Don’t Forget About The Stallion…

We all know a foal inherits 50% of its genetic make up from the sire and the dam, we constantly post about the foals and occasionally about the mares, I suppose because the foals are funny, unique and very NEW!

But, let us not forget our stallion DFR Patahas Redheart.

We have come a long way with Blu, from Switzerland at 6 months old in fact 🙂

Since his arrival Blu has been so easy to do, he’s kind and gentle, he has the most affectionate personality and that’s just a tiny contribute to his qualities as a stallion. His genetic make up is perfect for breeding and his one copy of cream adds the 50/50 chance of his foals being Buckskin or Smoky Black, not to mention his performance record in the ring!

His 2018 foal Ru has already won her first Championship and his 2019 crop are just quality with the same high level of intelligence with that soppy affectionate trait.

Blu was broken to ride earlier this year, although he turned 4 in January he needed something to focus on after the long winter, he was ridden away and took every day of learning as expected, not a bother or care in the world. None the less that doesn’t mean we are heading off in the ring under saddle, we like to give our horses time and time is what he shall have.

Out by day and in at night Blu is very chilled and enjoying a year off, time to grow mentally and physically.

He’s slightly run up at the moment in my eyes probably due to all the mares recently coming into season, we anticipate this cycle to continue unfortunately, well until our new paddocks are available, its a constant working progress here at Redheart Appaloosa Stud.

We are not breeding with him this year, we are a small stud that breed quality not quantity and we certainly don’t want a herd of young stock while the supply and demand is very unbalanced!

We are not allowed in the orchard with the horses, only for photo shoots 🙂
DRF PATAHAS REDHEART Sunday 23rd June 2019

Photography At It’s Finest…

If you work with animals and children then you will know you have to go with the flow…

They have their own minds and don’t necessarily understand what you want from them, so you have to wait and wait and wait!

So we waited, all we wanted was one picture of all four foals together.

Within an hour (that’s amazing) we got not what we asked for but for what we hoped for, four foals in a line.

Boom… The Redheart 2019 foals, not only in a line but in age order! Priceless

I’m not a photographer, I don’t pretend to be a photographer but I do like to capture images of my horses that speak volumes to the equine world!

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!