Happy Days For ISH Breeders

Another bit random too but perhaps I can pick your brains please.

I have a nice mare, only 15 hands, built like a proper hunter but on short legs! Moves very well but has done nothing yet; would think she'd make a cracking cross country machine.
She's by Old Leighlin (Laughtons Flight x Pallas Choice who was by Leabeg) out of a Connemara JC jumping machine, breeding unknown to me.
I'd just like to know which way you Irish people would jump with her bearing in mind, I would only go Irish or TB, no warmbloods need apply. Would you go back to a Connemara or an ISH, or to a full ID or TB? My aim is a decent looking bread and butter with ability to turn its hand decently to anything.
I haven't a decent pic so this video is of her first day here (don't look at the state of the feet, badly needed trimming!)
 
Now I am on the same page! Yes, it clicked when you mentioned the 2008 Horse Board award winners. ;-) Your daughter was in very good company, not only on the night but in the Young Breeders competition series that year and if we have more 'thinking outside the box' breeders like her in the next generation, all good.

In hindsight, the awards should have been after the (much shorter) AGM as I only met two of the other winners that night and there was no group photo opportunity as understandably, those with long journeys had already left.

Loftus was a founding member of the Old Greats, a very quiet, modest gentleman. One of the best tales about him was a 0-60 Breeder striking up a conversation with another onlooker at the Dublin ringside. 0-60 proceeded to spread the gospel about Irish breeding, the best (and worst) sires, 'great' horses he had bred in the past 5 years since he started. "Have you heard of King of Diamonds? Now, you should try and get a KOD mare, if you haven't one of them you're going nowhere" yadda yadda. When he had finally run out of steam, his captive audience member politely excused himself and it was only after he moved away that 0-60's companion, enjoying every moment of the 'sermon', nudged him and said "Did you know who that was? Loftus O'Neill".

Marjorie's book is fantastic, she has a lovely way of writing and capturing the character of the sellers and farmers. A hard-learned mistake, I loaned it to someone .. 'neither a borrower or a lender be'.. Kenny's Bookshop in Galway have it on my watchlist as copies are scarcer than hen's teeth. Likewise, Alex Fell' book about Irish Draughts - another must-read for anyone interested in the breed.

Fingers crossed for foaling, all three are off to Kylemore's mareternity wing as they did a fantastic job foaling the two Ghareeb colts and getting the Clover Hill mare in foal at the first attempt. Through absolutely no fault of her own, she's had more downs than ups in recent years and that was her final chance before retiring.

I'm very much looking forward to a colt, it's going to be a colt, (reverse psychology wishful thinking) with it's dam's trademark satellite dish ears; the blood-type chestnut is in foal to Rebel so either another cracking 'all Irish mare' or an Intermediate/small show hunter, (a job for every horse) and her big bay daughter is still in size 8 rugs and gallumping around. She fooled us last year by producing the other Ghareeb, a very leggy bay colt so not 'panicking' yet.

No firm plans until they've safely foaled but Templebready Fear Bui for the Clover Hill mare would produce my dream 'keeper horse'. A small chance that it would be my favourite colour, dun ..then again, there was a dun (okay, colour purists, buckskin) ancestor lurking in Clover's ancestry so anything is possible.

Have lots of more 'serious' thoughts to add about Cavalier etc but the sun is shining so for another time.

Happy Easter!
 
MFH9 said:
Another bit random too but perhaps I can pick your brains please.

I have a nice mare, only 15 hands, built like a proper hunter but on short legs! Moves very well but has done nothing yet; would think she'd make a cracking cross country machine.
She's by Old Leighlin (Laughtons Flight x Pallas Choice who was by Leabeg) out of a Connemara JC jumping machine, breeding unknown to me.
I'd just like to know which way you Irish people would jump with her bearing in mind, I would only go Irish or TB, no warmbloods need apply. Would you go back to a Connemara or an ISH, or to a full ID or TB? My aim is a decent looking bread and butter with ability to turn its hand decently to anything.
I haven't a decent pic so this video is of her first day here (don't look at the state of the feet, badly needed trimming!)
Click to expand...

