The Latest From the Ranch
& Foal Watch
by Gretchen

2005 News

 
Christmas, 2005
cloudy and balmy!

We have had the most wonderful Christmas here at the ranch! Full of family and fun! There is just nothing better than being able to spend time with your family, and we DO enjoy our time with each other, even though we see each other every day.

After some unusually cold and dry weather, it has been considerably warmer, with temps all the way up to 65 degrees this past week! The grass has grown noticeably with the warmer weather, and it has been much nicer to be outside, even if we have been getting wet from the rain.

We received the most AMAZING Christmas gift EVER, from our dear friend Leslie in Florida. It simply must be seen to be believed, but we have endeavored to photograph it to share with you.

It is the most BEAUTIFUL hand painted tile that we have ever seen!!!!!! And to have it be of our own ponies was just so exciting! (You should have seen us opening it! It was VERY well packed and we were all wondering aloud what it would be like -- I never could have imagined anything this spectacular!!!) On top are *Holyoake Anastasia and *Wedderlie Mardi Gras, then on the bottom left, a grey mare carrying the Welsh flag representing our band of beautiful broodmares, and *Cottrell Andromeda in the bottom right hand corner, with our Boston Terrier, "Minnie" in the middle!. It is truly astounding to see what an incredible job the artist did in capturing the very essence of these ponies. It is truly a remarkable piece, and we are carefully considering where to hang it to the best advantage (and where I can stare at it indefinitely, as I simply cannot take my eyes off of it!!!).

There are simply not words enough to say thank you for such a FABULOUS gift! It is certainly something that we will always cherish, both because it is so beautiful, but even moreso because of the friendship it represents. THANK YOU LESLIE. We count ourselves fortunate to have you among our friends.

November 18, 2005
Cold, overcast

We have exciting news!!!! We are so excited to announce the arrival of three *gorgeous* new faces here at Family Partners Welsh Ponies!!!


*Skellorn Mystical and *Skellorn Coral Rose
pictured as yearlings

Last year when we visited the UK, we fell in love with these two fillies from the Skellorn Stud. We are so excited that they are finally here to join our breeding program!

Both fillies are sired by the well known stallion, Skellorn Consort, who is full up 13.2 hands, and a proven sire of champions, both in-hand and performance, as well as being a multi champion, WPCS medal winning performance pony himself! Consort's offspring are especially well known and appreciated for their kind dispositions.

*Skellorn Mystical, a dark bay 2 year old, is the largest 2 year old we have ever seen. She has masses of bone and substance, as well as lovely Welsh type, with a beautiful head and very correct, balanced conformation. Mystical's dam, Polaris Genessa, was bred at the famed Polaris Stud, which was dispersed last year when the Countess of Dysert passed on.

*Skellorn Coral Rose, also a 2 year old, is nearly as big as her half sister, and looks a lot like her *fabulous* dam, who is without a doubt one of the best Section B mares I have ever seen. Skellorn Rose Princess won the Royal Welsh as yearling, was Youngstock Champion, won the Royal Welsh as a ridden pony, qualified for Olympia twice, won the International in hand and ridden on the same day -- a feat which has been accomplished by no other mare!

We are immensely grateful to our good friends at the Skellorn Stud for making it possible for these two fabulous fillies to come to the USA. They bring their wonderful and unique bloodlines, which add something different to the Welsh gene pool, and we are anxiously awaiting their future foals!

Also arriving home..... the beautiful *Hilin Eira! Eira is now a yearling, and we purchased her at the side of her dam at the 2004 Fayre Oaks sale (an event which you can read about on her page). Having not seen her for over a year, it was a nail biting moment when she came walking around the corner at the quarantine facility. She has matured BEAUTIFULLY. Beyond my expectations. I have seldom been more pleased with a youngster. She is very mature for her age, with size, substance, bone (she has gained a lot of bone!!) and yet still every bit as beautiful as I remembered her. In particular, I just LOVE her hindquarters -- they are LOVELY with the most beautiful hip and loin. She is truly exquisite. She would not be here without the help of our good friend Dewi Evans from the Hilin Stud, and we are very appreciative!!!

