All I want for Christmas…and other dreams!

Besides a healthy family and herd of pinto horses you ask? For my beloved mare Jen to have a filly in May, when she is due to foal! As she is homozygous for the tobiano gene, and the sire is as well, I know it will be a tobiano foal. I am looking at a 50% chance of a filly. So I am praying hard for a filly, as Jen is getting older, and I dearly want a replica of her to continue breeding. Well…as close of a replica as I can get! If she gives me a colt, well I will forgive her and try again, all being well. And if is a colt he will be for sale, and make some lucky buyer a lovely young prospect.

See my sale page for details on a ‘colt option’ inutero sale opportunity.

Brittany can have a filly or a colt, it is up to her. See how generous I can be giving that mare a choice? Jen doe NOT get one…filly required! Both mares are expanding on schedule, eating and hanging out, just as broodmares should. Patting their bellies, hugging their necks, and listening to them contentedly munch on their hay is the best Christmas present ever!

I am toying with the idea of getting another broodmare. Finding just the right one is difficult for me as I am really fussy and have a limited budget. Actually the people who purchase my youngsters are fussy….just as it should be.

I have to like my mares, enjoy being around them, feel safe with them. They have to have a temperament that is pleasant, and pass it on to their offspring. Along with, of course balanced, correct confirmation, aptitude for sport, and a willingness to please humans!

Otherwise life has been good, weather has been cold and snowy on and off, lots of rain and dark cloudy days, typical ‘West Coast wet’. Counting the days till winter solstice when the days start thinking about getting longer, and working at getting ready for Christmas, if that is possible!

Till next time, Merry Christmas and the very best wishes for 2008.

It is Still Fall…2007

Well changes here. Arwen didn’t go off to school, but Shanniah did in her place. Someone had to go to school, right?

Arwen is sold and has gone off to her new…and adoring….owner Jennifer. So she never did get to go to “school”, but never fear, new human owner Jen is attending to that and reports Arwen has been backed with no problems, in fact was very easy. After a few rides Arwen will get the winter off to finish growing up.

Shanniah is doing amazingly well…Wild blue tarps, big western saddles, barn isle blowers, wash racks and trailers…not too much phases her now. She walks and trots happily about the indoor, with or with out other horses about. Even hacks out alone to explore the vast expanses of a large hay field. LOL

However I do wish her withers would start to grow as well as her butt….I even made the owner of dam and sire go out and carefully them…yup level, even a tad up hill in the case of the dam. There is hope yet…LOL

Maeve, the yearling, continues to eat…and grow….and be adored by my daughter Rachel. She has to be the most easy going and relaxed young horse I have ever raised.

We are currently looking at another mare to join the broodmare band…updates when we know if it will happen! I did purchase another Sempatico breeding for 2008…just in case!

Otherwise we are pretty quiet here; wet rain keeps humans inside, and the horses in their three sided shelters.

Journal Fall 2007

Well the calendar may say it is fall…but here on the West Coast, where summer didn’t really happen…it seems like winter is fast approaching!

Regardless…we have been busy. My beloved older mare, Jennys Turn is now inspected with RPSI. She was not impressed with being scrubbed, scoured, polished, braided and hauled off an hours’ drive to the Inspection site. She passed, albeit into a lower book…she is old, saggy, and lame from severe neglected injuries she sustained prior to my buying her.

This mare out produces herself every time, and her foals are often the ones that sell first. Can you tell I adore this old girl?

About my lease mare, Brittany…. it turns out she was inspected with Canadian Sport Horse last year, but needs her Swedish papers…on which we are still waiting…to complete the approval process. Hopefully they will come soon? However, her 2007 filly by Cunningham is weaned off and returned to her owners, and momma Britt has settled down to eat and grow her 2008 Sempatico foal. She and Jen are co-existing nicely together…and eating for four I might add, my hay bill this winter will be impressive.

Both two year old fillies are growing…at least behind. Since all parents of said fillies are of the correct shape I believe the ‘reverse giraffe’ impression they both are currently doing will correct itself over time! Arwen is almost 16.2 behind, and Shanniah, while not that tall at 15.3 is making up in width. Arwen is “leaving home” on October 8th 2007 to learn to become a ‘show girl’. Well at least she is going for some more basic training, learning to become a show horse. Hauling calmly and happily, being bathed in a wash rack, and being backed at a walk are on the curriculum. She has not been off farm so she has some adjusting to do, however the farm she is going to feeds well, so Arwen will be happy. <smile>

The yearling solid bay filly Maeve, (the one who came without the asked for colour)…well she is growing so rapidly I cannot keep weight on her. Yes, the worms are killed off regularly, quantities of good hay are being consumed, concentrates and supplements are regularly fed…ribs still show, sigh. I even had my Veterinarian do her teeth…just in case.

