Catching Up

Wow. It has been such a long time since I've posted. My apologies to everyone ... especially those whose beautiful horses we have shipped since the last posting.

Terry and I made our last flight of the year on November 30th when we accompanied horses to Luxembourg and then on to Dammam. Tanner La Grone, one of our ranch hands, made his first-ever trip to Luxembourg with us and then on to Kuwait. Everything went well with the horses and I want to give a very big Thank You to our dear friend, Mohammad Agha, for taking care of Tanner during his visit to Kuwait. Your hospitality and friendship are greatly appreciated, Mohammad, and we hope to have the opportunity to repay the favor when you come to visit us in Bigfoot some day.

Many thanks also to Abdullah, Dhafer, Jamal, Salehm Ahmad, Burhan, Adwan and Lafi for sharing your horses with us. As always, it was our pleasure to work with you and we look forward to future opportunities.

Henry is on is way home now from another trip to Kuwait. Thank you, Ayman and Yasser for sharing your horses with us. We look forward to helping you again in the future.

Next week, Jolinda and Mac will fly to Amsterdam with two more containers of horses. Thank you, Mandy, Kevin and Desiree for the opportunity to work with you and your horses. They are doing fine. Jolinda has been coming over to the ranch to spend time with her traveling companions prior to flight day and they are becoming great friends.

We are gathering horses now for quarantine groups that will begin next week and are looking forward to a wonderful new year of Flying Horses with EZ 2 Spot Ranch.

Horses to Amsterdam and beyond

Six lovely horses left Houston on Wednesday afternoon for their flight to Amsterdam. Thank you, Hans Silvius and Florence Pierreaux, for accompanying these horses to Schiphol and for sharing your lovely mares with us.

Barlnk Tuffys Coosa, IBA Fantasy and J Los Secret, three gorgeous paint mares,went home to France with Florence. We have heard from her that they arrived safely and are doing well.

Shes Finally Famous, a beautiful QH mare, has arrived safely at home with her new owner, Bjoern Lauer. We have heard from Bjoern and are happy to report that all is well with her. Thank you, Bjoern, for sharing Lila with us!

Brego, a sweetheart of a QH gelding, went to join his family who moved from the USA to Switzerland. We have heard from Tammy Boron that he is home now and all is well. Thank you, Tammy, for sharing Brego with us.

And Abilene PCF is on her way to her home in Italy. She should be arriving very soon to meet her new owner, Giovanni Pietrarelli. Thank you, Joao and Giovanni, for allowing us to be a part of Abilene's journey. She is a beautiful mare and I know you will enjoy her.

It was a pleasure for us to work with each of these horses and we appreciate the opportunity to work with their owners, as well.

We will be starting our next quarantine for shipping to the EU on November 28th and we have spaces available ... so let us know if you would like to add your horse to that group. They will fly in early January.

Horses arrived safely in Dammam

I am happy to announce that our latest shipment to Dammam arrived safely and all the horses are now in their new homes. CargoLux was delayed - again - but other than that, everything went smoothly with this shipment. Thank you, Osman, Mohammad, Saeed and Ahmad for sharing your amazing horses with us. It was truly a pleasure caring for them and working with you. Thank you, also, to our groom, Henry Quintanilla, for your flexibility and willingness to go the extra mile when faced with unexpected challenges.

We are gathering horses now for our next shipment to Dammam, so let us know if you would like to add your horses to this group.

And on a personal note, Happy Birthday to our darling granddaughter, Madison Elizabeth Jurek, who is 11 years old today. We love you so much, Maddie, and can't wait to see you when you are back in the USA!

Free transport from APHA World Show

We are very excited to announce that we will be providing free transportation to our quarantine facility for all overseas horses that are purchased at the show, currently going on in Ft. Worth, TX. Megan and Tanner will be at the Will Rogers Center all day tomorrow, so give them a call on the ranch phone +210 861 4191 and let them know who to see about picking up your new horse.

We are starting a quarantine group next week for a flight to Amsterdam on December 19th ... and we have a few spaces still available in that group. Spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so don't delay! Your new horse can be home for Christmas!

If you have any questions, give me a call at +210 861 0269 or Terry at + 210 244 3404 or drop us a line at ez2spot@hotmail.com.

News from an old friend

We received this email a few days ago from Monique Stam of Holland. We always will remember Monique and Scout. She had fallen in love with him while attending a riding camp in California. Her parents helped arrange to buy him for her and we had the privilege of taking him to Amsterdam for her. It was such fun for us to see the look on her face when she was reunited with her equine friend at Schiphol Airport back in 2008.

