Redheart Regent Wins At Windsor…

We didn’t manage to get Regent to a show last year, he was sold but we bought him back when his new owner suddenly experienced a huge personal challenge. I did regret selling him in the first place but he was supposed to be a filly to be retained (because I ordered a filly 🙂 ) we have no use for a gelding in our breeding programme!  As time has gone by, we have grown very fond of Regent, maybe because we don’t know who his sire is (a very nice Spanish Stallion in Spain somewhere) and we feel sorry for him or is it the excitement of the unknown, or maybe because he’s just so perfect? Who knows but he’s very correct, has lovely paces and an adorable personality, a fine horse.

As he lives out with our other two-year-old gelding Reality, its taken time for his coat to come right for our first show of 2019 and we haven’t had time to do much with Regent because foaling duties took all of my time outside a full-time job during April but we did manage to squeeze in a few very late nights a few days running up to the show. A week prior to the show Regent looked ready for a fluffy coat competition!

All our horses load and travel from a very young age, I never have to worry about this, he was frequently bathed and trained as a yearling to walk, trot and stand in hand and all this stayed with him…

So his début outing was ROYAL WINDSOR, a huge equestrian event, a daunting experience for a baby and to be honest any first-time show can go either way, make no mistake if it had proved too much for him we would have happily put him back on the lorry and come home. Regent took the walk to the ring with eyes on stalks, he kept a little too close to me for reassurance but 20 minutes walking around the pre-ring he soon switched off in the company of a familiar sight – other Appaloosas.

His stride is big, he covers the ground and entering the ring with 13+ other horses we soon began to lap them at a gentle walk!

Separated into young stock and over 3-year-olds, Regent stood quietly in line although a few balloons and pushchairs with umbrellas did make him jump, a sneaky hand of grass sorted this out. His show was straight, calm and professional with a lovely extended trot, we felt great and the Judges comments were very flattering.

Into the Championship and what an absolute star, we came Reserve to an extremely well-known Multi Champion called Desired Edition, certainly an award that holds status.

Despite a blow out on the lorry and despite a two-hour journey home taking five hours due to the M4 closing two lanes, our Debut Outing with Redheart Regent was certainly a day to go down in history at Redheart Appaloosas.

 

 

Ghost’s Stiches OUT!

Well since Ghost’s accident her wound has healed really well, no discharge, limited swelling, no infection and today she gets her stitches out!

She hasn’t coped very well with box rest and although we’ve kept our pony in with her for company, all she’s wanted to do it be out with her friends! I don’t like keeping horses in, even through the winter months ALL the horses go out but on this occasion we’ve had to be cruel to be kind!

Fernando Bulnes takes Ghost’s stitches out…

Tidy job but we expect scar tissue, we are very grateful to Fernando for looking after our filly with continuous updates and checks we are even more thankful Ghost is a filly and a very well-bred filly at that because her show ring career is sure to be over before it’s began!

The 2019 Foals Genetic Results…Surprise Gene!

When breeding Appaloosas, part of the registration is parentage DNA testing. It involves pulling mane or tail hairs (with roots) and sending to an Animal Genetics Lab, the certificate is then sent with the registration documents and the results clarified with the dam and sire’s DNA on the breed association database.

For our own satisfaction, we like to know “for a fact” what Appaloosa genetics our foals have inherited. We requested the combination panel of Leopard Complex, Pattern gene, Base Colour, Cream and we decided this year to check for Dun!!!

So here are the results…

Redheart Relentless

Homozygous black (EE aa) few spot (LP/LP) colt with one copy of the Pattern gene (PATN1/patn1).

Redheart Rookie

Bay (EE Aa) with one copy of Cream (CR/cr) making her a Buckskin, she’s a few spot (LP/LP) with one copy of the Pattern gene (PATN1/patn1).

Redheart Revelation

Homozygous black (EE aa) with one copy of the cream gene (CR/cr) making her a smokey black near leopard filly. Heterozygous Leopard Print (LP/lp) and heterozygous Pattern  (PATN1/patn1).

Redheart Reflection

Bay (EE Aa) with one copy of cream (CR/cr) making him a buckskin leopard. He’s heterozygous  Leopard Print (LP/lp) and homozygous pattern (PATN1/PATN1). Reflection is the reason we chose to test for the Dun gene, his phenotype is quite unique in my mind and as it is with Appaloosas, they always surprise you!  Very much curiosity but the results proved his dam Caricks Redheart carries the gene nd1, a gene found in Dun’s that can show primitive markings (nd1/nd2) not to be confused with the Dun gene that affects colour dilution.