Maeve reminds me of my daughter, who as a youngster did the same thing. Rachel is now almost 6 foot tall as an adult woman. But that is OK, as her father, her boyfriend and I all adore her. Rachel loves Maeve to bits and it looks like Maeve will be tall enough for Rachel’s future riding horse.

Farm work continues…doesn’t it always?....branches and leaves to be burned, gutters to be cleaned out, odd repairs to fencing to be finished. Good thing I was born a ‘farmer’.

Hello Again!

I did write a March entry, but I never sent it in to be put up on my site….Oh well!
So summer is here…I think. We have somehow interspersed a few really hot days with bouts of cold nasty rain…didn’t help getting the mares bred!

The mare we acquired as a broodmare during the winter did not work out sad to say.. she went back to her owner.
So we have a new lease mare, Brittany (barn name), is owned by Brent and Laura Balisky of Langley BC, and has generously been lease to us for the 2007 breeding season.

Britt is an imported Swedish mare and had a successful career in the hunter ring before retiring to be a professional broodmare. We are awaiting her papers from Sweden, so I do not even know her pedigree at this point…but lovely moving, superb temperament, good conformation, and excellent mom. Not that I know a lot about Swedish pedigrees…but I bet it is good!

Brittany is being bred to Sempatico…we hope she has conceived! We have now bred her three times! Third time a charm, right? Mare is clean, cycling well, healthy, AI timing “perfect” to quote my Vet, semen good,….and mare NOT getting pregnant. We will find out about Aug 12th if this time it worked.

I will not add up what Vet fees, ultrasound scan fees, collection/shipping fees, lab fees, cost me. I will not, I will not, I will not.

However, my accountant will point it out, while I hide my head in the sand. Sure will be a super foal if Brittany is pregnant. We are praying hard here. Ah the joys of breeding.

Jennys Turn was scanned in foal to Sempatico in early June, so is due early May, 2008. We are really hoping for a filly to keep, if a colt it will be for sale.

Bless this mare; due to severe injury before I bought her, she has only been a broodmare…a job she is excellent at. Although she is 18years old this year I am going to present her to the RPSI this fall. I hope they can see past her damaged legs and sagging top line to the excellence of her produce, and her big heart. Jen is pregnant with her 11th
foal.

Let see what else….hay shed is full; paddock footing getting worked on….sale pictures getting done. Mowing is an ongoing task as we have had so much rain this year…good pasture though.

Life on the farm is a joy.

December 24, 2006

Well winter has arrived… At least the days are getting longer now! Here in the Lower Mainland of BC Canada we had a superb fall, lots of sunshine with an occasional rainy day to water the grass, and then November came with wind, snow storms and dreadful weather. Guess it was too good to last.

Our new mare will be arriving at the end of the December and pictures will be posted!
I am looking forward to this mare, thank you to my veterinarian Dr. Kerstin Schwichtenberg for arranging for us have this wonderful addition to our broodmare herd. She is by the Canadian Warmblood Hanoverian stallion Goodwill and is Canadian Warmblood papered. I will be getting her inspected for breeding approval with Canadian Sport Horse next spring.

Sales, among other horse activates, have kept me busy this summer and fall.
We only have one yearling, Arwen, and one weanling, Maeve left! Arwen is going to be a wonderful mare, however at the moment she does resemble a reverse giraffe! Growing does not describe her! Her butt is a good 2 ½ inch higher than her withers and her legs still seem too long for her..sigh. Maybe I should just hide her 'till she is three or maybe four? In spite of her growth pattern she has a wonderful "hunter" trot, and the biggest lightest canter! How she can do this with her bum up in the air I don't know! Maeve continues to be a really mellow and laid back filly, I have forgiven her for arriving without tobiano coloring…sigh.

Farm life being what it is the work never stops. Since we have lots of big trees around the house and trees and hedges by the fence lines there is always a big pile of pruning and leaves to be raked, piled, and burnt. Since we live in a very wet winter climate here on the west coast of Canada there is the constant battle to keep the horses high and dry in the winter in their turn out areas. This fall I redid two paddocks with sand/crusher dust mix, and put large rubber mats down in the run in shelters…Gawd those things are heavy to put in place. Thank goodness for hubby, daughter and daughter's boyfriend. Thank you to my family for all their help.

I have no foals coming this spring as I decided last spring that I had too many four legged critters in the family…now after all my sales I wish I had bred Jennys Turn for a 2007 foal. However Jen and my new mare Goodwill Evening Silhouette, barn name Scarlet, will be bred to Silverwood Farms' Sempatico for 2008 tobiano foals. Sempatico is homozygous for the tobiano gene so I am guaranteed colored.

All the best for a Happy and prosperous 2007!

July 9, 2006

Sheesh …time is speeding by and I cannot get caught up this year.
Glo, who is my lease TB mare, and to quote her owner, "takes motherhood seriously", foaled 17 days early, giving me an anxiety attack. Yes, when I went back and recounted days, using the 340 as a 'due' date she was 17 whole days early. Now of course there is no such thing as a 'due date' with mares and while early foals can be OK, I read the textbooks even if the mares don't! I know all the possibly things that can and often do go wrong, worrying aside, as I wrote earlier, the filly is fine.

