Sunday, September 15, 2013

Hi Diary!

I dug up my diary today and decided my next blog entry would be a page out of this little book full of dreams, emotions en real life facts about me :) I don't use my diary that often, in fact, I think the average entry is 1 per year. But nevertheless, it's so funny to read back and see which dreams came true and which super difficult problems I had to face 'back in the days' ;-)

This entry is dated July 10th, 2007. At the time, I was 13 years old and in my first year of high school.

10-07-2007
Hi Diary! 
A pony to take care of.. that's gonna be a while. My English speech about DNA went super! I got an 8.8 (out of 10)!! Pony summer camp was absolutely awesome!! On wednesday, july 4th, we had a jumping lesson from Ilse, this was only the second time I ever jumped a horse and it went quite well.
On thursday, we had a jumping competition. There were 23 entries, and I was one of them. This was only the 3rd time I actually jumped but I ended up getting 4th place!! So now I earned my first two ribbons: A blue one for my 4th place and a pink one as a thank-you for competing in the dressage competition. So many people were complimenting me on my 4th place and now Marlou (head trainer) said I can go ride in a different group. So now my lesson is on friday from 6PM to 7PM. I hope I can ride on tuesdays one day cause Ilse is teaching those lessons which means I'd get to jump! Now that I know how much fun jumping is, I'm wondering what I want to be when I grow up...:
- FBI Special Agent
- FBI crisis negotiator
- professional show jumper
- Pediatrician

Well, you'll hear from me soon! Bye!

A few side notes..
When I was 4, I had kidney stones. It hurt like HELL but ever since that day until this diary entry, I said I was gonna be a doctor for children, a pediatrician. Despite my CSI/FBI phase, the pediatrician thing was dead serious, so for me to add 'show jumper' to this list, was quite something. I remember the endless debates in my head from that time and I can assure you; jumping my first (TINY) show that week at camp surely triggered something in me that was quite a bit bigger than that little show. Clearly. ;-)

On my last day at Jos Lansink stables a few years ago, right before I had to go back to school, I remember Jos saying to me: It's back to reality for you, now! Today, nearly 3 years later, summer vacation is over and it's time to go back to school.. again. Only this time, back to reality means: going back to Lansink's!

Sometimes, it's what we least expect that gives us the greatest happiness.

xoxo

my first two ribbons!

the original diary entry in Dutch :)



Saturday, September 7, 2013

at home with Marcus Ehning

This week has been awesome. Period. I just got home from the 3 first orientation days at college, which were absolutely unforgettable. The orientation team that I'm part of is called 'the Unicorns' which obviously could not have been a better name. Our team leader Julia is being called Mama Unicorn from practically day 1, that should give you a clear picture of the whole atmosphere! :-) I love my new classmates and this year is going to be golden. Can't wait to go back tomorrow for the remaining days! Be sure to check out some of the pics below to see who else is my super sport class!

But, my tuesday was definitely worthy of a blog post. My friend Carina from Norway, whom I met in Florida, is now working in Germany.......---> on the farm of the one & only Marcus Ehning!
Carina had a day off on monday so we went shopping in Amsterdam, I drove back with her, all the way across Holland to the German border. More specifically: a tiny, very German, town called Borken. I crashed the sofa in her apartment for the night and then, on tuesday, we drove to the barn. I love-love-love visiting big international barns all over the world to see how each top class riders organize things at home. The behind-the-scenes are so useful and interesting. Obviously I was very excited to take a peek at Marcus Ehning Sportpferde!

Marcus shares a property with his brother, Johannes Ehning (who's a successful show jumper too) and their father. The barn is located in a nice green village in Germany, just twenty minutes from the Dutch border. They have a beautiful, sand, outdoor jumping arena with a wide track all the way around to give the horses a proper canter exercise. The whole property is surrounded by large fields, some of which are filled with the 'babies', others with horses like Plot Blue or Sandro Boy. There's a large indoor sand arena too and another outdoor sand ring. Furthermore, there are big walkers for the horses and, off course, lots of nice stalls filled with even nicer horses.

It was great to see Marcus and Johannes jump around in the morning and training their students after, observing activities like these, teach you so much. These people are part of the best at what they do, so basically every word or gesture that comes from them is precious information for a tinie tiny little student like me ;-) Equally super, was seeing some of the best horses in show jumping on their home turf. Plot Blue, Nolte's Küchen Girl and Sandro Boy, just to name a few! They all looked great and happy so hats off to Marcus and his grooms. But it wasn't just horses and dogs walking around....... check the pics below to see if you can find her! I promise, it's totally worth it!

It was a great visit and I hope you enjoy the photographs of this very successful business.

Nolte!

sand arena 2

Marcus on the wall

just some prizes and Küche's little face :)

Nolte's Küchen Girl!