Monique wr

ote:

I’m not sure if you remember me but I’m the girl who took the great pinto Scout to Holland in 2007-2008.

I hope you are doing fine! I just read an message on a Dutch Horse forum that somebody got 2 pinto’s out of Texas and I asked her if she had done that with you. And she did! How great is that!

So I just thought, maybe you like a short update…

I had such a great time with Scout! I never noticed that Scout have done a big trip around the world. He was just to Holland like he always has live here. We had some great years together.

We did a lot of riding in the forest and dressage. We won 3 dressage competitions and one includes a cross country! Everybody loved him and asked where he came from. I always said he came all the way from California to Texas and then to Holland. I always mentioned that you guys did a great job ;)

Unfortunately a year ago he got lame. We went to the vet and the discovered that he had a serious way of bone spavin/arthritis in both of his hind legs. Normally they can give him an injection but his case was so serious that it wouldn’t help. So we put him in the pasture for almost a year and hope with rest and just some walking he could live with it. In May this year it got more serious and when he tried to canter in his pasture (I was running and playing with him) he just stopped and couldn’t move one of his legs. At that moment I knew it was over. We went to the vet and he took x-rays again. The bone spavin/arthritis was more serious that the year before and the vet said it was the worst case of spavin he ever saw. So we took him home and in the weeks after we said goodbye. We took some beautiful pictures with him and in July we put him down. I stayed with him to the end and he was so calm, like he would say, it’s okay.

I still miss him so so much!!! He was sooo special! I think I never get a horse like he was!

I’m now looking for his bloodlines etc. just to get more information about him. I’m even wondering if there are any filly’s of him walking around somewhere…

Well, just want to let you know how this beautiful fairy tail ended. Unfortunately not the way it should but having him here with me the last few years were like a dream come true…

Hope you are doing great !! I attached three pictures of him, the first 2 were made a week before we put him down, the other one I think from 2 years ago.

Monique

Amsterdam,Prestwick, Luxembourg, Dammam and Doha

This has been a very busy week, with 21 equines flying out to various destinations around the world. And, as happens from time to time, there have been some flight delays.

Fancy Me Wisely, Pearl of Justice and HHAA King of Bling were all set to fly out to Amsterdam on KLM's Tuesday afternoon flight with our groom, Anne Figley, when all of a sudden the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Poor critters! They had to be taken back to the TDA Animal Facility and stalled overnight. They finally got out the following afternoon, but it was a bit of an ordeal for everyone - equine and humans alike. Thank you, Anne, for taking such good care of the animals during a difficult situation. Thank you Toni, Lykke and Frank for your patience.

Then it was on to Prestwick, Scotland with five of the cutest miniature donkeys ever - BR Liberty, BR Pixie Dust, FOF Cats Cheetah, Flight of Fancy Raven Beauty and, last but definitely not least, Lil Angels Texas Tease. They all traveled well and should get home today. Thank you, Rebecca, for sharing them with us. I know they will be very happy in the UK.

Luxembourg was the next stop with two beautiful paint fillies (Shesa Classy Brooks and My Precious Maria) and two adorable little P.O.A. mares (Santee Charisma and Santee Spanish Delight). Everything went well with their shipment. Terry had the pleasure of meeting with both Sylvain and Lara this morning before they left for France with their new horses and ponies.

Dammam is the next stop for April at Arabesq, Beauty of the Mohave, Portia SF, AA Gabriella Bea, AA Diva, Malika Bint Dalim ... and Terry . Abdullah and Dhafer, the flight is delayed til 6:00 a.m. tomorrow. I'm not sure exactly when they will arrive, so you might want to check with CargoLux in Dammam tomorrow morning.

Henry will finish the adventure when he delivers Fireflash LNW, Pablo Paez and Three Above to Doha on Monday. Thank you, Mohammad and Haytham, for sharing these cool horses with us - and best of luck in your upcoming endurance races.

We started a new quarantine group this week for twelve horses going to Dammam and Kuwait, and will start another group next week for Luxembourg and Kuwait. We have space for a few more to Luxembourg.

We are moving into the holiday season now, so please be patient if there are delays or scheduling challenges with your horses. 'Tis the season!

On the way to Dammam

Wow! So much has happened since our last post! Let me try to recapture the highlights. Our trip to Harbin,China was amazing. We were treated with such hospitality and have memories that we will cherish forever from our visit with Mr. Cheng, Mr. Song and their friends and associates. Thank you, gentlemen, for such a wonderful introduction to your country and culture. We are very excited about being part of your new venture and look forward to many more visits to Harbin.

