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2004 has been a great season for our horses
!!!!! We
would like to congratulate the following people for there great
achievements with horses that we have either bred, produced or sold,
2004 has been a n amazing season for them, it has given them much
happiness and enthusiasm to go forward and promote the Irish
Draught.
S T Kiaran
We have had the pleasure of producing the RID mare S T Kiaran during
2004 for her owner Debbie Roberts, we bought this outstanding mare
from Ireland as a six year old, we covered her with Attwood Black
Laughton whereby she produced a super colt foal. As we had decided
to keep home bred stock we put Kiaran under saddle and offered her
for sale.
Debbie has had the most fantastic fun with this little mare, she has
hunted her, she accompanies her two daughters Amy and Sarah on their
ponies, proving to be versatile. Kiaran came back to us in the early
spring of 04 as Debbie had decided to have a go at showing her in
ridden classes, what a season they have had !!!
Kiaran has either won or been placed at most of the major county
shows throughout the UK, she has been highest placed pure bred Irish
Draught on many occasions and has offered a super ride to both
Debbie and the ride judges. Hopefully she will campaign the ridden
classes again in 2005, so watch this space !!!
Western Sun
It was with great sadness we watched our horses, Western Sun and Tynedale Riverdance walk on to the transporters
heading off to their new homes in the US, we hoped they would bring
as much joy and success to their owners Damon and Dawn Williams as
they had to us over the years, we had some fantastic mares left by
both stallions so with that it was decided to let them go.
It's a difficult thing to sell a horse to the other side of the
world, to people you may only have spoken to on the telephone, or
email, to go to a home you cannot see, especially stallions as they
are very one person orientated horses in general.
All were duly installed after quarantine periods into their new
homes, many months of emails and telephone calls later I had the
opportunity of judging the Irish Draught Classes in Virginia in June
of this last year, so thought this would be the ideal time to catch
up with the boys and girls and meet in person the folk I had come to
like and build friendships with.
Our stallion Foxglen was representing the Irish Draught on the stand
at the show, he looked fantastic, he'd had a super covering season
and had done dressage and ridden classes with his second new parents
(they stood him for Damon, whilst he moved house) Angus and Judy
Whyte, Angus is an ex Scott, so we had great crack with him and his
new found accent !!!! we went to visit Tynedale at home, we had
covered her prior to shipping with Western Sun, and she had produced
a superb filly foal, I was a little worried at this point about
Tynedale as she seemed to be taking a little longer to adjust to the
different climate, anyhow Damon and I discussed different ways of
making her feel more at home. I hadn't realised how different things
were, the feed, the ups and downs in climate, how these things that
we take for granted at home can affect different horses, some it
doesn't bother, some take longer to come around.
Damon is I have to say at this point VERY enthusiastic, he is also
very determined !!!!! he had expressed a wish to take the horses to
the US National show later in the year, he, his family, Angus and
Judy worked hard on the horses and set off to the show, they had no
preconceived ideas of how things would go but had just gone to enjoy
the occasion and have fun, boy have they had to have the doors
widened at home !!!!
Foxglen Himself was Supreme National champion, as well as taking
many other ridden titles.
Tynedale Riverdance was reserve Mare champion, her foal also won
it's class
Their winnings are too numerous to mention but you can see them on
www.foxglenhimself.com
Foxglen Himself
I think a huge CONGRATULATIONS is in order !!! I don't think anyone
can imagine the pleasure these fantastic horses have brought to this
family, well done guys.
Drogheda's Ballyhara
Damon was looking for another mare to add to his breeding herd, we
found him the lovely mare Abbey, (Drogheda's Ballyhara) she came to
us in the spring so we could cover her with our TB stallion Merit,
she is due early 2005, we organised transport and she landed in the
US in the autumn, she has settled in and is quite at home living
with Tynedale Riverdance, good luck with her !!
Foxy
Angus had developed and superb relationship whilst boarding and
competing Foxglen and was saddened that he would return home to
Damon, the only natural solution was for him to have his own baby
Foxglen, my friend Sue Fletcher has a lovely RID filly which had
grown too big for her, so we organised the deal and she was shipped in December and landed in her new home on Boxing day, as you can
see, Foxy took no time to settle, look out for her next year as I'm
sure Angus will be chomping at the bit to get her out there on the
competition circuit.
Jan 05 |
