The holiday season is a time of reflection for many and it's no different for us here at Sparling Rock. 2013 was a busy year for us, we brought our horses home to the new farm on New Year's Eve 2012 setting the stage for some memorable moments. As foaling season came closer we prepared for two foals, the first of which was our beautiful and bold colt Quimby SR, quickly followed by our spunky adventurous filly Fina Bella SR. Both foals were healthy and full of energy. As the year progressed we received exciting updates from our extended Sparling Rock Family. Cassiana SR was started under saddle, and in true Cassie style went straight to work as she turned many heads. Cassie's half brother Corsen SR by Connor has also grown quite a bit and started free jumping this year. He even garnished a saddle once or twice, and Kristie is quite anxious to start him this coming spring. News also rolled in from Sarah and Vienna in Reno that they had really progressed and took home some wins in a very challenging circuit. We were so excited to hear how well the two were working together for their first season and so excited to watch them grow and compete together.
The summer flew by and before we knew it, it was time to take Quimby and Fina to inspections. Our babies did not disappoint, with both scoring an 8 on movement and an 8 on type, it was another proud day for Sparling Rock with both foals being co-champions of the site, and tied for the second highest scoring foals in the country. After inspections it was a short month and then on the plane for our annual trip to Germany. Sadly while we were there our horses got got loose and Quimby was fatally injured. The rest of the trip was filled with visits to farms and time with our German friends. We got to check in on our new colt Ciampi and find a new rider (Philipp Shulze) for our three year old, Chroniken. Everyone looked fantastic and are unbelievable prospects. This was probably one of our most productive trips ever, and we were excited to share the good news with our Partners, Ann, Brian, and Lauren Bishop.
In addition to our new foals, we also joined with Kristie Gray (Corsen SR's owner) in the purchase of Cicera's Icewater, Holsteiner stallion bred by the Johannsen's in Germany. Kristie is driving his return to sport with high expectations in Eventing as well as his return to his roots in Jumping. Sparling Rock will manage his breeding career, and we want to thank George Whitley and Anna Nenonen for raising up such a super star. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to share in this amazing stallions future as he lays down additional chapters in an already amazing biography.
We are very excited to see Sparling Rock grow in 2014 as we await our new foals by Contendro I and Casiro I. We wish our Sparling Rock family and future family a happy, healthy, successful 2014.