After our visit to China, we had an opportunity to stop by Seoul, Korea and visit briefly with our son, Matt, his wife, Maria and our grandchildren, Madison and Luke. What a special treat that was - to get to see them in their home in Inchon. Thank you, guys, for picking us up at the airport and taking time to show us around. We love you and can't wait to see you when you PCS back to the USA.

Then it was back to the ranch ... a few days of R & R at the Gulf Coast ... and now we are on the road again, traveling with nine beautiful Arabian horses to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. We are in Luxembourg right now and will fly out to Dammam this evening. Thank you, Mohammad, Thamir, Ahmed, Saleh anand Haytham for sharing your horses with us. We will see you in Dammam early tomorrow morning.

For our clients in South Africa and the GCCs ... we need for you to know that the airfreight rates are going up on November 1st, so this is going to mean a price increase. Contact us for the new rates.

Have a great day!
Dianne

Greetings from Dubai

Terry and I are in Dubai, waiting for our flight to Beijing, and we thought we would take a moment to say hello and thank you to our clients.

We had the privilege of meeting and sharing a cup of coffee with Catherine dela Baer and her husband in Luxembourg. Catherine has a lovely Rocky Mountain Mare by the name of Mullins Julie. "Mullie" flew very well and I know that she and Catherine are going to be very happy together as they trail ride in the beautiful French countryside. Catherine, thank you for the gifts that you brought us and please keep us updated about Mullie's progress. We can't wait for the baby to be born!

We also had the privilege of meeting Anthon Grevelink and his lovely wife. Anthon imported two precious mini donkey jennets, Nikki and Solstice. They were so much fun to have around and they traveled very well. It was such a pleasure getting to know the Grevelinks and learning about their life in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium. We hope to have the opportunity to visit some day. Thank you for the invitation, Anthon!

Maryline Tournier's two mini donkeys, Cinderella and Asia, were also in the Luxembourg shipment. Thank you, Maryline, for sharing your little jennets with us. It was a pleasure caring for them and working with you again.

Terry flew out from Luxembourg with three very nice endurance horses. They all traveled well. Thank you, Ahmad Abdullah, for sharing them with us.

My flight was next, with three Arabian horses to Kuwait. Many thanks to Mohammad Agha and Mr. Ali, Merjah Al Mutairi, Abdulaziz, Saad Tamimi and Hussain Albloushi. It was a pleasure working with you and your horses.

And Henry is still in Luxembourg with his three horses for Hamad Al Marri. Hamad, Henry will be there on Tuesday morning. Thank you for sharing your horses with us. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you and your horses, as well.

Now Terry and I begin our journey to Harbin, China, where we will meet with Mr. Cheng about a very exciting new project. Mr. Cheng, thank you so much for the invitation. We are looking forward to meeting you and learning more about your new venture.

We start a new quarantine group on Monday, September 19th and the next group will start on October 3rd. We still have some space available in the October 3rd group, so let us know if you have a horse that is ready to get started.

Til then,
Wishing you all Happy Trails!
Dianne

This N That

Wow! Where does the time go. I can't believe it has been such a long time since I've posted news on this blog!

Belated thanks to Leonie, Sussie, Lisbeth, Marije, Julie, Kirsten, Annalies and Naser for sharing the lovely animals that we shipped to Amsterdam on August 31st. We appreciate having had the opportunity to work with you and your animals and look forward to next time.

Thanks also to our grooms, Tom, Lori and Phil, for accompanying these critters. We appreciate the opportunity to work with you.

Terry and I took a few days after the August 31st shipment to accompany our young Polish friend, Nina Mroz, to California where she has now started a 2-week externship at an equine veterinary practice. We enjoyed spending some time with our daughter and son-in-law, Dawn and Scott Perfect and their children, Tyler and his lovely bride, Serena, Tanner, Tommy and Toriana. What fun it was catching up with everyone and spending time in the beautiful California weather!

Terry, Henry and I will fly out on the 14th to deliver horses and donkeys in Luxembourg (Thank you to Catherine, Maryline and Anthon!) ... and then we split up to deliver horses in three different places. Henry will go to Doha, Qatar (Thank you, Hamad) . Terry will go to Dammam, Saudi Arabia (Thank you, Haytham). And I will go to Kuwait City, Kuwait (Thank you Mohammad, Hussain and Merjah).

Terry and I are very excited about the next leg of that trip. We will meet in Kuwait City and fly to Harbin, China to meet with a new client there. This will be our first trip to The Peoples Republic of China (other than a very short visit to Hong Kong some years ago) and we are really looking forward to it!

