Prepare
to be Coloured
My quest for colour began with the import of the American
Saddlebred pinto foal PREMIER COLOR way back in 1993. Premier
Color (or Spotty as he was known) was a bay and white colt
imported from the USA. He was shown by me as a youngster and
was never beaten in the show ring, many times being Champion.
All
our horses have to happily co-exist with our sheep and this
Spotty just could not handle!
His
idea of playing was
to either pluck out their wool when they least expected it,
or if he was lucky enough to find one with horns pick it up
and shake it about a bit – as far as he was concerned
they had handles! Unfortunately over a period of time, and
threatened divorce (!) poor Spotty had to find a new home.
He
was followed in 1995 by Jewel of the Night, a black and white
Saddlebred filly, who was subsequently sold to Jan Brown
in Oxford.
During
this time I started up ANSHA, which was the American National
Show Horse Association. The original reason for my importing
a pinto Saddlebred was to breed him to my pure bred Arabians
to produce the pinto National Show Horse, which is an American
breed, and is a combination of only Arabian and Saddlebred
blood.
Ever
since my “Spotty” days I have been wanting to
breed National Show Horses again, this time with a National
Show Horse homozygous pinto stallion, thus ensuring that
every foal will be guaranteed pinto and have a high percentage
of Arabian blood. The search was on for a top show quality
homozygous pinto. Not an easy task.
After
searching for quite some time (such a good thing that Ken,
poor suffering husband) can’t access the internet,
read all my emails, see dvds sent to me etc. etc., and check
on what I am doing, I eventually arranged to see two colts
and booked the flights to the USA. I was off to see a homozygous
yearling colt and a homozygous 2 yr old colt, both stunning
on their dvds.
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| PF TO
THE MAX |
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| PF
I FEEL LUCKY |
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LADY ANN TIQUE |
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| KF
I FEEL ROWDY |
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| CA
PHOTOCOPI |
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| CA
FASHAHN PHOTO |
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| SHAHZAHNA |
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First
stop was Los Angeles. From the time we left Woodlay on
Friday 13th May , good omen the thirteenth - I wondered
why the plane was empty! drove to Heathrow (via my sisters
where we left the dog, to my
other sisters where we left the car!) and eventually arrived
in LA we had already been travelling for 22 hours!
Off
we went to the desert. Coyotes, snakes and lizards in abundance.
The little dogs in the household were not allowed out after
dark incase they became a meal for a passing Coyote! The
yearling colt was stunning, but not quite what I was looking
for as
he
was
predominantly
Saddlebred
and
therefore
didn’t have that extra bit of Arabian type that I really
needed. We stopped there, drinking margueritas and making
new friends until it was time to leave for Oregon.
On
the morning of the 15th we left LA for the 2 ¼ hour flight
to Oregon. Oregon is really a very beautiful State. Very
much like England, very green (and wet!) with huge forests – very
far removed from the desert conditions we encountered in
California. Only ¾ hours drive this time to our next
destination and the 2 yr old colt.
Then – there
he was – KF I FEEL ROWDY. My dream pinto National Show Horse. I had found him. Before he
even moved or I had got
close to him he was mine. His sire is PF I Feel Lucky (PF
To the Max/Lady Ann Tique) and his dam is CA Fashahn (CA
Photocopi/Shahzahna).
Bright
chestnut and white – which is my favourite pinto
colouring – gorgeous head showing his Arabian
blood, very good body and legs, and he is the kindest
colt imaginable. He has big soft eyes, high set on
upright neck, a short back with a lovely hip and boy
can he move! He
is 37.5% Arabian, the rest Saddlebred and put to Arabian
mares will produce a pinto National Show Horse with
just under 69% Arabian blood.
He will mature at around
15.1/15.2hh. He
was shown in the US and is a Grand Champion, and to
my knowledge he will be the only US pinto National
Show Horse Grand Champion show colt in the UK.
After a great celebration dinner, and rather a large quantity of wine we said
our farewells and headed back to Oregon airport for the 2 ¼ hour flight
back to LA. We then had a 4 hour wait in LA airport before the 11 hour connecting
flight back to the UK, 1 hour back to my sisters to pick up the car and then
another 4 ½ hours drive back to Woodlay.
We had travelled many many miles in just a few short days, and returned not quite
knowing what day it was but nevertheless we were the proud new owners of “Rowdy”.
He will,
hopefully, be bred to a few mares next year and also
be shown, which will obviously include a trip to the
Nationals at Malvern in the Part Bred Colt Classes..
The
future continues to be very Black but
with an added splash of Colour.
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Mrs Ann Hawke
Woodlay Arabian
Stud
Herodsfoot
Liskeard
Cornwall
England
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VIDEO
CLIP: 
