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This website is under construction, please check back later |
Since we are starting our new website in 2007 I thought it best to go back and review the year to see if what is news on a breeding farm in the midwest will be news for other breeders or sport horse fans that read this website. So I will start with January 2007.
As always the activities of the BWP/NAD ; www.belgianwarmblood.com ; will be a big part of the year at Bannockburn Farm because we are very involved with that registry so our year started out by attending the 2007 BWP/NAD annual meeting in Belgium held in conjuction with the BWP stallion selections www.bwp.be. We all met at the airport in Brussels on the 17th of January after an overnight flight . We had a busy schedule which started the minute we unpacked our things at the historic Hotel Damier , www.hoteldamier.be , in the town of Kortrijk , Belgium . We were picked up by Etienne Van Muylem and we first visited at the farm of the Dressage stallion Saros Van Gestelhof where we watched several horses perform and were then treated to hot chocolate and cookies. After that we took a drive to Jos Lansink's new stable / www.lansink.be and met some of his horses and his grooms ( he was away at a horse show). We marveled at the beauty, structure, and how beautifully his new facility was landscaped. Since some of us had not slept in 24+ hours we had a quick supper and went to bed as we were touring the next day as well.
We drove to Nelson and Rodrigo Pessoa's training stables and watched Baloubet du Rouet being ridden as well as some of the other international stars and had a grand tour by their training director. Then off to Zangersheide / www.zangersheide.com , where we were royally treated by Leon Melchoir . We had afternoon tea while watching Ratina Z's ET's perform as well as several young stallions. By this time it was getting dark and we went back to Kortrijk and found a great restaurant and ate good food, drank lots of wine and generally had a good time.
The next two days were filled with the stallion selections and with seeing old friends and enjoying the wonderful young stallions , however I did manage to go to a farm and look at broodmare prospects and purchase a two-year old filly named Aleria M ( Chin-Chin X Canaletto X Jalisco B ) .
Sunday the 21st, the hotel furnished us a lovely room in which to have our meeting which we completed before the afternoon. Then, some of us managed to have a Belgian rider and trainer take us to a new farm, near the sea, where they were purchasing some famous mares for a new project in which they will sell their stock either in Utero or at the Fences auction in France. They had already purchased the full sister to Arko III and the full sister to Stakkato and the 1/2 sister to Libero H . They are absolutely fabulous broodmares . I fell in love with Arka ,but it was not to be as I am not sure that I am really ready to take a chance on a foal in Utero.
Also in January we sold Bewitched B ( Simsalabim X Tiger Liz XX / Tiger Lure XX ) to Marissa Echols . This is the kindest mare and she loves to jump and enjoys herself over creeks and into the woods . She will be an eventing mount for Marisa who lives in the St. Louis area.
Mares are being moved into the foaling barn and under the cameras and last years foals are moving into their own pastures . Gelding will soon follow.
Mares have been given their last check and everyone is still in foal so we are taking them off of fescue hay and starting twice a week walking in the exerciser . This helps to prevent any type of abnormal delivery presentation . It is especially important during the last month and then we will increase it to every other day. This is because we have both fescue pastures and fescue hay and the mares usually come off of it for two months before delivery and begin eating a grass /alfalfa mix that is fescue free. Because fescue will eventually invade everything we must replant hay fields about every 4 years. The foaling barn is 8 large stalls and each stall has a small grass free turnout . Each stall is camera monitored and then we have a monitor in the office as well.
Since the stocks are also in this barn ,each mare gets groomed and ready for her big event . We also wash the mares udders and this is especially important for us as we will be testing the milk as the time gets closer. Sometimes maiden mares take a dim view of much fooling around down there so we want to get them used to being touched.
In February we sold Artemis B ( Branco X Tiger Liz xx / Tiger Lure xx ) Through a trainer in Chicago . This mare is one of our super movers and could do either showjumping , dressage or hunters. I will follow through later to find out who purchased this mare. Sometimes buyers will contact me and send pictures and eventually I hope to have a section on this web site with graduates from our breeding program.