Marcus

Maruc training the students

jump!

nice gym exercise

gorgeous Sandro Boy

Sandro, his little friend and me :)

<3

you found her!!!! OINK

pony is not sure what it is...

my friend Carina and her BFF

sand arena 1

indoor

Plot Blue

Plotty!

main barn

www.sportpferde-ehning.com !!




my super nice new class mates & me :)

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Love!


Hi again! 

August is almost gone, next week college really-really starts and that means; holiday is over! I’ve had a great time doing all the things you don’t do a lot while around horses. (shopping..lots of shopping. Oh the guilty pleasure.) 

As you know from earlier entries, I actually did do some horse’ing around. I went to a couple shows and being there, especially around the ponies I’ve worked with, made me think of something. It made me think of the biggest reason, besides the riding, I’m looking forward to starting college. That reason being Love. 

Please, before you go there, I’m not referring to anything close to what is ought to come to mind when you hear ‘college’ and ‘love’ in one sentence! :) Let me explain. 

I’m a scorpio zodiac sign and even tho I’m absolutely not big on zodiac signs, there is this one characteristic typical for scorpios that could not be more true for me personally. I remember reading something about scorpios a bit difficult with trust and love. They say it takes a long time and quite an effort to make a scorpio trust and love someone, but once they do, their loyalty will be excessive. Now, I mean hey, I’m 19, I guess I know right about as much about love as I know about tomatoes, but.. this zodiac thing did come to mind when I was wondering why I’m looking forward to college/internship so much. 

It’s because of those damn horses I’m gonna be working with again. Practically 24/7 and by no means solitarily on their back, but I just get so pathetic with them. I love working with them, getting to know them, taking care of them all day long and the ones I get to know so well, absolutely gain all my trust and affection. Like I said, it’s so pathetic, but they are so much easier than people..! (And I don’t even have any real difficult people in my life haha) Anyway, when I knew I was going to see a few of Lauren’s horses at the show in Belgium, I was just so happy. Same story for when I flew out to Sloane in Virginia after a few weeks at home in April.. I couldn’t wait to see the ponies again. I miss them so much. 

Going to college and starting off with 3 months at Lansink’s, means that I get to bond with these lovely creatures again. Obviously, this feeling is mandatory for anyone who wishes to pursue a career involving horses, but that doesn’t make it any less serious or true. I look forward to having horses around me again whom I can cuddle, scratch-the-always-super-itchy-spots and just have fun with again. :-) I’ve missed it a lot during my little vacation and honestly, I wouldn’t have a clue what to do if I’d be going off to some college now, containing nothing equine! Brrr... horrible thought. 

After all these weeks, I can’t wait to give my unconditional love to them again. :)

...

Boy, I do really need a dog. 

PS. here are some pics of my august photo stream to entertain you. 

Laura & Monkey so super at GCT Valkenswaard

Tiffany Foster!

Ben Maher -- pic taken with my iPhone! Apple-i-love-u

VIP armparty whoop whoop

Reed in Valkenswaard

seat cushions at some random restaurant.. I want!!

a quick stop at the equine casino.. never good for my bank account but oh so nice!

Bronze for Sweden at the Euro Champs!!!!! Love it.

love this guy. Heja Sverige! #rolfgoranbengtsson

#ootd cavalleria toscana style, super brand. Italian, off course.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Flanders Horse Event - CSI*** Beervelde 2013

whoop whoop, I finally went to a horse show again! Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was planning on going to Flanders Horse Event - CSI*** Beervelde, Belgium, this past saturday and that is what I did. :)
Beervelde a little town near the city of Gent, which btw is a really nice place, a little under 2 hours away from Maastricht. I left early saturday morning and I got there around 9ish. First thing on my To Do-list: find the show office and 'pick up my stable bracelet under the name of Lauren Hough'. I'll never get tired of saying lines like that, haha. Anyways, thanks to Lauren I had stable-area-entry-rights now so off I went to see the ponies and Mama Denise, Lauren's stable manager.

I am so pathetic when it comes to those horses. (btw, same thing for the horses at Sloane's place) I just miss them like hell, as tho they were my own. And so I spent most of saturday morning giving all my saved-up loved to Lauren's new ride Reconnaissance (Cougar) and Eirin's (Eirin Bruheim, Lauren's student) new horses Rita (Favorite) and Dorada. But without doubt, most of the love went to Tickles (Tackeray, the mighty stallion) and Muffin/Eve (Everyway). Best morning. <3

At lunch time, the Bruheim's perfected my already great day by inviting me to lunch at the VIP table. Needless to say, lunch was superb, both food (including sushi, carpaccio and crepes with nutella...) and the view of the ongoing classes. I ended up having dinner at their table too, with Denise this time, and lunch/dinner with the Bruheims today, on sunday, again.

Cause yes, I had such a wonderful day on saturday that I just HAD to convince my dad to fast-forward his planned (or rather I'd-like-to-do-that-one-day) trip to Gent to this sunday so I could be at the show one more day. I love my parents, seriously. Even tho my mother stayed at home today, my dad agreed to driving all the way back to Gent once more so yeah, there I was again this morning :-)

I've had an awesome weekend, LOVED to see everyone again, 2- and 4-legged, and I can't wait till next time.

