Offield Farms

Breeding is in the air. Stallion selections, stallion shows and stallion competitions are everywhere. Breeders all live their dream, visioning their dream to be born soon. Or to be born next year!

The perfect time to come back on written dreams in words, stories and poems.
What an amazing contest it was: write your favourite story on breeding and win a free covering from the all exciting Lingh! Lingh, the stallion Karin Offield fell in love with when Edward Gal rode him to the win in Grand Prix in Las Vegas in 2005 and now owns herself.

Front dream stallion Lingh Picture Arnd Bronkhorstwww.arnd.nl

Karin Offield didn’t sleep when all kind of stories and  poems arrived, from the USA of course, but also from Sweden and The Netherlands. Karin Offield explains: “It was an amazing experience for me! I can count on one hand the foals and mares I have had in my career. Now, because of this contest I have had a front row seat in all these amazing stories.  Most were non fiction and all of them celebrate the world of breeding horses – what happens, how it happens, when it happens and the effect these gentle creatures and their babies have on us, our psyche, on our hearts and how we have to be,  the human race as thick skinned as any animal lover is….our big big horses are so fragile, but it’s all about the adventure…the dream. This Lingh Story Contest celebrates this world! I want to congratulate every entrant and have called them all personally. Lots of stories, lots of emotions we have shared. This has made me very happy!”

The stories made Karin Offield very happy Photo by Marielle Andersson www.andersson-fotodesign.com

Writers sent in multi lingual submissions, stories and poems about the passion of Breeding. The judges panel consisted of two American breeding experts, Tish Quirk of Carlsbad, California and Kathy Hickerson of Brookline, New Hampshire. The European panel consisted of Claartje Van Andel of the Amsterdam Area, Netherlands, dressagedirect’s owner, a professional Teacher of Language and Communications Expert. Karin Offield also asked Maucca Karki in the panel, Finnish born but living in the Netherlands too and a Breeder and Equestrian Consultant.
The judges were sent each entry without knowing the author’s name or background. Lingh’s owner Karin was the data technician who accepted and distributed the anonymous submissions to the judges. Karin was not a participant in the judging of the contest that began one year go in the early spring, February 19th 2010.

The winner!
And now the winner! All judges agreed on the winner. Finally Karin Reid Offield takes away the curtain and says:

“The Winner is Mary Bahniuk Lauritsen! Her story is entitled ‘Entranced'”

Mary Bahniuk Lauritsen is an accomplished FEI Young Rider reigning from Harvard, Massachusetts. Mary is currently balancing her riding and education while she attends Emmanuel College in Boston. Mary has been actively competing in dressage since she was nine years old and has successfully shown up to Prix St. Georges. Mary is active within the sport in and out of the saddle. She has been serving as the United States Dressage Federation’s Youth Executive Board President for a year and truly enjoys giving back to young riders across the nation as well as promoting the sport of dressage. Mary is one of seven members on the Dressage Trainers network where members share a common interest in teaching and growing as individual equestrians.

Outside of riding Mary enjoys traveling, vegetarian cuisine, social networking, and modeling.

Versatile Winner Mary Bahniuk Lauritsen

Mary was very excited to know she was chosen as the winner!

Karin Offield adds: “As for Lingh as a breeding stallion, he again made the breeders in Sweden very happy last year. His pregnancy rate is very high. We still are waiting to hear from 4 mare owners and if they confirm positive results, Lingh will boast a 93% pregnancy rate, even higher than last year and that makes me and the prospective breeders to Lingh all over Europe very happy. He is a wonderful stallion in character and his babies are easy to handle, saddle and ride.”
Karin Offield now can’t wait to see Dutch breeders to breed their best mares to Lingh and she is very happy to have Lingh incorporated in the breeding facilities Birkhof in the southern part of Germany this year.

Winner Mary Bahniuk will have to wait for another year to make her own dream of a Lingh Baby come true. She says: “My original plan was to breed my farm bred mare, Windsor-CF, to Lingh. When the opportunity arose to sell her to a great client we made the decision to sell her this summer and look for a more suitable brood mare to breed to Lingh. Currently I am speaking with reputable breeders in New England to find the right mare to lease or buy and then breed to Lingh. My plan is to find a mare that will compliment Lingh’s conformation and movement and provide me with a international quality foal for the future. I am very excited and am looking forward to this spring when I find the lucky mare who will bring my Lingh superstar into the World!”

Here is her winning story. Read and enjoy:

Entranced

I remember it as if it were yesterday. My heart stood still as my eyes followed the graceful pair around the warm-up arena. My heart then began to beat again with each change of lead, every change straight, uphill, and as if the footing beneath his hooves had turned into springs. Not any of his fellow competitors kept me so entranced. It was this beautiful bay stallion, his electric legs, and focused eye that hypnotized not only myself but also those surrounding me on the sides of the World Equestrian Games warm-up arena in Aachen, Germany summer of 2006. Like a photo hungry paparazzi photographer, I filmed Lingh in his warm-up and in competition, my hand shaking in excitement, making these films quite unenjoyable to watch once arriving back in the states. I just wanted to capture the moment and remember it forever, shaky footage or not. Racing back and fourth from warm-up to the incredible Aachen stadium to witness his Grand Prix tests, I felt everyone else should have been doing the same, this horse exemplified so much and his partnership with Edward was intoxicating.

Entranced and intoxicated by Lingh and Edward Gal in Aachen 2006 Picture Arnd Bronkhorstwww.arnd.nl

It was the evening of the freestyles that would leave an even deeper mark in my teenage equestrian years. With over 60,000 spectators and only standing room left for viewing, my friends and family had found a perfect spot along the long side of the stadium to stand and watch the best in our sport compete in the most exciting event of the three days of competition. With the towering lights gleaming and a Germany summer’s cool spilling over the brimming stadium, he entered the arena. I could compare myself to one of those 1960’s Elvis-crazy teenagers you see in vintage films, the moment I saw his passaging legs dance through the gates and begin around the arena. The trance started, the pulsating beat of his freestyle woke up the crowd and murmuring and cheers could be heard as Lingh’s extended trot took him across the diagonal after his dramatic entrance. How fitting it was to have trance music for this horse because this is what this animal had down to me and the other 60,000 spectators. He had left us entranced. It was with this performance that I saw Lingh in person for the last time. His beauty and magnificence would never leave my memory after this week spent in Aachen. To this day I can look back and savour the moments I spent watching Lingh in Aachen and feel fortunate to have been left entranced by such a magnificent animal.

Since, and long before my time in Aachen, I have spent many wonderful years surrounded by my Dutch bred horses. A shining star that lives in our stable, and a star that we brought into the world in 2003 after breeding her dam to the renowned stallion, Contango, could be that serendipitous dam to a Lingh foal. To bring a piece of what I witnessed in Aachen into my stable and life would be an endless gift. As I come to my final year as an FEI young rider, I cannot think of a better way to begin my professional dressage career than to bring Lingh lineage into my life. I am ready to be entranced yet again.

Linghs beauty and magnificence would never leave my memory, Mary Bahniuk says.

Read more on winner Mary Bahniuk at www.cadencefarminc.com

Find more on the incredible Lingh here