Back with more details and photos later.

Dianne

UK, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia trips

Whew!!! August is flying by so quickly we can barely keep up.

Terry, Henry and Bob safely delivered Fiona's horses, Wilson and Amber, to Prestwick on Thursday. The barn seems so empty without those two ... especially Wilson. Fiona, it was such a treat meeting you and caring for your special horses. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Henry's flight was delayed a bit, but he finally delivered a group of beautiful Arabian horses to Dhafer and Naser in Dammam, Saudi Arabia on Saturday. They arrived in the middle of the day when it was very, very hot outside, but all is well and they are safely and happily in their new home now. Dhafer and Naser, thank you for sharing your horses with us and for taking such good care of Henry. He called to tell me about your kind hospitality. We look forward to sending your next group of horses to you very soon.

And Terry is having a wonderful time in Lebanon. He had the joy of delivering a lovely group of Arabian mares to our new clients, Yousef and Abdul this weekend. He has had the opportunity to visit their stables and he has been treated to fantastic home-cooked Lebanese and Brazilian meals at Yousef's lovely home. Thank you, Yousef and Abul, for your generosity and kindness ... and for sharing your horses with us. I can't wait to see the photos that Terry has taken during his first visit to Lebanon. I hope to be able to go along next time so that I can meet you in person.

Before shipping day last week we had a wonderful time with our family here in Texas. Our son and daughter in law who live in Korea (Matt and Maria and our precious grandchildren, Madison (age 10) and Luke (age 4)) joined us at our little weekend retreat in Rockport for a few days of fun in the sun. And then, to make the weekend perfectly complete, our daughter Kris drove down from her home in Buda, TX to join us for one evening. It is a rare and very special time when we get to have everyone together at the same time in the same place - and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Hello from Holland

Wow, We have had such a busy month that this is the first opportunity I've found to bring everyone up to date on what we're up to!

I am in Holland for the weekend, having delivered a group of beautiful horses on Friday. Thank you, Sandra and Nasser for sharing your horses with us.

Terry is on his way back from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the moment, where he also delivered some wonderful horses. Thank you Haytham and Saad for the opportunity to work with you and your lovely Arabian horses.

Yesterday our Dutch partner, Robert Veen of Animal Transport Services and I went to Belgium to visit with friends and clients. It was a lovely day and I had such fun meeting with Sandra Van Den Hoff and her Tennessee Walking Horses and meeting with Rob's friend, Hilda and her delightful family, clients and the students at her riding stable. Hilda provides riding opportunities for children with disabilities and I was privileged to meet a couple of "her kids".

Our next shipments will be to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Prestwick, Scotland and Beirut, Lebanon on August 10th. This will be our first shipment to Beirut and Henry is very excited about the opportunity to visit that country. Terry is looking forward to visiting with friends in Dammam and Bob Riley will be reconnecting with his Scottish roots after he delivers horses in Prestwick.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have just started a new quarantine group for shipping to Amsterdam and Dammam ... and we will start our next groups for Europe and Saudi Arabia on August 8th. We still have a few spaces available in that group, so let us know if you'd like to reserve one for your horse.

We are gathering horses now for Kuwait and Qatar, so let us know if you have anything for either of those destinations. Spaces are available.

We had the privilege of assisting with the birth of a magnificently beautiful Arabian filly last week. Congratulations, Sami, on a terrific baby. I don't know when I've seen such an exquisite face.

And our mini babies are growing more adorable every day. We are still waiting for the last one of the season to arrive. If you would like more information about our mares, babies and 3-in-1 packages that we have for sale, please let us know. We are seeking good homes and are offering them for sale at very reasonable prices.

On a personal note, congratulations to our grandson, Tyler and his new bride, Sabrina. We look forward to visiting you in California next month.

And our son, Matthew, daughter in law, Maria and grandchildren, Luke and Madison, are visting in Texas, on leave from military service in Korea. We are going to spend a few days together this week at our little vacation spot in Rockport, TX this week - fishing, crabbing, boating, swimming and going to the beach. Can't wait!

Such Fun Meeting Clients in Amsterdam

Terry and I had such a great time in Amsterdam last week. We always love it when we can personally deliver horses to their new owners and see the smiles and tears of joy that come when they finally see their horses after waiting such a long time. It was our pleasure to meet Tanguy van der Kerchove, Michelle Philippe, Valerie and Thierry Lallaine, Ellen de Looze, Petra Toelle and their colleagues and family members on Wednesday morning at Schiphol Airport. Thank you all for sharing your beautiful horses with us and allowing us to share in your joyful moments at the airport. We look forward to seeing photos and hearing from you as the horses settle into their new homes.