The Skellorn girls are now settled at their quarantine facility, and will be released on December 2nd. We eagerly await their "real" arrival home!

I hope to have new pictures of all three girls soon!


 

October 17, 2005
Fall is here!

Well, the summer seems to have vanished, and fall is in the air, complete with the brushing of yellow across the walnut orchard leaves. I spotted the first wild turkeys out there this morning, which undoubtedly means that the walnuts are beginning to fall. We've been having much cooler temperatures and rain, which is turning everything that misty green color that comes with the new grass growth.

We have had a lot going on, including two TERRIFIC shows! At the Pacific Coast Classic, *Wedderlie Mardi Gras was pinned as SUPREME CHAMPION under BOTH judges, with *Cottrell Andromeda pinned as Reserve Supreme Champion under the UK judge. Mardi was also chosen by both judges as Best In Show! It was very exciting!!! There are pictures of Mardi, Andy and Garland from the show on their respective pages.

Last night we returned home from the Halloween Haunt Fall Show in Paso Robles, CA. It is our very favorite show grounds, and we had a fantastic show! Mardi was pinned Supreme Champion and despite only being ridden twice since July, went on to win a 2nd place in a huge, and very competitive trail class, won good ribbons in big Western Pleasure classes (with Gary riding), then went on to win good ribbons, including a FIRST PLACE in English Pleasure, with Megan Blythe aboard! He looked absolutely wonderful, and it was a lot of fun to watch him go, as I am usually the one riding him! (I expect to have pictures of him under saddle to post as soon as I retrieve them from my camera!)

We finally had the vet out a couple of weeks ago to check our mares and see who is pregnant. With Gary's accident, it threw a huge wrench right in the middle of our breeding season, and so each mare was only covered once or twice during ONE cycle. Thanks to Mardi's impressive swimmers ;-) however, we had great results!!! Click to see our 2006 Expectations! Many of these foals will be for sale -- though we hope to keep a couple of fillies for showing and breeding.

That is all I have time for now! Stay tuned for other interesting updates in the month ahead!! ;-)

August 25, 2005
HOT

Well, it has been a long time since I have sat down here and updated the news page. The rest of the site has been kept up to date, but my spare time to sit down and update you all on the events of the summer has been sorely lacking.

We started off the show season with a bang, by hosting the West Coast Welsh Spring Show in nearby Roseburg, Oregon. It was a huge success with over 80 ponies in attendance and exhibitors from all over the west coast and Canada. We were very pleased that both judges chose *Wedderlie Mardi Gras as their Reserve Supreme Champion. *Holyoake Copper-Field and *Waxwing Garland also had a successful show and it was a lot of fun!

However, just weeks after the show, my husband, Gary, was in a terrible accident. Gary is a trainer, and as such, generally has a number of horses, ponies and cobs in for training. He had been sent a big Quarter Horse gelding in for a tune-up, and the owner had been less than honest about the horse's issues. The horse reared and came over backwards onto Gary, crushing him badly. He spent two rounds in the hospital and is still recuperating at this time. Unfortunately, this has thrown our whole year off, including our breeding season, and many of our mares have been bred much later than we had anticipated. We also have missed shows, so the whole season was just not what we had planned.

Gary should eventually make a full recovery, and is finally able to walk without limping (he was not able to walk at all for some time) and is back to riding and most of his regular farm duties.

It has been the hottest summer I remember here, and I am looking forward to fall and a bit of rain, as it is so dry at the moment.

We did make it to the Santa Barbara National Horse Show in July, where Mardi was Supreme Champion and the Ridden Pony Winner. It was a really fun show, a beautiful facility and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We have had some truly outstanding foals -- some where born while Gary was in the hospital, and so just today we are getting ready to get some real photos of some of them. It has been hard getting things back on track, but we are getting there!

We were truly amazed at what an incredible job Mardi did with the foals he produced from such a wide variety of mares. I feel very strongly that a stallion's worth is proven in the quality of his foals that he puts on the ground -- and you just could not ask for anything better. We look forward to (hopefully) many foals of our own from Mardi next year. Our 2005 Foals can be seen here.