Now she is one seriously nice mare. Love her presence and breeding. As I'm sure you know, you have the KOD going all the way back to the great Laughton on the Draught side and Highland Flight, Highland King' sire. He in turn was the sire of McKinlaigh and Ballincoola.

Leabeg was one of my favourite, favourite sires of Philips, up there with Farhaan, (a Shirley Heights son that never got a real opportunity beside his hotshot companions but still produced Carl Edward's Moneymore, a Foxhunter champion). Clover was #1. :-)

Apart from being the most elegant, quality horse in the flesh, (his progeny were very popular with American buyers in the 80s as he produced very quality types), his pedigree had vintage Irish lines that were very popular in the 1970/80s. His sire, Frenchwood, produced some very good commercial jumpers back then - qualify them for Dublin? sold in an instant. He went back to Teddy, an Ajax x Bay Ronald cross, and one of the best foundation sires, always good to see Teddy in a pedigree and widespread in eventing pedigrees.

Leabeg's damsire, Middle Temple, is one of my top all-time TB favourites. My first broodie was out of a Middle Temple dam and had the same good temperament; bred only four foals, all by Clover Hill, which included one sold to the late Graziano Mancinelli; another sold to the Middle East (long story!) and the dam of Rich Fellers' Grand Prix horse, Shannondale Dot Com. Her fourth? was bought by Ned Byrne, broken and brought hunting his first winter; spotted by a wealthy businessman - ergo, lived the proverbial life of Riley as a consummate cross-country machine and possibly led the happiest life of the lot!

Middle Temple also sired Michael Whitaker's Clonee Temple, winner of a Dortmund World Cup qualifier and a good Grand Prix mare; he also features as the damsire of Temple Clover, who himself is proving a good broodmare sire.

Middle Temple's sire, Supreme Court, was beautifully-bred. By Precipitation out of a Fair Trial dam, both sires crop up in the many showjumping & eventing pedigrees. One example of the latter - another Fair Trial son, Court Martial, is the damsire of Lord Gayle, a noted NH sire. His son's included Strong Gale, sire of Badminton winner Moonfleet, and Aristocracy, the damsire of Call Again Cavalier.

Leabeg is also the damsire of Sarah Cohen's ride, Irish Jester, third in the OI at Burnham Market this week and a previous PAVO 4yo champion.

I would not go ISH or probably ID either. Sport horse sires like warmbloods can be a 'lucky dip' genetics wise and she has a good mixture already. A very athletic ID maybe but it would have a TB lurking in the shadows - I would go this route only if you wanted more height and substance? A good TB sire would bring pure quality to the table but where to find? I'm not as familiar with the UK-based TBs so someone else might advise.

If height isn't an issue, I'd be very tempted by a Connie. Not a showring poser, a real 'been there, done that, worn the muddy x-country bib' type. Just my thoughts. :-)
 
One small correction: Clonee Temple was ridden by John not Michael. Very talented mare, but she hated water jumps, and so was mostly jumped indoors. She also disliked walls with holes in them!
 
MFH9

Perhaps if you were to use Templebready Fear Bui you would get a 15 hd WHP a type that is in much demand.
When proven, a 15 hd worker can cost a fortune to buy..... WHP's that have qualified or been to HOYS cost in excess of £15k! A youngster with potential ( that would measure in) would cost in the region of £6k.

Go for it!
 
MFH9 said:
Laughtons Flight (Very nice have a good bit of this breeding)/QUOTE]

She is a charming little mare and very workmanlike in her outlook. Girl child said immediately Thoroughbred and I agree. The bloodlines as so eloquently described by Hilly along with the tough and handy Connemara blood with another cross of blood would give you a consummate cross country horse and quite likely a decent show hunter. Would go for a chaser type TB but sadly not much knowledge of what is available to UK breeders.

