The Latest From the Ranch
& Foal Watch
by Gretchen
April 5, 2008
cold and rainy

WELCOME TO THE USA!!!!

*Eyarth Eragon
(Carwood Orpheus by Carwed Charmer x Eyarth Zsa Zsa)
2007 Section B Welsh Pony colt

For many years we admired the get of the famous Eyarth Zsa Zsa: Royal Welsh Champion Eyarth Rio (herd sire at the Telynau Stud), Royal Welsh Champion Eyarth Beau Geste (sire of our *Wedderlie Mardi Gras and herd sire at the Waxwing Stud), Royal Welsh winner Eyarth Mowgli, Royal Welsh winner Eyarth Sophia, many time champion Eyarth Tomahawk and many more.... In our eyes, Zsa Zsa is one of the greatest producing Section B mares of all time.

When we had the pleasure of visiting the Eyarth Stud in the hills of North Wales in 2004, I asked Jessie to be on the waiting list for a foal from Zsa Zsa, who was 21 years old at the time. At that time, I thought there was little chance it would ever come to pass -- though I certainly hoped! This past summer, I recieved a most welcome e-mail from Jessie and Joe informing me that Zsa Zsa had had a lovely colt and was I interested in purchasing him...... well, we did!! And he arrived this past Friday -- and he is even better than we had anticipated!

What a TREASURE he is, and we look forward to his great contribution to the Welsh gene pool in North America. Thank you Jessie and Joe for entrusting us with Zsa Zsa's last foal. We could not be happier to have him. We offer our deepest condolences on the recent loss of Zsa Zsa -- truly one of the Great Ones and truly the end of an era....


Eyarth Zsa Zsa
1983-2008
 

We also are thrilled to welcome
*Mynach Miss Daisy
(Eyarth Beau Geste x Mynach Mimosa)

In 2006 and 2007 a most stunning Section B filly was shown at the Royal Welsh. We were completely smitten by Mynach Miss Prim, who was pinned Reserve Supreme Champion in top company, and twice Youngstock Champion. I don't know when I've ever seen a filly that beautiful. Just breathtaking. I suggested (repeatedly) to Tom Best at Waxwing that she might like to come live in America, but despite my suggestions, she remains in Scotland! However, Tom graciously offered us the 2007 filly from the same cross, and in our continued quest to bring TOP quality Section B females to our breeding program, Miss Daisy has arrived!!!

A daughter of the great Royal Welsh Champion Eyarth Beau Geste, she is ultra typy with an exquisite head and neck, huge, deep body and huge hindquarters. She is also quite a LOVELY mover! We are VERY smitten with her, and offer our heartfelt thanks to her breeder Miss Margaret Gethin, and Tom Best and David Blair at the Waxwing Stud for choosing us as her new owners. We hope that this spectacular filly does all of us proud here in the USA!
 

The importing this time around was a bit of a challenge, with moments of despair that the ponies would ever come home, thrown in for good measure. But at long last they are here.... and so much better than I could have even hoped for. They were most definitely worth the wait!!!

We will have updated photos of the new faces here as soon as they don't look like they were just drug all the way around the world and back! They are quite spectacular in person!

In the meantime, I have new photos of our two new foals!

The filly, Clanfair Keepsake, *Wedderlie Mardi Gras x *Holyoake Sonique, at 2 days old.
Click here for more photos!

The colt, *Wedderlie Mardi Gras x Akasha Cream, at 3 days old:
Click here for more photos!

April 3, 2008
sunny and beautiful!

What a beautiful day for a new baby!!!

*Holyoake Sonique presented us with an absolutely darling chestnut filly -- her THIRD filly! -- by *Wedderlie Mardi Gras. She is SUCH a doll!!!! And she was born at the very polite time of 1 pm!

Here is a screen capture from our web cam of her napping. Pictures to follow soon!

April 2, 2008
sunny

We are delighted to welcome a beautiful chestnut Section B colt by *Wedderlie Mardi Gras and out of Akasha Cream. This lovely boy came all chromed up with a big blaze and three tall stockings!

Akasha had made a huge jump in her milk test number last night -- more than any mare I've ever tested -- so I ended up waiting up all night thinking "any minute". She finally had him at 5:55 am this morning! It was a long night!

He's lively and adorable and already has Mardi's pretty neck. I expect him to be a nice mature size at 13.1 to 13.2 hands. :-)

Name suggestions would be VERY welcome!!!!! I am drawing a complete blank on this one!!

