Every single one of you - Thank you ♥

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What a weather!

Hey everyone, long time no see! We've been keeping quiet for a while, but even though there hasn't been any updates, life has gone on in Vredesholm. No new horses or people for now, but we have some exciting things coming up (hopefully) in July!

Everyone at Vredesholm has been enjoying summer to the fullest. The weather has been crazy in Finland: There has been no actual rain since the beginning of May and we most probably have had more hot days than we had in the past two summers combined. We're actually suffering from drought... Can you believe it, Finland is suffering from drought! The ground has dried out and we have to irrigate our pastures to keep them lush for the horses. Crops like fruits, vegetables and berries will be tiny this year but they say they'll be extra tasty. So maybe if you're planning on going on a holiday you should head up north and come enjoy some organic Finnish strawberries in the sun!

Also Novocaine's doing great! With Andreas being on his vacation, Margaux has been working with Novocaine alone. However, sometimes when Margaux is busy or tired, Rosanna will help her out and take Novocaine out for a simple training session or on a trail.

Evenings are the best for riding in the nature. The sun doesn't set until 10pm and it doesn't get dark at all during this time of year in Finland. The only problem is the bazillion mosquitoes hunting for Rosanna (And Novocaine, but he doesn't really care), but at least she gets a reason to wear the matching long-sleeved shirt she has with Novocaine's saddlepad.

Thank you all♥ And Constantine, the colours are mostly edited, unfortunately! I use no fancier mod than the St. Claire one. :-D

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a morning surprise

Summer is the best. Rosanna's always felt like she's more of an autumn person, but now that the weather is spoiling us (Finland is currently the warmest place in Europe!) and Vredesholm is taking some time off for the summer, she's really enjoying life to the fullest. Sunshine, horses, swimming, picking berries and wildflowers, is there anything better?

We're giving our horses some time off, as they all took part in the Sunberry Horse Show - and every single one placed! Shrykos is the only one being trained at the moment, since Rosanna and he earned their place in the first ESEF regional show.

As Margaux is having her summer vacation at the moment, Andreas is the only one visiting the stable and helping Rosanna carry water for the horses. That's the most they do: Apart from giving water to the horses and helping them fight off horseflies, there's not much to do. That's why Rosanna and Andreas mostly tend to lie in the sun during the days, having conversations while waiting for the temperature to drop a bit so Rosanna could train with Shrykos.

One morning though, when Andreas had promised to do the morning chores to let Rosanna sleep in, something changed. Rosanna's plans on getting plenty of sleep got cut short when Andreas called Rosanna at 8am sharp, telling her only:

"Meet me in the barn. You're going to love this!" and hanging up.

Rosanna ran up to the stable, slipped in and jogged to Andreas. She wasn't wearing anything but a light maxi dress and fake Crocs she had bought from the supermarket, but that didn't matter at all as soon as she peeked in the stall that Andreas had encouraged her to have a look at.

In the stall there was her dear Mette. And little Gargantua. Or Bermuda. Or Ceres. We haven't exactly decided on that yet.

This little filly, so rich a shade of a chestnut with unexplained blue eyes, is the first Vredesholm foal bred by Rosanna. The very first. Sired by Mockingbird, out of Havets Mette. Feel free to give an opinion on the name options or suggest your own!

Little filly enjoying her first rays of sun on Wednesday evening. Here she was born less than 24 hours ago.

(Bonus picture of Rosanna pondering about the clouds, because she's the gal. Total girl crush material. Ms. Freckles.)

Christina : To be honest, I have no plans for her yet! As she's a filly, she'd fit my barn well and obviously I'd love to keep "my" firstborn offspring to myself, but we'll have to see!

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red rain

Finally; it's raining. Even though the temperatures haven't dropped that much, the sky is pouring during daytime. Towards the evening it often clears up a bit and we only get occasional showers while the sun keeps on shining. The rain feels prominently refreshing even when you're on the saddle! Besides, we have to enjoy trotting and galloping in the rain before the ground gets all muddy and eventually will get covered in snow and ice. We're not exactly ready for winter yet, but autumn - you're welcomed here!

Maze got to experience her first rainy weather too. Yes, we decided to name her Maze, with her show name being Vredes Mazekeen.

None of the names Rosanna first came to think of seemed to fit her, none feeling right for her, which led to Rosanna thinking: Why can't I name her something cool like Mazikeen? Wait, why couldn't I name her Mazikeen? She realised it actually fit the filly very well, not because of her demonic personality (At least we haven't seen any signs yet), but because of her ravishing looks and both parents having names starting with the letter M. Mazikeen still felt a little off, so we twisted it into Mazekeen. Perfect, right?