PRIDE never got the
write up he deserved on our site, somehow we were so busy with
the others that his bio was never finished. So here is an expansion,
read more...
NOVEMBER
2002
We're offering two for
sale: Georgie Girl 2 year old filly by Crosstown Dancer, Lot 589
and the foal Independence by VDL Arkansas, Lot 698 are being offered
at the Cavan Breeding stock sale on Sunday, 1st December.
(Update:
Both two horses are SOLD)
OCTOBER
2002
GREAT NEWS for us –
The Sales Topper at Cavan!! An Arkansas filly foal bred by Ian
Heslin from a young Clover Hill mare topped the Breeding stock
sales at Euro 6,000! A beautiful bay brown with the lovely loose
step that all his foals seem to have, bidders were falling over
themselves to get her. She had not gone unnoticed in the showring
as she had previously won at a couple of shows including placing
at the National foal finals in Moate. Other breeders did very
well too, congratulations to Gerry Goodwin, Allen Tubman and Karen
Glendinning who all received over the Euro 3000 mark for their
Arkansas youngsters. Also to Jacki Doherty who produced an outstanding
early colt by Crosstown Dancer.
We wish all their purchasers
the best of luck.
Our own foals are still
with their mums, in the best of form, waiting for the November
sales or private buyers on the farm. We think they are every bit
as good as those in the sales but circumstances dictated they
couldn’t be brought. (See
Foals 2002 link)
SEPTEMBER
2002
VDL
ARKANSAS who returned home to Holland to convalesce after his
below par performance in Dublin made a surprise appearance at
the WYHBC in Lanaken representing Guatemala. This unlikely event
was prompted by the stallion’s return to fitness and the
availability of a wildcard from Zangersheide to that country.
Juan Andres Rodriguez only met up with Arkansas 3 days before
their first class but the horse jumped consistently well with
unfortunate time faults preventing a final day qualification.
With requests for semen pouring in from ringside pundits Arkansas
will remain at the VDL stud to have semen frozen before returning
to us in the spring and to regular pilot Clem McMahon wit whom
he has had such success.
Meanwhile a very sad
day with CROSSTOWN DANCER returning to his owner/breeders Fintan
and Stephen Branigan.)
We are very sorry to
see him leave here but stallions do not settle easily into new
homes and since we are getting older it was important that he
moves while still young enough to accept the change. We all miss
him as he has been a part of our family for so long and after
Pride of Shaunlara departed he took on the role of dominant stallion.
We wish all parties the very best of luck as there are few horses
of his calibre on the register today. All future enquiries should
be sent to Stephen
(sbranigan@eircom.net) although obviously we will be helping them
any way we can.
Troubles on the home
front meant we were unable to have three I.Ds inspected which
is very disappointing. All by Huntingfield Rebel, they are a 4
y.o. daughter of The Thatcherite, a 4.y.o potential A.I.D. out
of a Lakeview Pride and a lovely 2 y.o out of the former Supreme
Champion Pride of Kildalton.
The loss of a foal is
always sad and after a 5 week struggle we lost Skylark. Luckily
Sky's Ablaze took it well and is in foal again to Archie. Her
Lux Z yearling is a picture.
AUGUST
2002
An excellent show in
Dublin for our stallions stock again. Huntingfield Rebel had the
winning I.D. colt and VDL Arkansas had the best non pure-bred.
She was Res. Champion to the Blue Rajah purebred filly (whose
sire we had bred). This outstanding foal whose mother was well
down the line is owned by Patricia McKinney and is for sale. Crosstown
Dancer had his usual excellent results, Lord of the Dance and
Freddie Kruger both maintaining Championship form.
JULY
2002
VDL ARKANSAS travelled
to Chester International Show in the U.K.where he jumped extremely
well to take an equal first in the Aon 6 yr. olds and a third
in the Foxhunter. But on returning he was off colour and off form
for a while up to and sadly including the Kerrygold Show.
VDL Arkansas is in superb
form. Today he finished 2nd in the Leinster region RDS qualifier
for 6 yr. olds. He jumped 3 lovely clears finishing against the
clock on a 1.30 course. With shows being cancelled everywhere
due to the extremely wet conditions his next target is probably
the N.I. Championships in Balmoral which he won in 2001.
MAY
2002
New
book by Nick O'Hare, "The Modern Irish Draught", highlights
Pride of Shaunlara and many other Suma Stud horses and their relations.
An entire chapter is dedicated to PRIDE and his progeny. The book
includes special mention of Crosstown Dancer, who is pictured
on the books cover, and Huntingfield Rebel as well as their dams,
Tara Sky and Whippy.
Finally another colt,
Bay born 24/5 by Arkansas out of Music. A humdinger. Nine down,
2 to go but not till July for Disco and Vixen.
News
from shows:
Both Crosstown Dancer and Huntingfield Rebel had winners at Balmoral.
Rosie, Suma's Sky's
Ablaze has a gorgeous filly, bay, very pretty and athletic. Should
be a queue for her with her jumping record, and its dads.
VDL Arkansas jumped
last weekend, really pleased Clem, double clear on Saturday to
qualify for the Final and finished 7th in that over a 2nd round
1.30 against the clock. He didn’t push him as it’s the
first outdoor show this year. We were delighted as he retains
all his bounce and ability.
We
now have our 6th filly! Gloria foaled 2 weeks early but both well.
Arkansas of course, a bay although she is chestnut. For
more details see Foals 2002.
