West Palm Beach, FL (April 2, 2010) – Highlife Farms 2010 Diamond Select Sale, held recently at the Jim Brandon Equestrian Center, proved to be a successful night in which top names in the dressage community and horse world gathered to buy offspring from Highlife Farms and learn more about the outstanding horses Highlife has to offer. Legendary horseman Monty Roberts, who worked with some of the Highlife horses prior to the sale, told Highlife owner Joan Sims that he had never seen a finer group of horses.

“Monty Roberts said he had traveled the world over and never seen a horse finer than our stallion Highlife’s Dionysius,” Sims said. “He even said if it wouldn’t have caused him to get a divorce he would have bought him. He was very impressed with our breeding program and told me time and time again that we should be very proud of the quality of horses we have bred.”

Sims, who owns Highlife Farms with her husband Kenny, was pleased with the auction and thrilled with Roberts comments. “It was especially wonderful to hear, coming from a world renowned horseman,” Sims said.

Olympian Lisa Wilcox, head trainer at Highlife Farms, was pleased with the auction and deemed it a success. “We were able to demonstrate the Highlife bloodlines and introduce more people to what Highlife is all about. I want to extend a huge thank you to the entire Highlife team as well as Olympians Robert Dover, George Morris, Lauren Hough, Jan Brons and International Trainer Ernst Hoyos for taking part in the demonstrations,” Wilcox said, adding that she has had a steady stream of calls about the horses since the auction ended. “Lauren put together a great free jump crew who helped our horses jump impressively and I am grateful for that. I think the auction was very exciting and I hope to offer it annually. It certainly drew top names from the horse community.”

One of those top names included dressage rider and New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag, who purchased Highlife’s Aria, a 2007, bay Oldenburg mare sired by Highlife’s Diamond Stud. “Aria is a lovely, big filly — already more than 16.2 hands — with long, clean legs. I love her bloodlines. She comes from dressage royalty, and especially with the Donnerhall/Rubenstein blood of her sire, very trainable horses with great characters,” Hoag said. “She is a very nice mover, and best of all she has an incredible mind for a baby. She’s been raised well and handled by people who love her and have done a wonderful job with her ground manners. I’ve been to the Highlife facility and was really impressed by their system of bringing up their youngsters.”

Sims was pleased that Hoag purchased Highlife’s Aria and said, “I have loved reading Tami’s books for years and she is certainly my favorite author. To have Tami choose one of my horses as her companion could not thrill me more. Tami is the kind of owner I wish all of my horses could have as she gives her horses love and the best of care.”

Hoag was impressed with the Highlife auction, and believed Highlife worked hard to put on a top-notch, European-style event. “I think it’s a difficult thing to do in this country because we don’t have the same tradition with auctions as in Europe. It takes time to develop that,” Hoag said. “I’m hoping as Americans go to auctions like this one and see the horses go on and have success in the show rings, we can begin to develop that same kind of tradition.”

The gala style auction ended with a concert by Wings of Sound, and Sims felt the spectacular evening was a fantastic way for Highlife to show off their breeding stock. “The auction resembled a European-style horse auction and I think it was a historic moment in our breeding history.”

For more information on Highlife’s horses for sale, or their breeding program, visit the Highlife Farms website at www.highlifefarms.com.