Illyria (2018) is a sweet,  energetic, strong moving Friesian mare with excellent bloodlines and a great start in her training. Videos of Illyria are on my website at Checkerboardfarms.com. Illyria is under saddle and worked in our arena and on the residential trails of Norco, Ca. She has not been bred but should not have any problem getting pregnant. She has been dewormed, given inoculations, traveled and been exposed to other locations, arenas, and environments. She has been ponied and hand walked through the “trails” in Norco, CA, which are basically dirt paths on the sides of streets. Walking down these paths acclimated Illyria to barking dogs body slamming the trail fences, motorized lawnmowers, motorcycles, scooters, hot rods, trash trucks, etc. Even emus, llamas and camels are not unheard of. Further, she’s used to covered, 12×16 stalls, being in larger covered corrals, arenas, or large turn outs with other mares. Illyria’s training is dressage oriented as far as giving into pressure and moving off the leg. She knows how to do turns on the forehand and leg yields at the walk (working on the trot), backing up, but we really don’t think in terms of levels. I’m assuming Illyria would be working towards training level. The resident trainer has a bad back, so canter is difficult for her. Our focus is on manners, correct carriage and building the muscles and the mind to be safe and enjoyable for the rider. Illyria is not particularly spooky. Feisty, but not spooky. She’s pretty solid as far as riding goes and holds her ground if something bothers her. But she IS a mischievous goofball. When all the girls are being brought in from pasture to be haltered and put in their stalls, Illyria is always the last to be caught because she’s prancing around all the staid and boring mares, cavorting like a filly. When she’s the last one left, she prances a few more times, kicking up her heels, and then she comes over to go in her stall. Really quite cute. 😉 Anyways, her humor probably comes from her grandfather, Wander352, well known for his playful antics. Illyria’s playful side will keep her humans on their toes and therefore she would need an experienced rider or trainer/coach supervisor for an amateur.  If you check out the videos on my website, you can see the quality of work being done with Illyria, as well as the other mares from our farm, Whisper and Renaissance, (already sold.) The work is solid, though sporadic, due to time and expenses, but it’s built from the ground up. She will continue training and will make an excellent show and pleasure horse.
We believe she would excel at dressage, including western dressage,  and hope she can find a great home where she can do her job, have babies and be someone’s forever partner. She has not been to an inspection so she is still in the foalbook with the registry.  However, with her conformation and movement, we believe she would do very well if/when presented.  Blo