Hilly - I am totally relating to satelite radar ears as one of my mares passes on these to her babies. Dun - no better colour a favourite of mine. Used to ride a dun connie called Justin who was actually spicy hot to ride but what a pony me oh my!!!!
Click to expand...
 
hilly said:
Now she is one seriously nice mare. Love her presence and breeding. As I'm sure you know, you have the KOD going all the way back to the great Laughton on the Draught side and Highland Flight, Highland King' sire. He in turn was the sire of McKinlaigh and Ballincoola.

I would not go ISH or probably ID either. Sport horse sires like warmbloods can be a 'lucky dip' genetics wise and she has a good mixture already. A very athletic ID maybe but it would have a TB lurking in the shadows - I would go this route only if you wanted more height and substance? A good TB sire would bring pure quality to the table but where to find? I'm not as familiar with the UK-based TBs so someone else might advise.

If height isn't an issue, I'd be very tempted by a Connie. Not a showring poser, a real 'been there, done that, worn the muddy x-country bib' type. Just my thoughts. :-)
Click to expand...

Thank you very much; I take that as high praise.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if she does not throw bigger at all, even if put to a Connie, her younger full brother is 15.3 now and still growing so the genes are there somewhere, lol.

Now to get on the hunt for the TBs (do have one in mind) or Connie's (haven't a clue as yet!) of choice! Many thanks for your ideas, very grateful - but that's not to say I don't want any other suggestions now to go into the melting pot from anyone else!

I have loved this thread.
 
Thanks for that link, I'll save it. He looks a nice sort although possibly a bit big for her as a maiden. I do like the Cruise Missile slant and funny enough, if he had still been alive, Honeybrook Siren would have been on my list; in fact his son, Siren's Missile (?) might fit the bill although he's finer. Scallywag was a giant of a horse, he stood locally so have seen a few of his stock and they all seemed big, no matter what they were out of!
 
John-Michael-Michael-John .. yes, firmly embedded though typing against the clock to get Sunday lunch underway was a hindrance. Another Ping! lunch, especially on Easter Sunday, would have led to mutiny.

Now, unless I really need to increase the Omega 3 dose, Clonee Temple was a chestnut mare? The Middle Temple dam *coughs .. bay* of my first horse was a dream cross-country, as brave and honest as they came and such power on take-off. She also bred a Dublin Grade E champion, sold there to an Italian buyer for a fantastic price, and three more GradeA/Bs .. again, that family has all but disappeared.

Actually, I think Clonee Temple was out of a part-Clyde as well.

WHPs are in huge demand; apart from Dessie, another feet-on-the-ground customer has offered 10k straight-up for the proposed Connie out of my Clover Hill mare for his daughter. I'm so wary after her recent doldrums that I wouldn't consider it but I may not get even half that sum for a foal out of her by a fashionable warmblood sire! Irish breeding is just upside-down at the moment. Anyhow, moot offer as, if it ever happens, mini-Ears would not be for sale.

Another thought that sprung to mind afterwards MFH, is I would not choose too-big a sire. Your mare is 15 hands but there are some very big, as in both tall and build, sires in her family tree and her foal could throwback to those. Not ideal for a maiden mare foaling. Many of the Draught mare owners cover their maiden mares with TBs for an easier first-time foaling. A small TB would be fine. If she was 16 hands, I'd suggest Jumbo!

Irishlife, I bet a Baileys truffle Easter egg that there are few bigger pairs of ears in the county than this. Or a bigger character. This was her last year before she went to visit Swatch:

035.jpg


And this is the elegant little mare that's going to produce our grey Rebel SH/WHP, you've already seen her strapping daughter in the foal pics.

PendleHolyColoursMay03.jpg




Now .. I'm going into hiding from other ChestnutMareOwners..
 