Here he is at 5 hours old. :-)


March 16, 2008
wet

Today we bid farewell for the show season to Clanfair All About Me, who will be spending the summer showing on the east coast with Maye Show Ponies. We have long wanted to send a pony to them, but just didn't have the right one -- until now. We hope she will be very successful with the Mayes, but boy are we going to miss her! The barn feels very empty already...... If you see her at any of the Welsh shows in the east this season, please give her a kiss on the nose from me!

In preparation for her trip, we took some photos yesterday in between rain showers. She is still growing and maturing, though I am extremely pleased with how she looks. She was a July foal, so is at a slight disadvantage over the earlier youngsters. However, she is a lovely, lovely girl, and exactly what I look for in an ideal Section B female.

In my batch of photos, I noticed a shot, which looks soooo similar to a picture I took of her sire, *Wedderlie Mardi Gras, sometime back. Can't you see the family resemblance??!!

March 9, 2008
Beautiful and sunny!

Lots of catching up to do!

Though the first day of spring has not yet officially arrived according to the calendar -- it is most definitely spring here in Oregon!!! The grass is lush and green, the sun is shining and the ponies are shedding like CRAZY!!

I took these pictures of *Holyoake Anastasia out enjoying the sunshine a few days ago. She has shed her winter coat so quickly that she hasn't grown in her summer coat everywhere yet!

Since I got a new camera in the fall, I've just been itching for better weather to take pictures in! So Annie got to be the photo subject for the day! I'm trying to get my new camera figured out so that I can impress you with my photo skills when the new foals arrive!! ;-)

Speaking of new foals -- *Wedderlie Mardi Gras' second foal of the season has arrived! A beautiful chestnut filly out of a Thoroughbred mare. Her name is Tuesday Morning, and we think you'll agree with us that she is absolutely lovely! Here she is at just a couple of days old -- and doing that "Mardi pose" already! Congratulations to the Perrys at St. Louis Equestrian Center!!! They are soon expecting a second Mardi Gras foal -- we can't wait to see what they get!!

In mid February, when the weather here was still "so-so", we headed to sunny Stockton, California for the Welsh Pony & Cob Society of America Annual General Meeting and awards presentations. WHAT FUN!!! We had an absolutely fantastic time visiting with all of the pony folks from all over the country! There are so many really wonderful people in our breed. It was a great break from the farm work to get away and enjoy ourselves for a few days. And it sure didn't hurt to have Mardi Gras being named National Champion and receiving our awards! Lots of fun!!!

At the beginning of February, I went and took one of the wonderful reproduction seminar weekends from the great people at Equine-Reproduction.com. I had taken one of their weekends before, but it was super to go again and refresh my memory and hear all the latest. It is a super information packed weekend, and I found that taking it a second time was well worth it, as I think I suffered from information overload at times the first time around! If you ever have the opportunity to take one of their seminars -- whether you are a mare owner or stallion owner -- it is WELL worth the time! Highly recommended!!!

I had been a bit worried about the drive from our farm in Oregon, down to the reproduction seminar in California, as we had had a LOT of snow (for us!) in the days previous. In all the years we've lived here, we've never had this much snow! And it just kept coming down! Mardi Gras had a chance to do double duty, and was in charge of pulling the feed wagon down to feed the mares and fillies -- a job he definitely enjoyed! Here are some photos of him working in the snow! Yes, even National Champions have to work for a living. ;-)

We are now coming to MY favorite time of year: FOALING SEASON!!! We have a number of mares in foal, the first of which is due on April 1st. Mardan Gypsy Rose is first up, and she is HUGE! But then she always is! She has big, fancy foals, and we are looking forward to seeing what she produces for us this year. We have retained her previous two -- but plan on offering the 2008 model for sale. Also due in the same time frame is Akasha Cream. She is the dam of the cremello filly we had in 2006, Clanfair China Doll, and the 2007 chestnut filly, Clanfair Make A Wish. Fingers crossed for a keeper filly this time!

Our beautiful *Skellorn Chantilly Lace was checked in foal twice, spring and summer, last year, but looks suspiciously "not fat enough" to me. It is actually hotly contested in our household as to whether or not she is still in foal. She would be due March 29 -- but I just don't think she looks big enough. Gary, on the other hand, thinks she does, so when the vet comes back from vacation, we will have to confirm!

To see who all is expecting this year, we invite you to visit our Great Expectations page! All of our 2008 foals are by *Wedderlie Mardi Gras.

January 25, 2008
COLD

It has been very, very cold here, with some days not even getting above freezing. I know if you live in one of those "cold climates" you're probably snickering -- but we think that is pretty cold in these parts!!! Icy water troughs, hoses and buckets, cold fingers and toes and dreams of spring!

But spring isn't too far off now -- "our" first foal of the year has arrived for one of our mare owners! Our biggest congratulations to Lisa Love on the birth of a beautiful palomino colt! Lisa has big plans for this little guy -- and we are all very excited about him!