Now that’s a surprise!

April FOALS…

Well, what a month!

Two weeks (from the 15th to 28th April) we’ve seen the delivery of four healthy foals!

At 344 days Catori gave birth to an unusually marked few spot colt, six days later at 349 days PP gave birth to a buckskin few spot filly, which we will keep because the odds for another is quite high (50% filly, 50% buckskin and 50% homozygous). This is the 5th foal born at the stud on the 21st of April!

Another six days passed and we saw just before midnight the safe arrival of Evee’s first foal, a filly born at 333 days on Friday 26th. With what seemed like only a few hours sleep…we sat waiting and watching our second maiden Myka deliver her leopard colt at 355 days (just past midnight) on the 28th.

All our mares are exceptionally well and being great mothers to their foals, all the foals are healthy and have all straightened up and now running around the field.

To be honest, April has been a blur, there are many emotions of foaling but the best sight for any breeder is the view of two feet and a nose!

From the delivery, the foals all managed to latch on and all the mares passed the placenta (all intact). We do consider ourselves very fortunate especially seeing what unfolded before us!!!

 

Redheart Reflection

Please see each page for more information…

April madness!

You Can’t Wrap Them In Cotton Wool…

Horses are horses and we can’t wrap them in cotton wool although we do try so hard to prevent injury’s! Accidents happen no matter what!

Ghost our new filly has settled well, she’s been accepted within the herd and now plays with Regent and Reality but and it’s a big BUT on this occasion their playing has caused great upset at Redheart Appaloosas!

One of the boys has caught Ghost’s leg hind leg, a wound that I have seen many times before and I know it’s not a good!
Despite little sleep as we have tended to Princesse Pascale and her new arrival, we loaded Ghost at first sight of this wound and headed off to Three Counties Equine Hospital.

At this point we didn’t know if the injury had affected the tendon sheath, she wasn’t lame so this was a blessing, all we could do was clean it, bandage it and let the professional deal with it.

Thankfully Ghost is a very sensible filly, she loaded and was a dream for the Vet and staff which makes the process so much easier to deal with.

It wasn’t long before the good news came, the injury hadn’t interfered with the tendons. She was stitched up and brought back home on strict box rest.


A very tidy stitch up by Fernando Bulnes MRCVS, 

We have a long journey ahead of us but we will do our best…

Are we due the 5th foal to be born On The 21st April?

Princesse Pacale – 348 days gestation

Our lovely mare known as PP, is huge, she always carries very low and she has had enough…

Her udder is ready to burst with milk, her pelvic ligaments have certainly slackened off and her vulva is elongated and swollen. She certainly is ready but the foal is obviously not!

Tomorrow is the 21st April, we have seen four foals previously born on this day and by no means were any of them due!

Peyres Catori Cat delivered Easter at 342 days and Regent at 348 days, Princesse Pascale delivered Ben at 346 days and Evee at 336 days.

Will we see our second DFR Patahas foal tomorrow? 

 

 

Our First Appaloosa Foal 2019 – WOW

Well, what can we say…

Peyres Catori Cat and DFR Patahas Redheart have created a beautiful healthy colt born early hours of Monday 15th April 2019 and what a striking foal that proceeded to unfold before my eyes!

 

   

Named RELENTLESS by my eldest daughter due to his relentless efforts trying to get up before he was actually full-out of the mare (quite scary as we quickly removed his hind legs from Catori for fear of him damaging her inside).

        

We are unsure if he’s inherited the cream gene from his, he could be a black or smokey black few spot, we also can not tell if he has one or two copies of the pattern gene so we will definitely test him but we will wait until all our foals are born as these features are not obvious to the eye.

Appaloosa Horse Club Register of Merit (R.O.M) 2018

We were presented with a Register of Merit (R.O.M) certificate for Reus and his son Reality at the Appaloosa Horse Club UK Annual General Meeting yesterday.

Hevens EV Catorrius’s (Reus) achievement reflected his success in his first year under saddle for Western Pleasure.

        

Redheart Reality out of Peyres Catori Cat by Hevans EV Catorrius

Reality’s achievement reflected his success in his first year in hand for Halter.

We are very proud…

Appaloosa Mares Nightlife…

Our four broodmares

They are all showing the right signs for foaling, some more than others but one thing we religiously do is watch them closely.

Our two broodmares Catori and PP (bottom left and right) are 342 and 341 days gestation. Our maiden mares Myka and Evee (top left and right) are 340 and 320 days gestation.

They’re all in a similar routine and enjoy a lie down for a few hours before midnight!