Pat its me Sarah not Simon, I'd go for the elusive tall TB on her. Or maybe Spyder!!!!!! LOL sorry but he would like her. xxx
 
Ok, so to further my earlier point about the Grand Prix in Barnadown, 5 Irish-bred horses got in to the top 6. Wow! Amazing! No one would be surprised to learn that the winner was sired by Cruising. The 2nd placed horse was by Cavalier. Third placed horse was by Aldatus, fourth was by Cruising, fifth by Harlequin Du Carel and 6th placed went to a foreign horse. So what does that tell us about our horses? Only the top 3 jumped double clear in a 13 horse jump off. It seems Cruising has done it again. I think it's safe to say that if God were a horse, his name would be Cruising!

Tomorrow, Easter Monday, the Grand Prix tour moves to Warrington in Co. Kilkenny. 66 horse/rider combinations are entered in the class. Let's dissect shall we?

39 of those horses are Irish bred. Which is over 50%. Super! Thoroughbred sires account for 3 of those horses. Cruising only has 2 in it tomorrow and two sons of his, Cruise On and Lough Cruise also have one horse each representing them. Clover Brigade has 3 in it. Touchdown has 1 in it, as has Puissance, Western Promise, Coevers Diamond Boy, Laughtons Flight, Furisto Dan, Clover Fields and High Roller. Glidawn Diamond, RID legend has 2 and his son Coolcorron Cool Diamond has one. Three have no breeding recorded. So 15 of the 39 ISH horses jumping in tomorrow's Grand Prix are by foreign stallions! 2 of the above ISH stallions, Touchdown and Furisto Dan are by foreign horses; Galoubet and Furisto.

So what does that tell us about the state of Irish breeding? For me, the writing is on the wall. We can talk all we want about the past and the characters and the legends of breeders that have gone before us but for the here and now, to breed showjumpers it is blatently obvious that we need infusions of the best the continental studbooks have to offer.

It was mentioned earlier about Ireland being a dumping ground for poor foreign stallions and older foreign stallions. Why do the veterans get sent here? Well, I think it's because they have graced the Continental studbooks with quality stallion sons. Take Lux Z for example. He gave the Dutch, Lupicor. Whom from what I ave heard is better than Lux. So why would they bother use Lux when Lupicor is better? Answer, send Lux to Ireland. He'll do a job for the Irish.

I think there's general goodwill from the Europeans towards breeding in Ireland in general. I think they want us to be competitive with them. So after spending plenty of years covering mares on the Continent, the horses finish up in the dumping ground, Ireland. Lux Z is one example. Iroko (Keur) is another example, he's spent a couple of seasons in various different studs around the world and sired Grand Prix horses wherever he went. His Irish stock aren't old enough to jump G.P yet but he has had horses represent us. Darragh Kerins' Nabucco for instance. Then there's the recently dumped Lancelot. Ever hear of him? You may have heard of a chap by the name of Geoff Billington, well he rides a rather talented horse called Rosinus, who happens to be by the afforementioned Lancelot. So if anybody tries to tell me that we have a poor or second rate selection of foreign stallions to choose from in Ireland, do yourselves a favour and tell it to a wall. You have more chance of getting one of those to listen. Mermus R? Guidam? ... Second rate? ... Really?

The biggest crime is that the best of the ISH stallions are over 20 and only Cruising and Touchdown have sons approved. Coevers Diamond Boy has an approved son but I've never seen or heard of anything by it. So surely the horse who sired Team Silver medallist at the 2002 WEG and a 2005 Spruce Meadows Derby winner, Richmond Park should have a better son or 5 for us to use.

I'd nearly beg all the Irish reading this to go out and buy colts by these horses while their still alive so that we don't lose them forever. Like it or not, stallions have more effect on general breeding than mares do so while we need super daughters of them, we also need super-er sons.

The Spring Grand Prix league stands at 1.35m. I look forward to going through the startlists for the Premier Series when it kicks off at the end of the month and see how many traditional ISH horses compete in that when those fences hit 1.50m!

I don't like having to use foreign stallions but in order to breed showjumpers, not eventers, not happy hacking-bread and butter-riding club extraordinaires, I can't see how I can use anything else. Yes, I could use the Cruising sons and Touchdown's son Cara Touche but they're still quite young so when my fillies by the foreigners hit covering age, I'll be pretty confident that I'll have better mares with which to make better use of these horses. Then I won't be sat at a computer in a few years time lamenting at how Cruisings MF is 22 and has no good stallion sons. I may be biased, and while no one has said it thus far, I don't think I'm taking a bad course of action to achieve my goals.

