AKH Aspen's

Story

AKH Aspen, aka Turtle, is a bay roan 100% European Brabant stallion foaled 19 April 2020 at All the King's Horses in Pennsylvania.

Sire: Chris uit den Blommendaal aka 'Ash'

Dam: Wildrose Farms Rosy aka 'Rosie'

Aspen is expected to mature around 16 hh and approximately 2000 lbs.

He is registered with the following organizations:

EBRA# EB0018 AWSSR # 2022035 ABA# S1298

Aspen moved to Dittmer Missouri as a 6 month old foal and quickly gained many local admirers.

He has a quiet, reserved personality, with a calm demeanor that's true to the breed. Aspen's wonderful temperament is proving to be an asset as his training progresses.

Aspen is growing up in a herd of geldings, in 24/7 turnout. We strive to make sure he has lots of room to move and adequate social interactions, despite being a stallion.

Aspen is quite athletic for a heavy horse. He likes to free jump and enjoys variety of ground work.

He is a quick study, learning to ground drive soon after first birthday and attending his first clinic at only 16 months old.

By the age of 2 he progressed to light work in harness. We will not ask him to pull or carry any significant weight until he is older but will keep working on refining the basics and more advanced groundwork. Aspen will also continue to learn to work in a pair.

In 2022, Aspen began learning Brabant breed presentation routine. His in-hand debut was in May at the Young Horse Show held at the Coliseum in Sedalia MO. He scored 7.5 out of 10 and qualified for the finals.

AKH Aspen attended AWSSR Inspection in September 2022 and received his first ribbon, Blue Preferred designation, and a silver medal, scoring 79.60%.

Aspen was only 0.4% short of Supreme designation.

Turtle attended the National Drive at Hoosier Horse Park in Indiana October 4th through 9th, 2022. We spent our stay in Indiana taking daily lessons with one of the clinicians. Turtle worked around mares and geldings, tried an obstacle course, and worked in a pair with one of our geldings. Most importantly, Turtle got to introduce event attendees to the Brabant breed.

AKH Aspen concluded 2022 with two Year End Awards from AWSSR and EBRA.

Over the winter, he continued to work in harness and started first rides under saddle. Early in 2023, Turtle got introduced to the jump chute. He has a full schedule for 2023 and we are looking forward to watching his performance in the upcoming shows!

In 2023, Turtle worked on his ridden education and the new season of in-hand shows. He qualified for the finals in USDF Breeders Championship Series. Unfortunately, the finals for our region were cancelled for reasons outside of our control. A local AWSSR inspection was moved to Spring of 2024. We were super excited about the EBRA Virtual Horse Show opportunity to add another show to Turtle's 2023 schedule.

Turtle won the title of 2023 EBRA Grand Champion Stallion title!

We also received an EBRA high point ambassador award for 2023.

Turtle spent the winter months at a local dressage barn, learning to live away from home and work under saddle.

We are starting the 2024 season with strong emphasis on Turtle's breeding training. While the focus for this year will likely remain on breeding, we have plans to make several local shows as well.

Checkout the Photo Gallery for more pictures of Aspen.

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Refer to Photo Gallery for image credits.

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