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| July
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Another super win for us at the Midlands Irish draught show with our Pearl and we were presented with youngstock champion trophy for the year. She really did us proud and received some lovely comments again from the judges.
She is shown below winning the youngstock class. Both Pearl and Evie have been entered for their inspections in September so we keep all fingers and toes crossed that we have 2 fully graded mares this year!
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| June
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A great start to the showing year Evie was 2nd at Midland Counties qualifying first time out for the NFU championships in September and we couldn't be more pleased with her.
She received some lovely comments from the judges and was well behaved throughout- she is offered for sale now to a lovely home.
Amber has been scanned in foal to our colt Ferdi and we are very excited to see his first baby next year. Pearl has had a terrific start to her showing year also qualifying first time out for the NFU champs winning her class at Derby County show and then becoming in-hand Irish Draught champion. We are so thrilled to get our first ever championship with her
and hope she continues her winning ways this year!
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| News
2009 |
| October
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RIP Ballina Lass 1990-2009. We very sadly said goodbye to our beloved Tiddy who was put to sleep after a short illness.
This is a devastating blow for us as she was one of the 'special ones' that we all dream about. She was simply a super model of a horse with
the most terrific ground covering walk and the most jaw dropping floating trot we have ever seen. We are extremely lucky to
have 2 of her daughters and 2 of her grandaughters who will continue her line and ensure that her memory will live on.
We are so fortunate to have had her in our lives, she was a complete character and a very 'noisy' horse always calling to us every day when we saw her and it seems a very quiet yard without her.
The joy which she gave us will always be remembered. This is our last treasured photo of Tid taken just a few days before she died.
Sleep well my darling.
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| September
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Another showing year draws to a close and we have had a super year.At the National 2009 breed show we were placed in all classes we entered which was excellent as all classes had lots of entries, far more than we have ever seen in previous years! Ferdi came 6th in the NFU youngstock, 3rd in the male yearling and gave a good account of himself. As he is currently going through a large growth spurt comments from both judges was that he was a little bum high but had great limbs and bone.
Pearl did very well and came 5th in the yearling filly class, a particularly great achievement for her as all the other winning fillies were out of Hornby or Select Hornby RID mares AND we were proud that she was the only filly entered in the class out of an SID mare so she really held her own in strong company!
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August
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A super month for us, with some great showing results. It started at Anglesey county where Pearl was 2nd in the mixed Youngstock(1st yearling) qualifying for the NFU champs on her first ever outing and Evie was 4th(2nd yearling).
At the North West Irish Draught & Hunter show Ferdi won his class and was reserve champion in strong company with some fantastic comments from the judges. We were really shocked and pleased to get the reserve as we were against much older horses, many already big show winners so for a yearling it was pretty good!
As part of our winnings we received a free photo of Ferdi(shown below right) from Ken Ettridge photographs. Photo by the event photographer of Pearl at Anglesey.
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July
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We are absolutely thrilled that at the last ever Royal show Ferdi won the yearling Irish Draught class! This was a very special moment for us as it was not only his first win but at the premier county show in the country.
This means he has continued his family winning record at The Royal from his prolific dam line descending from Samantha, On a Promise, Caitin and Annabel- quite an unbeliveable achievement for this fantastic bloodline!
We still have alot to learn with him and have taken some professional advice now regarding producing him correctly for grading as we want to ensure we give him the best possible chance.
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| Honey update!
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Updated pictures below of our lovely little girl almost a month old. We are very pleased with her she is such a dinky little thing and we hope she should make a lightweight cob being a much smaller and chunkier stamp. She is very bold and inquisitive with a loving nature and is quite adept at showing a clean pair of heels racing round the field- is it a draught or a TB?!
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June
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Well what a few days, Evie and Ferdi went to their first show at Midland Counties, Utoxetter, and had a great day coming 2nd(Evie) and 3rd(Ferdi) both qualifying for the NFU Youngstock Championships at the National breed show in September. We couldn't be more thrilled especially as it was a mixed youngstock class and we were beaten by a 3 year old who
was 2008 supreme youngstock champion at the breed show! It was a big day out for them both but a good learning curve and we now do some further training for Ferdi's next show at The Royal in July. With very great thanks to our friend Julian Swift for the ringside photos below! As if that wasn't good enough news Amber then gave birth to a stunning chestnut filly
bang on due date again at 6.30am Tuesday morning 9th June. We have named her Honey and her show name will be 'Pure Amber Nectar'. We had difficulty taking any good pictures as she doesn't stay still for long so further updates to come but all details are on the mares page. To have 3 fillies in a row now is just fantastic so we have taken the decision not to put either mare back in foal this year and plan on covering both early 2010.