Hilly, Irish Life, were either of you at the IHB agm last year?
 
Hi Eothain

I didn't go to the AGM last year but was there in 2008.

I also scan the Grand Prix start lists looking for patterns and stats and it does make for pretty shocking reading. I will be interested to see where the Irish blood starts tailing off on the other hand, how many in our pool of riders are capable of producing to 1.50m and riding a balanced technical round?. I suspect even Womanizer (and I do like that horse) would start kicking poles out with his way of going. He seems quite fussy in the mouth and a bit too strong which is fine with his scope over 1.35 but once the poles go up???

I do think this brave new world of show jumpers is not just about breeding “the right stuff” it has a push through effect into how we performance test them, how we produce them and when we produce them.

There are so many variables outside of the breeding, if we have the show jumping horses we hope for coming on stream; will we have the right type of production and competitions available?. With the increased costs of production of a foal, we are unlikely to be testing these expensive creatures out in lunging contests over a rusty pole, so do we need futurity and performance type tests and grading which clearly, the IHB won’t be doing any time soon. Does this mean we should cut over to the Irish Warm blood book ?

Are we not at risk of a wave of erratically bred warm bloods flooding the marketplace once The Farmers Journal starts saying “foreign” is the way to go.??

We are not in the position funding wise to play the numbers game like the large breeding stations on the continent, we are a nation of individual breeders. Clearly somewhere like Shockemole’s end up with a lot of bread and butter warm bloods once the cream rises to the top, but such is their marketing and promotion of their horses, there are millions of dressage crazy people out there to buy the excess horses to go swanning around in bling browbands. It is highly unlikely many Irish bread and butter warm bloods will be swanning anywhere if they don’t make the cut.

So rambling in the wee small hours again, when all I really mean is I think in the longer term it is not just about the breeding, there has to be a structure for this and production and performance tests appropriate for the “type”.

At the end of the day it will be a long road and I look forward to seeing your plans unfolding. I have a yearling filly who I will be showing this year who fits the "Irish warmblood" mould - Galoubet, Furisto but also Laughton's Flight KOD in small doses - lets see how she gets on in the ring.
:)
 
Hilly

I raise you one bottle of Baileys to go with the Baileys truffle Easter Egg you owe me ;)

Olympia.jpg


Olympia2.jpg


This is Laughton Olympia, a Cleveland Bay mare I had many years ago who had lovely foals when crossed with TBs.

These are ears!! Current satellite/radar ears mare not so impressive But still huge!!
 
Eothain said:
Tomorrow, Easter Monday, the Grand Prix tour moves to Warrington in Co. Kilkenny. 66 horse/rider combinations are entered in the class. Let's dissect shall we?

39 of those horses are Irish bred. Which is over 50%. Super! Thoroughbred sires account for 3 of those horses. Cruising only has 2 in it tomorrow and two sons of his, Cruise On and Lough Cruise also have one horse each representing them. Clover Brigade has 3 in it. Touchdown has 1 in it, as has Puissance, Western Promise, Coevers Diamond Boy, Laughtons Flight, Furisto Dan, Clover Fields and High Roller. Glidawn Diamond, RID legend has 2 and his son Coolcorron Cool Diamond has one. Three have no breeding recorded. So 15 of the 39 ISH horses jumping in tomorrow's Grand Prix are by foreign stallions! 2 of the above ISH stallions, Touchdown and Furisto Dan are by foreign horses; Galoubet and Furisto.

So what does that tell us about the state of Irish breeding? For me, the writing is on the wall. We can talk all we want about the past and the characters and the legends of breeders that have gone before us but for the here and now, to breed showjumpers it is blatently obvious that we need infusions of the best the continental studbooks have to offer.
Click to expand...