Here is "Puppy Love" on his very first morning -- around 12 hours old

December 30, 2007
cold and very WET

As 2007 draws to a close, I've been reflecting over what a truly GREAT year it was! We were blessed with absolutely stunning foals, wonderful buyers, wonderful mare owners and a SUPER successful show season!
 

We ended the year with our Section B Welsh Pony stallion, *Wedderlie Mardi Gras, as National Champion for 2007!!! WHAT a year! We have been hard at work creating a brand new page of Mardi's 2007 show season in pictures and videos! We invite you to come and see -- but be ready -- there are LOTS of pictures, so it does take some time to load -- but is well worth it! CLICK HERE!
In addition, Mardi's yearling daughter, Clanfair All About Me, ended the year Nationally ranked in the top 5, and Reserve Champion for the Southwest Region, as well as Northwest Region 3rd Place for Section B fillies! MeMe did not make it to every show, so we were very pleased!
Clanfair Autograph, All About Me's baby brother, (owned by Sterling Creek Welsh - pictured here at 10 weeks old) ended the year with very limited showing as 2007 Section B Colts Southwest Region Reserve Champion! Congratulations Kim!

Photos by Mindy Cavalleto
Clanfair Frostfire, also a yearling, ended the season in the National Top 10 and Northwest Region 4th Place Section B colts with limited showing! Frosty was mostly showing against older ponies, so we were very happy with his results, which included Reserve Junior Champion at the Western Nationals!
Goldhills Make Believe Princess (Tiara), yearling, owned by Dr. Carrie MacWhorter ended her season in the National Top 10 and Southwest Region 3rd place and Northwest Region 4th place. Congratulations Carrie!
Tiara's baby brother, Goldhills Master Bronze, a foal of 2007, was Southwest Region 4th place after only attending two shows. Congratulations to Goldhills Welsh!
Bourbon Street Royalty, a half Welsh filly foal of 2007, finished the year as Half Welsh Colts/Fillies North Central Region Champion and in the 2007 National Top 10 with very limited showing! Congratulations to Kim and Mike Lintner!

What a great year! We really had a lot of fun! We are next looking forward to attending one of Equine-Reproduction.com's GREAT repro courses in Sacramento at the beginning of February, for a refresher, then WPCSA AGM in Stockton, California later in February. It will be a nice way to break up the winter and see our pony friends!


 

December 9, 2007
cold

We welcomed a new arrival at 11:30 pm this brisk, cold evening!!

Yearling Section B filly Smoke Tree Mimosa arrived at our farm tonight, from Kathy Reese at Smoke Tree in Arkansas. Thank you Kathy, we are thrilled!!!


Mimosa is by the beautiful imported *Bunbury Jamboree, and out of Smoke Tree Blame It On Tequila.

Thank you also to Steve at Flying Bar M for doing yet another excellent haul for us.
If you are looking for a transporter, we cannot recommend Steve highly enough. He is wonderful and his prices are excellent!

October 1, 2007
cool, damp, cloudy

Well, fall is definitely in the air here, and I hadn't realized how long overdue an update was!!! We have been having cool, rainy weather -- no indian summer here! The leaves are turning on the walnut orchard, as well as the other trees. We've been extremely busy with farm chores and work, as well as scurrying all over the country to shows here, there and everywhere!

We have had several really GREAT shows this season!!!

Since our last update, *Wedderlie Mardi Gras has attended several shows and has come home with some wonderful winning ribbons!
At the Columbine Summer's End show in Colorado, Mardi was pinned Supreme Champion and Best In Show under judge Eric Caleca! Here are some of shots of Mardi showing in Colorado. The lighting and angle were not the best....


We then attended the Brookside Welsh Show and American Nationals down in Elk Grove, California. Know for the scorching hot temps and not enough shade, the show and facility were true to form, though we had a good time anyway. Mardi was pinned Grand and Supreme Champion under judge Susan Stepney, who also chose *Holyoake Anastasia as her Champion Section B mare. We were thrilled! We also brought along Anastasia's 2007 colt, Clanfair Autograph, and he had an incredible show for a 10 week old foal showing against yearlings and 2 year olds, ending with being pinned Reserve Junior Champion at the American Nationals! It was very exciting!

I unfortunately did not get ANY pictures taken when we were at the Brookside show, I have recently taken new pictures of Autograph, which can be seen on his page! We are very pleased that he has been sold to Kim Boyd at Sterling Creek Welsh as a future show pony and herd sire. We could not think of a better home for him, and wish her much success. He is a very, very hard one to let go, but we cannot think of anyone more perfect for him.

