Appaloosas in Black & White…..

Something lovely about black and white photographs, especially when they have Appaloosas in them! Many thanks to Ben Lovegrove (our neighbour) who very kindly took some of the following photographs. A talented future photographer…

The beginning of 2017 has been the same as every New Year. Dark mornings, early dark evenings and a range of temperatures from minus 5 to 8 degrees.

The horses are out 24/7, as we seek approval on our planning application for a stable barn. They have thick muddy coats yet have a healthy shine, well they do say wellbeing comes from within!!

My Christmas present from my other half was a quad bike, feeding the horses has never been easier and it didn’t take long for them to realise the noise of the quad means food! Surprisingly the children show great willingness to help now.

Our newest addition to the herd, Myka has settled extremely well. At the bottom of the pecking order, she stays out the way of the older mares, very sensible filly although she plays a lot with Blanc which is lovely to see.

Our Swiss import, Blu is as quiet and friendly as the day he arrived, an absolute credit to the Foundation Appaloosa breed. We’re very satisfied to have him at the stud for our future breeding plan.

 

Our two-year-old filly Blanc is developing a cheeky yet adorable funny character. She makes a lot of funny faces and always seems very happy. She is very slowly maturing and until she grows out of this “unfurnished” state she won’t be entering the show ring anytime soon……

Ben….we adore Ben. Such a sweet kind colt yet quite insecure. He should mature over 16hh, therefore it’s going to take time for him to fill out but at the present moment in time, he’s looking rather well and conditioned.

   

Evee, after completing three years in the ring she now resides with the broodmares.  She is a very big strong mare,  with a leg in each corner. We aim to cover her with Blu later this year, planning on a black GAP 6 foal in 2018.

     

The main man…Reus. Full of character, highly intelligent, brave and very forward going since birth. I am looking forward to getting back on this boy! We finished riding him away as the nights drew in last year but hopefully we will find more time for him this year.

  

Our lovely PP, absolutely adorable in every way. In foal to Reus for an April colt? Let’s hope she passes on her LP gene because this boy will be for sale. Although if the sex scan was wrong, we would appreciate a non-characteristic filly!!!! Seriously, we only ever pray for healthy foals.

 

The best till last…Catori, a gorgeous horse inside and out. This mare understands me and our bond is strong. She’s current in foal, due April to Kiss My Finest Heart. This will be a full sibling to Reus and the late Easter. The suspense is unbearable as her sex scan proved 60% in favour of a colt, which will be for sale!

 

Foundations Appaloosas are very straight forward, Black & White……

The Past Is Now The Future…..

PEYRES CATORI CAT

      

PRINCESSE PASCALE

  

HEVANS EV CATORRIUS / REDHEART CATORRIUS

   

REDHEART PASCALIUS

   

REDHEART ROYALE

 

REDHEART REGAL

   

DFR PATAHAS REDHEART

   

CARICKS REDHEART

     

The past is now the future…

 

 

 

 

Pedigree’s and hypothetical mating’s…….

Redheart pedigree’s and hypothetical matings.

All Breed Database:

 

Broodmares:

PEYRES CATORI CAT

PRINCESSE PASCALE

REDHEART PASCALIUS

REDHEART REGAL

CARICKS REDHEART

Stallions:

HEVANS EV CATORRIUS / REDHEART CATORRIUS

REDHEART ROYALE

DFR PATAHAS REDHEART

2017 foals for sale

PRINCESSE PASCALE x HEVANS EV CATORRIUS

PEYRES CATORI CAT x KISS MY FINEST HEART

Hypothetical 2018 foals for sale

REDHEART PASCALIUS x DFR PATAHAS REDHEART *

CARICKS REDHEART x DFR PATAHAS REDHEART *

*Subject to Stallion Licensing

Keeping Calm, Nothing Stay’s The Same……

If you have moved house you know the stress levels, if you have moved farms, you know moving house is easy!