I may take more time to recover.

Mind you this filly did manage to knock her fetlock on something last week, and has a 'baby lump' that will most like disappear quickly as she is not lame or sore on it. Still I worry. Someone asked what she was worth, and I laughed.
"Which part of her?" I said, as there were stud fees, shipping the semen fees, many dollars in uterine culture and cytology fees, ultrasounds, and other various Veterinary expenses, all 'normal' costs of breeding mares long distance. I am scared to add it up, and oh yes, the stallion stands in the USA so the booking fee, stud fee, and shipping costs were in US dollars last year. Then mare care costs for 11+ months, feed, vaccinations, worming, trims, and any costs related to foaling are minimal if one is lucky, just a 'healthy foal check' at 24 hours.

However, careful attentive care aside, foals can and do get ill and hurt. Infected belly buttons, two in the last two years, needing antibiotics, one mare with mastitis, again care and antibiotics; but compared to some breeders I have been lucky.

All this to say is, breeders carry a huge set of risks, including occasional mares that refuse to conceive with a foal at side for no known medical reason! We tried with Chocolate Fox two years ago for four, yup four cycles, and while she conceived once she lost it at 28 days. I was about to give up but sent her to a friends place the next spring to be live covered by this friends' coloured warmblood stallion. Yes, my solid bay filly Maeve is the result Fox was bred one cycle, early in the year, when neither the stallion owner or I thought she would 'take'. I won't mention the costs on that one as she is an 18 hour drive away from me. Mare is a four letter word!

The reason for my carrying on about this you may ask? Is that the real costs of producing quality horses needs to be recognized, and thus the price of young health well cared for prospects.

It is not a matter of turning your mare out with some neighbours' stallion because it is there, or a 'cheap' stud fee; and leaving her there. Not a matter of tossing her some hay and hoping 11 months later she foals out OK. To produce a quality potential riding horses, suitable for the aims of your breeding program, takes time, money, emotional investment and suitable surrounding to do well. OK rant over!

On the bright side my Sonata x Chocolate Fox filly Maeve, who was 'supposed' to come with tobiano colour pattern…is learning to trot, and is oh so lovely, correct, and friendly!!! Huge too, and thinks humans were put on earth to scratch her and love her She has two coloured parents, she just was the 25% chance of a solid colour which happens breeding heterozygous tobiano pinto to heterozygous tobiano pinto and arrived a solid bay without even white socks, but I have forgiven all because everything else about her is superb. Steven O'Reilly who came huge with baby legs going every which way has turned into the sweetest friendliest foal I have ever had…and is going to be a super big fellow. Scheherazade, the afore mentioned Sempatico filly, is truly elegant. Refined, and a beautiful head and neck, the rest of her ain't bad either! Her trot is breathtaking as she literally dances across the ground.

We are giving Jen a year off from mamma hood, and waiting for Eve and Arwen to grow up before deciding which one we will keep and breed. Quiet winter and spring but there will always be work to be done here. We raise horses, y'know!



May 31, 2006


I have decided to start an on line journal, to share the joys and difficulties of being a breeder of colored sporthorses. My purpose is to offer some insight into the struggles and costs, both monetary and emotional of breeding and raising horses; along with the intense highs and lows that happen. Sometimes I will rant, sometimes cry, and sometimes I will share the ecstatic moments of being a 'horse mum'.

Often non-breeders and those who purchase young horses do not understand the commitment, time, sweat equity, and tears, of both sadness and joy, that come with this passion of breeding horses.

I hope you will find it, if nothing else, entertaining! If I cannot laugh and enjoy the day to day humor of “horse breeding stuff” it would be sad. I have been active in this endeavor for more than 20 years and the more I do I discover the less I know. Stay with me, I will share the “not knowing” and the attempts to acquire more knowledge.

Lots of people say they breed for top performers…nice idea, but that takes more resources, connections, and pure luck than I have. I breed for horses that I, as an adult amateur of ‘extended age’, would like to ride. Hunters, event horses, lower level dressage horses. One day if I am lucky one of my horses may make it to “Grand Prix something”…till then I will breed with the aim of lovely temperament, good conformation, expressive movement, and some tobiano colour when I am lucky.

Even with the old adage of breeding the best to the best, coupled with good care, attention to nutrition, and excellent support from one’s Veterinarian and Farrier there is a whole lot of luck involved. Now my husband is Irish by birth and raising, so just maybe some of the “luck of the Irish” will rub off on me!

After I wrote this my lease TB mare presented me with a bay and white tobiano filly, the sire is Sempatico who is a 100 day tested (in Germany) warmblood who is homozygous for the tobiano gene. She is a stunning filly, in spite of arriving 12 days early, is healthy and beautiful too! More on her in the next journal entry.