Then Mardi headed off to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the Central Nationals, held during the Tulsa State Fair! It was a long trip, but fortunately was uneventful. Gary drove, and our 16 year old son, Charlie, served as groom and moral support! Gary reported that Charlie did an absolutely fantastic job getting Mardi ready for his classes. Mardi had another GREAT show, winning his class, the stallion championship and GRAND CHAMPION Section B! Tulsa is the largest and most competitive show in the country, so we were very excited to have him do so well amongst top quality competition!

Our friend Alison Ruhe, who is an amazing photographer, took these amazing shots of Mardi at the show. Thank you Alison for sharing your talent with us!

One of the other west coast Section B stallions that came to Tulsa also -- and everyone thought that "snorty stallion pictures" were about to be in the making. Instead, Mardi and Mo decided they absolutely loved each other, and here is the beautiful result! (Mardi has the wider blaze in the photos.)




Mardi is on the left in this shot -- aren't these beautiful pictures?!

THANK YOU Alison!!!

August 9, 2007

Congratulations are in order!!!

We would like to congratulate Kim and Mike Lintner, on the success of their *Wedderlie Mardi Gras filly, Bourbon Street Royalty, at her first show! At not quite 5 months old, "Lucy" as she is known around the barn, was pinned first in her class under both judges, then went on to be Grand Champion Half Welsh, again, under both judges at the gold rated Heartland Welsh Show! Congratulations!!!

Here are some recent photos of Lucy that Kim was was kind enough to share with us!

July 7, 2007

Mardi does it again!!!!

We have just returned from the Santa Barbara National Horse Show, held, as the name might imply, in beautiful Santa Barbara, California, during this past week.

This show is at the very TOP of my list for sheer entertainment value, as it is held at the same time as a good sized gaited horse show. So there are Saddlebreds, Hackneys, Pasos, Tennessee Walkers, etc., along with some spectacular Friesians showing each day in many different classes -- under saddle and in harness. When we were not participating in or watching the Welsh show, we hurried over to the other arena to see the other breeds show. It is such a different scene than the Welsh, that I find it HUGELY fascinating. It is just incredibly different with the emphasis on completely different qualities than what we look for in our performance ponies!

We had a truly wonderful, memorable show at Santa Barbara. It is an extremely well run, professional show, and everything went very smoothly. Our *Wedderlie Mardi Gras thrilled us again, winning his stallion class, double Champion Stallion, double Grand Champion Section B and then going on to be Supreme and Reserve Supreme Champion!!!

Mardi was also the Ridden Pony winner, and the Ridden Champion. It was a lot of fun!

Unfortunately I never was able to connect with the photographer about which photos I wanted to order, so here are a couple of captures from my camcorder. I unfortunately was too busy getting ponies ready to video our classes, so this was all I ended up with!

Our Mardi yearlings also had a good show, though unfortunately there were not enough youngsters to split the yearlings and two year olds, so there were no Junior Championships offered. Clanfair Frostfire was double 2nd in his class -- behind a lovely 2 year old colt and Clanfair All About Me was double seconds in her very competitive class of seven 2/under B fillies, of which she was one of only 2 yearlings. I was very, very pleased with her placing, considering she was just one day shy of her first birthday and the other fillies she was showing against are all lovely, and very well grown.

It was a long, long hot trip down -- 14+ hours on the way down, 13 hours on the way home, but the temps were even hotter, scorching at well over 100 degrees on the way home. But it was thankfully uneventful! Now to answer the piles of e-mails and phone calls that came while we were gone for so many days!

June 23, 2007
cool, partly cloudy/sunny

We have just returned home from two back to back shows -- the 37th annual Oregon Welsh Pony Society Show and the 2007 Western Nationals! It was a LOT of work to do two shows back to back -- and we are exhausted, but it was WELL worth it, as we had a great time and the ponies did VERY well!!!! The competition was quite intense, with big, VERY competitive classes of some really top ponies. The shows were also very well attended, and I heard that there were 153 ponies and cobs there!

We are absolutely thrilled to report that at the OWPS show *Wedderlie Mardi Gras was pinned as Stallion Champion, Grand Champion Section B and Res. Supreme Champion! Then, he did it again at the Western Nationals, winning Champion & Reserve Stallion, Grand Champion Section B and Res. Supreme Champion! It was quite a thrill! He looked wonderful and we have noticed that he is moving the best he EVER has in his entire life. Quite unfortunately I left the video camera at home, so I don't have any clips to share, but I will plan on getting some new moving footage of him very soon. I promise, it will knock your socks off!!! ;-)

Mardi's 11 month old daughter, Clanfair All About Me, out of *Holyoake Anastasia, brought home two first place ribbons, two second place and two Res. Junior Champion! We were VERY happy with her, as there was a lot of very nice competition and she is still a bit behind the others in size and maturity, as she is a July foal. However, she garnered a lot of positive comments and one judge noted that she is quite the image of her sire at nearly the same age!

