Nice way to start a Sunday morning. A Friesian video.
This is from Cally Matherly and Maryanke Alexander. Get a cup of coffee, relax, and just enjoy something lovely for the next 6 minutes.
Time to decide about breeding my horses
It has been a crazy, busy winter. The snow and cold have been relentless and unusually extreme for my area. This has made even the small things a bit of a burden, so I feel very behind. But ya know, the days go by, and spring is here, and it is time to decide about breeding. What mares do I breed, and to what stallions?
I think this year I will try to blog more about the process. I’ll probably be doing something with the horses most every day. So why not write about it for others who might be interested.
I have 3 mares – all ster mares – of breeding age now. My parents have 1 (who is now pregnant and due to foal in early May). I will mostly speak about the 3 I have since I am making those decisions myself.
Due to economy I did not breed last year. I think that was a good decision. This year I am planning to try to breed all 3 mares and putting two up for sale afterwards. I only have a certain amount of space and these mares would make a terrific start for anyone wanting to become a breeder or expand their breeding operation. But if they do not sell that is fine. I love them and they are great mares. So I want to make sure I breed them in such as way as to produce the best foals possible since I could be selling foals instead of pregnant mares!
I decided to try frozen semen with my two proven broodmares – Cori and Dahlia. I ordered semen from two of the best stallions in the Netherlands, and two that would match either mare. This is my first real try with frozen semen and Va Tech is going to help me. I’ll talk about that more later.
Today I have been agonizing over what stallion to choose for the 4 year old maiden mare Tara. She is stam 102, a great but “old type” (think carriage horse) line. Tara’s father is Wander 352 and her damsire is Thomas 327. Tara is on the small side but a terrific mover. I would like to get more height and longer lines in a foal. A longer and more vertical neck would be great, as would a longer forearm. And shoot, a blacker coat and more hair, while I am wishing.
Since with Tara I am looking to US stallions (fresh semen vs. frozen) I am starting with ones who produce height, one of my biggest desires with this mare. Since Tara is a daughter of Wander 352, and his bloodlines are relatively uncommon, I have almost my choice of stallions. Do not have to worry really about inbreeding issues (thank you Wander for that). Anyhow, when looking at height, two of the top stallions in this area are Feike 395 and Nanning 374. Perhaps Fridse 423 (half brother to Nanning) is also a good choice. I also like thinking about the young stallions. Though there is not nearly as much published information about them, most of them are tall with longer lines. Perhaps one of them would be a good choice.
I have almost made up my mind. What about you folks – who would you pick? Write me and let me know
Here is a video of Tara, taken in the summer before her keuring:
Freya is weaned. Short video from last weekend.
She misses her mom and followed me around like a puppy. I think she is just going to be a wonderful mare. She is 6 months old now and entering the gawky “ugly Friesian” stage. I can hardly wait to see what butterfly will come out of the cocoon when she hits 3 years old. I have very high hopes for her.
Back in London
A while ago – mid 1990′s or so – I traveled to Europe and lot on business. I would come over for a week or two, then go back home, then a few months later come back for another few weeks. I did this for about 5 years. During that time, I worked mostly in London, Prague and Madrid. But I visited lots of places – Paris, Brussels, Zurich, Bern, Nice, Amsterdam, the Hague. I eventually got tired of the travel, but I fell completely in love with Europe. And I still feel that way.
Though I actually try to not travel so much anymore, this year I have racked up a lot of air miles. I have been to Portland 3 or 4 times and I have been over to Europe 3 times this year. At the moment I am in London on business and return back to the States tomorrow.
The big presentation was over yesterday and I am just relaxing now. Tonight we head over to Covent Garden (my old hangout) and the we see the play “War Horse”. I really cannot wait.
I miss home. But I do love London. More on War Horse:
Meinse 439 at Dressage in Lexington
Yesterday my friend Sara and I went to Lexington VA to a dressage show. We went explicitly to see the KFPS approved stallion Meinse 439. Meinse, imported to America last year, is a 5 year old son of Heinse 354. People who know me know how much I loved Heinse, who died this past spring. Heinse is the father of my new filly Freya and was father of the colt Wikke, who was bred by us and born at our barn (Sara now owns him).
Anyway, I am interested in breeding my Cori to Meinse and wanted to see what he was like. I am lucky that Iron Springs Farm in PA competes their Friesian stallions in dressage, and often in Lexington. I get to see them in person. More importantly, I get to talk to the owner, riders and grooms about the stallions so I can get a better sense of the horse’s work ethic and temperament. These traits are very important to us in our breeding program and the only way to know about the traits is to be with the horse.
As an athlete, Meinse competed at Training Level and won the class with a score of 72%. He is schooling at 3rd level at home and is working on learning flying changes. But on the temperament front, every person there commented on how sweet that stallion is. “He’s just like his daddy” was the comment over and over. The groom said “when he starts to go, he likes to go! Just like his father”. This is in speaking about his work ethic. I petted Meinse for a long time (they brought him out for me) and then stayed by his stall for 30 minutes or so. Sometimes stallions will ignore you or even move away to a corner. But he was just like his dad. He came over to the front of the stall by me and stood there the whole time, looking as if he really wished there were no grate there because he would love to be petted.
I am not sure if I’ll breed Cori to him, I need to do a little more research on the match. But I will say that this guy just stole my heart. And Heinse, when I see your boy I am thinking about you. I sure miss you.
Here is Meinse in his test from yesterday:
