News of April 7th

- At the stallion assessment in January, Another Color van de Amstelhof became Champion Stallion in driving. In addition to this marvelous performance, he was again awarded with a first premium and he became first in his class!

- Ys-men van Stal 't Olland achieved a first premium again! We wish the new owners good luck with Ys-Men.

- The mares are back in the fields and the first foals are expected at the end of April. We're curious!

- "You simply can not keep everything", that's why we sold our little favourite! Zuante van de Amstelhof is an first premium daughter of Olivier van de Amstelhof and Suante van de Amstelhof (v. On the Rocks of Marshwood). We wish her new owner good luck with her!

- On April 3, Michelle visited the Swedish stallion assessment in Mullsjo. There were approximately 60 stallions competing. The level was not comparable with the Netherlands, but it was fun to see how friendly everyone interacted with each other. A report of the stallion assessment you can find in "The Shetlandpony' of April!

- Almnas Mahogny was best newcoming stallion and best stallion of the day with 43 points, including a 10 for type! The stallion was in good shape and afterwards the stallion was transferred by the breeder Mr Jeppsson to the new owner mr. Elliarsson.

Mahogny back to his Swedish roots!

- Our Swedish Amstelhof mares are doing very well, according to Ms. Nillsson. Fediola, Kimberley, Zimone, Xtra Donna, Wait and See and of course the wonderfull Unique are staying on Dallsgard Stuteri Laholm. Unfortunately, we currently could not see the ponies, but next summer we will certainly do!

- As I'm making this update, I look at Shetlandponyweb ... Sinjeur is deceased! Sinjeur was the first approved Amstelhof stallion and therefore he is very special for us. At an early age he came into the hands of the family Scheiberlich, where he has bred very well. The combination of Paeony or Marshwood with Sinjeur provided for Hilary. This first premium Preferent mare was frequently champion and is the mother of the first premium stallion Tango van de Amstelhof, who's breeding very well. That's how we linked two great Amstelhof bloodlines to each other. Sinjeur was born from the combination of Newton van Dorpzicht and Orchidee van Spuitjesdom in 1981. The stallion would have become 30 years this year! A very respectable age, but it is always sad to say goodbye to such a character!

- From the past: In 1984 Sinjeur was approved and became best approved stallion of that year ! Afterwards he became a first premium stallion and in 1996 he was licensed for life. In Paris at the World Championships, he was reserve champion in 1991! In addition, Sinjeur is the father of the famous Balade of Römer and Leo van de Mulder!

 

News of December 9th: Stallion Assessments

This week the stallion assessments are taking place. The miniature and little size have already been selected and nine stallions became licensed. The following stallions got approved:

13. Blitzer v d Casterhof, vos , 86 cm, v.Sander v d Hoefslag, eig R. v Gessel, Kesteren.
40. Bolero uit den Hout, vos, 86 cm, v.Gold star v d Beatrixlaan, eig B vLeijsen, Den Hout.
41. Black Diamond of Sportview, zwart, 86 cm, v.Thorgal of Sportview, eig. M.T.G.Broens, Overasselt.
47. Burgemeester of Riverdance, bruin, 85 cm, v.Ulster v st De Nooderkempen, eig.W.Termeer, Nieuwaal.
48. Beloki v St Brammelo, palomino, 85cm, v.Sander vd Hoefslag, eig. Gebr Nijhof, Haaksbergen.
54. Bombastus v Nuwelant, Bruinschimmel, 86 cm, v.Romario of Duke Stable, eig. D v Nuland, De Mortel.
57. Balmoral of Sportview, vos, 85cm, v.Peer v d Raven, eig. M.T.G.Broens, Overasselt.

69. Bentley v st Aschberg, vosbont, 89 cm, v.Viggo v st Munnikenland, eig. H van Asch Yzendoorn
75. Bonaparte v d Viersprong, vos, 90 cm, v.Kai v d Rijsdrecht, Eig. J.Lanting Aalden.
96. Benno v. Heidenheim, vos, 88 cm, v Rex v d Renderklippen, Eig. J.Suurd, Vries.
104. Aaron v Schillig, vos, ? cm, v. Hotze v d Raven, eig. W de Vries, Opende.

 

On Friday and Saturday the middle and big size will be selected.

