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I'm really not all that educated on horse breed organizations or how warmbloods do things like inspections or manage their studbooks.  As someone that's always had mutts or random horses met along the way, that never affected my life.  And then I thought I should get my first pedigreed horse.  Since I wanted a native pony, warmblood registries still remained something I just didn't bother looking at.  And then I got Marqui.  

Yesterday I went to a Westfalen inspection to spectate as my new filly got inspected.  Her sire is approved Westfalen and the breeder wanted to have her dam approved.  There was a total of four foals, one yearling colt, one two year old filly, one 4 year old stallion, and 4 mature broodmares, all Welsh Cobs.  The breeder wanted to get them all inspected as a check of her work.  There isn't an equivalent system of inspection for performance with cobs so this is how she's chosen to measure her progress.  Apparently Westfalen has a Welsh section in their studbook and are happy to inspect pretty, sporty Welsh ponies.

It was similar to the KWPN inspection I spectated at a couple years ago.  The stallion was shown in hand and under saddle.  The younger horses were shown in hand and then turned loose for zoom zoom time.  The cobs were, for the most part, a much more chill group than the warmbloods.  The broodmares trotted around with an air of chill while their foals made like little ping pong balls.  The two year old filly carried on dramatically before being turned loose but still, not too crazy.

Kiddery Rockstar (Quillane Authentic x North Star Suzanna) showing everyone how it's done and earning an 8.2

I'm not someone that handles foals but I tried to make myself useful doing things like grooming the horses.  Marqui decided to take a lay down nap so I had to pick through her braids and get all the sawdust out.  I ended up spending an hour just grooming and cuddling with Marqui who quickly became Kiki.  No one thought I was really going to keep such an elegant name as a barn name, did they?

Bonnie and Kiki watching while I try to get all of the hay and sawdust out of curly foal tail hair

Rain came and went as horses moved in and out of the ring.  The second to last foal was on his way out when the thunder started and the rain started to get serious.  Everyone decided to wait and let the storm pass since the thunder was getting louder.  Glad we stopped.  My phone started to go nuts with alerts as my weather app let me know of local lightning strikes, severe storm warnings, and flash flood warnings.  Uh oh.

Riding ring turned swimming pool

Within 15 minutes we were all huddling for cover as the arena went under water.  Lightning struck close enough that we could smell ozone.  It was kind of terrifying as everyone made a break for the mare barn to hide in a secure structure.  On the one hand, we've been in a pretty serious drought and we needed the rain but not a whole month's worth in an hour!  4.5 inches!  Everything was under water and poor Marqui was still waiting for her turn in her stall.

All dressed up with nowhere to go

So now what?  The inspection team swapped to getting the approved foals ID'd with microchips and DNA samples while we waited for the rain to stop.  And then the power went out but thankfully there was a generator so they didn't have to work by phone flashlight.  It really was insane the storm that blew into the middle of the inspection.  I don't think even an indoor arena would have saved us, we still would have had to stop due to the lightning strikes and power going out.

We waited until the thunder was gone but it was still raining pretty hard.  They tried to get Bonnie and Marqui to trot in hand but both of them turned their nose up at going out in the rain and did their best impressions of western pleasure ponies.  So they got turned out in a half flooded sand paddock with some umbrellas for encouragement.  I didn't really get any video since it was still raining hard enough that my phone couldn't cope.  It was all weird and hectic but apparently it was enough for the inspectors to see what Marqui moves like.

Our first picture together and her first ribbon

It's a terrible picture of me but it's a great picture of Kiki.  She got an 8.5 and was high score for the inspection.  That also makes her a Premium foal.  She now has Westfalen papers as well as Welsh Pony and Cob Society of America papers.  The inspectors just loved her.  I'm not 100% sure what her papers look like to be honest since they were all being dried in the breeder's kitchen when I left.  The sudden deluge meant a mad scramble to try to protect all of the forms.  We'll catch up tomorrow when she's had a chance to rest (running an inspection site is tough) and the paperwork has had a chance to dry.  

Yes, that's Bonnie and Kiki at the end of the rainbow

So Marqui is apparently very fancy and fell asleep while I scratched her forelock.  She's sensitive and almost shy but once she's got the idea that you're a person that wants to love on her, she's quite happy for cuddles.  She seems very curious and wants to touch everything, she just wants to get back from things that are chaotic.  She handled everything from braiding to having to run in the rain with general grace.  She was quite happy to be turned loose with her friends once everything was done.  And it's the best movement videos I got of her since the rain had stopped.

The bay colt in the video was second place with an 8.3, he's being retained as a stallion prospect.  He's going to be a BIG boy, he's actually younger than Kiki.  The little black filly got a 7.7 and had her owner within 48 hours of her birth.  The breeder had a great season with these three little trouble makers. 

Marqui's going to be a lot of fun in a couple years.  Hopefully I will have professional pictures of her soon but with all the rain, these may be the best we can get.