BROODMARES

Sweetest broodmare in the world!

When I first met Rio, she was the one who came straight up to me in the herd, asking for attention. She stood there, calm and gentle, with her beautiful black filly by her side.

She gave the impression of a quiet, experienced mare—one who had seen it all and wasn’t particularly impressed by me and my friend stepping into the field to meet her and the rest of the herd.

I bought her along with her filly that very first time. She was part of the group of broodmares I purchased with my breeder friend in the fall of 2024.

At that point, I already had Chabling and Whatever… and then my friend asked me if I wanted to “scale up a little” my breeding herd.

By scale up, she meant doubling the number of horses I had—on top of the fact that I had already doubled it the year before!

And since, by now, you know I’m a little crazy… I said: “I don’t know… maybe… let’s go take a look!”

So we went to see them the following weekend—and ended up buying the whole herd.

I took the jumper mares, and my friend took the dressage ones.

I picked up Rio and her filly, Viva, on the day of the Oldenburg inspection. That’s when I truly discovered just how incredible Rio is.

While I was running around trying to catch baby Viva to get her little leather halter on, ready for braiding and the inspection ring, Rio didn’t move a foot. She stayed calm, relaxed, and completely unfazed the entire time.

Even during the chaos, she just stood there—patient, kind, and steady.

Viva went on to earn her Premium Foal designation, and Rio loaded onto the trailer on the very first try. Once back home, she walked off the trailer like she had done it a hundred times and settled quietly into the paddock.

Nothing seems to bother this mare.

She is an absolute pleasure to handle, truly one of those rare, kind souls you’re just grateful to have around. And on top of that, her pedigree is stacked with influential jumping sires who have left their mark on the sport.

After several attempts this spring and summer, she is finally pregnant—on the fourth try. Thank God!

Another Picobello-S foal on the way… and I truly can’t wait to meet this one too✨