‘NO DUMB BLONDE’
Wendy Nelder admits colour was a key consideration when she decided to breed a foal from her mare Buffy.
“I’ve had Buffy for seven years now and she was three when I bought her. She’s palomino and white, but colour was only a small factor in why I chose her. I went for her as she has such good movement and was well put together. “I decided to put her in foal as I wanted something to event as she gets older and needs an easier life. This time colour was important to me. It sounds quite shallow, but I wanted a pretty, golden foal, although I looked for temperament and conformation too and chose the stallion for all these things. There were several that fitted the bill, but I went with Kambarbay as he’s got lots of quality and is a double dilute (a bay horse with two copies of the cream gene), so he was definitely going to give me what I wanted. He’s a perlino Akhal Teke eventing stallion. “I’ve noticed two things with Buffy when she’s out and about. She’s either noticed and everyone loves her colour, or she gets a lot of prejudice. I was keen to continue to show that these horses aren’t just dumb blondes. “Kosmic Star (Rodney) was born earlier this year. He’s a gorgeous palomino and there’s almost a metallic sheen to his coat, which his dad has too. He’s already been to his first show, winning best foal while Buffy won best broodmare, so it’s a good start. I would definitely want to choose the colour of the foal if I breed again.”