Clanfair Frostfire, a yearling Mardi colt out of Clanfair Alana, also won two first place ribbons, two second place and two Res. Junior Champion! We were SO happy with him! He was such a good boy, and is a lot of fun to show, as he sets up very easily then stands absolutely still for the judges! We heard the same comments about him over and over -- about how big and nice he is! He really is a big colt -- I need to measure him -- I think he must be at, or very close to, 13 hands already!

We have photos on order from the show photographer and will update with them once they arrive! In the meantime, here is Mardi Gras showing off one of his wins at the show!

June 16, 2007

Our last foal of the season has arrived and foal watch is offcially over for 2007!!!

*Wedderlie Mardi Gras and *Holyoake Anastasia have given us the most stunning colt imaginable!!!!!!!! He is chestnut, with a big blaze, two front 3/4 stockings and two rear stockings. He has the longest, prettiest, most well shaped neck I've EVER seen on a newborn. He is absolutely phenomenal and we are THRILLED with him!!! Here are a couple of photos at 2 days old:


Click here for more photos!
We are still working on a name for him -- it needs to start with the letter "A" -- any ideas?

June 4, 2007
warm, overcast, a bit humid, rainy

NEWS! NEWS! NEWS! We have news!!!

We just returned home in the wee hours of the morning from the Santa Lucia Welsh Pony Association's Summer Gold show in Paso Robles, California, where they had record attendance! It was a FUN show -- as they always are down there. The weather was perfection, the company was great, the show ran smoothly and we had a wonderful time!!!

Of course the highlight of our show was *Wedderlie Mardi Gras being pinned, Supreme Champion, which had followed him winning Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion, preceded by him being pinned Champion Stallion and Reserve also! VERY exciting!!! Here are some photos I took of him displaying his winning sashes!


We also brought Mardi out in harness, for the first time since he was a 3 year old. We never have driven him beyond "pretty green", and had only driven him once in the past year, so we were very, very pleased with his performance. On top of that, I drove him myself, and that was about the 5th time I'd EVER handled the reins for driving in my entire life -- and I'd never driven him before! But oh boy, what a THRILL it is to be sitting behind the most gorgeous, HUGE moving powerhouse of a golden pony! Though we did not garner the top ribbons, we had a blast, and I now know what I'm going to be working on at home! It was SO much fun, and Mardi got some great comments from fellow exhibitors and spectators, which were much appreciated! It was a lot of fun for me to go out and try something new that I had never done before. And you couldn't wipe the grin off my face when we won a 2nd in one of the Pleasure driving classes! I've never been so happy with a red ribbon!

Though the lighting and shape of the arena made it difficult to get any really GOOD pictures, nonetheless, here we are in harness, and some video clips too!



Video Clip 1 ~ Video Clip 2 ~ Video Clip 3

We also took our Mardi Gras yearlings, Clanfair Frostfire and Clanfair All About Me. It was a lot of fun to get the Mardi babies out and about. Again, the lighting and position of the arena made it hard to get good pictures, but we did get just a few!
 

Frosty did well, and showed nicely -- better yet, he was on perfect behavior. Can't beat that for a yearling colt! He took the whole show scene right in stride -- what a good boy! He placed 1st and 2nd in the 2 and under Section B colts class! He is a VERY nice colt, and we are offering him for sale. I'd love to see him go to a show home!
All About Me -- or "MeMe" as she is known around the barn, was one of just two yearlings in a big and extremely competitive class of 2 and under Section B fillies. She is not quite 11 months old, and being a late foal, has a bit of catching up to do to the other older ponies. However, she is really coming into her own, and I expect that towards the middle to end of the season, things are really going to heat up for her in the show ring as she catches up in maturity! 

At this show, she placed 2nd and 3rd, which I was extremely pleased with, given the quality, quantity and age of her competition. Her 3rd place ribbon was just behind another yearling Mardi Gras filly, Goldhills Make-Believe Princess, who is owned by Carrie MacWhorter.

We were on our way home from the show on Sunday evening when my mom called me to tell me that we had a new baby while we were gone!!! The beautiful imported mare, *Skellorn Mystical, has delivered a STUNNING and BLINGED UP chestnut colt, by Mardi Gras, with an incredible blaze and tall stockings! He is absolutely STUNNING and is one of the nicest foals we have ever had. I had been very excited about this cross, but this colt definitely exceeded my expectations!