For the season of 2011 we have rented Skerry van Geldersoord from Bunswaard Stud. Last year he became Champioen in the Middle Size of the Netherlands. In the picture below is Skerry!

 

News of November 23rd : Gossiping

To keep the site "up to date' requires some discipline, which in recent weeks or months rather was a bit missing. Starting from now we will do better:) There was a lot going on the last couple of months:

- Our KWPN mare Anoraline (Samba Hit x Amiral  see competition horses and more info below), won the preselection of the Pavo Cup for five year old dressage talents with 71.5 points. In the semifinals, she has been ridden by the Olympic rider Adelinde Cornelissen and was 30th of the Netherlands.

- Almnas Mahogny has returned to his roots. After three years of loyal service to the Amstelhof stud he returned to his breeder Almnas Stud and is now sold to the family Elliarsson. Here he will cover half a dozen Amstelhof mares as they are owned by the family Elliarsson. Among those is our old lady Fediola in Sweden!

- At the National Championship show in Lunteren, we entered the competition with Ulivia or Shetland and the Amstelhof mare Ayesha. Ayesha did very well, and this wonder of movement had a lot of fans, but eventually had to settle for a second place! Ulivia was a bit on the heavy side, but had no trouble in her class. The first place was her part! In the championship round she had to compete with Royal Queen of Wilcas, Senorita van 't Hof and many others. After some exciting rounds, it went down between the three aforementioned ladies! Senorita was ultimately entitled to receive the title! Congratulations to Mr. Kloosterman.

- On the Select Sale in Liessel we tried to sell Contessa of Amstelhof (v. Almnas Mahogny x Whise Girl) by auction, but this was unfortunately not successful. Eventually we sold her after the auction to Mr. Welling. Congratulations with this purchase!

- Not only Mahogny has left us, but Ys Stal-Men 's Olland has also left. After one year with the combination of Pijkeren / Kruitbosch, the stallion was sold to the combination Janssen / Kieviet. Our colt Dreamcather is now in the rearing of the Stallion 2012. We wish the new owners good luck with Ys-Men!

- And then ... we only had one stallion! Our top stallion Olivier is still in Groningen with the family Veenhuizen in Zevenhuizen, where the stallion is provided superbly !

- But ... now there is a stallion hired for the new season! The multiple champion of the Netherlands in the Middle Size comes to Kwadijk... Skerry van Geldersoord will be serving our mares in 2011.

- The foals are weaned and are now in the rearing of the family to Rietmolen Nijhof. Furthermore, all mares are at home now, so it's a busy lot in the pasture in Kwadijk!

News of January 27: The farewell of two super mares!

Last week two mares exchanged Amstelhof stud for Sweden! Kimberley van de Amstelhof and Unique of Shetlane. Kimberley is born with us and is one of our favourites. This mare became at the age of three Champion Big Size of our region and at the age of seven she won the Overall Championship! She is the mother of the recently licensed first premium stallion Another Color van de Amstelhof and the first premium Kroon mares Paula, Rosaly and Showgirl van de Amstelhof. Kim was one of the golden oldies at Amstelhof Stud, together with Ivette and Iris. Tonight she has arrived together with Unique of Shetlane at the stud of the family Elliarsson. They will get a warm welcome from old Amstelhof mares Fediola, Zimone, Xtra Donna en Wait and See!

Kimberley van de Amstelhof

Unique of Shetlane

We wish family Elliarsson joy with these two wonderfull mares!

News of January 13: Bobinette van Aalsmeer

The first mare of Amstelhof Stud is the chestnut piebald Bobinette van Aalsmeer. In the beginning was not only my father enthusiastic but also my grandfather. The next picture has been made by him at a show in the Netherlands in 1971. This photo was send to us by Danielle Wassink-Braat, a big Amstelhof fan !

The text says that she is pending her presentation with her colt foal. Bobinette van Aalsmeer!

News of January 10: Stallion inspection

This weekend was the Stallion Inspection of the stallions which were licensed in December and of older licensed stallions. On Friday were the classes of the stallions which were 6 years and older and on Saturday the younger stallions in the age categories of 3, 4 and 5 years old and the former champions.

So Almnas Mahogny (v. Edmund van de Brouwerij), our medium size stallion of 9 years old, entered the ring on Friday. He did a very nice individual presentation, but in the final round he was beaten by Skerry of Marshwood. Skerry became on Saturday the Champion in the Medium Size!! Mahogny was in good shape and we were happy with his performance, becuase he was second in his class with a first premium!

The next stallion we followed with interest was Oriënt van de Amstelhof (v. Friso van de Heuvelshof x Ivette van de Amstelhof). He is one of our own breeded stallions, but since a age of 3 years not in our possession. Also Oriënt had a big rival in Plesman van Veldzicht (v. August van de Kosterweide), which became first in their class and Oriënt became second with a first premium!

Oriënt van de Amstelhof

On Saturdaymorning the first Stallion for Amstelhof Stud was Ys-Men van Stal 't Olland (v. Richard van de Kleine Steeg). He had a very good year and has grown more mature! He did a good job in his presentation but became also second in his class with a first premium!

Ys-Men van Stal 't Olland, a very nice 4 year old

And then.. came the group of 3 year old stallions, that was licensed in December. In the medium size Allegro van de Belschuur and Another Color van de Amstelhof entered the ring. Both stallions our sons of Tango van de Amstelhof (v. Olivier van de Amstelhof).  They both did an excellent presentation and first in the class became Allegro van de Belschuur! In third place came Another Color, which also did a good job with a first Premium. But that wasn't the best part yet!

Another Color van de Amstelhof

After the class 3 year old big size, there is an election for the best 3 year old stallion of all sizes. Allegro van de Belschuur entered this competition because he was the best in the Medium Size! And after a very exciting 5 minutes the judges choose Allegro as the best 3 year old stallion. What a marvelous results for the offspring of Tango van de Amstelhof and our own Olivier!!

Allegro van de Belschuur!

And with his owner Mr Hilhorst, family Nijhof, Mr Burgers, Mr Bausch and the chairmen Mr Termeer! Congratulations for the family Hilhorst of Belschuur Stud!

News of January 5

We want to wish everybody a happy, healthy and super new year!

2010 started in Kwadijk as a fairytale, because it was snowing the whole night! The next morning we made some pictures of the pony's and other animals in the snow. This weekend the inspection of the approved stallions will be happening. Amstelhof Stud will be represented by Almnas Mahogny in the Medium size and Ys-Men van Stal 't Olland in the Big size. Also the two Tango sons Another Color van de Amstelhof and Allegro van de Belschuur will enter the ring to get their premium! There are coming around 180 stallions in different sizes and classes, so it will be a very nice show to see this weekend!

Also the big horses are fond of the snow. The Samba Hit daughter Anoraline is looking very curious into the white world!

      Little Daisy

News of December 11

Another Color van de Amstelhof (Tango van de Amstelhof x Kimberley van de Amstelhof) has been approved today at the stallion inspection of the medium size! The first chestnut stallion of the Amstelhof stud. The second succes of the day was the approval of Allegro van de Belschuur (Tango van de Amstelhof x Boss van de Brouwerij). We want to congratulate mr Hilhorst with his stallion Tango, which proves to be an excellent breeder and his new stallion Allegro. And we want to congratulate mr Wolters with his stallion Another Color!

Another Color van de Amstelhof; the first chestnut stallion of Amstelhof Stud.

Bron: Annemarie Dijkshoorn

News of December 10

Xaviera and Arabella van de Amstelhof are sold. Tomorrow is the stallion inspection of the medium size in Marienheem and two sons of Tango van de Amstelhof will be presented over there!

News of October 23

After the annual show in Wormerveer we always select some ponies which are for sale. Some years it is more difficult than other years!

- Blaze and Bell Rose van de Amstelhof have been sold to F. Kempkens, Huissen.

- Bellefleur van de Amstelhof has been sold to family van Wijk, Meeuwen

- The colt foals Concurrent and Catch have been sold to Mrs Konijn, Graft.

- The colt foals Calvin Klein, Christian Dior and Cocktail van de Amstelhof are in the rearing, so that hopefully we can present them at the stallionshow of 2012! This is also the case for Ceasar and Cash van de Amstelhof. Little Chablis is still with his mother Prime Rose and will be going to the rearing in December.

- Olivier van de Amstelhof will also be in 2010 at the Veenhuizen stud in Zevenhuizen in the North of the Netherlands. For that reason Olivier will not appear at the annual Stallionshow in Marienheem in January.

