About us
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Western riding was the key to the Australian Shepherds for us, Carola Hilkerbäumer and Dieter Sieg and this is surely true for many others before us.
In 1995, one of my birthday gifts were riding lessons in the local riding club and at that time I was unable to think of the huge impact this would have to my further life.
Dieter also liked horses and riding, but he was not very fond of riding in panties and being an amusement for the other, mostly female, riders. This was his reason to start western riding in 1998. Very often I accompanied him when he was having his riding lessons and I must admit that I came to like it too. In January 1999 Dieter bought his Quarter Horse gelding “Nathan H Wood” and in July 1999 my Appaloosa gelding “HM Madam I’m Adam” followed. At that time we had rented a little farmhouse in Ostermunzel and in September 1999 the horses moved in. In October 1999 my “Grisu” († 19.07.2003), a Haflinger gelding bought from the local riding club, completed our little horse group.
In April 2001, my mixed breed dog “Bobo” had to be euthanized due to an intestine twisting. Dora, our little “Jack Russell” was really suffering from this loss, as we did too, of course. What should we do? We needed a new dog and that dog should be capable of following us when riding our horses (at least when fully grown as this is nothing for puppies and young dogs!). This required an active and obedient dog without hunting ambitions, short: an Australian Shepherd. By the way, the herding instinct of the Australian Shepherd (and all the other herding dogs) originates in the natural hunting instinct of dogs and therefore also herding dogs should be trained not to hunt. In May 2001 “Moon Rise Black Mystery” joined our family. I had thought of Pepper being mostly “my” dog, but right from the beginning she was Dieter’s shadow and always is his nice and well-behaved company – his “Dingeling”.
In the spring of 2002 we finally found a little farmhouse in Wendenborstel (just in the middle between Schwarmstedt and Nienburg), directly at the nature reserve. Finally, we had enough room and meadows for all 2- and 4-legged occupants and at the end of June 2002 I was able to take “S Bar L Zachary” in my embrace (now I again have a male dog who is my company all the time). In the summer 2002 our little animal family was enlarged by my tomcat “Mister Willy” († 29.09.2005) and 4 budgerigars. One week after Easter 2004 WW Pete 191-5, our little red merle male Australian Shepherd came to live with us and he is lots and lots of joy and happiness - I can tell you! In August 2004, also four sheep moved in to be able to train the dogs - the sheep do not know yet, but it is a job with lifetime guarantee! In August 2005 our little WW Paula, a little red-bi girl joined our family and she is having a lot of fun with the other dogs. We also have 30 Indian Runner/Rouen-Claire mix ducks that live on our pond and the surrounding land and I must admit that I never knew before how much fun it is to have them and to look at them.