Today, our groom Henry delivered four ponies to Dawood Davids in Johannesburg, South Africa. I am sorry that I was not able to be there, but have been told that everything went very well and the ponies arrived safely. Thank you, Dawood and Omar, for the opportunity to work with you and your ponies. We are looking forward to the next shipment.

We will go the airport on Wednesday for this week's shipments to Saudi Arabia and Amsterdam. Thank you, Abdullah and Razan Basonbul, Mohammad Al Dossary, Yousef Al Rashid, Toni Kurzrock, Celia Limon, Leonie Prinz and Hans Silvius for sharing your horses with us.

If you have any questions about shipping horses to anywhere in the world, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to help.

Arabian Horses For Sale

As you know, we are in the business of shipping horses - not selling them. However, we find ourselves in a unique position at the moment and we have five Arabian horses that are now available for purchase. There is a very nice grey stallion, 3 mares and a young colt. If you would like pedigrees, photos and more information about any or all of these horses, please send us an email at ez2spot@hotmail.com.

Congratulation to Petra Toelle of Germany!

Junior (aka EZ Mye Texas Justice) will be going to his new home in Muenster, Germany next week. Congratulations to his new owner, Petra Toelle, for purchasing our last son of our World Champion Halter Stallion, Justice For All. I know that there are going to be some beautiful Appaloosa babies at Petra's farm in the coming years and we are so happy to have the opportunity to send such an outstanding young stallion to the EU. We are confident that Petra will give him a wonderful new home and make his Daddy proud!

Three tiny bundles of joy

We have been blessed with three adorable, healthy mini babies in the last month. Still waiting for three more and then we'll be finished with this year's breeding season. This is our stallion, Conder's Breaking The Waves (aka Surfer)'s first foal crop and we are very proud of him!

Let us know if you have any questions about the babies or their Mamas. All are available for purchase!

They're on their way!

Terry and Henry have just landed in Luxembourg with the horses that they will be delivering on Saturday - Terry to Dammam, Saudi Arabia and Henry to Kuwait City. Everyone is traveling well and doing fine. Many thanks to Mohammad, Mr. Ali,Same,Mohammad Khaled and Mansour for sharing your horses with us. Thank you, also to Ahmed and Saleh for your assistance with transportation in Saudi Arabia. We appreciate the opportunity to work with each of you and with your beautiful horses.

We are starting a new quarantine group soon for shipments to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and to Doha, Qatar. We currently have one space available for Riyadh and two for Qatar. These spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you would like to book one for your horse, please contact us right away.

21 equines flew out this week!

Wow! What a busy week we've had! We were delighted to have the opportunity to send 21 equines to various destinations in the world this week. On Thursday night Henry and Terry flew with 6 Arabian horses, 1 quarter horse and 4 miniature donkeys to Luxembourg. Everyone traveled well and they are all doing fine.

Thank you Davy and Frank of Belgium for sharing your animals with us.

Terry will leave Luxembourg for Dammam with 3 horses on Sunday. Abdullah, Terry is looking forward to seeing you early Monday morning. Thank you for sharing your horses with us.

Henry will also leave Luxembourg on Sunday. He is taking 3 horses to Kuwait. Thank you, Ayman and Sulaiman, for sharing your horses with us. Henry looks forward to seeing you both at the airport.

Yesterday we loaded 1 Quarter Horse, 1 Arabian Horse, 1 miniature donkey and 8 miniature horses for their flight to Amsterdam. Our grooms were Ed Gosen and Suzanne Harland. Thank you, Ed and Suzanne, for taking such good care of the animals on the flight. I've been told that everyone flew well and all arrived safely in Amsterdam this morning.

Many thanks to Petra Toelle of Germany, John and Janet Lee of the UK, Eva Rubins of Sweden and Celia Limon of France for sharing your animals with us. It was a pleasure working with each of you and we look forward to helping you with future shipments.

We also started a new quarantine group for the EU and and one for South Africa this week. We will be starting new groups for the EU and Saudi Arabia next week.

Surfer's First Baby!

We are very pleased to announce the birth of Surfer's first offspring, a beautiful little palomino filly, as yet unnamed. Her dam is Lucky Four Gold Surprise and her sire of course is our little champion stallion, Conders Breaking The Waves. She was born on May 5th. Mother and baby are doing fine.

