Clear-enk Stables is located 5 min north of Rockwood, Ontario...in the heart of Ontario’s horse country! From it’s beginning in Harriston, Ontario, two things have remained unchanged....our bond with our equine partners and our desire to produce prospects of outstanding movement and temperament!.....rideability being such a great portion of a horse’s potential!
Derk Woestenenk began his interest in horses at a young age in The Netherlands. He was an active member of a saddle club where he developed his equestrian skills. Derk put this focus aside, at least for the time being, while pursuing an education and a career in the agricultural field. Upon arriving in Canada with his new bride, Derk started up a dairy farm near Harriston, Ontario. During Derk’s successful years as a dairy farmer, he always managed to keep a horse or two on the farm to satisfy his desire to ride.
That’s where I come in!... it was soon apparent that Derk’s youngest, Shirley, also had “horses in her blood”!
I remember my first “pony” Trigger...an appaloosa Dad traded for a couple of goats! Trigger’s selling feature, and I can remember this visual vividly, was that you could crawl under his belly from one side to the other as demonstrated by his seller. I don’t recall ever needing or using this feature! My second pony was an Arab/Welsh named Cinderella. I learned a great deal from that pony and put many a mile on her! My favourite thing on Sunday afternoons was when we trailered her over to my Dad’s friend, Paul Veenhof’s, and went hacking with him and a couple of his horses.
With Dad’s help, I learned about equitation and my riding began to take “form”. Dad thought it best if I had another instructor as well, so he enrolled me in summer camp for 3 consecutive summers at Deerfield Riding Centre near Ennotville. Here I took lessons and worked for extra lessons. What a great time that was and I learned so very much! I competed in my first show on a school horse named Merlin!
At home, Dad and I spent much time hacking, establishing our own saddle club, participating in 4-H horse club(Dad a leader, me a member) and spectating at horse shows. When I got my next horse, Crusader(an Arab/Saddlebred), we learned to pleasure drive him with the help of another friend, “Tuffy” MacDougall. Although I preferred to be in the saddle, Dad took a real liking to driving and he trained and competed in many a show with Crusader. They were also the star of many local parades!
While Crusader seemed to enjoy being harnessed up, he was proving to be a little “strong” under saddle. I was in need of more lessons. Fortunately for us, we met Franz and Bonnie Rombach who had a breeding farm near Kenilworth and stood the Hanoverian stallion, Lorbas. Bonnie came out to our farm and “ignited” my interest in dressage. The methods she taught and the results they produced convinced me that this was what I(we) were needing!
With Bonnie’s help and, later, with Franz’ instruction, I decided to enter some dressage competitions. Crusader was not “easy” in his early days, but still there was something about the training and the dressage tests that made sense and just felt right! Franz also helped us with our jumping training as I had had a nasty crash with Crusader just before meeting Franz and Bonnie. By improving our skills, we were able to regain our confidence and once more enter the hunter ring. But my love for dressage prevailed!
After meeting Lorbas and being impressed by his movement, temperament and good looks, we decided to breed our Arabian mare to him. Little did we know that was the start of our own warmblood breeding program! It seemed like forever ‘til “Rumba Dancer” grew up and was ready to start under saddle! What a sweetheart she was! Rumba was very easy to back and with the knowledge I had gained from Franz and Bonnie, we were able to progress in our training quickly and I again hit the dressage ring. I recall one show we went to in Elmira...it had been raining all night long and there were huge puddles in the ring. As we entered the ring, I was bracing myself for Rumba to dodge around or jump the puddles. Instead she stepped right through them and what I feeling I felt when we cantered down the long side and she splashed right through the puddles! This is when I asked myself, “is this what riding a warmblood is all about?” I was hooked!!
In order to get as much riding in as possible and also to learn as much as I could from Franz, I worked for Franz on his breeding farm. There I gained hands on experience in foaling, handling youngsters, breeding, showing, and, most importantly, backing and starting young horses properly in the basics of dressage!
I attended Humber College from 1985-1987 where I graduated with honours in Equine Management.
After 25 years of running a successful dairy operation, Dad sold and retired from the dairy farm and I was his “excuse” to “get back into the horses”. Dad bought a small farm with a bank barn and a couple more horses. We were on our third “Lorbas baby” by then and also bought a couple of young prospects from Franz and Bonnie. Eventually another broodmare was acquired and a small riding arena put up. We were in business! Although Dad kept calling it a hobby, I was hoping for more! I began giving riding lessons on Crusader who, by this time, had “mellowed out” considerably! I also started training “outside” horses for people who wanted some quality basic dressage training on their mounts.
Dad and I became quite a team in backing our youngsters. Using the knowledge I gained from Franz, along with my Dad’s patient ways, we had much success in producing well-rounded, mannerly, and affectionate horses! Through starting and training these prospects, I realized how much I enjoyed “bringing them along” and witnessing them learn and develop! I knew that this is what I wanted as my focus in the equestrian world.....producing quality prospects with outstanding temperaments...from start to finish...from breeding to backing!
When I met my husband, 8 yrs ago, I moved the “business” from Harriston to Rockwood so that my Dad could “officially” retire! He continued to help me and accompany me to the horse shows and would come down at least once a week to help out on the farm. I lost my Dad in January of '06 and his presence is sorely missed. I can only imagine what foaling season and show season will be like without his support and constructive criticisms!
Thank you all who have touched my life and taught me many things, that I can be doing what I love to do......breeding and training horses! But, especially, thank you Dad for the opportunities and your patience!!
In loving memory of a wonderful horseman, father and friend!
Derk Woestenenk, with his saddle club in Holland on the day he left for Canada.