We have some exciting new faces to look forward to here at the farm, so stay tuned for fall updates!

April 22, 2005
absolutely GORGEOUS weather!

BOY DO WE HAVE NEWS!!!!!

After keeping a secret since last fall.... the secret has finally arrived home!!! We are truly delighted to announce our importation of the spectacular Section B colt, *Cottrell Andromeda. "Andy" is a 2 year old, chocolate palomino and is truly one of the most stunning Welsh Ponies we have EVER seen! Click here for photos of him just minutes after he arrived on the farm!

This was (bar none) our most difficult importation, and nearly did not happen at all. Without the help of Peter Jones of PJ Exports, who really came through for us, we would not have been able to have the spectacular colt here on our farm! We had a VERY bad experience trying to use another importer when we thought Peter did not have a flight -- boy, was that a HUGE mistake!

Andy arrived on April 20, just five days after he flew into Los Angeles. This was the first time that we had one fly into the west coast, and it was wonderful to have him home so quickly!

In other exciting news, we had our first foal born early this morning! Bristol Safire is the proud new mother to a fabulous colt by *Telynau Jacobite. This is Safire's fourth colt, and I was SO hoping for a filly. This colt was EVERYTHING I had hoped for from the cross EXCEPT he is the wrong sex! At any rate, is so nice that I'm really not disappointed! Here are some pictures of him this afternoon on his first trip out of the stall at 12 hours old. Isn't he nice?!



He has the sweetest face and most beautiful head -- I'm also VERY impressed with his neck considering he is just a newborn. He is very substantial with tons of bone and substance.
I think he is going to be wonderful colt -- and he is BIG!

March 26, 2005
cold, cloudy, damp

Well, the "official" arrival of spring coincided with some much needed rain. We certainly enjoyed the very unseasonable warm weather we had for the latter part of the winter, but it was beginning to be very worrisome. While the rain we have had really does not do a lot for the extreme drought we are facing, it does at least keep the grass still growing.

We have had the pleasure of sharing in the excitement of our mare owners, as the first *Wedderlie Mardi Gras foals of 2005 begin arriving!

Jim and Melody Ashman in Utah have had a stunning Section B palomino filly with a blaze and four socks. The dam is their exceptional mare, *Millcroft Java, and I am very eagerly awaiting photos!
 
 
Deborah Baine in California is the proud new owner of a gorgeous (and very precocious!) palomino colt with a blaze and 2 matching hind socks from a Sport Pony mare. Deborah plans to retain her colt as a dressage prospect. Click here for pictures!
Barbara Edmonds here in Oregon e-mailed me this morning with the news that her beautiful little mare (unreg. Welsh x Shetland cross) had a beautiful chestnut Mardi filly last night. She has Mardi's big blaze and four socks -- and she is a knockout! Click here for pictures!

But wait, there's more!!!

Apparently Saturday was THE day for the Mardi babies to really arrive in full force! There were THREE all together that came on Saturday!
 
Melissa Roberts of Runaway Farms had a GORGEOUS bay filly with a blaze and socks, out of her lovely breeding stock Paint/American Sport Pony mare, Sophie. Click here for pictures!

 
Kim Holderfield in Florida gave me blow by blow reports on her mare all day Saturday.... Belle (a bay Thoroughbred) finally had her baby in the evening. This foal is EXACTLY what Kim had her order in for -- a palomino colt with a blaze and socks! Click here for pictures of this SENSATIONAL colt!

So here are the totals so far:
3 palominos
1 chestnut
1 bay
3 fillies, 2 colts
ALL have blazes and socks!!! Way to go Mardi!!!!


March 6, 2005
sunny and gorgeous!

Since the middle of January we have had the most unseasonably beautiful sunny weather!!! Oh yes, a few days here and there that were grey or wet, but mostly the weather has been truly wonderful!!! The nights are a bit foggy, and there are some low clouds in the morning, but those are usually gone by mid morning and then it is just lovely. It would be safe to say that we are genuinely getting spoiled by all of this beautiful weather! The grass is growing, the plum trees are blooming, as are the primroses, violets, camellia and daffodils! I love spring!