March came in like a lion with lots of snow and I always know when the weather changes we are sure to have a baby and on March 8th at 6:00PM Tara ( Godwin Van Ten Bosch X Luxuriently xx / Princely Native xx ) foaled a lovely chestnut colt by Couleur Rubin ( Cordalme Z X Grannuschka/ Grannus ). We were amazed as he had 4 white stockings and a white blaze that looked just like his sire's blaze. His name is now Helios B as the BWP class this year must start with an H .
The following week the Mares for embryo transfer left for the repro clinic in Missouri . www.equimed.com .
On March 27th and three weeks early What About Me B ( Concorde X Total Account xx / Summing xx ) surprised us with a frisky bay colt by Branco ( Rothschild X Ugonda/ Amor ) . We try to monitor progress very carefully but sometimes get caught off guard. Even though he was very early he was fully developed so it must have been faulty calculations on our part. We named him Hamilton B for a dear friend of ours , Lu Hamilton who was MFH of the Traders Point Hunt for many years . He passed away in 2007.
At the end of March we all attended the Hoosier Horse Fair and a great clinic put on by Linda Allen . Everyone enjoyed it so much they have asked her back for this year. I keep working on trying to get Linda to the farm for a clinic on young horses , but the timing is never quite right.
April is usually our big month for foaling and we started with Micha's foaling on April 6th . Micha is a TB Embryo Transfer recipient mare that had a chestnut colt out of Montana / Jus de Pomme x Concorde B / Olympic Concorde . This colt has three white stockings and a small blaze . This is going to be our year for flashy babies. His name is Highlander B . Name came from the fact that the man of our house used to be a bagpiper and played with a band called the Highlanders.
A word about this recip mare . She is one of the best we have had ...easy delivery and great Mother. We all loved her and hated to see her leave .
Song Sung Blue B delivered another chestnut colt ..... this is a colt year !! on April 12th . Song is out of the TB mare ToBe Blue xx / French Jab xx and the baby is by Simsalabim ( Nonstop / Darco X Patina / Feinschnitt ) . He has white stockings behind and socks in front and a blaze. He has been named Houdini B as we have tried to give magical names to Sim's foals.
There was a magician named Dante who toured the country when I was a young girl and when he waved his magic wand he would say " SIMSALABIM " instead of Abracadbra .
Our second colt by Concorde B was delivered to Jace XX by Flaming Red XX on April 19,2007 . He is a dark brown colt with no markings. As a part of Concorde B's first breeding season we wanted to breed him to both TBs and Warmbloods to see how his genetics performed on the differences in conformation and temperament.
On April 22nd Rocky , a draft mare delivered the other Embryo Transfer colt from Montana / Jus de Pomme by Coconut Grove xx / Dare to Pet xx . This was one of the few dark bay foals that Montana has ever had so we were surprised to see him . He looks very much like a blood horse and we will be anxious to see how he turns out. His name is Handyman B and we hope he will be very handy over the jumps.
That is all the foalings for a while so we will all get some sleep until the last foal to be born in July. Since we have all colts now we hope the last one will also be a colt so we can just use one big pasture for all foals.
The BWP/NAD semi-annual meeting is on Saturday May 19th in Lexington , Kentucky and was scheduled to be held during the time of the second week of the Kentucky Spring Horse Show . We left early as I wanted to see both Cielo B and Concorde B at that horse show. Both horses were being ridden by Rick Harris of Hunters Bluff Farm (www.huntersbluff.com in Louisiana and were being coached by John Madden and also being worked by John's Dutch rider. It was a great experience and I came away with a lot of respect for the team of John and Beezie Madden.
Watching babies that you have raised with new riders and performing is almost akin to watching your children graduate from high school and go off to college.
While we were in Lexington we were able to visit with Ali Baba B who has been doing really well as a dressage horse for both his owner and professional rider at both 1st and 2nd levels . He looked so beautiful and so mature . The last time that I saw him he was a gangly three year old.
