STUD NEWS

Libby and Dorothy with Gracie (who has since sadly died see below) in the background.

Mares and foals graze with TK during the summer months.

Well, we are now well into autumn and the weather has turned wet once more. The horses are now well covered with their winter coats and look more very hairy, not to mention muddy!!  I always find this time of year difficult as the summer (such as it was!) becomes a distant memory!! However, the wet summer has meant a lovely lot of good Welsh grass, which has continued to grown and, so far, has been sufficient to keep them going which is a real plus after the difficult year for forage crops. . They are all looking well.  

  We have also had a lot of interest in our horses with a recent article published in Welsh Rider magazine and lots of stud visitors. Many of our visitors are new to Quarter and Paint horses and are usually astounded by how quiet and friendly our horses are.  It is a very good time to buy a young horse as prices are low at the moment but can really only go up as we come out of difficult economic conditions.  

Blue's colt foal pictured with his foster mum, Waccabuc Sioux.

We had a sad time and a difficult start to the foaling season.  Sadly, Classical Blue Babe (Blue) died shortly after giving birth to a beautiful bay colt foal.  After contacting the National Foaling Bank, by a strange coincidence, a Quarter Horse foster mare was found in Monmouthshire, only about 40 miles away.  As a further turn of fate the mare, Waccabuc Sioux, owned by Mr Mark Harris of Dewstow Quarter Horses, has visited TK on two occasions.  When introduced to each other foster mum and son took to each other instantaneously with absolutely no trouble.  Whilst we are devastated at our loss of Blue, our first imported mare, and sad at the loss of Sioux's foal, we are happy that the adoption has gone well.  Thank you to Mark Harris of Dewstow Quarter Horses for allowing us to use his mare, to Kevin Cousins for assisting with the birth, Mark Beckett (huntsman for Glamorgan Hunt) and Abbie Taylor for helping with the adoption. Of course, special thanks to my non horsey husband, Richard. We are completely indebted to The National Foaling Bank for providing advice and finding a foster mare.  The succesful outcome is pictured above.

About 10 days after losing Blue we had another blow when Magie Joe gave birth to a colt with a seriously wry nose.  As there was no future for him euthanasia was the only option.  Remembering the awful situation of having an orphan foal I, once again, contacted the National Foaling Bank who put Jan James in touch with us.  Jan had been struggling to hand rear a Dales foal for 2 weeks and was exhausted so we decided that, despite the fact the colt had never been on a mare as his own mother had rejected him, it was worth a try at a second fostering.  Happily, the fostering has worked well once again and the pair are doing well and are pictured above. and on our home page. Trojan is busy imprinting on his QH friends and is now demonstrating impressive speed, roll backs and sliding halts!! He is shown below with "Trev".

They say bad luck comes in runs of threes and that has proved true with us as we sadly lost Gracie (pictured above) in August.  She was a gorgeous paint foal by TK and out of Libby.  We have left here details on our 2009 Foals page as a tribute.  He short life gave us much pleasure and we hope her spirit will live on in her 2010 sibling.

Acorn Flybynight

During the 2008 stud season we were particularly pleased to welcome back Acorn Flybynight for a visit to Tinsel King.  She is now owned by Mr and Mrs Mainwaring of West Wales and is pictured below.  Fly caused us quite a stir as she was born in the air in 2005 on her way to us and this fact wasn't discovered until the crate was opened at Amsterdam.  Fortunately her mother, Ms San Leo Rojo, took it all in her stride (speaking volumes for her temperament) and there was no harm done. 

Fly  produced a lovely cremello filly foal in the spring but, sadly, rejected the foal which has had to be fostered onto a Section D cob mare with, once again, help from the National Foaling Bank. Sadly the foal died due to neglect in its foster home which was absolutely disgraceful.  Fly is now back with us to visit Tinsel King once again and has now been scanned in foal so we hope and pray she will take to motherhood next year. 

Acorn Flybynight  

Acorn Fine n Dandy (Suki)

Suki is a 2006 homebred filly who iwas produced for us during her yearling and two year old year by Mandy McIntyre.  Suki has gained  1.5 AQHA halter points and winding up as Reserve Champion Yearling Mare in AQHA.UK Year-end British Championships in 2007.  She has proved to have an unflappable temperament as well as her wonderful looks.  Suki has now returned home so that I can bond with her and so that she can further her education.  Her pedigree is are shown below.

As I have a few unforeseen circumstances this year we have decided to send Suki to stud and she has visited  Roslin Stud where she has been put to their exciting new stallion, Tyree Sunup Zan Parr for a 2010 foal.  We think this should be a very good cross and look forward with great anticipation to the outcome.  Suki will be lightly backed and ridden away this autumn.  She is shown below enjoying some well earned relaxation.

Do Bee A Margarita (Willow)

We bought Willow with the eventual intention of using her as a broodmare.  She had an  showing career in Florida, gaining 0.5 AQHA points and 8 IBHA points.  As a yearling she placed in the IBHA World Championship show in Columbia in both halter and longe line.  She has also done some dressage and jumping.

During the last three years I have been able to get out and about with Willow and enjoy a variety of events.  We have reasonable riding country here, mainly on small country lanes, although we do enjoy access to some forestry and common land.  I ride Willow under English saddle.  

Her pedigree is shown below.

Since we formed our partnership we have also enjoyed participating in fun rides, TREC, hunting and even some small show jumping competitions.  The TREC has been particularly enjoyable with a 3rd and 6th prizes in a Kelly Marks Winter Trec competition and a Pairs win in a full competition with my friend and fellow QH enthusiast Erica Thomas riding Seren Busy Bee. Willow and I can be seen below out hunting and negotiating the led S bend obstacle.  A picture of one of Willow's giant leaps can be seen on the About Us page. 

As we always intended for Willow to be a brood mare, we have now covered her with TK for a 2010 foal.  This is a really exciting prospect.  Can't wait!

Freckles Fancy Jac (Lola)

Lola and I getting to know each other.

Our latest acquisition is Lola, who is 86% foundation bred.  She was imported from the Wolfe Ranch, Oklahoma in 2006 by her previous owner.  As we have had such success with our other Wolfe Ranch mares, Pinkie and Blue, we decided to purchase her.  She is a 2003 red dun mare and her pedigree, which is outstanding, is shown below.

Lola represents a new challenge for me.  That is to ride Western at last! (see above)   We are also trying our hands, or should it be hooves, at TREC and Lola performed well in her very first competition.  In July 2009 we gained 3rd place in our first attempt (for both of us) at an individual TREC competition.   Lola is shown below negotiating an S bend during a winter training session.  Many thanks to Jacqui Mitchell for the photo and for organising the training sessions at her wonderful facilities.  Lola is also taking to the jumping obstacles very well and is very bold so watch this space!  We recently took her to a pleasure ride at  the Cotwolds Farm Park where she showed huge enthusiasm and jumped all sorts of things.