Katie, Bella and Sean with WB Galway Bay in November of 2002.         

The newest member of the family is my granddaughter Isabella Michelle Wiese.  Born March 23, 2002, she immediately stole our hearts and became the center of the universe.  And she knows it. She was first placed on a horse at 3 months old, and has wanted to be with them ever since.

Bella and Katie at the MECAB Futurity, Sept. 2003.

Bella and Dreamy at home, June 25,2004

Bella showing in leadline at the MECAB Futurity September 2004

Bella and Sonseress (19 year old purebred Arabian) at the MECAB Futurity, 2004

Bella and Jackie Boy heading out for a trail ride, May 2005.

                      Bella and Whoodie, a three week old section B Welsh Pony. 

Bella and Baloved, representing the Arabian horse at the December 2005 Southern Horse Festival in Raleigh.

Bella and new friends aboard Baloved at the 2005 Southern Horse Festival.

The Shenandoah Valley Classic was a successful show for the farm, and Bella proudly shows off the ribbons in July, 2006.

The October 2006 Pre-Halloween Classic in Lexington had a costume class.  Bella went as a fairy, riding a big orange pumpkin.

Bella riding Piper at one of her first lessons at Cash Lovell Stable in December 2006.

Steering is not so hard.

Learning to post, that's another matter!

Winter of 2007 finds Bella a much more accomplished rider, all 42 pounds of her.  She has been taking saddleseat lessons for a year now, and would never dream of missing a week.  Bella loves to ride, and would never leave the barn if she didn't have to.  We've bred hunters, jumpers and a western horse or two, but we don't have an English style horse.  Looks like we may be looking for one in a year or two!

 Bella loves the horses and being at the barn. She has the best work ethic when it comes to feeding and cleaning stalls.  She is not afraid of the horses or ponies, and they are very patient with her.  Not surprisingly, she rides more than most of the members of the family. 

 Bella rode in her first show in September of 2003 at the MECAB Futurity in Leadline at the tender age of 17 months.  She stole the show.  Bella was fearless as she rode on one of Willow Bend Farm's older Arabian geldings, Spider, who behaved like a perfect gentleman.  She was extremely pleased with the large blue ribbon that they won.

Bella is the main reason that we started to change the focus of our breeding program.  We have always wanted to produce beautiful, people-oriented purebred and Half-Arabian horses for the average family, at which we feel we have succeeded.   These horses were meant to trail ride, show and be best friends.  But through the years, the Arabians have begun to acquire more size, from the 14.2 hh horses that we started with, to the 15 - 16 hh horses that we now have.  We have decided to produce a small crop of Half-Arabian, Half-Welsh hunter jumper ponies for children and small adults.

These ponies, known today as Welara Ponies, were first produced by Lady Wentworth, of Crabbet fame, who crossed several of her Welsh ponies on her imported Arabian stallion Skowronek,  and pronounced them "the most beautiful ponies on the face of the earth."

In the Summer of 2003, Tom and I went to Texas to Rosmel's Pony farm to acquire a Welsh Pony stallion.  I had seen videos of numerous stallions from around the US, and had decided on a gorgeous golden dappled buckskin yearling with incredible movement.  Rosmel's Golden Wonder  is the son of First Premium Sport Pony Rosmel's Creme de Menthe. While at Rosmel's, Rosie introduced us to a wonderful little 2 year old filly with a fabulously typey head.  All I could see was Bella on that pony's back.  How could I leave her behind?  So Dreamcicle (aka Dreamy) came home.  Bella calls her "MiMi", who responds with gentle attention.

Bella showed like an old pro at the MECAB Fall Futurity in September, 2004.  Wearing a Western showmanship outfit, she sat tall in the saddle and smiled for the camera.  Although her mom kept the mare Sonseress on a leadline at the show, Bella rides alone at home.

May 2005, and Bella is now starting to ride a little miniature horse named Jackie Boy.  Her mom loves the idea of the tiny pony, as he is only 41 inches, so it is not so far to the ground.  Her favorite horse remains Sonseress.  Her Welsh Pony mare, Dreamy, is busy with her filly.

June, 2005, and Bella is enjoying foaling season.  Each baby must be kissed regularly.  The foals are unafraid of their little visitor, and she is unafraid of them.

The winter of 2005 brought us to Raleigh to the Southern Horse Festival.  We were part of a new club SABRE (Southern Arabian Breeders and Riding Enthusiasts) and were the only Arabian representatives for much of the show.  Bella rode Baloved (owned by Pam Harris) to show how gentle the Arabian horse really is.

In the booth and display area at the Southern Horse Festival, children eagerly sat on Baloved, who was calm and endearing for the entire 3 day event.

2006, and Willow Bend Farm returns to the show ring after a several year hiatus (and thousands of dollars in vet bills, but that is another story).  We had a great show at the Shenandoah Valley Classic.  Bella loves going to the shows and enjoys "hanging" in the barn area with the horses.

          After all, isn't this what all kids do on the weekends?

In November of 2006, we decided that Bella needed professionals teaching her to ride.  She started taking lessons at Cash Lovell Stables.  They specialize in saddleseat, and that seems to be just fine with Bella.  The horses there are Arabians, Saddlebreds and crosses, with a little bit of everything tossed in.  They are extremely well mannered and respond to a 4 year old's demands.  As always, Bella showed no fear about this new adventure.

    Bella's favorite part of the lesson is riding backwards!