Sakura Hill Farm: The Niki Chronicles: The Path of a Young Performance Horse

I have decided to write, photograph and video the process of starting the newest arrival to Sakura Hill Farm--- Ultra-niki m2s Z (Ulysses m2s x Calvados x Joost), a 2007 imported Zangersheide mare and half paternal sister to Ahsianita (Ulysses m2s x Olympic Ahorn x Erdball xx). Niki is the first mare bred by my mother and was specifically bred to join our mareband with her linebreeding on the Dutch -niki mareline. She arrived in the States as a four year old, unstarted and in foal to VDL Chello III in the early spring of 2011.

In these posts I will keep things casual and by no means is this a "how to start your youngster" guide, merely a journal of my experience and thoughts.

Let's start with a bit of background:

Ultra-niki ("Niki") was imported from Europe in foal (with Grenache S by Chello III VDL) in March 2011, having lived in a field for the majority of her life until then. Upon arrival, she was sent to our foaling farm where she has spent the last 8 months. In September she and her foal attended the KWPN-NA inspection (where Grenache S received a First Premium :-)). Her trip to the inspection and overnight stay proved uneventful and she and Grenache proved easy to handle. After weaning Grenache, she then went to Sakura Hill Farm for a month to regain her figure and arrived at Lake Ridge Farm (home of the Sakura Hill performance horses) on November 3rd, 2011 to begin her education as a riding horse.

As a weanling in 2007 in Europe

Her education thus far has been:

Ultra-niki October 2011 at Sakura Hill Farm

Leading
Loading/riding in a trailer
Wearing a bridle (which she had to wear for the KWPN inspection)
She has been braided once and stood well although she was a bit wiggly.

Thus far, Ultra-niki has lived in Europe (birth-March 2011), the quarantine farm (2-3 weeks), the foaling farm (April 2011-October 2011), Sakura Hill Farm (October 2011-November 2011)--->Lake Ridge Farm (November 2011---onward).

A few assumptions before we begin, (although one really should never make assumptions about youngsters):

The Ulysses blood has proven itself to be friendly, rideable, very sensible and easy to work with. Let's see if this holds true with Niki
Niki has quite a low percentage of blood due to her dam Ushiniki (Calvados x Joost)---44.22% blood compared to her half sister's 48.45% blood (Ahsianita) who is very quick off the ground and has excellent technique over fences. Her sister is quite laid back and quiet even with the 48.42% blood-- perhaps Ultra-niki will lack a bit of oomph under saddle.
Niki is much more substantial and broader built than Ahisanita. Her movement is very powerful with a lot of suspension and reach. She will be very powerful, but perhaps not be as sharp and cat-like as her sister over fences. This was what we saw when she was free jumped casually as a yearling in Europe--- much power with a great hind end, but perhaps a bit slow off the ground.... we'll see what she shows us when we tackle free jumping later on.

The following posts will be a day- by- day (as long as I can keep up with them) report of what I call "The Niki Chronicles", my experience, photos and videos of the starting process of Ultra-niki (the greats, the goods, the ups, the downs).

I hope you enjoy the narration and wish me luck!