- Almnas Mahogny will stay for another season at the Amstelhof stud. We are very pleased with the first foals of this super stallion. Last Wednesday we brought him to Nijhof, Haaksbergen, who will be bringing him in to shape for the Stallionshow in Marienheem.

- Ys-Men van stal het Olland did in his first season very well at the Kleijer stud in Kootwijk. Our Ivette van de Amstelhof, the mother of Oriënt and Rhapsody, has been covered by Ys-Men. He will also be going to Nijhof this week, to prepare him for the show in January.

8 Tickets for the National Championships in Lunteren!

On August 22 the annual premium show of the NSPS North Holland took place. The night before, all the ponies have been washed and were ready for the big day. In the early morning the village of Kwadijk was disordered by the arrival of a large truck with trailer, in what the 32 Shetlandponies could be transported to Wormerveer. At 9 am the show would begin, so we started with the preparation of the foals already and also with the one and two year olds! It promised to be a very busy day.

Caesar

The first one to go in was Caesar, the son of Almnas Mahogny and Victoria. With mother Victoria (Olivier x Ivette) he did his best and became first in his class with premium. In second place came Cash (Mahogny x Prima Donna), which also received a premium. In the second class colts large size three sons of Mahogny had to compete against each other. Calvin Klein (Ulivia) came in first and he moved very good and uphill. Second and third were Concurrent (O-Liberate) and Christian Dior (Utopia) with premium. Next in line were the large size fillies and again an offspring of Mahogny won. Contessa (Whise Girl) is a very good mover! In the last class of fillie foals were Cacharel (Unique) and Cinderella (Nina). Both fillies did well, but Cinderella was the first in the class and Cacharel came in second with premium. The Almnas Mahogny daughter Campanule of La Mere Anne got also a premium.

Cinderella

Around 11 o' clock it was the turn of the youngsters. In the class of the one year olds small size were Nelantinus daughters Blaze and Bell Rose in third en fourth place with premium. In the middle size Balou took the lead. Balou was the foal champion last year and seems to have got all the good qualities of her champion mother Utopia. Belladonna, Bellefleur and Burberry had to confront each other in the big size and were in places 1, 2 and 3. The Olivier daughters did their best and all three of them got a premium. Then was the turn of Adelheid, which is named after our Adelheid (Rosson of Transy x Orchidee van Spuitjesdom) and who also is her grandmother. With such a pedigree she should do fine in the show and she did! Adelheid won the middle section two year olds and became also Junior Champion medium size!

Adelheid

In the big size two year olds there were again three Amstelhof bred pony's in the same class. Last year, the Tango offspring Ayesha was still in first place, but this year she did not so well. A third place was her part with a premium. Second was the Boss van de Brouwerij daughter Arabella, who presented herself very nicely. But then our Adelinde of Amstelhof. Adelinde is a daugher of Fediola x Gresini van de Veldhoeve and she seems to go after her mother. The young mare was Junior Champion big size and also the Youth Champion of North Holland in all sizes.

Adelinde

At the end of the busy morning  the Championships took place for the foals and the youth. Besides the success with the Youth, Caesar of the Amstelhof became Foal Champion 2009. The first descendant of Victoria had an excellent show and is already very well developed. All in all a very successful morning for the Amstelhof Stable. We were especially pleased with the performance of the first year offspring of Mahogny.

Unique of Shetlane

After a busy break the show continued with the three years and older mares. In the big size we had three 3 year olds in one class. Xanadu did a very good show and was the most beautifull in her body and head. But the Souwarov van Isala daughter Zingara was also in her class. Zingara is an excellent mover and was eventually leading in the class. Our Xaviera of Amstelhof was tense all day and that didn't helped her in her presentation at all. She came in thrid place. Unfortunately the judge were strict and gave only two first premiums which were for Zingara and Xanadu. Th big size class 4 and 5 year old mares was won by Unique of Shetlane. Also there were first premiums for Whise Girl and Victoria van de Amstelhof. Then was the turn for the Kroon Mares. After an exciting battle between O-Liberate of Shetlane and Prima Donna, Prima Donna was eventually the winner. Both mares received a first premium and their offspring is doing excellent.
And finally the championships. The Amstelhof stud was favourite for the title in the big size with three winners. It took endless walking before the judges could come to a decision. Unique or Shetlane became the champion in the big size and also became the champion of all sizes. The overall championship was won by our Ulivia of Shetlane. After just 1 round, the choice is already made! Our champion mare Ulivia was the third consecutive year Overall Champion. With 8 invitations to Lunteren we returned home. Tired, but happy.