Eothain if you add up the above you get:

19 ISH
17 ISH with Warmblood including the Touchdown's and Furisto Dan's
and 3 No breeding recorded

For me the writing certainly is on the wall too, ISH can still cut the mustard in showjumping if breeders would stop choosing to jump ship!;) :D
 
Had a fab day at the local stallion parade with a lot of not so local horses making appearances.

For Simsar (and everyone)

ID wise, I was taken with Clew Bay Bouncer, a very neat, purposeful young stallion, he is very correct and modern yet somehow remains a traditional stamp (similar to Young Carrabawn). Drumindoo Stud

Rockrimmon Silver Diamond - The horse bequeathed to the Irish Horse Board now standing at Claremorris EC for the next 2 years. Very traditional, big and powerful.

Mountain Pearl an interesting one as he is a complete outcross with none of the usual suspects in his pedigree. However, although a beautiful animal , he has incredibly light bone which looked odd.

Apart from a couple of other young stallions by Welcome Flagmount that were a similar stamp to Clew Bay Bouncer, the rest were a mixed bag. I think Welcome Flagmount sons may perk things up a bit, they are all very good looking and seem to have his jump (He was Grade A, Grand Prix, went to Lanaken ). ONe is Rebel Flagmount and theother Welcome Emperor.

Eothain (and everyone)

Saw Eothains beloved Luidam and also Omar (x Darco) his stable mate. Luidam is a bit of a corker but thought Omar was a wee bit small. Cruise On may have been there but I missed him. Another cruising son Bahrain Cruise was on parade too. He actually has grown on me from when I first knew him. He is a hot tricky sort to handle and a real piece of work in the stable apparently. He was on fire on his two hind legs in the ring today as well but he has done beter than a lot to get some good jumping horses out there. Galloway was really looking well but I am biased as I have used him and thrilled with the resulting offspring. Gallant Cavalier, very elegant little horse but too blood for a lot of mares (although I think you can never have too much!), He came down from the north to friends nearby after an eventing career and he had a good book of mares last year and they have him spot on for this year.

So they were my eye catchers of the day and I am looking forward to Cavan
on Thursday.

This might bump us back up a bit - how do we get a sticky anyway?
 
I doubt we'll get a sticky somehow. Half asleep here so will keep this quick and post another essay tomorrow! Mountain Pearl is the dam sire of Drumiller Lough who finished 2nd with Capt David O Brien in the 6 Year Old World Championship finals in Lanaken in 2009. If he is light of bone but is featuring in the pedigree of such a horse, albeit Drummiler Lough is by Heartbreaker, maybe he is the Draught type of the future!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for Luidam, yes he is beloved. I'll never forget biting my fingers in August 2004 as he cleared the last to clinch the Aga Khan for us! He stands about 15 minutes away from me now!

Womanizer has already competed at 1.50m. The big Cavan 6/7 year old class every September finishes up that height. I'm nearly positive Womanizer jumped a triple clear. Olive Clarke won it on a real future star, the O.B.O.S Quality 004 gelding Mark Q. What a fabulous horse. He jumps like a gazelle. Hopefully Womanizer can go to that height again and again. He has all the scope and power he needs, and Olive is one of the best riders in the country. If anyone will get the best out of him, she will!

As for better young horse producers, the country needs a ship load of them! Seeing the Grand Prix in Warrington really drove home that point.

And Simsar, it seems I added wrong. How embarrasing! By the way, I'm not choosing to jump ship. I'm just doing what needs to be done!!!
 
Simsar said:
So can we have a sticky post?? I can't believe we slipped to page two!!
Click to expand...


Well, I've just asked, very nicely I might add, in the Suggestions bit so can only wait and see.
I can't think of any other threads with this amount of support, that have been so pleasant and informative; that alone should warrant inclusion to the Sticky Throne.
 
firm said:
Thanks IL for the stallion parade report - loved reading it :)
Click to expand...

Firm,

I loved looking at your website and covet all of your spotted babies. You have some great bloodlines there and your Knabstruppers are fabulous, I have always loved them though know little about them.

