June, 2006 Tina Fagan in Europe Report: Robin Potter Tina Fagan – from Starlight Stud in Whitianga is currently touring Europe for 5 months. She has based herself in Dokkum, Holland. This is an area famous for Friesian horses. She has travelled to almost every horse stud and horse show in Holland, to Eurocommerce stud and exhibition, VDL Stud, which of course has produced the Keddell's horses – Senator, Picobello Seremonie and Sereedom - and to the Holsteiner Verband in Germany. Here are excerpts from the most recent emails after returning from Germany. Tina at Eurocommerce Well back again in Holland ... and dare I say it, it seems spring has sprung! Funny that one can move away for only a week and it seems that the world has changed upon your return. The hedges are turning green with an explosion of colour and new green leaves all around. Although it is still definitely colder here than in Holstein! On my daily jaunts around Dokkum I have time to reflect on thoughts and emotions and also just enjoy and listen to the world around me. It is funny that in our normal daily lives we are so busy doing this, that or the other, that we miss so much of what is going on around us. I am often caught thinking of how a great artist or writer must think and how important it is to take time out and allow the mind freedom to wander and dream a little ... often people are thought of as a little eccentric when one discusses the way the water ripples and the currents change as it passes an obstacle and distorts the reflections of the trees and buildings that line the canals ... but I dare say those people have actually taken time out to enjoy and observe this life of ours. Walking past the little pieces of nature with its new freshness I am reminded of another time in Colorado and the rocky mountains in spring and my little escapades into the national park, pushing my way through oak brush and discovering little glades where wild flowers bloomed in abundance and occasionally animals of the wild resided ... and it became clear to me, as one person noted in an earlier email, how special it is to enjoy seasons so clear and defined, unlike some of what we have in NZ where the seasons often blend and spring for me is often a time of madness, trying to bring the horses back into work etc ... with miles of mud, rain, the equinox winds and horses high on spring growth, how different it is to enjoy the season. A little more on the touring front ... Adriana and I went to a Young Breeder's seminar two nights ago, where a well know equine vet lectured us on horse breeding, care of the mare, foaling, foaling problems and foal health. With Adriana there to translate for me I was left not too far behind the conversations and many, many informative pictures were projected which were often self explanatory and some even had English paragraphs below them, which made things easy. It was a very interesting night and I came back with a few new ideas and thoughts to ponder over ... and I think such seminars would certainly be useful to our sport horse breeders if encouraged in NZ. Yesterday was Queen's Birthday weekend in Holland and even though the sun shone brightly on Dokkum it was cold ... apparently the coldest it has been on this day in 25 years! It was a fun day however and the whole country seems to join in and celebrate this day of their Queen with events and music being played all over from morning till late into the night. I was first woken to a marching band in the morning drumming and trumpeting their way around the village and right underneath our bedroom window! A festivity resided on every street and in every corner, with various show rides being held just across the canal from us and stalls every where and people even selling little items of no use to them any more on the streets, like one huge garage sale! One person's junk is another person's treasure ... A team using a Friesian during the Ringrijden event. They had an event called Ringrijden right inside the village with horse and cart. The driver must drive the horse/s around the street and a passenger threads a stick through rings, the winner being the one who manages to thread the most rings. For you Friesian lovers I have plenty of pictures as this was the horse primarily used for the event apart from a little welsh pony and a couple of hackneys. I must admit the horses looked fantastic in all their gear ... you can imagine being taken back to another time ... stuff that historical romances are made of. I was also made world famous in Dokkum and was allowed the privileged position in the middle to take pictures and was even given a warm welcome from the announcer, that even I understood in Dutch as I become more accustomed to the rhythms of this language. I think it is a little rare to have visitors from NZ at this time of the year and I played to the atmosphere and smiled and waved to the people of Dokkum. The announcer himself spoke perfect English, even had an international accent when he moved from Dutch to English and kindly explained the event and people in it before I proceeded to take pictures ... unfortunately all too soon my camera ran out of power, but I do have some good ones to share. The evening's festivities were certainly as colourful as the those of the day and certainly much brighter, as people enjoyed the side shows and at 10pm the fireworks started up and what a display that certainly was! That I could not capture on my camera, but the views I got from the top of the mill were spectacular, such was my vantage point after asking with my best smile to the owner and the firemen watching if I could stand on the balcony of the mill and watch the proceedings. The owner was very sweet and he invited me back to take pictures during daylight hours from the top of the mill. The fire men were also very nice and curious about my country and origins, everyone spoke quite good English and the evening was not only quite spectacular but also very social ... Tomorrow I am off to Belgium ... so who knows what will await me there. I am only the driver so I am curious to see where we end up and what more interesting horses we may visit. And so we hear from the trip to Belgium ... Well it has been a fantastic mission these last few days. I have been right across Holland and from one side of Belgium to the other, stood on the top of red hill and gazed in wonder at France, the border only hundreds of meters literally from where I stand. We manoeuvred our way through the tangled web of highways and streets that crisscrossed Belgium, battled with inner city traffic, and explored a small piece of life after dark and stared at the roof tops of buildings all crammed in and competing for space in this special little country. Walked ancient streets of old, ate great food and drank some of the beer which Belgium is famous for. We saw some amazing horses and explored different bloodlines and types ... met some very interesting and unique people and pondered over the weird world of horses. The accent and character of these people a sharp contrast to the Dutch ... Belgians are much quieter spoken and in some peoples eyes a few may seem shy or slightly introvert, but take the time to dive deeper and you find very warm people with a great sense of humour. I have guessed from over the past week and a half I have driven over 3000km ... that is quite a lot of ground to cover in Europe and so tonight I feel justified in feeling a little tired.