info can be helpful to others. 

Breeding; My horses are bred by my swedish stud Yeguada Vikinga PRE currently located in Spain. When I move to Spain from Sweden I was advised to keep my registered stud with the swedish identity and have documentation issued via swedish association ANCCE Suecia. No problem for me as I always have had excellent and efficient service from them, though all fees are double when your stud is registered as an international farm but never mind. At the moment of issuing international travel documents for my filly I was told that this horse did not exist in the spanish official system, nor department of agriculture. Nor in any official department,. So my swedish logical mind froze and my lifted eyebrows got stuck,.    As it turned out ANNCE had not entered any of my foals born from 2013 and onwards into the official database, they only existed in their own studbook database. I was not informed there was a problem and this meant the horses could not legally move one meter from the farm. The reason was the problem of corresponding data to official system database. My horses born in Spain were registered with spanish microchips and under the swedish registered PRE stud. The microchips of a PRE bred by international PRE stud and a PRE bred in Spain are different. 

My filly had to leave within 2 days I needed the travel documents cleared so I had to work to find a solution to this situation fast. I spoke to Pedro J. Azor, vice director of Libro Genealógico del PRE (studbook) and he told me to register a new spanish stud with my spanish details. Then my filly could enter the spanish department of agriculture, and I would be able to have her travel documents issued correctly. So I did. After registering the stud I had to have the ownership card of the filly sent to ANNCE. The CT card has to always and without exception arrive in their hands for change of ownership to happen so sending the actual card is obligatory. I paid ANCCE for their express service and for sending the card express as time was an issue. ANNCE recieved card next day, transferred filly to the new spanish stud and stareted to enter her in the official spanish system. I spoke to several official departments and clercs to confirm all would be ok, and all went well, on the friday I was able to issue travel documents and my filly was able to depart to her new destination.

So from now on my foals will have double citizenship, bred by Yeguada Vikinga PRE (SWE) - note the breeder of the foal is always the owner of the mare at the time of breeding, when the breeding certificate was issued. Yeguada Vikinga (ESP) will have the ownership to facilitate them into the spanish official database. 

Competition; The passports of your competing dressage/ jumping horses need to be validated with the RFHE if you are competing with a spanish license, I found out at our last competition as I got a fine! Apparently you need to leave your passports at the RFHE Federation Office one day and pick them up the next day,. And pay 85 Eur each. This validation apparently lasts for 4 years. 

Boys hopefully soon back on the arena!
         

All for now, have a great weekend!

Wow, severely hot here! 

Recently I have had the pleasure to attend new horse-friends from Southafrica and Sweden, we have viewed and testridden horses and they looked great! Hopefully some new happy matches are made, thanks for coming and keeping up a positive attitude despite our scorching 41 degrees!! 

I want to make a serious comment as it concerns my profession and the business in general. I got a message from a horseprofessional friend in Sweden sending me a picture of a imported horse asking me of the value of a horse. This is uncomfortable situation to me as I don't interfere in other people's business. So at first I just suggested we'd blame the angle of the picture and say it's was not favourable to the horse,. But my friend that had seen the horse live was obviously concerned and replied that we cannot blame the picture and told me the price, the age of the horse and from where it had been sold. It was obvious this client had paid about 3 times more than the real maket value. This is not the way to promote a horse race, do business and especially not how to treat a client. Nono. The movement and sales are important for the development of the iberian horse races. It's constructive that there are helpful people willing to offer horses of varied quality to new and suitable owners. But it's not ok to take advantage of peoples goodwill and eagerness to get a horse and treat them in this way, simply shameful. 

New Vikinga selection!

Qualified PSLusitano