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.

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

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