Juliette, born 5/11/94, is a Main Mare Studbook Holsteiner. Her sire is Lemgo and her dam Heiali has a son (Illusive Magic, a.k.a. Rambo) training with Jacques Dulcy, who led the French eventing Team to 4th overall in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. I have recently traded faxes with him, and since Jacques only received Rambo in 1997, they might be ready for the 2004 Olympics in Athens -- Rambo's competing at CCI** level now.
Click here for Juliette's pedigree and list of siblings!
(Clicking on the thumbnails below will give you full size versions.)
BAYWATCH: Juliette and fellow bay babes watch the world outside my trailer -- The babe-in-red is Juliette (Holsteiner), followed by babe-in-green Bunny Burner Too (Standardbred Pacer), and shyly hiding in the shadows wearing black is Liberty Belle (National Show Horse). (Fall 1998)
A pretty pose at sunset we took for the relatives. (June 1998) 
Here's a closeup of Juliette's face....(July 1998)
Cookie? How can you not love this face? That "innocent" look seems to be common to the Lemgo babies I've seen. It also gets her extra treats from everyone!
(March 22, 1998) 
The long awaited conformation shot, without a human on board! Sorry it's an indoor shot, but it is cold in Michigan right now! (January 1998) 
Juliette at the show where she got 2nd for 2 year old fillies. This is the picture I fell in love with! (1996) 
Here's the classic warmblood conformation shot. It was easier to get her head up while on her back. Horse people are amazed I'm bareback riding a 3 year old with a halter! Excuse my oversized jeans and frizzy hair -- my photographer arrived, so we posed. I really do weigh less than 125 lbs!(9/97) 
Juliette grabbing choice morsels from atop a steep little hill.She seems promising as a 3 Day Eventer: nice movement at Dressage,jumps logs and ditches well, climbs hills, crosses water, and can walk on snow and down railroad tracks. She's trailridden along roads and once feared a yellow paint cap more than an oncoming Doberman or dozens of cars! (9/97) 
Lazily trotting down the hill. No problem. Her gaits are very easy to ride -- I wasn't sore even after Waterloo. I could sit at her slow sitting trot forever if she let me! (9/97)
Literally "treading" water. There's algae in the way of a good drink! She's been up to her belly in the pond. That hill is in the background. (9/97)
Juliette at the trot. I had to fill in the eye for these indoor shots -- the camera flash made her look like a space alien! (11/1/97)
Juliette cantering. (11/1/97)
Juliette free jumping. That's an 8 foot white post her head is blocking. I was the only human at the barn while photographing, so this blurry photo isn't bad for telling her to jump, then rushing over to shoot in a dark arena! (11/15/97) 
Juliette and her Arab gelding boyfriend Dar El Bask free lungeing. Lungeing totally by voice comes in handy at inspection time! 
Juliette and Dar El making out. The base of the neck is the best spot! Mischief the mouser observes. 
Juliette giving me a raspberry mid_French kiss. Geldings who were stallions for 2 years are great as pre-teasers -- before you get the stallion aisle all excited with true teasing!
Sometime after she is born:
Juliette is nominated to the International Jumper Futurity by her breeder Wendy Webster. IJF is a competiton for 4 year olds only whose stallions registered for the year of the baby's birth. She will place in the top ten September 13, 1998!
September 1996:
Juliette won 2nd in 2 year old fillies at the West Coast Sporthorse Classic (see the 4th picture above on this page!).
April 26, 1997:
Anya buys Juliette at Glenwood Farms Hannoverians , where she jumped to the top of the standards in the auction video (which disappeared during the auction, argh)!
Summer 1997:
Anya convinces Juliette to jump as many as 4 4-footers in a row, free jumping without excessive barriers, in an indoor arena. Anything for a carrot or apple piece!
October 5, 1997:
Juliette did really well at the Waterloo Hunter Pace, staying up with 2 Thoroughbreds from off the track, negotiating steep downhills, through woods, fields, and roads, took all sorts of fixed jumps I had no idea we'd clear, and negotiated past Western riders, squirrel hunters, & windy flagpoles!
March 20, 1998:
Our first "show" under saddle:
See the movie page for camcorder footage of Juliette and I jumping "exhibition" at a schooling show at her training stable (last minute decision without "proper" attire) -- we did great! There were 7 2 foot fences, and she had no problems performing in front of everyone! A high school sophomore named Emily then rode Juliette in a flat class, where she looked calm and ladylike through all the commotion.
July 17-19, 1998:
We went to Hunter's Run, a B level jumper show in Temperance, MI near Ohio, and although we went just to get used to a big show with a couple hundred horses, be ended up a fraction of a second out of the ribbons in a field of 29 experienced riders in a 3' jumper class! What a blast! It was filmed, so maybe someday I'll scan a few jumps into the web page! Fun fun fun!
