Rose's Notebook

[Rose Hoff]

I suppose I should try to start to keep note of things since everything happens you quickly, and so slowly, and all at once, and one day it will all be gone. Maybe I can help that.

But I guess I'll start here with what I've been most interested in recently.

I've been looking online for anything about mom recently. Dad didn't want want me to before. It was easier for us to just let her go. But now I've found something.

When I looked up Sterrenlichte I found her. Starlight, or Sterrenlichte was my moms favorite and most talented eventing horse...they were great, and mom became most well known and successful when they were a team. So it's turns out that she's at a stable in Holland, and she's retired. It doesn't say who owns her, so maybe mom is near there! Maybe she sold her. I don't know. I can't see her selling Star, but who knows what she does. I feel like I wouldn't know the person she is now.

But that's not the important part. The crazy part is that Starlight had a foal. Seven years ago! It's crazy! The filly's name is To the Nines, so obviously whomever has her speaks English. I know it's not a huge clue, and I know that mom doesn't own her now, but maybe she did when she was born! Anyways, I have to get her! It's perfect. A young, green Swedish Warmblood mare that had eventing in her blood! She's Starlight's daughter for god's sake! But she is in Holland and I am here. I have to talk to dad.

[Rose Hoff]

I got To the Nines. Will it sound bratty if I say I'm not surprised? Probably, but I'm not. Dad couldn't resist the thought of it either. For goodness sake, he'll probably write a book about it! He likes grand things and lovely coincidences just as much as I do, and he couldn't stand the thought of not allowing this. Two daughters of the two parts of an amazing pair being a pair themselves. It's really beautiful you know.

So I've had her for a while now and she's seemed to have settled in. She's very nervous about everything, but when she gets used to her surroundings I'm sure she won't be nervous all the time anymore. It must be a lot of stress on a horse. It turns out that her stable name is Eleanor, which I love. It's such a pretty name, for a pretty horse. She's gorgeous, and I've made her stable color light, powder blue and she looks great in it.

When I've ridden her it's clear that she's had some good training, but I definitely need to work with her to have us match up nicely. She's not Vintage, that's for sure. She shows a lot of talent in jumping, and is very, very scopey, and I can already tell that she'd going to be able to handle jumping high. Her movements are also very nice and I haven't tried much dressage with her yet but we'll work on it. I also still have to take her out on the cross country course before I ride her over it to show her the jumps so she doesn't freak out. Clearly we have a lot of work to do.

I was hoping to use her as my reserve for the equestrian team, but I won't be able to yet of course. I'm going to stick will Fallon who has proved to be wonderful and I'm glad to have been paired with her, though I'm not sure I'm at competition level with her yet. I'm going to have to trust that Vintage will stay sound.

[Rose Hoff]

Eleanor is doing much better than she was when she first got here. I can now ride her in the indoor without her being too nervous, and she's completely comfortable with me being around her. Should anyone else ever have to do anything with her, I'm sure she wouldn't be happy, but I'm doing quite well with her. She even pricks her ears up now when I approach her stall rather than retreating into the corner, and she lets me rub her nose. I'm very please about how she is, and I hope that in a month or two I can start using her in lessons regularly. I've ridden her in a couple, and she hasn't done very well, but I'm thinking that if I ask people to ride with me and keep building up the number of horse in the ring, she'll get much better. She'd shown that she can adapt.

I was hoping to use her for eventing, as her past owner suggested, but I'm beginning to doubt that that is her calling. I just can't imagine bringing her out on a cross country course! I don't know what he was thinking! It's probably because she shows great skills to become an amazing dressage mount or showjumper, so I'll probably end up using her in one of those, or hunter/jumper like Vintage. Her form is gorgeous over fences, and on the flat, so I suppose she could do wonderfully in that. We'll see how it plays out.