Foal fever This year’s new equine arrivals
What could top welcoming a new arrival and the pitter-patter of tiny hooves in 2018?
NOIR VENUS is by Ferdeaux out of Coton Desert Rose (Demonstrator).
“We bred her from my daughter Honor’s dressage mare, whom we retired through injury. Honor has another dressage horse, by Krack C, and we were keen to produce a foal for the future with breeding from both her horses — Krack C is also Ferdeaux’s great-great grandfather. This picture was taken when she was only three-and-a-half weeks old at the Elite Foals tour in August. She was the youngest of the day and we had fabulous feedback from the KWPN judge. She is full of character, inquisitive and certainly our little beauty.”
“WE have two foals, Derrick (pictured) and Rodney, who are our first home-bred ponies. We wanted to breed from Stoak Tia Maria (Betty), a Welsh section B, as she had a field accident six years ago and, despite box rest and physiotherapy, she has always presented lame since and so is unable to enter the show ring.
“My mother-in-law, Alison Jewell, loaded Betty into the lorry with her travel buddy Lacy Miley, a Welsh section A mare, to take her to Moortown Stud. Only Betty was due to be covered by Hopgarden Hanky Panky, but Alison left Miley there, too, to be covered by the same stallion. Her plan was to give my daughter a lead-rein and a first-ridden pony.
“We discussed how amazing it would be if either of the foals arrived on my daughter’s birthday and we couldn’t have written it any better. Alison’s first home-bred and my daughter’s first pony, Derrick, arrived on her first birthday, followed a week later by Rodney. What a lucky little girl my daughter is.”