Riehe Farm
The Farm was purchased by our family ancestors in 1897. Originally the farm had had 125 acres but was reduced significantly over the generations so it had 35 acres when Kareen and Frank took over in 2003.
The front aspect of the main farmhouse already carries the inscription of Ferdinand and Mimi Sander (born Hormann) who added this part of the house in 1925 as an extension of the smaller, older part in the back
In 2007 we are now back to farming on 75 acres 45 of which are family owned. We continued to run the farm following organic-guidelines. The shift to organic methods was done by Kareen's father Heinrich back in 1980 when organic farming was still fairly unheard of in Germany. We firmly believe efforts need to be made to protect our environment and where to begin if not in your own house? Both ground foreage and concentrates are harvested from our own ground almost exclusively. Only the various balancers are from external distributors and carrots fed during the winter months come from other local organic farms.
Our own breeding stock and livery horses are kept together and live out throughout the year in stable groups no bigger than 12 individuals. Outside the main vegetation period ground foreage is offered for free uptake 24/7 and concentrates are fed by hand daily. All young horses are introduced to a well dosed ground schooling programme and thus turn out very mannerly and particularly easy to bring along later on. They are also transported by trailer every once in a while for maintainance so loading becomes a normal procedure as well. During the winter we have access to beautiful privately owned boxstalls near the local indoor which provide a safe environment and enable daily work even when the weather is rough. Our 20x40 meter drained schooling ring may be used most of the time.
For horses living on the property vaccination for Tetanus, Flu and rhino is mandatory and beside scheduled deworming, resident horses are being monitored by fecal counts for endoparasitic infestation and treated accordingly.
In 2008 we've added two more run-in sheds each 4x10m in size. Since 2009 first steps to restore the roof on the main building were taken and in infrared camera monitoring installed in the foaling stall.
Late 2009 additions were a large section of roof-repair on the side-wing, another run-in shed of 4x8m in the field behind our living-room. The feeding area at the 3 front boxstalls has received 70 squaremeters of paddock-tile footing.