Here he is at a day old! We think you will agree that he is VERY special! And he is EVER so sweet!!!

When I was out and about this morning looking at the babies since I had been gone for a few days, I snapped these pictures of two of our other foals. I am quite delighted with both of these babies! We are still debating on names for both of them.

Section B filly

*Wedderlie Mardi Gras x *Skellorn Coral Rose

Photo at 6 days old. This is the most gorgeous, elegant filly EVER! She's going to be a phenomenal performance pony!!!
Section B colt

Northwinds Haakin x *Russetwood Romance

Here he is at 13 days old. SUCH a cutie and so much personality!

This little guy is our "bonus baby" for the year, as we purchased his dam in foal a few weeks before he was born.

We are now waiting on our last two foals of the year -- from *Holyoake Anastasia and Goldhills Imagine That. They will both reach 340 days on June 23, however, we are finding that so far ALL of our Mardi Gras foals have arrived early, with the exception of one who arrived on his due date. We have Imagine That in the foaling stall now, as she is a maiden mare. She has a huge bag, but not enough milk yet to test. The little bit we did get looks like she isn't ready yet. Anastasia has plenty of milk for a test, but is not even measuring on the Chemetrics scale yet, so obviously she isn't ready. But she is as big as a house! Can't wait to see what we have from these girls! This will be Annie's third foal from this fabulous cross.

We are faced with some extraordinarily difficult decisions about which foals to keep and which to sell this year. I look at all of them and can think of a really darn good reason to keep each one, but practicality dictates that we simply cannot keep everything we produce. I guess we have finally "arrived" at where I want to be with our breeding program when I think every foal is good enough to desperately want it myself!!!

Check back for foaling news, which will be posted as soon as the babies arrive!!
 


 

May 29, 2007

We have another new baby! This time a palomino filly by *Wedderlie Mardi Gras, and from the beautiful imported mare *Skellorn Coral Rose. She is absolutely gorgeous and we are thrilled! This is Coral Rose's first foal, and she is an excellent mother. We are so happy to see what a wonderful foal she has produced. With her sire at 13 hands and dam at 14 hands, we expect her to finish right on at 13.2 hands. This filly is big, super elegant, super typey -- pretty much everything you could want in a Section B Welsh Pony!

Here she is on her first turnout at 2 days old:

May 25, 2007

Not only do we have a new baby, we also have a new mare!!!

We are absolutely delighted to welcome the imported mare *Russetwood Romance to our group of outstanding mares! She is a fantastic addition! She was originally imported from Wales by Judy Felbel at Northern Cross Farms in Canada, and we are very grateful to Judy for allowing us to purchase this outstanding mare.

Romance is a daughter of the world renowned Rotherwood State Occasion, and a daughter of Eyarth Gigi, herself a medal winner and Royal Welsh prizewinner. Gigi is also a full sister to many of the most famous mares at the Eyarth Stud, most notably, Eyarth Zsa Zsa, who is the dam of both Eyarth Beau Geste and Eyarth Rio.

She arrived in foal to Northwinds Haakin, who is by *Rotherwood Crown Prince (deceased) and out of *Belvior Mirabelle, a daughter of Weston Neptune!

Romance has given birth to the most delightful palomino colt on May 22nd. He has a huge blaze and four very tall stockings -- the front ones come up over his knees! He is absolutely lovely and we are very excited to see him mature. You can see more pictures of him by clicking here!

Next on foal watch is *Skellorn Coral Rose. She is "technically" due June 4, but I keep going back and forth between thinking she will foal soon and she will foal late. I guess it remains to be seen!

I took some new pictures of our older foals a few days ago. You can go to the 2007 Foals page and follow the links from there. They are wonderful!!!

May 3, 2007

We have a new baby!!! Clanfair Alana has given us a beautiful buckskin colt by Mardi Gras with a conservative blaze and four little whites. This is our very first buckskin foal ever, however he is definitely going to turn grey!!!

He was born last night, I *think* just a few minutes after midnight -- or maybe it was a minute before, or maybe it was right AT midnight -- I'm just not sure, as I was so taken with dealing with his birth that I forgot to look at my watch. At any rate, it was VERY close to midnight, and we are going to call his birthday May 3!

Click here for photos!

May 2, 2007
cold, rainy, windy, sunny (if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes)

Please join us in welcoming Clanfair Malibu Barbie!!!! She arrived at 4 am on May 1st, a palomino filly with chrome by *Wedderlie Mardi Gras and out of one of our favorite mares, *Holyoake Sonique. She is absolutely exquisite!!! A full sister to last year's Clanfair Martina. We are absolutely delighted with her!

Here she is at 1 day old!

