British National Champion Arab Foal - a victory for the little people!

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htobago

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This has been on Breeding/PG, but I thought everyone might like to hear the nice story behind the foal that won the National Championship at this year's national Arab show - and I've just received some new photos of him, one with his sash and everything...

There are a lot of 'firsts' involved in this story:

'Poseidon', by H Tobago out of Sahibaa, is:
His sire's first foal
And his dam's first foal
And the first pure-bred Tobago-foal ever to be shown

This was his first bath
First trip in a lorry
First show
First time he'd met his handler (owner was injured so got a friend to show him for her)

And of course his first national championship
But also the first national championship for his owners, who have a very small Arab stud

Poseidon is also the first ever British National Champion Arab to be sired by a one-horse-owner stallion

And the first British National Champion Arab to be sired by a stallion relying entirely on 'outside' mares

And it was Poseidon's first write-up in Horse and Hound (special box, with photo, and more text about him than any other horse at the show)!

Definitely a victory for the 'little people'! Hurrah to the judges for putting this foal above all the big-name studs!

Here is Poseidon at the show:

poseidontrotmalvern.jpg


PoseidonIMG_5829Malvern08jpgstand.jpg


PoseidonIMG_5838Malvern08jpghead.jpg


PoseidonIMG_5840Malvern08jpgsash.jpg



He loved every minute - pranced and strutted around like he owned the place, bless him.
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What a little beauty - you must all be very proud! Love the way he's holding his head in the last pic - 'look what I've done!'

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I know - he looks soooo smug and pleased with himself, bless him!

I've just had an email from Poseidon's breeder - v nice lady called Julie Paisey. She had to sell Poseidon's mother, in foal to Tobago, due to family illness last year, but is delighted with his win for his owners.

She should get a lot of credit - another nice little story: she had such confidence in Tobago that she sent her mare Sahibaa up to Twemlows to be there when he arrived, before he had even reached his third birthday, before he had been semen-tested or anything. I kept telling her to wait at least until we knew he was fertile, but she insisted!

So Sahibaa came in season shortly before Tobago arrived, and as Tullis, the stallion chap, was unloading him off the lorry, the Twemlows mare people came over and started clamouring for semen as they needed to inseminate Sahibaa immediately. Tullis said OK and they grabbed a jump-mare and collected off a somewhat bewildered Tobago then and there, his first ever collection, before he'd even had time to get to his stable!

The jump-mare was a huge great tank of a piebald cob, all muddy straight from the field, and Tobago initially thought she was a scary hippo or something and ran away, all wide-eyed and snorting, but he soon figured out what to do...

So they inseminated Sahibaa immediately, she took at this first attempt...and the result 11 months later was Poseidon!
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