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May
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Updated pictures of the youngsters are included below- now they have shed their winter woolies and have the spring grass we suddenly realised how much they have grown!
It was measuring time today and we couldn't quite believe how big they are: at 1 year now Ferdi stands 15.2hh and has 9.5 inch bone!! At 11 months Evie stands 15.0hh and has 8.5 inch bone and Pearl
who is the baby of the bunch at 9 months stands 14.3hh and has 8 inch bone. Evie and Ferdi are entered for their first show at Midland Counties, Uttoxeter in June so preparations are under way for that
and we hope they show well. As Pearl was a late August foal we feel she will take a little longer to mature and may be shown later in the year or as a 2 year old in 2010. Amber is only a few weeks away from the birth of her second foal
which we are very excited to see. James is convinced it will be a colt and has chosen 'his' name already but I would really like a big chestnut filly and have chosen 'her' name also so we will see who is right! Very sadly we have to report Tobias Corbett was put to sleep after a bout of colic which is a tragic loss to the breed and his owners Michael and Julie.
We are extremely fortunate to have used him last year and this will make the foal even more special to us now. We do feel that he was the most superb example of an Irish Draught that we have seen and thankfully he has 2 stallion sons who
will continue his line.
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| News
2008 |
November
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On the 1st November we became the proud owners of our first colt! Ferdi is a superb example of the Irish Draught
with tremendous bone, substance and quality. Even as a 5 month old foal you can see what presence and character he has and we have very high hopes for him as did his breeder, Caroline Saynor, of Highwood Stud.
His breeding is excellent and combines the very best of outcross and performance bloodlines- he is by Attwood Black Laughton out of the champion mare Annabel who
is by Western Sun and from a line of champion mares herself including her grand-dam the superb 'On a Promise' with whom Caroline had so much showring success. Annabel is the closest thing we have found to a truly 'perfect' draught
and it is her temperament and type which we can very much see in her son. We hope he will be the future of this Bell Laughton branch of breeding and a worthy successor to Attwood Black laughton.
Further updates will be added to the site as he develops. Evie is now weaned and she and Ferdi are great friends together.
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October
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The girls are growing fast now and weaning, for Evie, is fast approaching. Both girls are now almost completely grey and are a joy to handle being very well socialised and lovely individual characters- I couldn't resist the cheeky picture below of the 2 of them.
We sadly missed the Breed show at Lincoln this year as Tumbles had a nasty foot abcess which meant we couldn't leave her for the weekend so we keep saying- next year will be our year....fingers crossed!
Tiddy returned home from stud sadly not in foal this year but as Pearl was very late we half expected it and Tiddy had lost alot of condition feeding her as she is a very greedy girl with the milk! We hope to take her back early next year and try her again.
Amber on the other hand is blooming and we very much look forward to her second foal next year.
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September
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We have been lucky enough to agree the sale of a very exciting and stunning stallion prospect!
'Our' colt foal will be coming home to us at weaning and we intend to produce him and put him forward for grading as an RID stallion when he comes of age.
He is everything we were looking for when we started our search- he has superb breeding being out of a champion mare and from a prolific family, he is from the last crop of a very rare stallion, he has superb limbs, movement, quality and above all is what we consider to be a 'perfect' Draught!
He should mature at around 16hh with over 10" of good quality bone which is exactly the 'type' we wanted. As an added bonus he is also an outcross to all our own mares and fillies!
It is a big financial and emotional commitment to try and bring a colt on for inspection but we feel passionately that we should do all we can to preserve this rare line and that this special colt should give us the best possible chance of achieving our goal.
Below is a picture of him with his dam showing 2 'proper' Draught behinds! Full details will be added to the site once he is home with us.
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August
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We are very excited that Amber and Evie have qualified for the Snowford breeding championships at the Breed show in September at their first ever outing at the North West Irish Draught show!
We have been absolutely overwhelmed to welcome our second pure bred filly foal into the world! Pearl was born 14th August at 5am and is a precious treasure that we never thought we would have as we were convinced that Tiddy was having a colt!
Her show name will be Pure Lady Luck named after her granddam Lady Luck RID a foundation mare by Colman. We were very lucky to find Tiddy and have her graded, lucky to have got her in foal after many tries and very lucky to now have a stunning filly who looks to have inherited the best from both parents. Pictured here just a few hours old we cannot wait to see how she develops and it is lovely that Evie will now have a playmate to keep her company- in fact Pearl is technically her aunt and Amber is her sister!