Ulivia of Shetlane

News August 18th 2009: Washing!

 

De premiumshow is next Saturday the 22nd of August! This year is the show of Wormerveer (North of the Netherlands) contemporaneously with the shows of Etten-Leur and Marienheem (respectively in the South and in the East of the Netherlands). Normally our show is one week earlier. It is unfortunately, because a lot of people will go to one of the other two shows. These shows are bigger and more diverse. This week Yvette, Michelle and some friends of them will wash 33 ponies for the show!

 All the foals are finally born and we have got eight colts and three fillies. There are three fillie foals born in Sweden and one fillie foal in our region of Almnas Mahogny. After the show we will complete the pictures of the foals and mares. Below are the names and pedigree of all the foals

- Ceasar van de Amstelhof (Victoria x Mahogny) h

- Cash van de Amstelhof (Prima Donna x Mahogny) h

- Catch van de Amstelhof (Kimberley x Mahogny) h

- Cocktail van de Amstelhof (Zuante x Mahogny) h

- Concurrent van de Amstelhof (O-Liberate x Mahogny) h

- Christian Dior van de Amstelhof (Utopia x Mahogny) h

- Calvin Klein van de Amstelhof (Ulivia x Mahogny) h

- Contessa van de Amstelhof (Whise Girl x Mahogny) m

- Cacharel van de Amstelhof (Unique x Mahogny) m

- Cinderella van de Amstelhof (Nina x Mahogny) m

- Chablis van de Amstelhof (Prime Rose x Mahogny) h 

The truck will be around a quarter past five to load all the pony’s for the show next Saturday. We hope that it will be a nice, close and fair day!

News April 7th.

From Sweden we received an email including this picture from Fediola and her daughter from Mahogny. The family Elliarsson informs us that Fediola is eating well.

The next foals are not due until the end of May, here in Kwadijk. At April 18th the three year old mares in our region have to show to register in the studbook. Xanadu, Xaviera, Zuante and Zingara will participate.

News April 4th 2009: Number two !

Sometimes you wait for two weeks and sometimes it comes too early. This morning Prima Donna surprised us with a colt foal from Almnas Mahogny. After four mares, Valerie, Xtra Donna, Aparta Donna and Bella Donna, this year we will have to come up with something different. It is a big, black and beautiful foal and mother and son are doing fine.

Caesar and Victoria have made their first rounds in the fields, since it has been very good weather in the Netherlands for the past week.

Furthermore, we have news from Sweden. Our golden oldie, Fediola van de Römer was due at March 1st, but two weeks later there still was'nt a foal. On March 17th a filly foal by Fediola and Mahogny has been born, but after the birth Fediola wasn't doing fine. At the moment she is doing better and we hope she will recover well! We want to wish the family Elliarsson best of luck with both mares.

Caesar van de Amstelhof has been born!

The first foal of Almnas Mahogny has been born! It was the first time for mare Victoria van de Amstelhof that she became a mother, but it took her very long because she was due at march 7th. But this morning at 7.30 am the first colt of our Swedish stallion has been born. The grey foal looks very strong en is looking proud into the world. Mother and son are doing fine and we are hoping that Caesar will develop very well!

 

Still a little wet, but we are very glad that he hasn’t got his mothers ears !

Stal Amstelhof bronze !

The battle for the title website of the year 2009 has been ended and the winner is Liebas Stud! Last weekend it seemed that we were still in the race, but in the end we became third. Hereby we want to thank everyone who has voted for our website. And of course congratulations for the Family Ten Dam!

Olivier van de Amstelhof and Ys-Men van Stal het Olland have been rented!

Our topstallion Olivier van de Amstelhof has been rented to mr. Veenhuizen from Zevenhuizen. Olivier has been licensed for life in 2009, thanks to his high breedingindex of 15,98. This breedingindex is based on his small amount of very good performing offspring, for instance his licensed son Tango van de Amstelhof and his daughter Xanadu van de Amstelhof. This young mare became European Youth Champion Black in Hand 2008 at the International Show in Redefin.