July 25, 1998:
One week later we get third in our first event -- Paragon Horse Trails at Honey Run! Juliette was a dream! We had so much fun, but it was such a long day waiting for Dressage, then cross country, then show jumping! The cross country and show jumps were challenging and brightly colored for Beginner, and horses were refusing and getting eliminated left and right!
The toughest part was convincing Juliette that the victory gallop music that she heard all day was just bad acoustics, and not a suffering horse! She'd run around whinnying in response, me attached to the lead line! The yellow ribbon is huge -- I have to go fetch the picture my friend's Dad took of us receiving the ribbon....
Our third place ribbon,
as best stuffed into the scanner!
On the Cross Country Course (pictures thanks to fellow competitor Halley's dad!)
After the showjumping, waiting to find out what place we got in the entire event....
Third! And a halter so oversized we had to give it to Sweety, Juliette's huge Quarterhorse stablemate!
August 9, 1998:
Diane Rodich entered Juliette in her very first Dressage-only show at Justamere Equestrian Center (In Michigan). Not only did she get:
1) 65.00, 2nd place, in Training Level Test 2, Open.
2) 67.27, 1st place, in Training Level Test 1, Open.
Comments included: Lovely pair, fluid test.
Really good connection, rhythm and energy.
3) 61.82, 2nd place, in Training Level Test 1, Novice Horse,
in the POURING RAIN! (Wasn't submissive enough
slogging through the puddles.....)
but, she also got CHAMPION TRAINING LEVEL HORSE for the day!
Again, there is video footage that needs to be scanned....
The championship ribbon, as best stuffed into the scanner!
September 10-13, 1998:
Juliette arrived 9/10 (overnight haul) at Chado Farms in New Jersey to train with Laura Chapot for a month before entering the Eastern International IJF (Internatinal Jumper Futurity) at Devon, PA, September 10-13! Laura and Juliette got 3rd at a local jumping show, then the Futurity! We got top ten and prize money, but if you are considering nominating your foal for the IJF, don't bother unless he's going to be very large by age 4, and you are willing to jump him and jump him that year in preparation. It's risky for the horse -- 2 of the original 14 were lame, one enough to scratch after the first day. Film snippets of the 3rd day are linkable from my index page. All in all, Juliette benefitted from her training with the Chapots, and they were very impressed with her abilities, future capability. and capacity to learn, especially what she accomplished under them for only one month!
Laura and Juliette in the Conformation Phase of the IJF....
Laura and Juliette, other side....
October 4, 1998:
5th at Nature's Last Stand, our 1st time at Novice Level, and our 2nd Horse Trial! After not having ridden for over a month, and with only 2 weeks to learn a new Dressage test, holding her back on the muddy cross country, and oops, holding her too tight over a jump and knocking a rail, Juliette got 5th despite me! I then decided we should retire for the season 'cause Juliette is growing *again*! I was happy at how well we did considering the lack of preparation -- and we've got lots to do before next year at Training Level eventing and 1st Level Dressage!
January through April 1999:
We've decided to breed directly to Corofino this time (see stallions.html for movies!). Embryo transfer was just a little too steep. If there's a huge demand for her babies in the future, we'll go E.T. . Also, 1999 is likely the last year _anyone_ will get a chance to breed to Corofino, and there were only 2 cycles available. I didn't want to decrease my success rate even further by introducing embryo transfers. I anyone wants to breed to Corofino, tell me through my reply macro (on the index page), and you can split the initiation fee with me (I'm literally the only one in the US so far) and go through our importer. Luckily, he's still officially "standing" in Germany via frozen semen (and probably only in 1999, and that'll be it), so his progeny are still registerable as Holsteiners in Germany and therefore, the US.
Corofino is a beautiful grey superhorse showjumping son of Corrado, with a beautiful head, neck, body, super strong hindquarters -- and he can move beautifully, too. He doesn't even look like he's trying over the jumps. In the short time he was at stud he did get an approved stallion son, but now someone in Italy has bought him for 1 million Marks (about $570K US). I have no direct validation of my theory yet (following a lead, though), but I'm guessing that he wasn't simply bought as a yard ornament, and that his destination is likely the Italian Olympic Showjumping Team. I was all ready to choose him as my stud when my importer broke the news that he was no longer in Germany -- argh! But after some negotiating with the American Holsteiner Horse Association, I have one last chance to make a registerable baby with him.
COROFINO -- see stallions.html for details!
1/12/99:
Great news! I just talked to the Italian Holsteiner Association, and he assures me that Corofino "donates" when he visits to compete in Germany, and that they intend to keep him stocked in Germany, and therefore officially standing there, for some time to come!