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| July
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A very exciting month for us as Amber and Evie are now back home- Evie is 6 weeks old already and Amber has been scanned in foal to Tobias Corbett for 2009 which is wonderful news. We have entered them for their first show in August at the North West Irish Draught show at Mawdsley and hopefully then the main Breed Show in September.
Tiddy is at stud due to give birth any day now so we await the new arrival with baited breath and hope we have another lovely and healthy foal. Due to a variety of factors we have decided not to put Tumbles in foal this year as we have decided to look in earnest now for a colt to bring on for inspection.
We are therefore limiting ourselves to 1 or 2 foals
each year so that we can give equal time and attention to all our horses.
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| Evie update!
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Pictured 11 days old Evie is really looking super. We know we are biased but she is stunning and already showing superb movement often beating Amber racing round the field at great speed!
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| June
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Well she's here!!! Our longed for first ever pure bred filly foal arrived on the evening of 12th June at 11.30pm. A big black filly with a tiny star and pink snip to the muzzle- however the spectacles indicate she will in fact be grey.
We have called her Evie as she was born on the eve of her dams birthday and her 'official' show name will be- Pure Tralee Lass. We couldn't be more thrilled and will excitedly be watching to see how she develops now.
She is the image of Amber but also very like Raj's foals so he has defintely stamped her. Picture of her a few hours old with further updates to come.
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| May
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Splodge did his first ever 8 mile fun ride with Auntie Tumbles and had a wonderful time- he saw plenty of obstacles and was not fazed with anything so we were thrilled with him.
Also considering that he is not yet fully fit he was full of running and seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself.
We have decided to give Podraigh a break from showing this year to allow us to concentrate on the mares and foals as there are only so many hours in the day so he is enjoying very much relaxing in the field chatting up his hareem of mares!
Amber has gone to stud ready to foal down and be re-covered by Tobias Corbett. Her udder had started to swell so the signs are that she may not go to full term,
we are obviously very excited as the time gets nearer and keep fingers crossed now for a safe birth and a lovely healthy foal, only 4 weeks to due date and counting!! So now the wait begins, Raj x Amber, what will their baby be like??? Colt or filly??
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| April
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Quite a quiet month we are eagerly anticipating the foals with Amber in particular looking extremely large now with only 7 weeks to go! Splodge is commencing with some schooling work and is doing very well concentrating on his balance and asking him now to work with the correct bend. The most exciting news is
that we finally realised it was 'now or never' and have decided to put our lovely Tumbles in foal this year!! We considered many stallions and it was a very difficult decision as we basically want a carbon copy of her but we know this will be very difficult to achieve! Whilst we would love her colouring
again and considered many homozygous warmblood stallions to guarantee this, we realised that paramount to us is to replicate her superb temperament and substance immaterial of colour and ideally to have no foreign blood in this cross. We were very fortunate indeed that we found all of these things in the IDSH stallion Ballybane Shamrock who(even luckier for us) stands at stud literally 5 minutes from our yard
in Cheshire so we will be able to prepare her for a walk through covering and keep her at home which is excellent. We were extremely impressed with his gentle temperament when we went to view him and the 2 together should produce a lovely foal with a super character and we hope he will add the refinement through his TB blood that we are looking for- also as Tumbles is Skewbald we still have a 50/50 chance of the foal being coloured so fingers crossed! Tumbles has been swabbed and will vist the stallion in May. The foal will technically be a 3/4 bred Irish Draught which is very exciting indeed.
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| March
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The stallions have been viewed and our choice for this year is the RID stallion Tobias Corbett x Slyguff Hero. We were very impressed when we went to view him up in his new home
with the Cornthwaites in Bowland and both mares have been booked to him for the 2008 season. We had admired Tobias for many years and had read much about him being 'the finest example of an Irish Draught'
so were thrilled to have this opportunity to use him. He is now 22 years old but we were stunned by his super free movement and his tremendous bone and we would like to hold onto this bloodline before it goes. The picture
below was taken on our visit.
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February
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The weather has been changeable going from very wet to freezing and hard ground hence we have been hit with not 1, but 2, foot
abcesses- nightmare! All horses are now back sound and we are commencing with some fittening work now the evenings are getting lighter.
Amber and Tiddy have come out of the winter looking(if possible) BETTER than when they went in- a tribute to excellent Topspec feed balancer
and good quality haylage. Both ladies are looking quite large and James is convinced there are 2 colts in there! We are now in the process of
planning for the new arrivals and going through the exciting time of selecting our choice of Stallion for this year. With quite a few
fabulous stallions in the running, once we have decided and booked them we will publish pictures of 'the chosen one'! On a very cold Valentines
Day we attended the annual Irish Draught Colt inspections and had a very interesting and exciting day. Highlight for us was without doubt
the recently discovered 15 year old Bridgeford Ferryman who is a direct descendant of the rare Woodranger line. He was to us the perfect Draught
loads of bone, substance, quality and with a fantastic temperament to boot. He is a type rarely seen today with incredible short cannon bone and exceptionally deep body-
classic breed standard- and justifiably created a lot of excitement with the crowd
especially since he had spent most of his life on a Welsh hill farm running with mares until discovered by his very lucky owners.