Extra bonus much thanks to the Bruheim family for my VIP arrangement. Thank you.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics!

Liza

PS. little fact about me: I'm obsessed with horse show accreditations, the passes with name and photo are THE BEST, but bracelets are mighty fine too. I save them all, like a little girl collecting pony stickers. Super lucky me; the VIP gave us a new bracelet for each meal so instead of just the rider band and 1 VIP band, I now have a total of 4 bands saying 'Flanders Horse Event', on my wrist! Yippie!!! et for each meal so instead of just the rider band and 1 VIP band, I now have a total of 4 bands saying 'Flanders Horse Event', on my wrist! Yippie!!! 



Jessica Kürten!

Another one

Lauren & Cougar

7A-B-C-D.. don't see that a lot!!!

UNICORN!

sleepy Muffin

xxxxxxx for Muffin

Morning coffee with Lauren & the Bruheims

Muffin selfie

YAAAAY

VIP!

sleepy TicTac

Tickles :)

Dorada




Wednesday, August 7, 2013

next stop: COLLEGE!!

It's been a little quiet here recently, my apologies for that. For the first time since a long time, I'm actually staying with my parents at home in the Netherlands, enjoying a couple weeks of summer vacation like the old days. I've been all over the place this year and even tho I was occasionally here in holland with mum and dad for a week or two, it was always just a mini break from work in the US. In my mind I was always thinking about upcoming shows we were going to or organizing my next move. (Or... Organizing school. Because yep, I'm going back to school. College, starting this September.) However, as of last week, I'm more or less done planning, organizing, worrying etc. I moved all my stuff back over from the us to holland, which was, note to self, incredibly/eye-opening/ridiculously much!!! College preparations are also dealt with and even the little yet time consuming things like filling out applications to be an inhabitant of the Netherlands again, is all behind me now. So there's finally some rest! Yeah!

I figured this might be a good time to tell you what I'm gonna be doing once the holidays are over, so.. Here we go!

The college I'm gonna go to, is called Helicon/NHB Deurne. For those of you who noticed, no that's not 'University of this' or 'College of that'... And that is because, like most things in my life, this is not an ordinary college. It's a, Surprise surprise, Riding College! I've thought long and hard about this, cause apart from my passion for horses, I'm also really interested in psychology, photography, fashion and neuroscience. Unfortunately for me, there's nothing that mixes all that together and still contains horses, so I went for the bold move and decided I'm not giving up my equestrians dreams yet. Ok back to NHB Deurne; this college is the oldest and biggest horse college in the Netherlands as far I know and it got my interest since it launched a new, higher level, 4 year study called Equestrian Sport. It includes everyday riding (all English disciplines) but also teaching (both riding lessons and in classrooms) a bit of business and a variety of veterinary subjects. I'm gonna be in the sport-class, in which there's an extra emphasis on riding/competing so all of this together is a mix I feel is made for me. :-) But, there's even more to come. This school is like a boarding school. All students stay in the same building all week and only go home in weekends. (College campus/dorms are highly unusual in the Netherlands)You're required to wear a school uniform for any equine activities. (Navy school polo shirt or sweater, tan breeches) Small groups of students stay at school during weekends or holidays to look after the horses. Also, all students are required to be at school at 7AM, feed the horses and muck stalls, then have breakfast at school together at 8 before classes start at 9. We also have lunch together and dinner once all the horses are well groomed/fed for the night.  In my eyes, this makes the school similar to one of those ballet academies featured in tv shows haha!
I'm honestly so excited. A year without books and study was great after 6 years of high school, but now, I'm looking forward so incredibly much to combining my passion of riding with studying horses and everything around it at an actual educational institution. Only with classmates as crazy about horses as I am..!!! However, it will be a couple of months before I open any book... The sport class starts off the year with a 3 month internship at a barn/riding school. NHB Deurne decides who goes where and luckily they placed me at one of the greatest barns I have ever worked for in the past..; Jos Lansink Stables! Weehoo!! So after quite some years and other barns in places far more away, I'm returning to Belgium to work for this great man, who in my eyes, will always be the World Champion, just sayin' ;-), and his super team! I can't wait. :-)

This party will start early September and will last until end of November. But, obviously, I couldn't possibly sit on my butt at home until September.. Thankfully, there are still some shows to attend in the meantime!

This weekend I'm going to a 3 star show in Beervelde, Belgium, to see Lauren and Eirin Bruheim (and the ponies i miss so much) jump and then the week after there's the Global Champions Tour of Valkenswaard, the Netherlands, to which I'm definitely going since half the United States appeared to have flown in their horses to compete! :D

I'll keep you posted with pictures! Until then, thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your summer!!

xoxo 


NHB Deurne!!

my mentor for this school year! Mr. Mans Buurman

school uniform polo shirt

the beautiful Lansink stables