Because Amstelhof stud will still have Almnas Mahogny in 2009, we shall use this Swedish crack on our older mares. Our recently purchased stallion Ys-Men van Stal het Olland has been rented for this season to mr. Kleijer from Kootwijk. We will cover the young mares by him.

Anoraline home again!

Today we picked up Anoraline from Stal Mul, were she was made tame. Noortje is a descendant from mare Noraline (v. Amiral) and stallion Samba Hit I. A full description of Noor is available under 'Competition' on this site.
           
After coming back Noor has been lunged and then Michelle rode her for the first time. This mare's size is 1.75 meter (!), so that took some effort to climb on. But at her back it seemed that she was used to it every day. Stepping, trot, galloping, she performed fine. Because she walks widely whe sometimes is a little out of balance but by doing some kilometers with her this will be fine in the future. We had a good feeling taking her home with us. Our plan is to to take her riding a lot and give her time to grow stronger. In the outer seazon 2009 we want to attend some competitions and maybe take her to the Pavo cup selection.

New acquisition!

At the end of october we saw Ys-Men van Stal ’t Olland at the family Nijhof. This descendant of Richard van de Kleine Steeg is - for us - a carrier of special blood and moves a lot. His mother is the crown mare Rozemarijn van stal Brammelo (v. Libero W van de Hertraksestraat); this mare became champion at the Saasveld 2008 examination and was ahead in her category on the National Championship 2008 in Lunteren!
Ys-Men is bred by mr. Driesman.
On the young stallion examination in december '08, Ys-Men was approved by the NSPS. At the premium examination he was second with a first premium in the category new year's medium size!
This year, Ys-Men will not be fully used at Stal Amstelhof, because we hired Mahogny in 2008 (and maybe also in 2009).

Ys-Men with his breeder, mr. Driesman

Stallion examination 2009

In the second weekend of january it was there again, the yearly stallion examination of the NSPS. After the young stallion examination in early december, this weekend we had the premium examination. This year we had three stallions in this examination, namely Olivier van de Amstelhof, Almnas Mahogny and our new member: Ys-Men van ’t Olland.
Friday, january 9th we were present around 9 o'clock in the white Marienheem where it already was very busy. Mahogny was up first of three, to compete with category 6 to 8 year stallions medium size. While his individual presenation was okay, his stepping around was a little messy. In the end, he became seond after medium sized Skerry van Geldersoord, who later turned out to be the champion. But our first premium was here again and so we are very happy with our Swede!

Almnas Mahogny at his approval session in 2008 with his Swedish fans,
who we missed a lot this year, by the way!

After this there was a presentation of the definite approved stallions of this year; Oriënt and Olivier van de Amstelhof were definite this year due to their super heirs and that's why they were in this category. Olivier was real quiet this year and showed some great stepping. After two categories both of the Friso's sons could come back for the prime examination. Exciting as always! Olivier had to take it up to, besides Oriënt of course, Ovide van Lierop, Plesman van Veldzicht and Onyx van Bitterschoten. After a great individual presentation Olivier went to first place with Oriënt just behind him in second place. Both these stallions were breeding with Onyx van Bitterschoten at mr. Kleijer's stable and that's why they were photographed together again by Yvette. Mr. Kleijer hired Olivier last summer and brought him in mint condition to the family Nijhof. We would very much like to thank both of them very much for taking good care!

Olivier (left side) and Oriënt (right side), grown up together, approved together.
Approved definite together on number 1 and 2 in their categlory!

Ahead of the rest, Olivier was followed by Oriënt both ending with a first premium!

After a nice but exciting first day we were very satisfied with our great performing stallions. Traditionally, the second day is the busiest of them all, mostly because the best stallions were there on saturday in the past. Due to the great number of approved NSPS stallions, this wasn't possible anymore. Now, on both days, very beautiful categories appear and this should get more attention if you ask us! Anyway, while this friday wasn't that busy, the saturday made up for it all.

Great attendance numbers on the 2009 stallion examination

Today, our most recent purchase had to enter the ring for prime examination. Recent december the stallion was quite agitated which made his performance a little lower, but on this examination Ys-Men was relatively relaxed.
For the new year's medium size he had quite some competition, from amongst others, Nelantinus sun Zico van de Kuiperij and Helmut's sun Zeldzaam van Geldersoord. After a good individual presentation he was put on a third place, but that wasn't enough for him. With a great stepping round he stepped up a rank and received a first premium. With this we would like to congratulate breeder mr. Driesman and presenters family Nijhof with a great result.

