that_show_jumping_girl: 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.