Rose's Horses

[Rose Hoff]

To the Nines

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The Basics
Show Name: To the Nines
Barn Name: Eleanor
Age: 6 years old
Gender: Mare
Breed: Swedish Warmblood
Breed Registry: SWANA

The Appearance
Coat Color: Dark Bay
Stable Color: Baby Blue
Height: 16.2 hh

The Personality
Personality: Eleanor is a mare with a great personality, but she’s usually very nervous. She’s a huge scaredy cat and jumps with the snapping of a twig. She’s very affectionate to those she’s familiar with, but extremely timid around strange people and horses. Whenever she’s brought to a new location to show, she needs to have a little bit of time to get acclimated, which can sometimes be an issue. Unfortunately, she’s also very curious, and sometimes ends up scaring herself with her discoveries. Having a good length warm-up period with her is also essential for a good class, especially in showjumping, because those flowers are scary! Rose plans on working on this with her, as she has the potential to be a great jumper if she can just be a bit bolder. Eleanor needs to be reassured whenever approaching anything potentially scary, and needs a confident and patient rider. However, she’s a very talented jumper, and is extremely scopey and careful. Her movements are floaty and fluid, except for her working and extended trot which can get a bit bouncy. Eleanor has a habit of getting ahead of her rider, and gets upset when they get too busy with their hands, so her rider needs to be able to collect and calm her down while keeping rather gentle hands. Overall, Eleanor is stuffed with potential, but just needs to become more confident and needs a reassuring rider.
Caution Around: Flapping things, sudden movements, loud or sudden noises, any other sort of animal as well as new horses, anything or anyone new, etc. (Anything that could possibly scare her.)

The History
Basic History: Eleanor was born in Holland, and her dam was a top eventer, ridden by Anna Hoff, Rose’s mother. Rose found her mother’s most successful mount, Strettenlichte, and saw that she had retired to the life of a broodmare. To the Nines is Strettenlichte, or Starlight’s first foal. When Rose found this, she convinced her father to go and buy Eleanor for her. Rose’s father was hesitant, thinking that this connection to her mother would only hurt Rose, but Rose was adamant, and insisted that she absolutely needed to have Starlight’s filly. Eleanor had been trained to be ridden and had been jumped, but showed great potential as a showjumper or dressage mount. Eleanor’s arrival at Blue Ridge is sure to open old wounds of Rose’s, but Rose is excited to start training with her and hopes that she and Eleanor will go far.

The Technicalities
Discipline: Jumper Prospect
Owner: Rose Hoff
Rider: Rose Hoff

[Rose Hoff]

Going Vintage

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The Basics
Show Name: Going Vintage
Barn Name: Vintage
Age: 9 years old
Gender: Mare
Breed: Dutch Warmblood
Breed Registry: KWPN-NA

The Appearance
Coat Color: Light Grey
Stable Color: Pale Pink
Height: 15.2 hh

The Personality
Personality: Vintage is a sweet little mare with the best personality. When in her stall, she spends quite a bit of time sticking her nose through the bars, looking for treats from the people in the stable. Vintage is known to crowd people, and one had to be careful that they know how close she is. She would never mean any harm, but she has stepped on Rose’s toes a couple of times. She excels in the hunter/jumper disciplines with her rider Rose, and possesses both the calm air to be a good hunter horse, and the speed and agility to get her through jumper rounds. She does do better in her hunter classes. Her rider has to make sure to keep her focused and engaged. She has a tendency to rush to jumps if her rider isn’t paying enough attention, and will almost try to take matters into her own hands, taking long spots where they’re unnecessary. Vintage is very willing and enjoys her work, though she definitely doesn’t mind some fun trail riding on her days off. She responds very positively to praise, and is very sensitive to how her rider is feeling. For this reason, Rose tries to wipe any bad emotions she has away before riding Vintage, because the mare will respond very negatively to them.
Caution Around: Be careful about her crowding you.

The History
Basic History: Vintage was born on a Dutch Warmblood breeding and training farm in Holland, and spent her first couple years there being trained. By the time she was six, she had been schooled a great deal in hunter/jumper, and a bit of dressage, and was put up for sale. She was purchased by the Hoff family as a horse for Rose, who had been riding for a long time but had only ridden her mother’s eventing horses and her childhood pony. Vintage was shipped to the United States and lived in a boarding stable. She and Rose would train very often, and their bond grew very quickly as they began to compete. After Rose’s mother left, Rose began to confide in Vintage more and more, and in a little over a year later, decided to attend Blue Ridge Academy. She took Vintage with her and plans to continue riding her competitively there. Vintage is Rose’s primary mount for the equestrian team, and Rose has been very pleased with how Vintage has adapted to Blue Ridge. Rose originally used Vintage as both a hunter and jumper, but has decided to use her exclusively for hunters, as that is what the mare excels in.

The Technicalities
Discipline: Hunter
Owner: Rose Hoff
Rider: Rose Hoff