#hshqtask031

hermera, twenty-two years old:

her first horse. her favorite horse. a noble, deep chestnut selle français, that had come from a lineage that bore world champions. given to her at the young age of five, hermera was the horse that taught natalia everything she knows. she’s no longer a rideable horse, but she lives at the sandringham stud and has produced a few offspring.

ivory, twelve years old:

ivory comes the same line of horses that hermera does, and is effectively her replacement, but as her name suggests: ivory is a bright white. similar temperaments.

highclere, ten years old:

a british thoroughbred racehorse with a rich black coat that came into natalia’s ownership around the time she went to college. breeded from the royal studs: as a three year old, he sweeps the derby, the oaks, and st. leger, winning all his races. as a four year old, he wins the ascot gold cup. after his extreme success, he’s retired to a stud. despite his success, his temperament was not the best.

natalia’s first successful race horse though, she’s eager to train more.

charlie, twenty-five years old:

a black fell pony. lovable and loyal, he is a riding pony that has been going strong for twenty five years, nearly as long as natalia has been alive!

oriole, five years old:

in early 2017, sten had got it in his head that he wanted to get a dog. in true sten fashion, what followed afterwards was about three months of copious research on dogs, including learning the majority of breeds, researching how to extensively train them, and even dog first aid. sten read more books about becoming a dog parent than some parents-to-be read baby books.

finally in june he made an appointment at a nearby animal shelter in copenhagen, making a big deal about adopting rather than going to a breeder.  ( his mom tried to convince him to bring a photographer for publicity, but sten was against it. )  dating ireti at the time, she came with him as he checked out every dog in the shelter. samson easily stood out the most, a little over a year old and having come to the shelter three months ago with his sister, delilah. the adoption woman told sten and ireti how his sister had been adopted about a month ago, and since then he seemed to be in low spirits. just as she was explaining how the dog rarely engaged with anyone else as of late, samson got up from his spot at the back of his pen, walked all the way up to the gate, and barked right at them. 

it never felt like they had chosen samson as much as he had chosen them. within the hour, sten was signing the paperwork to bring him home.

samson lived with sten and ireti in their copenhagen apartment until the couple split up in fall 2018, and while they both spoiled him rotten, it was clear from the get-go that the dog was sten’s. rather than shouldering the work of taking care of a pet onto a staff member, sten was the one who fed him twice a day, took him on his walks, took him to the veterinarian. when sten and ireti broke up and sten started traveling more and staying in copenhagen less, it got a little harder to manage on his own. most trips sten took samson with him, making him a dog that grew very comfortable with planes and trains and cars, as well as making him extremely socialized and easy to travel with. samson was an extension of sten, ultimately. but some trips were more inconvenient to take the dog alone, especially when they were quick, so sometimes he had him staying at the palace with his parents and a dogsitter. 

thanks to his dog parenting books  ( and hiring a professional to help him ) ,   sten trained samson to know both basic commands and fun little tricks, like spins and getting up on his hind legs. he’s an incredibly smart dog, one who loves to learn almost as much as his owner, but he’s not always the most obedient. if he doesn’t come when called or listen right away, it’s because he’s choosing not to—and maybe the life of a prince has rubbed off on him as well, because samson has very selective hearing.

more little tids just because i love him: 

his favorite toy is a stuffed hedgehog that sten’s named henry, though he does love a good old fashioned tennis ball

sten likes to take samson hiking in the summer, though if they’re by a body of water there’s zero chance samson won’t jump into it. he loves to swim almost as much as he loves to play fetch, which is a lot

is besties with viggo’s dog pine, who sten unironically calls samson’s cousin 

samson will make friends with anyone, anywhere he goes, not unlike his owner

while honey was purchased to be a family dog, shared equally between louise, lola and beau, chance is beau’s, and beau’s alone. purchased on the recommendation of his therapist, beau gets chance from a rescue in regina when he’s thirteen week old, and is in training to be an emotional support dog for beau’s ptsd. 

in the first week of having chance, the puppy tried playing a little too roughly with one of lola’s chickens and the chicken, in turn, bit his tail, sending him sprinting back to beau and ariel’s side. since then, he knows to be cautious around them. 