There was a little section in the stallion parade for odds and sods and there was heavy cob who was a spotted creamy roany colour most unusual if this link works, he is advertised for stud on donedeal.ie, he was a cracking little chap.

http://www.donedeal.ie/for-sale/horses/1238397
 
Irishlife said:
Hilly

I raise you one bottle of Baileys to go with the Baileys truffle Easter Egg you owe me ;)

Olympia.jpg


Olympia2.jpg


This is Laughton Olympia, a Cleveland Bay mare I had many years ago who had lovely foals when crossed with TBs.

These are ears!! Current satellite/radar ears mare not so impressive But still huge!!
Click to expand...


Oh.

*glances at empty Bailey's Easter Egg box*

I could offer you a garden variety (still wrapped) Wispa one as an alternative but firstly, just calculate length x width of Cleveland Bay's lugs to determine surface area. Calculation by submitted photo is fine. If it exceeds 2.43 hectares (as per Clover monster's pair), I shall accede.

No time for 'essays' today, alas, too much work to do and NOW the sun is shining after another wretched gale last night.
 
MFH9 said:
Well, I've just asked, very nicely I might add, in the Suggestions bit so can only wait and see.
I can't think of any other threads with this amount of support, that have been so pleasant and informative; that alone should warrant inclusion to the Sticky Throne.
Click to expand...

Thanks MFH

At some stage I need to print this out as it really is worth preserving.
 
hilly said:
Oh.

*glances at empty Bailey's Easter Egg box*

I could offer you a garden variety (still wrapped) Wispa one as an alternative but firstly, just calculate length x width of Cleveland Bay's lugs to determine surface area. Calculation by submitted photo is fine. If it exceeds 2.43 hectares (as per Clover monster's pair), I shall accede.

No time for 'essays' today, alas, too much work to do and NOW the sun is shining after another wretched gale last night.
Click to expand...

Sadly poor Olympia has been deceased for some time so as I am unable to calculate surface area of ears so I will concede and accept the Wispa bar egg though consider it to be a mere fob off compared to Baileys and will share podium place with you albeit with one foot on second place due to using deceased mare as entry in "Noteworthy Ears Grand Prix" :)
 
Irishlife said:
Sadly poor Olympia has been deceased for some time so as I am unable to calculate surface area of ears so I will concede and accept the Wispa bar egg though consider it to be a mere fob off compared to Baileys and will share podium place with you albeit with one foot on second place due to using deceased mare as entry in "Noteworthy Ears Grand Prix" :)
Click to expand...


I gathered she had gone to the Paddock upstairs so will accept measurements taken by ruler against computer screen. ;-) Funnily enough, when our King's Master mare went for foaling last year, the first question from the English lassy working there was 'Has she Cleveland Bay blood?' Who knows? Anything is possible in the unrecorded sixth generation backwards and Cleveland Bays were very popular exports to the Continent and Ireland in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century.

Actually, just thought of another Noteworthy Ears candidate but will start another thread so as not to detract from the 'seriousness' of this one...
 
Last edited:
hilly said:
I gathered she had gone to the Paddock upstairs so will accept measurements taken by ruler against computer screen. ;-) Funnily enough, when our King's Master mare went for foaling last year, the first question from the English lassy working there was 'Has she Cleveland Bay blood?' Who knows? Anything is possible in the unrecorded sixth generation backwards and Cleveland Bays were very popular exports to the Continent and Ireland in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century.

Actually, just thought of another Noteworthy Ears candidate but will start another thread so as not to detract from the 'seriousness' of this one...
Click to expand...

What is completely amazing is I was idly looking to see if the stud where Olympia was bred was still going strong and came across a facebook group about Clevelands and somebody in Norway was asking after Laughton Olympia as she used to be her groom back in the day. So I was able to tell her I had her since a 4 year old until she died and sent her some pics. Crazy small world. Anyway rather hijacking our serious breeders post with coffee shopping so off to tease a couple of mares.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top