We will defintely be using him on our mares at some point and we wish his owners all the best with him.
I have included a rather rough photo taken on my mobile phone but I think you can see what presence he has. A further 2 RID stallions passed- Diamond Lodge x Gildawn Diamond and Blackwater x Enniskeane Prince and 1 sport horse Killarney Jack so it was a very good day. A full report with pictures is
available on the IDHS(GB) website.
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| News
2007 |
| October
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Both girls return home and have settled down well as mothers in waiting! Amber is the first mare due on approx
June 13th 2008 and Tiddy is quite late due approx August 17th 2008. We are including some astonishingly similar pictures of Splodge and his sire
Grange Bouncer- they truly are two peas in a pod and there is no doubting that father has very much stamped his son! Splodge is continuing to do well riding quietly away and is confident and bold
hacking alone and in company. As he is a big boy and still developing we are taking things very slowly allowing him time to fully mature into his frame before we
commence any schooling work with him. We are concentrating on letting him see the world at the moment and to become fully relaxed and we hope to start
more structured work in spring 2008 to prepare him for some novice show classes.
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| September
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Both Amber and Tiddy are confirmed in foal to Ladys Tralee Raj for 2008 and we very much
look forward to our new babies. We owe a great debt of thanks to Janet at Indigo Irish Draughts
for her perseverance and knowledge particularly with Tiddy who we are very fortunate to have in foal at 17yrs of age after a gap of 10 years since her last foal- Amber!
At the recent IDHS gradings both mares graded, Tiddy SID and Amber AID.
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August
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We had an interesting and fun trip to the RDS Dublin horse show
a highlight of which is always the Irish Draught classes and the Irish Draught
Stallion parade. This year the RID stallion Crosstown Dancer won and was champion for the 3rd time and looked
wonderful, he moves amazingly for a 17yr old. He is by Flagmount Diamond RID out of a Pride of Shaunlara mare. Reserve champion was the newly approved 5yr old
Mountain Diamond who was my personal favourite and I am sure he will be a 'Sire of the future' in years to come- he had everything
I would hope for in an Irish Draught- type, substance, good bone and a beautiful quality head. He is by Welcome Diamond RID out of a Mountain View mare.
Below are pictures of both of these stallions taken at the show. We had the wonderful news that Amber
is confirmed in foal to Ladys Tralee Raj! We will collect her from stud soon and eagerly await our new arrival next year. Tiddy has
been covered and we await her next scan with baited breath lets hope like mother like daughter!
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| July
- After a slow showing year with a combination of injury,
cancellation of shows and plain bad luck we managed to
finish the season off with a win at Royal Lancs for the 2nd
year running in the heavyweight hunters. This means we have
qualified for the RIHS 2008 and the Blue Chip
challenge. Now Podraigh has finished for the year
we are free to concentrate on Splodge in some in-hand
and ridden Irish Draught classes.
Splodge arrived home from breaking and
is doing well riding quietly away. The exciting
news is we have just agreed the sale of Ambers dam
Ballina Lass and she will be home with us soon.
Tiddy is by Clontoo Lad RID out of Lady Luck RID(Colman).
We were very lucky to be offered her for sale and
just couldn’t refuse as she is very similar
to Amber, with wonderful movement and is a complete
outcross. More news and pictures to follow once
she arrives. |
 June
- We visit Splodge and Amber part way through
their backing process. Splodge is seen here 3 weeks
into his training and we are very pleased with his
progress. He has been hacking out in company proving
to be very bold and unfazed and his schooling is
now coming along well concentrating on his straightness
and balance. Amber has been a revelation, shown
here only 5 days after being sat on for the first
time she is happily working in walk, trot and canter
after a hairy initial start racing madly round on
the lunge at 100 miles an hour! |
| May
- Splodge and Amber travel to Indigo Irish
Draughts in Stottesden to be broken in by Janet
George and her event rider Olivier. Both are currently
doing well and Amber will now be put in foal to
Ladys Tralee Raj. |
 April-
We purchase our first pure bred Irish Draught mare,
a 10 year old Chestnut mare Amber. She is unhandled
and unbroken but quickly settles in well and forms
an instant bond with Tumbles as they have a shared
love of eating! |