We welcome all suggestions for a good name for the baby. Megan has been calling her "Surfette" because her daddy's barn is "Surfer". I

have been calling her "Misty" because she is very light in color, like a misty dawn would be. I'm thinking "Misty Break of Golden Dawn" or "Misty Golden Dawn is Breaking" or ???? I want to get the sire's name in there somewhere. And this is just the first of the foal crop. We'll be in need of lots of names before foaling season is over. Let us know your thoughts!

Holiday in Poland

What a wonderful time we had in Warsaw last week, visiting with the Mroz family. We met them four years ago when the youngest Mroz, Janina, was an exchange student in the USA. She spent a few weeks with us at the ranch during the summer following her high school graduation.

Well, Nina is all grown up now and is a third year veterinary student at the university in Warsaw. She will be returning to the USA this summer to continue her studies by way of externships. She will spend some time here at the ranch, assisting Megan with health, grooming and training responsibilities and learning about the equine export business. She will spend some time with our veterinarian, Dr. John Clader at his clinic, Chapparal Veterinary Center and she will travel to California for a two-week stint at Pacific Crest Equine Clinic. In the meantime, we will make sure she gets a refresher course on Texas culture. We are very excited about having her visit with us again.

Nina's parents, Jagoda and Marcin and their dear friend, Maria, were the most wonderful hosts during our visit to Warsaw. Jagoda treated us to fabulous homemade Polish food - pierogies and saurkraut, Russian salad, wild mushrooms and special regional soups (borscht and zurek, to be specific) that were fantastic. We went to museums, toured a salt mine outside of Krakow and learned a lot about Polish culture and history.

On our last day in Poland, we were invited to the Mroz's country home. What a treasure that is! We made memories that will last for the rest of our lives - and established friendships that have no borders! Thank you, Jagoda, Marcin, Janina and Maria for an extraordinary experience!

Easter Greetings From Amsterdam!

Happy Easter from Amsterdam. Leonie Prins' Mountain Horses and I had a great flight from Houston to Amsterdam, arriving bright and early on Friday morning. They all did really well and things went so smoothly upon arrival that we were finished within just a few hours of arrival. It was so much fun meeting Ann, Marley and Leonie's mom at the airport, as well as seeing Anna and Leonie again.

On Saturday, Robert Veen of Animal Transport Services and I spent the day at Leonie's farm. We were treated to a tour of both of her properties. It was so nice connecting with old equine friends from previous shipments and spending some time with Leonie's wonderful staff and family. The horses are all in great shape and we were very impressed with Leonie's total operation. If you are considering buying a horse from the United States and have any questions or concerns, we highly recommend that you contact Leonie Prins for professional assistance. She is doing an excellent job!

Many thanks to Leonie and family for the delicious lunch and generous hospitality. This is a visit that I shall always remember with fondness.

Today, Easter Sunday, I went to Amsterdam's famous Koekenhoff Gardens. What a beautiful display of nature ... and a great way to spend Easter. People from all over the world gather here once a year to celebrate God's gifts of flowers and natural beauty. Amazing!

Tomorrow morning I fly to Warsaw to reunite with the Mroz family. I'll write more soon! In the meantime, I hope you had a very happy Easter!

Dianne

Horses have arrived in Amsterdam and Luxembourg

We are happy to announce that horses have arrived safely in Amsterdam and Luxembourg. Thank you to Coralie, Yves, Meghan, Davy and Romaric for sharing your lovely horses with us. As always, it has been our pleasure caring for them for you and we look forward to working with each of you on future shipments.

Thank you also to our grooms, Henry and Tanner, for taking such good care of the horses on their flights. Henry is off for a week's adventure, traveling from Luxembourg to Spain ... or Turkey? I'm not sure if he has decided on his final destination, but wherever he goes, I know he'll have fun.

Tanner, one of our live-in ranch hands, is in Europe for the first time in his life ...and he is so excited! Thank you to our dear friends, Trisha and Dennis Kjuipers for your kind hospitality and taking care of Tanner during his visit. We appreciate you so much, and look forward to seeing you in Texas in the fall.

Our next trip is scheduled for April 20th/ 21st - and we are going in all sorts of different directions. Terry will fly horses to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Henry will deliver a group to Kuwait and Tanner will take a group to Qatar. I will fly some horses to Amsterdam for Leonie Prins and will spend Easter weekend visiting with Dutch friends. Amsterdam is so beautiful this time of year. I can't wait to see the tulips in bloom again!