Arkansas jumped once
in Cavan just to confirm to people he really is back in Ireland,
his usual double clear, before Clem headed off for nearly a month
to Europe with his G.P string.
VDL Ricochet was inspected
for the Irish Horse Register Stallion Approval and with 72.4%
has been accepted for Performance Testing. We are delighted and
fully expect him to receive full approval at the end of his 5
y.o. year when he can be re-inspected with sufficient points under
his belt. He has also taken to his stallion role with great zest!
Rob, George and Archie
all have their first mares in foal so spring is definitely under
way.
More foals arriving,
Cafe au Lait. by Pessoa VDL ex Sumas Horlicks. Grey filly. See
more Foals 2002.
We've added a new Photo
Gallery to our website so that you can see more of our horses.
Hope you enjoy them as much as we do! Click on the photo gallery
button (in the above menu).
March
2002
VDL
Arkansas has his first foals of the year
Beautiful bay colt by VDL Arkansas out of "It's an Ology",
first day out.
February
2002
VDL
Ricochet jumped a double clear round to win a rosette
at his first appearance at Cavan and was in his first Irish stallion
parade on 9th February 2002, he looked beautiful.
January
2002
Firstly, the major news
that we have VDL ARKANSAS
(Archie) for at least another year, now a newly Approved Stallion
. This is great news not only for us but also for all those
who have seen him jumping and who have seen his foals. They are
in great demand and fetched excellent prices. (Up to £8,000)
Final Jump in the Five
Year old Cavan Classic, winning on time
ARCHIE completed another fantastic Season, and has
now won 4 out of the 5 Championships he has contended i.e. RDS
4 y.o, Indoor Cavan 4 y.o, Balmoral N.I. 5.y.o Jumping Championships,
and the prestigious Cavan Classic. In the Final Jump
off against the clock, Peter Gillespie had the fences up to 1.50m!
Some test for the 5 year olds. Recently he received FULL APPROVAL
for the I.S.H. Studbook after his performance test and full veterinary
including X rays.
Clem McMahon hopes to
take him to a couple of small International Shows this season
and to aim for some top competitions here but we will also make
him available to cover as often as possible. We do ask for your
understanding if he is not always at home. As with all the stallions
that actually DO something, there must be a balance between proving
themselves and passing it on to the next generation.
NOT SO
DUTCH!
Our partners, the VDL stud in Holland have asked us to stand a
beautiful young stallion, VDL
Ricochet by AHORN (Keur) ex dam by LORD, whose second
dam is by the Irish bred Waterman by WATER SERPENT. We always
said the KWPN success was founded on our lines! His pedigree is
outstanding and the horse matches it with his jump and in looks.
Also we can see this fella getting many show winners with his
action and quality. Standing 170cm, bay with very little white
he has a sweet nature, and will follow the programme that Arkansas
did at 4. Let's hope he's even half as good!
IRELAND
RULES O.K.!
CROSSTOWN
DANCER (George) made the RDS his own this year! He sired the
outstanding 4 y.o. Middleweight Champion Lord of the Dance, and
to boot the Res. Champ. 4.y.o. heavyweight, Freddie Kruger. In
addition he had three finalists in the loose jumping, one of which
was full Irish Draught and another was the result of an embryo
transfer. GEORGE also took part in the Irish Draught
National Show at Necarne where he was ridden by his owner, Stephen
Branigan, who, with his business commitments could only manage
a couple of rides beforehand. Nonetheless he finished a worthy
reserve Champion to stablemate HUNTINGFIELD REBEL, and also competed
in the Dressage, placing 2nd. He sired many winners and placed
stock including the Young mare winner, Derrynagara Clorin,
HUNTINGFIELD
REBEL (Rob), who maintains his "all-grey" gene,
rode beautifully for his student rider and Head Girl at Suma,
Catriona Shanley, to win the Ridden Championship and his stock
from his first Irish crops did exceedingly well. Also the Supreme
Champion and winning mare Nancy Steele is expecting an early foal
by him.The Reserve Champion was Peter McHughs by his sire GLENAGYLE
REBEL. Next year will see his first progeny under saddle.
The forgotten horse
at SUMA is Murphy! But none of the others has had a Horse of The
Year Show prizewinner, which Murphy did! COOLBAWN out of a T.B.
mare was a constant Show Hunter winner through the year culminating
in a fifth place in Wembley. His ID son, out of a Heather Breeze
dam, Castleroche Red Alert is also doing him proud in Amateur
Jumping with a new rider. He himself is now competing at weekends
with Catriona, enjoying every minute of it.
HAVE
YOU FOUND OUR EQUITAINER??
One of you, out there,
still has our Number Four Blue Equitainer which travelled to you
in May/June with semen from one of the stallions. Is it YOU????
Can you guarantee that yours was returned to us? Please look again,
in the garage, in the back of the barn, the boot of the car even,
as it represents a huge loss to us and means we have to take more
precautions this coming season.
VDL
ARKANSAS who returned home to Holland to convalesce after his
below par performance in Dublin made a surprise appearance at
the WYHBC in Lanaken representing Guatemala. This unlikely event
was prompted by the stallion’s return to fitness and the
availability of a wildcard from Zangersheide to that country.
Juan Andres Rodriguez only met up with Arkansas 3 days before
their first class but the horse jumped consistently well with
unfortunate time faults preventing a final day qualification.
With requests for semen pouring in from ringside pundits Arkansas
will remain at the VDL stud to have semen frozen before returning
to us in the spring and to regular pilot Clem McMahon wit whom
he has had such success.