If you have seen Klaus taking his morning jogs around the resort, you have likely seen Burger and Waffle, either running with him, or in the babybjörn strapped to his chest. Their names are from some of his favorite restaurants from college. During the time, in his American Education Experience, he got the opportunity to develop his “fratsona” or this version of himself. What he imagines a Swiss-American Upper Middle Class Frat Boy would behave like. Were there inconsistencies in his story? Sure. Did a lot of his fraternity brothers find out that he was, actually, wealthy, Swiss, and a prince? Absolutely. But do some people in Texas still call him Nik/Nick? Yes, and he considers that a win.

Clearly, as evidenced by the pet names, he hasn’t lost his fascination with this fascination with consumer American culture. These dogs are an ode to this.

Whataburger, or Burger, is the oldest of the 2 dogs, being 3 years old. He got Burger shortly after graduation in his Post-America Depression. Unfortunately, he didn’t get to see his son as much as he wanted at the beginning, because of his conscription. But now, he’s back and Burger’s never been more excited. He’s most often in the babybjörn, and likes the extra attention and love that he missed out on for those 2 years. Given, this dog was not starved of attention. Sylvie looked after Burger in between Klaus’ visits home and even brought him to visit during training once.

Waffle House, or Waffle, is the newest addition to the Grünenberg family. She is about 8 months old now. Klaus got Waffle after leaving conscription, once again lonely, but still fondly remembering his American Fascination. She still very much has the energy of a puppy, so is often the one seen running with Klaus. However, sometimes she, too, will not be able to make the full run, in which case, Klaus will be seen with a frenchie strapped to both his chest and back.

Burger and Waffle go with Klaus everywhere. He’ll take them with him when he flies to LA or Vegas (or wherever) for fights, he brought them with, thinking they’d come party with him on the yacht between all the wonderful islands he was going to visit this summer, and they are private jet-trained. They both are also pretty spoiled and, like their father, love attention. Though, they go about more traditional ways of going about it. Like giving you puppy dog eyes when you’re eating, or running up to people to be pet and smiling when they do. Obviously, with their demeanor differences, Waffle tends to be a bit more obvious and wiggly about her demands. Burger is a little more subtle, but won’t hesitate to make his demands clear. They are, like any good Swiss, tri-lingual, and respond to Klaus in German, French, and English. Their Italian is kind of rusty. Klaus doesn’t limit them, and lets them jump on furniture, and sleep in his bed with him (even if they have their own dog beds, too).

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥. that’s just german for snowball because at the time of naming, kaspar was not very creative. kaspar is not a cat or a dog person in particular. nor did he ever allow himself to think he really had any time for pets. schneeball is a british shorthair who came as a gift from his friends, presented to him a week after his father’s funeral. they thought it would be a good idea, that after all the myriad of new responsibilities dropped on kaspar’s head, he ought to be given one more. they thought having a dependent would keep kaspar grounded. 

schnee, like most of her breed, has an easy personality. in terms of reception to people, she is well-behaved and easygoing. that’s where the words “well” and “behaved” end. she is the most expressive, photogenic, and dramatic cat on the planet, and knows it. kaspar is fond of her and she is fond of him as well in her own psychotic little way, but this does not stop her from doing all kinds of crazy things. her default is being in trouble. kaspar is always giving her a very quiet lecture for one thing or another. sometimes she pleads innocence, other times, she sasses him. she is that cliché that usually gets stuck in a tree and tries to blame her human for it. 

if you don’t know schnee, it is a certainty she will try to trick you into doing things she wants you to do by making you think you’re being compassionate. or treat you to an epic theater performance in which you may or may not think you have accidentally murdered kaspar’s cat.