The Mares Paddock

Princesse Pascale and her daughter Redheart Pascalius

Peyres Catori Cat and her daughter Redheart Regal

 

 

The Colts Paddock 

Redheart Royal 

DFR Patahas Redheart

The Stallion Paddock

Redheart Catorrius / Hevans EV Catorrius

along with the “lawn mowers”, Catkin & Evan

Back up….

Ruby & Grace, “the security”.

Ink, the “hunter”.

Each paddock has at least two sides if not three surrounded by mature hedging and trees for shelter, the land has a slight gradient which should allow for adequate drainage and hopefully minimize poaching? See what the winter brings?

Just need to Keep Calm as nothing stay’s the same….

Colts or Fillies – 60 Day Sex Scans…….

Knowing the gender of a foal before it is born will help us manage several different aspects of our breeding program. In particular, we would like two non-characteristic (NC negative for the LP (Leopard Complex gene)) fillies to continue our breeding programme.

NC fillies will be perfect for our recent imported Stallion DFR Patahas Redheart (Blu) who is homozygous (LP/LP) for the Leopard Complex gene. Thus giving us a characteristic foal (LP/lp) 100% of the time with the advantage of his pedigree and statue.

The mares had their 60 day scans…..

Peyres Catori Cat (Catori) has been inseminated with Kiss My Finest Heart’s (Heart) semen.

60-day-scan-catorixheart

Catori and Heart are both LP/lp for the Leopard Complex gene, therefore we have 50% chance of a characteristic foal (LP/lp), 25% chance of few spot or snow cap foal (LP/LP) and 25% chance of a non-characteristic (lp/lp).

Princess Pascale (PP) has been inseminated with Hevans EV Catorrius’s (Reus) semen.

60-days-scan-ppxreus

PP is LP/lp and Reus is lp/lp for the Leopard Complex gene, therefore we have 50% chance of a non-characteristic foal (lp/lp) and 50% chance of a characteristic foal (LP/lp).

We have purposely increased our chances of non-characteristic foals this year by not using an LP/LP stallion but we have no control over the gender, it will always be 50 / 50!

The 60-day ultrasound identified both mares are carrying single live fetus which is obviously fantastic news. Eventually, the genital tubercle was located (both mares fetus were quite lively and it took a while to find the view required) didn’t help that both mare’s bladders were full either. The genital tubercle (which eventually will become the penis in a colt and the clitoris in a filly) develops on the midline of the fetus, between the hind legs. At around 55 days, the structure moves toward the umbilicus in a colt and toward the anus in a filly.

So, our wonderful Vet John Campbell (JC) gave us the news we didn’t want to hear….COLT’S!

On a serious note, we are grateful both mares are in foal, we are very grateful both fetus are “single” and “alive” and we only pray the gestation and births follow suit!

The advantage of knowing we might have colts (nothing is 100% guaranteed) is we can prepare to advertise and sell our Stallion (Reus) full brother and his first 100% FPD progeny out of PP. We also are able to either make plans for our NC filly foals in 2018 with the same mating’s or use Blu to create a GAP 6 with 100% success for characteristic foals to sell? Mmmmmm…..

Both mares were inseminated on the 6th May 2016 (“normal” gestation is 335 – 360 days, 342 days average) due date being April 16th 2017.

Let’s hope our news is wrong and those fetus were too quick for JC to accurately identify?

 

The Herd are Happy……..

The Bank Holiday weekend gave me time to capture some up to date pictures of the Herd…

Peyres Catori Cat aka Catori, confirmed in foal to Kiss My Finest Heart!

Catori and her 2015 foal are happy and confident to be separated but a great mates within the herd!

There is no doubt Catori remains at the top of the pecking order!

Redheart Regal aka Blanc is out of Peyres Catori Cat by  RDF Ti Kha Atta Rain, developing in to a fine filly!

Princesse Pascale aka PP, confirmed in foal to Hevans EV Catorrius!

 Redheart Royale aka Ben is out of Princesse Pascale by RDF Ti Kha Atta Rain, quite a character!

  

 Our imported future Stud DFR Patahas Redheart aka Blu is our DREAM!

MAY SUNSHINE 209

                    

Ben & Blanc

The Herd are HAPPY!