Peg Courant who had accompanied us to Belgium this year and decided she needed a horse project picked out Elegance B ( by Simsalabim out of Tiger Liz XX /Tiger Lure xx ) as her choice and decided to leave her here for a while until she worked out her lead changes. We are excited to have her go to such a fine home and we know Peg will enjoy watching this elegant hunter prospect perform.
Also in May, Bubba left for Swept Away farm, www.sweptawayfarm.com ,for training and we are excited to see if Robert Mendoza can fulfill Bubba's potential . We greatly admire Robert's riding and will trust him with Fletch's favorite horse. Strangely enough after looking at Swept Away's stallion Vision's pedigree and Bubba's pedigree Vision's Dam is a full sister to Bubba's Grandam.
We are continually breeding the mares and have now a new addition to our herd as our Grandaughter Kristen's low jr/amateur mare, Dorthy has had some temporary issues and came to the farm to take some time off and to be bred to Simsalabim.
In May T.J. Clibborn comes to the farm and spends about three weeks to a month starting our young stock . We start them in the round pen and then they are lightly ridden for a month and then turned out again. www.tjclibborn.net.
Also in May our TB mare Kinchem ( Cinteelo xx X Delta Sybil xx / Delta Judge xx ) was declared in foal to Simsalabim and left on lease to BWP breeders Mark and Evelyn Quigley .
I should say here that we put up our own hay and that goes on all summer . Everyone is involved and sometimes our kids have to come from Indy to help. We usually put up about 4500 square bales and about 3 or 4 hundred round bales. The round bales are for the cows.
In June the mares came back from the reproducton center in Missouri and in addition to our mares coming back we welcome Belgian mare Jaida ( # 412 ) carring Montana's foal by Coconut Grove XX and Honey (#700 ) a quarter horse carring Class Act's foal by Capone I . They are close buddies and look like Mutt and Jeff from the old comic series.
In addition to all the work that goes into preparations for the inspection in August we spent July eagerly awaiting Rianne's baby by Simsalabim hoping that it was going to be a colt as that would make things so much easier . It was not to be and we had a black filly on July 15th and named her Harmony B . Of course this means that we will have to borrow another filly to raise with her and subsequently have to use up another pasture for two babies.
The inspection schedule did not work for me this year as our inspection was set for August 20th and the Traders Point Horse Show Grand Prix was the Sunday before so I had to miss it this year in order to get ready for our inspection. This year I finally quit volunteering for the ring masters job . After only 20 years it was about time to give it up . The farm will still donate halters for the Young Jumpers Championship series and keep a table for the Grand Prix.
We were thrilled to be able to watch when Simsalabim's youngest performing foal was named Champion for Best Performance in the Midwest finals of the Young Jumper Fururity at the Traders Point Horse Show . His name is Dante B ( Simsalabim X Tara B / Godwin Van Ten Bosch ) but he is shown under the name Dor V'Dor . The farm had about eight of our homebreds showing at this show so it is fun to be able to watch and feel proud.
We had a big inspection this year and had a stallion coming to be inspected as well so we were on a tight schedule. The judges usually come in the night before and leave in the late afternoon , but this time we had many horses to inspect and it was necessary to keep everything going on schedule in order to have time to bring Simsalabim down to the arena and to have a short conformation clinic as well as brand this year's foals. To add to the confusion we had many spectators this year so we were expecting between 60 and 70 for lunch .
Our inspection results were absolutely great this year as the judges loved our young mares and awarded e-labels to Black Magic B ( Simsalabim X Harmon's Lady xx / Emerald Point xx ) who had a 79 and was the National winner out of 30 mares 3 to 6 ; Contessa B ( Branco X Bless Ouimet xx /Lac Ouimet xx ) who had a 77 and was 3rd Nationally and Enchantment B ( Simsalabim X Paloma G / Indoctro ) who had a 75 in spite of her disfigurement < big knee from severed tendon > . Only our miracle child Butterscotch B ( survived a broken hip as a yearling ) missed out , but she did receive a good score of 72 . Flambeau B came in 5th Nationally with a 73.