Ys-Men did a great job and showed himself proudly!
Here he is with his breeder, mr. Driesman

Ys-Men from Stal ’t Olland with his crew: mr. Nijhof, mr. Ubbink, mr. Driesman and Benno Nijhof

After an exciting day with great head numbers, finally the moment was there for the championships. Olivier was invited back for the championship big size. After his superb efforts of yesterday now Oliver had to compete with Stefan van Aruba, Up to Date of Shetlane, Thymen van Stal Polderzicht, No Problem T.D. and Walter van ’t Kleine Weitje in the stepping round. Olivier was stepping firmly and up tempo, so these were some exciting minutes. In the end, the winner was the great looking Up to Date of Shetlane (v. No Fear van de Römer). This stallion also won the general daily title as well as the honory championship 2009. Congrats to breeder mr. P. v.d. Laan and owner mr. T. v.d. Pol! This stallion is a brother of our Wait and See of Shetlane.

The jury is considering...

These nice two days always are closed with a great buffet with much people attending. Besides The Netherlands, also Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Great Britain - the Shetland Islands were there. After a great dinner the examination '09 came to an end and we went back to Kwadijk. With three first premium stallions, a head place and two second rankings we are very happy and ready for the next year's examination!

Olivier showed off great at this examination!

Participants in mutual admiration...

Ballerina sold!

Nelantinus daughter Ballerina van de Amstelhof has been sold. This mare was second in her category at the last premium examination with a foal premium. Ballerina is a breeding product of the Nelantinus van de Groote Woerd and Elegant dochter O-Liberate of Shetlane combination. This mare was big size champion of the examination in Bergharen in 2007! Further on, the stallion foal Bonheur has gone for breeding to mr. Kleijer.

NSPS approval for our Olivier van de Amstelhof!

 

October 29th, 2008

As breeder and owner we are very happy and proud of our breeding stallion Olivier van de Amstelhof with an appearance index of 15.94 has gotten it's final approval voor the NSPS. Breeding a stallion like Olivier and using it with a modest fertilization count of 92 in 6 years, this confirmation of our efforts is great experience.

We hope to have Olivier for many years in our breeding herd!

Also we would like to congratulate the family Waanders fromHaaksbergen with the fact that Oriënt van de Amstelhof, who was bred by us, also reached a great milestone by receiving it's approval. We are proud to have bred such a high quality stallion which showed to have remarkable breeding qualities. We wish the family Waanders much more great successes with Oriënt!

Zingara van Isala!

Since recently, we have Youth Champion of Varsseveld 2008, Zingara van Isala !

We think Zingara is a beautiful mare which in our opinion belongs to the best 5 youth mares in The Netherlands and we expect a lot from her in the coming years. Also she has an interesting bloodline which can help us adjust our breeding directions to improve.

When breeder mister Leijzer told us to be ready to sell we didn't hesitate for a moment. It's not often that you get such a chance.

News from october 8, 2008

 

Our beautiful mare Showgirl has been sold to mister Arts from Horst.

 

News from october 9, 2008:

Mares Adelinde van de Amstelhof and X-Girl van de Amstelhof have been returned to their stable of birth.

Both mares have not been brought in to examination this year but since their pedigree and high quality we expect them both to have gotten their first prime anyway and both are a promise for the future!

Prime examination Wormerveer 2008

Busy, busy, busy!

The yearly prime examination was already there again and so we had to buy in for this event. After buying the shampoo, ropes, elastic bands en brushes we finally could get started with washing. On wednesday we washed the fat merries together with the old ones and on thursday we did the youth. On friday we did the mares with the young foals. After doing these 'dirty jobs' we still had to do some shopping. After making the sandwiches and packing up the cleaning stuff we feeded the ponies for the last time.
Finally we could get some sleep and those few hours that were left were needed, since we would take 32 ponies to Wormerveer that saturday.