Terry will join me in Amsterdam on Easter evening and we will travel together to Krakow for Easter Monday festivities. Then it is on to Warsaw to spend a few days catching up with our friends, the Mroz family - Jagoda, Marcin and Nina. We are delighted to announce that Nina is going to work at the ranch this summer, honing her equine skills as she takes a short summer break from her studies in veterinary school.

What a Beautiful Baby!

Congratulations to Susanne Schell of Germany on her beautiful new filly out of Rawhide Ransom. It is always such a joy to see healthy babies and to know that we had the opportunity to play a role in caring for the mares and taking them to their new homes. She is gorgeous. Thank you, Susanne, for sharing the pictures.

We are looking forward to the birth of several new babies from clients' mares to be born here at EZ 2 Spot Ranch this Spring. We also have several minis of our own who are in foal to our outstanding little stallion, Conders Breaking The Waves. Watch for baby pictures as the new foals come into the world.

Visit with Davy Dapsens and Thanks to Clients

What a great time Terry and I had in Luxembourg this past weekend, visiting with Davy Dapsens of Belgium. Davy came to Findel Airport to pick up his new grullo mare, Tru Blackburn Breeze, and we enjoyed sharing coffee and conversation with him on Saturday morning. It is always such a treat to meet our clients in person - and this was no exception. Thank you, Davy, for sharing your lovely horses with us. It is truly a pleasure working with you!

Thank you, also to Victoria Clark for allowing us to share a part in her family's move from the USA to Romania. The "kids" did well (3 Irish Sport Horses, 1 Connemara and 1 Anglo Arabian). We enjoyed the opportunity to work with you and your horses.

Thank you to Andrew Swales of the Hamerton Zoo Park in London for sharing your mammoth donkeys. They were so much fun to have at the ranch and we shall miss them. We hope to come and visit the zoo one of these days!

And finally, thank you to Farah Boodai, Antonio Fernandez, Mohammad Al Marzoud, Abdullal Al Qenaei and Adwan Aladwani of Kuwait for sharing your lovely Arabian horses with us. Terry enjoyed flying with them and meeting some of you at the airport. He is on his way back to the USA today. We look forward to the opportunity to work with each of you in the future.

We are currently gathering horses for our next shipments to Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Beirut and Doha. If you have horses ready to go to any of those destinations, please let us know and we'll be happy to get things underway for you.

Upcoming Shipments - Amsterdam and Beirut

We are getting ready for a busy Spring shipping season and are putting together groups for several different destinations. At the moment, we have space available for two horses to go to Amsterdam and for one horse to go to Beirut. These spaces will be filled on a first-come, first served basis. Just give us a call or send us an email to reserve your spaces in the next quarantine group for either destination.

We are offering "Junior" for sale

As some of you know, we were once in the Appaloosa business. That's where we got our name "EZ 2 Spot". We owned the World Champion Halter stallion, Justice For All, for many years and he produced many beautiful babies for us. Well, we are staying so busy with our international transports that we just don't have time for showing or breeding horses these days. After quite a lot of thought, we have decided to offer "Junior", our last remaining son of Justice For All for sale.

He is a beautiful horse, ready to go to work for you as a breeding stallion and show horse. If you'd like more information about him, give us a call at +210 861 0269 or send us an email at ez2spot@hotmail.com.

Terry Writes From Luxembourg ...

Well, here I am in Luxembourg (Europe) waiting to go to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (again). I seem to be spending a lot of time here lately, which in a way is a good thing. It gets me out of Dianne's way for a while! :) Problem is, it's lightly snowing/raining AGAIN. I saw enough of this white stuff in December. Don't need it anymore!

It was nice meeting Sylvain and family for breakfast this morning. Thank you, Sylvain, for sharing your pony mares with us. Thanks also to Davy for sharing your QH stallion. He was a perfect gentleman throughout the whole trip and we enjoyed taking care of him for you.

Henry was supposed to travel with this group, as I had just returned from Dammam, Saudi Arabia 3 days before. Only problem is that his visa wasn't approved by the Saudia government in time for him to make the flight. That puts me "on" again, as my visa is for 5 years. That's what we do here...take care of all of our clients and their horses to the best of our ability. Even when it becomes somewhat difficult, customer service is number 1!

The horses that are going to Riyadh (there are 3 of 'em) are two babies (less than a year old) and one older mare who is blind in one eye and has diminished vision in the other one. She really is a sweet mare. She just gets afraid at strange sounds and quick movements. Can't say as I blame her though. I just get in the container with her and talk to her softly and after a few minutes she calms down and puts her head near mine as if to say "Boy, that was scary. I'm glad you're here for me"!

