I want to back up once again to this past summer. There were so many news worthy happenings that I have to go back and mention them! On July 13th, Lauren's horse Firefly was taken to Turning Point Farm in South Lyon, Michigan for the American Hanoverian Inspection. Each summer there is an inspection tour around the U.S. for Hanoverians to be inspected and branded by German judges. Standards are kept highly selective. The Germans have run the Hanoverian Society in the city of Hannover, Germany since 1735. The American Hanoverian Society (AHS) is the sister society and is based in Lexington, Kentucky. At the inspections, foals can be registered, inspected and branded to prove they are full Hanoverian blood and meet the highest standards.
Firefly attended her first foal inspection with her mother Lucky in 2004. Firefly was awarded the honor of "Top Hanoverian Filly"! Just so happens Lauren was at this inspection with her trainer Marie. Lauren was playing with Firefly when her other trainer Karin said "Lauren, there's your next horse!". Lauren replied "Yeah right.". Lauren told me that at that time she could only dream of owning such a talented horse. But, just 4 short months later, Lauren became the new owner of Firefly! Mike and Kerri recognized Lauren's love for horses as well as her dedication and knew Firefly should be hers. Apparently, it took a lot of convincing Firefly's owner to sell her and to this day, she still regrets letting her go!
Lauren's plan was to show and breed Firefly, so the next step was to prepare her for the Mare Performance Test (MPT) where she would be scored on temperament, conformation, correctness of gaits and ability to perform at the highest level of competition. There are three portions to the MPT - Free-jumping (jumping in a chute without Lauren on her), Triangle (showing the walk and trot in the shape of a triangle to view all angles of the gait) and Riding (showing the gaits undersaddle and her willingness to perform as a riding partner). To achieve the "Elite Mare Status", Firefly needed an overall score of 7. So, at Turning Point Farm this past summer Firefly was tested. She fell short of elite status, but her score of 6.44 was a high enough score to enter her into the Main Studbook, which means that she can be bred and have her foals registered and branded with the AHS.
Lauren told me she learned a lot preparing Firefly for that moment and although Firefly did not achieve elite status, she is still a very special horse to her and it certainly doesn't hinder her ability to shine in the show ring and produce beautiful babies! Lauren plans to breed her in the next few years and will research many stallions to find the best fit for Firefly! If you want to get an idea of just how beautiful these horses are you can check out Firefly's sire
Feiner Stern. Lauren says she looks a lot like her daddy! Congratulations to Lauren and Firefly on a lot of hard work and a beautiful partnership!