We are now waiting on Clanfair Alana (Bristol Houdini x Alvesta Adora Belle), who tested last night at 350 on the Chemetrics test (that is VERY high!!!) and we hoped she would go last night, but instead she preferred to keep us awake! Today she has tons of wax and is streaming milk. It can't be long now!

April 17, 2007

On her due date, no less, Bristol Safire has just presented us with an exquisite colt. We had hoped for a filly, but it is hard to be disappointed with a foal of this quality. I'm not sure yet whether he is bay or liver chestnut. I think bay, but it is hard to say for sure, as he is not completely dry. He might grey, but again, not sure. He has a small star and a bigger snip, as well as three white socks. He was born at 9:15 pm, just as my mom and I were instant messaging that she was NEVER going to foal.

Safire's Chemetrics number last night was at 350 -- which is the highest any of our mares have ever gone. By tonight it was in between the 350 and 500 lines, and she had an enormous bag and lots of wax.

I will update with pictures tomorrow!

Here he is at 22 hours old on April 18!
He is definitely going to stay bay!

Click here for more photos of Clanfair Ace of Diamonds

April 14, 2007
rainy

While I am home on foal watch, Gary and *Wedderlie Mardi Gras are down in California today for the first show of the season. I am VERY pleased to report that Mardi is coming home with the Supreme Champion honors! What a lovely start to the show season!!!

We are thrilled with *Skellorn Chantilly Lace's filly! She is such a doll! Friendly and sweet and just a lovely foal. Here she is on her first turnout this morning in the rain. Though it is raining, thankfully it isn't cold! She enjoyed stretching her legs! We have named her Clanfair Queen Anne's Lace.

Our next mare on super close watch is Mardan Gypsy Rose. Rosie is one of the farm favorites -- she is always friendly, always happy to see you, always easy to catch, always easy to worm and have her feet done, always perfect for her repro work, etc. She is just never a moment's trouble with her happy and kind, laid back disposition. She is a good size mare standing at 13.1 hands tall -- and about as wide! She has enormous hindquarters, a super wide muscular chest, and is built like the proverbial brick outhouse -- even when she's not pregnant!

Rosie's Chemetrics numbers went from 90 on Thursday evening to 200 yesterday afternoon and to 275 this morning. She is very close! I need to get out to the barn to pick stalls, but she is so agitated and looking like she could just lay down and pop that baby out any second, that I stay here glued to our foal watch webcam! It is going to be soon!

NEWSFLASH!!!! 9:50 pm -- IT'S A GIRL!!!!
Rosie gave birth to a beautiful bay filly this evening! She is super pretty, very leggy and bay with a snip and two white hind pasterns. Here she is at 20 minutes old!


Click here for more photos!

April 11, 2007
stormy

What a great day!!!

We are VERY pleased to announce that *Wedderlie Mardi Gras and *Skellorn Chantilly Lace have a beautiful bay filly!!!

Here are mom and daughter napping a few hours after her birth (photo captured from our webcam).

We had been using the Chemetrics Foalwatch tests on Lace, and had tested her the three nights previous -- at levels of 125, 60, then 135 last night. But at 4 pm today, we had a beautiful baby! She was born with Lace standing, so I was very glad to be there to catch her! She has a star and four pretty even white socks that come just above her pasterns. She is quite substantial with masses of bone and is BIG and VERY vigorous. Most of the time on the webcam she is running around so much that she's just a blur! We are so thrilled with her safe delivery. This filly is definitely a keeper.

Mardan Gypsy Rose and Bristol Safire are both due next, and they look to be pretty close! Watch this space for updates!

March 30, 2007
overcast/warm-ish

WELCOME TO THE USA!!!

We are extremely excited to introduce our two new girls, who just arrived home from Wales this morning at 7 am. They are *Bronheulog Athene and *Bronheulog Alana, 3/4 sisters. Both chestnut, both yearlings. We have seldom been so pleased with new arrivals, and they arrived both in superb condition. They are both full of quality,  just outstanding, with exquisite tiny heads, big, gorgeous eyes, long necks, deep, deep bodies with short backs and unusually excellent hindquarters with depth of hip and strong loins. We feel that the new girls will be truly outstanding mares for *Wedderlie Mardi Gras.

We are letting them rest and unwind from their journey at the moment, and I just snapped this picture of them together, though this photo greatly fails to do them justice.


Alana behind (liver chestnut), Athene in front (chestnut)

Here are the girls at the Bronheulog Stud in Wales:


*Bronheulog Alana
Supreme Champion Bronheulog Royal x 
Bronheulog Analee (Eyarth Figaro x Nefydd Antoinette)

*Bronheulog Athene
Supreme Champion Bronheulog Royal x
Nefydd Antoinette (Hafod yr Esgob Buzby x Eyarth Antonia)

We we would like to thank Mandy at the Bronheulog Stud for allowing us to purchase these two outstanding individuals. We look forward to their contribution to the Welsh Pony gene pool in the USA!!!