More good news -- Corofino's new owner/rider is none other than Valerio Sozzi, who got 4th in the qualifying round (ahead of Jan Tops) in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in showjumping: Sozzi in Atlanta... riding Gaston M. Next week Corofino heads to Germany, and will do the World Cup at Neumunster, Germany. If he does well there, he's as good as on a plane to Sydney for the Olympics!
1/14/99:
Got the fax from Jacques Dulcy: partially due to Jacques' injury and Rambo's relatively recent arrival in France, Juliette's part Appaloosa brother (out of Heiali) is only at CCI** level so far, so we'll have to hope for 2004 Olympics in Athens for him. Now to cross our fingers and hope that Corofino gets to Sydney in 2000! Valentine's weekend (word now is) he'll compete at the World Cup in Neumunster, Germany. Word was that recently Corofino was having some difficulties under his new rider -- so I hope that's ironed out in time!
2/12/99:
We bred on the 10th and 11th! I have the next cycle with me, refilled with liquid nitrogen. Boy, am I tired. I had been down to the barn every night from Thursday to Thursday, preteasing with the gelding, teasing with the stallion (both really since just before New Year's), massaging all over, exercising, supplementing, blanketing, unblanketing, replugging in the timed light despite a dizty barnhand 3 mornings a week, etc. etc.
Pictures coming soon, but to give you some details, I paid for 2 cycles of two inseminations each. Each insemination is 6 little straws, plugged at both ends (one end double plugged, which we found out ater snipping and not having anything come out :). Small straws are a pain to open and drain each one, but they thaw in only 30 seconds after being placed in warm water. Catch -- they only live 8 hours, so you have to feel around in the mare often to find ovulation and time your two opportunities. Next year will be 3 per cycle, I've been told. Actually this year, but Corofino is only last year's batch -- she didn't receive more. Word is that the boy's donating every time he competes in Germany, so next year I hope to see a new batch.
My friends and reading seems to confirm that my motherly pampering may have been good management for my maiden mare -- by starting to tease her months before actual breeding, you not only find out her cycle length and number of "display" days, you also get her into a routine that she becomes relaxed and comfortable with. It took until this last cycle for her to tinkle -- she had only crouched, lifted her tail, and winked before. It took until this cycle for her to feel comfortable enough to not only sniff her teasing stallion, but actually reach into his stall and start nibbling his neck! For months his aggression scared her (and he's least aggressive stallion in the barn). I would brush her, and massage her, and take her on trail rides, and supplement her, and free lunge her with her gelding before leaving them alone for 15 minutes at a time to nibble on each other. I'm tired, but she's real happy. The first insemination was (practically) a breeze - she was very receptive -- and she actually enjoyed getting wiped down with warm soapy water. Tail wrapping is a breeze with pellets in the feedbin. We did everything in her stall, where she felt safe -- okay as long as no one is in her "shuffle" direction! Even though the second insemination was after ovulation (so she wasn't too happy with us back there, so we needed a twitch, not just a nose chain), when it was all over, she still reached outside her stall while the vet and I were talking and sniffed his hair, wanting a kiss. He kissed her on the nose, and all was well. Awww.... I fed her an apple, instead of a cigarette, by the way :).
Preliminary Timetable:
* Ultrasound at 15 days to determine pregnancy. If not preg, schedule for everyone to inseminate while I go on ski vacation. If preg, mail semen back. Failed, but exam at 20 days showed possible pregnancy! Checking at 35 days to confirm!
* Continue Juliette's competition as usual,
* Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate....
* Continue to track Corofino's progress (He'll have finished two shows by next week, so in a couple more weeks I'll fid out details! :)
* Advertise baby in time for major publications in 2000 (any suggestions?). Holsteiner Studbook for sure. Where do all the "in crowd" peruse for their next Olympic hopeful? :)
3/15/99:
More news on the Corofino front (off the top of my head)!
Two more pieces of cool news from my new copy of the Impulsion, our Holsteiner Newsletter:
1) Corofino's full sister sent a son by a Hanoverian stallion to the German stallion approvals -- and he was accepted! This same stallion sent another son, but he was rejected -- too clunky old style Hanoverian-like. They must have liked the combo with Corofino's blood!
2) Corofino's 3 yr old daughter, Cara Mia (might be registered Kara Mia), out of a Lantaan mare (I think his dad is also Landgraf I, my mare's grandad) not only won every halter class she was entered in, getting a phenomenal 9.5 for movement, she sold at the Oaks auction (the hottest US Holsteiner auction near L.A.) for $50K !!!! Only one other horse outsold her, an 8 year old jumping gelding with a big show career (went for $69K). The next two sellers were also like him! It's not usual for someone to buy a 3 year old green broke mare for $50K. Sometimes stallion prospects, but not mares. Not until this last auction!