At 04.30 in the morning Yvette and I were getting out! Yvette would take care of the catering and I went outside to feed the ponies. All the ponies just fit in the transportation combination that we lended from the family Schuijt. And Klaas thought that there would be some space left! So coming year will be different when we have 16 foals coming...
Reaching Wormerveer it seemed that I forgot something as usual. Lucky for me I could return with the driver to Kwadijk and get some whips. You don't want to miss those when you have some thirty ponies to guide. Once I returned we mounted the halters and prepared the yearlings. At 9 o'clock the examination would start so we quickly started to get dressed up in white!

First, Bonheur (Olivier x Ivette) had to go. He was on the second row with a premium but had some comment that he was a little 'woolly' and probably be better as the number 1. Later on, it appeared to be the 'spare' foal champion and also a son of Olivier! Unfortunately, Benneton (Olivier x Showgirl) didn't get a premium. We did not bring in Brad Pitt (Olivier x Ulivia) because he was very ill at birth and got behind on things.
Bella Donna (Olivier x Prima Donna) was ahead in her category with foal premium. Ballerina (Nelantinus x O-Liberate) got third with a premium. In the second category mare foals we had a daughter of Olivier on top. Behind that was Burberry (Olivier x Iris) with a premium. The foal Blaze (of Unique) was only out for a week and so we didn't bring her in also. And then, Balou was up for examination. This daughter of Nelantinus from Utopia was a surprise for us all, this day. In her category she won with a premium. Behind that was Bellefleur (Olivier x Nina) with premium. In the end there just was no premium for Brown Girl (Olivier x Kimberley). Too bad!

After the foals it was time for the youth. Little Adelheid had to go first in the category medium youngsters.She won easily and got a youth premium. In the bigger category Ayesha was ahead and secondly was Boss' daughter Arabella. With the two year olds medium there was a first place for Zuante (and title Youth Champion Medium Size) and a third place for Xtra Donna with premium. We thought Xtra was in an excellent position so we were surprised that she didn't end higer than she did. Number one in the two year big size category was Xanadu, and second here was Xaviera.

Around twelve the foals- and youth championships began. We could bring two foals back into the ring and in the end, Nelantinus' daughter Balou became foals champion! We had to put Bellefleur in the ring fast, bu too late since the choice for Olivier's son Boris van La Mere Anne was already made. Then, for the youth titles we could bring Adelheid, Ayesha, Zuante and Xanadu. The youth championship brought chamionship to our European Youth Champion Xanadu. Surprisingly, Xaviera got Second Place Champion.

That afternoon it was time for the three year olds and the older mares. Whise Girl and Wait and See had to come up. Whise was the better one in the Register challenge but that turned around in the opinion of the jury. Both got the first premium and ended up on second and first place. Later, Whise Girl got te best three year mare nomination breeded in the province of North Holland. She got the 'Jacob Jan Bakker Trofee' for that!
Then it was the turn for Victoria, Utopia en Unique. Eventually Utopia won in the four year mares big size category with a first premium. On second and third place were Unique en Victoria and both of them got a first premium. In the category of six years mares big size Showgirl was set back to second place after a few rounds, but she did get a first premium ofcourse. na een paar rondjes teruggezet naar een tweede plaats met natuurlijk wel de eerste premie. Prima Donna was obviously on number 1 with a first premium in the Crown mares category.
Now Ulivia, Prime Rose, Nina and Ivette were 'on' in the category Old Champions. All four of them got their first premium with glory. And although Ivette is a little too old for a first premium, we thought she was still worth it.

At the end of the day they always have the champions rounds. In the catgory Big Size we were invited back with Wait and See, Utopia and Prima Donna. Ofcourse Marco (Dibbits, one of the riders) already knew who would be champion! So, not completely unexpected the number one was Utopia of Shetlane. Little Utopia with only 1.06 height, got the General Day Championship prize. And then it even got more exciting because which one would got the Champion Honor? We brought in Ulivia, Prime Rose and Nina together with Utopia. I walked with Nina, but it soon appeared that the winners would be from Limburg. It mainly became a 'battle' between Ulivia en Prime Rose with Ulivia as winner. This daughter of No Fear now has the title Champion Honer 2008 of Wormerveer.

And with this great title, the premium examination came to an end. After cleaning everything up we could go back home. And then, when you open the lorry doors, it becomes the greatest moment of the day. When the ponies run into the grassland and are running so excited and so happy!

We'd like to thank the runners (Marco en Harman), our ‘stable boy’ Rinske and our regular photographer Heidi for all their help and enthusiasm!