In the yearling futurity Grandeur B had a 75 ;Gemstone B a 74 ; Gigolo B a 73 and Grace B a 71. That put Grandeur B in 5th place in the National Futurity. In the two-year old futurity Figaro B won the National futurity with an 80 and Fiona B was 2nd with a 75.
The 2007 colt inspection was good as well ; Houdini B came in 2nd Nationally with a 78 ; Handyman B was 3rd Nationally with a 77.5 and Hamilton B was 4th Nationally. Highlander B received a 76 ; Helios B received a score of 74 and Houston B a 72
We were unsure if we should show our filly , Harmony B as she was only a month old ,but she held her own against competition half again her size and received a 75.
In September a group of BWP breeders treated themselves to a trip to Spruce Meadows for the Masters Tournament and since that is my favorite horse show I decided to go. It really is the best venue for show jumping in the world. Everything about it speaks of entertainment and the crowds love it . For a breeder it is great as they have a day sheet which has the horses' breeding on it much as they do at race tracks in the USA. I was especially excited as Capone I was in the big class on Sunday and he and Kyle King were fantastic . Hopefully we will have a filly by him out of Class Act this year.
Also in September we weaned our first group of colts and since we always wean with the signs everything went smoothly.
Swept Away Farm called and said they wanted to purchase Bubba , Baccarat B ( Rebel IZ X Paloma G / Indoctro ) and I was very pleased as that will be a great home for him and Bubba's pal Fletch was happy about his new home. Bubba's first horse show will be Ocala and I can hardly wait to see how he likes the show circuit.
At the end of September Centurion B ( Rebel IZ X Paloma G by Indoctro ) had qualified and was going to the Midwest finals of the Young Jumper Championships 5 year old division to be held at the Kentucky National Horse Show. We had sold him as a coming three year old to Mary Goldman from Chicago , IL and he was to be ridden by her daughter Lisa. Although I could not be there for the week , when I found out that he had made the final 15 I knew I had to go watch. He and Lisa were amazing and they were reserve champion . It was wonderful just watching his round and they were so sweet and gave me his big ribbon to hang in Bannockburn Farm's tack room.
In October we prepared Elegance B for her long trip to Massachusetts and a new life with Peg. Since then we have had many e-mails telling of her progress and no doubt she will go to some shows next summer. We will be excited to hear about her progress as it gives Simsalabim a boost when we can brag about his kids.
Audrey Narducci called and said that it was final that Ali Baba B would be the USDF 2nd level horse of the year . He also won the Vintage Cup Awards for 1st and 2nd levels for 2007. They will be going to the USDF awards banquet to receive their awards and Ali Baba B will have a special page in the 2007 USDF yearbook.
Eclipse B ( Simsalabim X Tara B / Godwin van ten Bosch ) was purchased and left for his new home in Chicago , IL and since his full brother ( Dante B ) did so well in the Young Jumper Futurity there are great hopes for his future .
Etienne B ( Simsalabim X What About Me B / Concorde B ) has been purchased by Audrey Mager, trainer for Hunter's Row and one of our riders . She hopes also to take him in the futurity.
We weaned the last of the colts and everything went well. We usually adjust their diets and give them Pro Bios . It is at this time of the year when we are comfortable that all of the mares pregnancies have settled that we vaccinate all of the horses as well so we are pretty busy for several weeks .
In November El Dorado B ( Simsalabim X Rianne / Wellington ) was purchased and left for his new home and I began to prepare for the Holiday season and all the things that entails for a Grandmother.
In December we weaned Harmony B and we brought in another filly to be weaned at the same time so she would have a buddy. Borrowed filly is named Hope and belongs to Tony Davis who does most of our shipping.
That's one year at Bannockburn Farm and life on the farm. If you have enjoyed this breeding journal or have any questions e-mail me at allynm@ccrtc.com and I will try to respond promptly ( can't guarantee it , but I will try ).