The Sun shines on Holme Trakehner Open Day

The clouds blew over and the sun broke through as Holme Grove Solomon entered the arena to start the 15^th Annual Holme Trakehner Open Day at Holme Park Stud on 1^st July 2007.  200 guests enjoyed a display of dancing foals that thrilled the crowds.  Many of the guests were existing customers of Holme Trakehners who return annually to see the new crop of foals and share news and stories with other owners.

The event was split into 3 sections showing the progeny of  3 of the  Holme Trakehner Stallions, Holme Grove Solomon, Holme Park Krug and Holme Grove Prokofiev.  The 4^th newly graded 3^rd generation home bred Stallion, Holme Park Legend was not able to be on show as following his recent grading by the Trakehner Verband in Germany he is still in Germany doing his 70 day Stallion Performance Test.  The audience were however introduced to Sarah Bullimore local successful event rider who is going to have the competitive ride on Legend when he returns to UK in August 2007.

As well as the foals shown there were several promising youngsters under saddle.  Some of the 4 year olds had only been recently backed but showed their outstanding temperaments by giving a relaxed display in such a busy atmosphere.  Horses at Holme Trakehners are brought on slowly and carefully as the breed are late to mature and carrying on growing until they are 6 or 7 years old.

A touch of German atmosphere was brought to the event by guest commentator Herr Erhard Schulte who is a world oracle on the Trakehner Breed and friend of the family.  There were also several German Trakehner Breeders who had come to watch the display.   This year the Trakehner breed is celebrating 275 years of the stud book.

Each year Holme Trakehners award a “Performance Award” to one of their progeny and this year the honor went to Holme Park Kaskade  by Holme Park Krug out of Elite Mare Holme Park Kalahari owned by Pat Marlin.  Kaskade a 6 year old black mare was ridden by Diane Coxon to show her outstanding beauty and paces.  Kaskade was awarded premium marks at her Trakehner grading last year and will do her Mare Performance Test in September 2007.  She started her affiliated dressage career May 2007. She has been placed in the top three in every class, with twelve first placings with scores averaging 70%.  She has already qualified for the British Dressage Preliminary & Novice regional finals, The Chiltern & Thames Style & Performance Championship, The Chiltern & Thames ridden warmblood Championship and most recently This Week she won the Hickstead Masters Novice Semi Final with 70% at Addington to Qualify for the Championships.

The 2 hour display was followed by a barbeque party on the patio and the party went on into the early hours.

A DVD of the event will be available in a couple of weeks time and those interested in receiving a copy should contact SusanAttew@holmetrakehners.com