We eagerly are awaiting Bristol Safire's foal by *Telynau Jacobite, due the third week of April. That will be our first foal of 2005, followed by the rest of our foals, all due in May and June. Safire has had three colts in a row for us, so I am very much hoping for that long awaited filly.

We are, however, VERY pleased to congratulate Dr. James and Melody Ashman, who have the very first *Wedderlie Mardi Gras foal of 2005! Their beautiful Section B mare, *Millcroft Java, has had a gorgeous palomino filly with a blaze and four white socks! They are thrilled with the filly, and Dr. Ashman reports that she has an exquisite head with a teacup muzzle, small ears, a beautiful laid back shoulder and lots of bone. We are VERY much looking forward to seeing photos of her!

Mardi is currently being schooled under saddle and we are so pleased with his progress! Here are some photos of him snapped a few days ago. Please note that his rider is 6'6" tall!

January 23, 2005

At long last *Kenwood's Cadfridog and *Waxwing Garland have arrived!! It was a stressful project getting them home, but certainly well worth the effort as I am truly delighted with both of them.

Cadfridog is just lovely, and quite a bit cuter than I can do justice with in photos! He has mega personality and is adjusting to life in his new home. He has the most gorgeous head and neck -- I'll have to do better with photos soon!

Garland is simply exquisite -- I don't think I've ever seen another like her. Her movement is breathtaking... As Mardi was when he arrived, she is quite well aware of her position as royalty in the world of ponies, and is quite self assured.

I hope to capture some good photos of both Cadfridog and Garland in motion soon. The one day I went out with my camera they didn't do much -- mostly just a few slow trots across the pasture, interspersed with race horse gallops every now and then!!

We would like to extend our thanks to the Waxwing Stud and the Kenwood Stud for allowing us to purchase such outstanding ponies. I feel quite certain that both are going to have significant contributions to the Welsh gene pool in North America.

 

January 5, 2005
cold, cloudy

Happy New Year everyone!!! January has brought colder temperatures here at the ranch, but so far the snow has stayed up in the mountains where it belongs! The weather forecast is looking a little unpleasant at the moment, so I am still hoping that we do not get any snow!!

We brought all the mares and youngsters up to the barn on Monday to be wormed. The two foals that were born in September are still with their dams -- they are so unbelievably adorable in their VERY furry winter coats! I am SO pleased with both of them.

Yesterday's trip to the post office revealed a pleasant surprise! I received the Oregon Welsh Pony Society newsletter, and opened it to find wonderful and unexpected year end awards for our ponies!
*Wedderlie Mardi Gras was Reserve Champion Section B Stallion, and
*Holyoake Anastasia won:
Champion Section B Mare
Champion Adult English Pleasure
Reserve Champion Pleasure Driving
Reserve Champion Carriage Driving
AND Annie and 7 year old Anna won Champion in Leadline!! (They are also the 2004 Leadline Champions in California!!!)

I am SO proud of the accomplishments of these youngsters! Both just 3 year olds, they held their own against some of the nation's stiffest competition.

Today we received our certificates for our WPCSA wins -- again, terrific results!!!
For *Wedderlie Mardi Gras:
3rd Place Section B Stallions - Northwest Region
3rd Place Section B Stallions - Southwest Region
Top 10 Section B Stallions nationally!
For *Holyoake Anastasia:
Reserve Champion Section B Mares - Northwest Region
3rd Place Section B Mares - Southwest Region
3rd Place Adult Trail - Southwest Region
4 Place Adult Pleasure Driving Over 12.2-14.2 - Northwest Region
Top 10 Section B Mares nationally!
For *Holyoake Sucura, 
after attending just one show:
3rd Place Section B Fillies - Northwest Region

I am particularly proud of Anastasia's accomplishments in driving, as she has only ever been driven about a dozen times. She just really took to it and enjoyed it very much. She is our wonder pony!!!

We are still awaiting the arrival of *Kenwood's Cadfridog and *Waxwing Rose Garland. Their road transport was delayed and they are currently stranded at the transporter's home in Colorado in the midst of a snow storm!!! We are VERY anxious to get them home, and will post an update as soon as they arrive!!!