March 12, 2007
warm/cloudy

Spring is in the air!! The grass is growing like crazy, we have daffodils and violets blooming, and the plum trees have just opened their blossoms also! We've had some gorgeous sunny days, and in just a few days will be moving the mares from their winter quarters back to the main mare pasture, which they have been gazing at now that the grass is really green!

And with spring comes the best part of the whole season!!! FOAL WATCH! As of today, we celebrate the safe arrival of four beautiful *Wedderlie Mardi Gras fillies so far this season! The first was Debra Landrum's in Louisiana, a palomino with blaze out of her Arab mare (pictured below in our last update). Next to arrive was Akasha Cream's filly on March 8, born in Illinois, who we are delighted to have joining us here back at the ranch at weaning. Last year both Mardi and Akasha generously shared their cream gene with their filly, China Doll, who was a cremello. This year we got a chestnut from the same cross, as both sire and dam chose to hold onto that gene this time around! Regardless of color, we are overjoyed at the arrival of this beautiful girl:


2007 chestnut Section B filly - *Wedderlie Mardi Gras x Akasha Cream

Kim Linter in Indiana at Sagebrush Farm has had the most stunning bay filly from her lovely POA mare, Santee Ms. Majesty, born on March 10. This was a cross that was most eagerly awaited by Kim and ourselves, and we are absolutely thrilled to see this gorgeous filly. Surely a sensational cross, and we are so pleased that Kim plans to bring this outstanding filly to the show ring. We feel very confident that she has a most brilliant future ahead of her. Congratulations Kim! Introducing Bourbon Street Royalty at 3 days old:


2007 bay Half Welsh filly - *Wedderlie Mardi Gras x Santee Ms. Majesty (POA)
Owned by Kim Linter, Sagebrush Farm, Indiana

At 11 pm last night we received a phone call from Jocelyn Coulston in Tennessee that her half Welsh mare, Thornhurst Majic, had just given birth to a beautiful filly with an unusual face marking! Jocelyn reported this morning that the filly was bay and is very flashy! Congratulations Jocelyn! We will be updating with photos as soon as possible!

Our own first foal of 2007 is due one month from today. We are not-so-patiently waiting, but *Skellorn Chantilly Lace has NO hint of a bag, so does not look like she is planning on going early. Due within a few days of Lace are Bristol Safire and Mardan Gypsy Rose, so when the action starts, it should be exciting!

We also have Boston Terrier puppies! They were born on March 9, Champion sired by Tuxedo Bows -- a repeat of our 2005 litter. Click here for puppy information and pictures!!

Check back here for updates on the new arrivals!

February 10, 2007
raining

The first Mardi Gras baby of the 2007 foaling season has arrived!!! We are delighted to congratulation Debra Landrum in Louisiana on a palomino filly with a blaze! Debra reports that "this cross was perfect!" Debra's mare is a gorgeous smaller, compact Arabian, so we were very excited about this matching, as this is Mardi's first Arab cross foal.

Here she is at 48 hours old:

While it is raining today, and has been off and on for a few days, we've had quite the range in weather throughout the past month or so. My last News entry was at the end of December when we narrowly escaped some serious flooding, but then we did not get a drop of rain until a few days ago! That is quite a long stretch to be without rain in the winter in Oregon! BUT...... we did get SOME moisture -- we got 6 inches of SNOW!!! Well, more than that, really, as we got 2 or 3 inches, and that started to melt, then we got 6 inches all at once a couple of days later. Very unusual for here, and caused the schools to be closed for several days. It actually took quite a while for it to melt, as we shifted into some pretty cold weather and most days barely, if at all, made it above freezing.

But I'm happy to report that things have warmed up considerably! We have been having some really nice days -- even in spite of the rain. Yesterday, in fact, was simply gorgeous -- sunny and delightful. The kind of weather that makes you remember that spring really WILL come if you just wait long enough!! We normally do have some beautiful days in February, and this year is no exception!!!

Looking at our breeding records from last year, it looks like we've got another month or so until the next foal is due, but by then there will be several -- and it is always so much fun to see what mare owners across the country are getting from Mardi!

Our own foals are not due until the middle of April. We have three due in April within a couple of days, three due in the same couple of days in May, and then four more foals spread across June, though the last two mares are due on the same day! If you haven't checked out our 2007 Expectations page, have a look and you will see why we are so excited about our foaling season. We expect this to be our best year ever!