Tomorrow we load back onto the plane (we have been resting in europe for 1 1/2 days) for the remaining six hour flight so Saudia. Then 25 hours back home to do it again. Sometimes I think I should sprout wings!

Terry

On the way to Dammam

Terry and his beautiful equine companions are on the way to Dammam, Saudi Arabia at the moment. They left Houston on Wednesday night, stopped for a rest in Luxembourg and will continue their journey tonight, arriving in Dammam early on Saturday morning. The horses are traveling well. Thank you, Ali, Dhafer and Mohammad for sharing your lovely mares with us. It has been a pleasure caring for them and working with you.

Next week we are off to Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Riyadh. We will start our next EU quarantine group next week and we still have one space available for Luxembourg. There are several potential takers for that space, so if you want it, let us know right away. It will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

A special note to all of our friends and clients in Bahrain ... our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families as we wish you safety and peace during these turbulent times.

Visitors from the Netherlands

What a great time we had last weekend when Leonie Prins and her assistant, Anna, came to visit! Leonie and Anna live in Holland. They provide a great service to people throughout Europe who are interested in buying and importing Rocky Mountain Horses and Kentucky Mountain Horses from the United States.

We have had the pleasure of working with Leonie on quite a few shipments. She has a lovely mare, Docks Pretty Woman, in quarantine with us right now. It was really fun for us, helping Leonie and Pretty Woman get to know each other again - and getting to know each other better, as well.

We spent one day here at the ranch, visiting with horses and enjoying one of Terry's famous barbecue dinners. The next day was spent in my home town, San Antonio, where we introduced Leonie and Anna to Texas history at the Alamo, took a walk along the famous San Antonio River Walk and enjoyed great Tex-Mex food at Mi Tierra Restaurant. What fun we had! We were sad to see them go and hope that they come back to visit again soon.

If you are interested in learning more about Rocky Mountain or Kentucky Mountain Saddle horses, get in touch with Leonie. She will be glad to talk with you and answer any questions that you may have. Her email address is ljprins@solcon.nl.

We have a small guest house here at the ranch and we are always happy to welcome visitors from all over the world to come and stay with us for a while.

Space Available

We are gathering horses now for our next quarantine groups to go to Amsterdam and to Kuwait. At the moment, there is one available space remaining in each group. These spaces will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you have a horse ready to go to either destination, please let us know and we will reserve the space for you.

Horses Arriving in Kuwait Today

What a beautiful group of Arabian horses are arriving in Kuwait today! Some are going to be in the upcoming show and we can't wait to hear the results. Thank you Mohammad, Abdul, Burhan and Ayman for allowing us the privilege of spending some time with your horses. Best of luck in the upcoming show and please be sure to send us show pictures. We'll post them here for all the world to see.

Thank You!

Thank you to Irina, Sarah and Monica for sharing your horses and donkeys with us. They arrived safe and sound in Amsterdam on Saturday. It was our pleasure caring for them and working with each of you. Sarah, please send baby pictures. I can't wait to see Abby's foal (or foals?)!

Thank you also to Mohammad, Osman and Saad for sharing your beautiful Arabian youngsters with us. It was such a pleasure working with the babies and delivering them to you in Saudi Arabia. We look forward to your next shipment to Dammam.

And thank you to our grooms, David Notman and Henry Quintanilla, for ensuring the safe transport of the animals in these two shipments. Terry has been down with the flu this week and was not able to fly. We are so grateful that we have such reliable and professional people who take care of the horses on flights that we cannot take ourselves.

Exciting New Year Is Underway!

We are off and running with an exciting new year! 2011 brings with it the promise of many new opportunities for us to take horses and donkeys to new destinations all over the world. We are especially excited about exporting equines to Viet Nam, China and New Zealand for the first time this year. There is also a possibility of some new routes opening up to Central and South America this year. We will keep you posted as things develop in that area.

Unfortunately, the new year may also bring increases in rates. We've heard rumors that fuel surcharges are going to increase on all the airlines - and fuel costs in the US are going up at the moment. We don't have the amount or the date of the increase yet, but please be aware that this may be on the horizon.

I am in Luxembourg now, having delivered horses here on Thursday night. Many thanks to Cedric, Anne, Jean and Laeticia, Natasha, Susanne and Sylvie. Our groom, Phil Peich, delivered horses for Coralie in Amsterdam on Friday morning and Terry is on his way home from Dammam, Saudi Arabia after delivering horses there for Saleh Al Hamad and Ahmed Najaf. Thank you all for sharing your horses with us. As always, it has been our pleasure to work with you and your equine friends.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or if we can help you in any way.