Marthas
Journal:
Sometimes amide the hectic life of a breeder of coloured sporthorses, owner of a small
farm, mother, wife, and employment as a professional counsellor I want to be creative and
write! So I am starting an On Line Journal to share with people who visit my web site. If
you have comments or ideas you may email me at m_drennan@telus.net
Newest entry is at the top of the page.

May 6 2008
Spring has sprung…actually more like crawled into being. May has warmed up a bit, but April was cold wet and nasty. We won’t mention the last part of March. New ‘F’ word flurries, yes snow flurries, here on the wet West Coast in April!
Several pieces of wonderful news.
Firstly, Jen foaled out in the wee hours of May 5th, and yes I go my belated Christmas gift! A filly! A homozygous tobiano filly! Since both her sire and dam are homozygous for the tobiano gene…she is too! Beautifully marked, may shed out black and white as she is a strange mousy color now. This filly looks a lot like her sire Sempatico in markings, and has legs that are really long. When she comes up on her back fetlocks she will be even taller. Just about the best ever…Can you tell I am in love?
Rachel and I were midwives, not that Jen needs much help, as this is her 11th foal, 7th for me. The best of mothers, easy to handle, loving and very attentive to her babies. One Grand Dame this mare.
Pictures of the new filly posted soon but for now a sneak preview of her at a few hours old. We don’t have a name yet…sigh. So for now “Girl Child” is it.
And the second piece of news, Shanniah has sold and gone off to her new and attentive owner here in BC. Our family is delighted that ‘Shan’ has found just the right human to bring her along in her training, show her, and enjoy her. All the best Kim, stay in touch!
Britt is huge and not due till late June. Yes, she was scanned pre and post breeding…only one in there to the best of the good Dr Kerstin’s ultra-sounding skills. And yes she is very good. Mind you Brittany is a big substantial mare! And now the grass is coming in solidly she will get even bigger, this momma mare loves to eat. But then all my mares do.
Our hunt for a new farm continues. Long weekend trips, rushed one day mad drives four hours each way, and then driving about looking and looking once we are there. My realtor is a doll; she has driven up numerous times to help us see places. Her name is Brenda Quanstrum-Louth, for anyone wanting the best in ethical, dedicated and attentive service. She has a wonderful sense of humor too!
We will find the right place, we will, we will. Or at least that is my current mantra!
Stay tuned.
March 2008
This entry has been delayed but here it is. Read on.
Ah, a new year, lots of new happenings here at JMR Pintos.
But first, breeding choices! I have booked Jen to Sagnol (Sandro Hit x LaBelle) for the 2008 breeding This line is reputed to be a tad ‘hot’ (although I don’t see this so much with Sagnol), but Jen is most mellow and laid back, so the foal should make the best amateur dressage mount…IF someone is courageous enough to ride a tobiano pinto in the 60 meter ring! Yes, as Jen is homozygous for the tobiano gene this foal will be colored…and it will be bay and white…Jen has had 10 foals…ALL bay and white so the odds are she is double agouti….along with being homozygous for the tobiano gene.
Now if Jen does not produce ‘the filly’ that is ordered I may have to use the Sempatico semen for her and …gasp…breed for a solid foal with Brittany…who I will have for another breeding season. Yippee. While no spots the foal would move a 10.
I have purchased a breeding to Sempatico (Semper x Indian Dream) for Britt…..but changes can happen.
The other “mare news” is I may have Strathmiglo back. She is the TB mare who several years ago I leased, and had inspected with Canadian Sport Horse. She did quite well for a middle aged mare straight out of the field too! Her owner has some health issues, and must sell most of her horses, and I am please to be able to acquire this special mare.
Glo will most likely be bred to Sonnata for, hopefully, a repeat of Arwen, the lovely tobiano filly I sold to Oregon, USA
The biggest news though is we have sold the farm…really we have! The city here in Chilliwack is moving in on us, and the opportunity to sell arose, so I took it.
I will miss my farm, having worked very hard to clear away, meters and meters of fallen down barbed wire, acres of briars, to fence paddocks and pastures safely, build shelters and a barn. Yes I did a lot of it myself in my spare, (ha) time. Our daughter Rachel has finished her Bachelor of Science degree and has applied to Veterinary School, so change was looming anyway.
So to all you horse people out there, please add your prayers that Rachel is accepted at the University of Saskatoon, School of Veterinary Medicine. She has worked hard both in University and in the ‘real world’, has a ton of experience with horses and cattle, and is the most dedicated young woman I know!
Never fear though, we are in the process of acquiring more land, most likely in the Okanogan area of BC, which is a few hours drive away. The area is dryer and a bit more suitable for raising horses, two small cities, Vernon and Kelowna, and some smaller towns, for me to have a part time ‘day job’. Having acquired a Masters degree some years ago I feel obligated to use it! Besides I like my work, both on and on and off farm.
So stay tuned for further developments. We will have one, possibly two foals for sale this year, 2008, and most likely three next year.

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
didnt 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 Rachels future riding horse.
Farm work continues
doesnt 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
didnt 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 ones 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.

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