Blu, Watching Over His Herd…..
Our future Stallion, watching over his girls as they sleep!
DRF Patahas Redheart
As Seen Through The Ear’s And Eye’s Of Babes…..
From birth, it is a continuous effort to educate the foal’s, as they develop into weaning’s and yearlings they develop their own character and become stronger both mentally and physically. We try very hard to keep on top of their education without them knowing it!
As we prepare for their “outings” as yearlings there is so much preparation that “one” owner might take for granted when buying a “ready-made horse”.
They must tie up, wait and stand! Pick all four feet up (not at the same time though)! Have a “bath”, wear a sheet or rug, walk / trot and stand when asked, allow traffic to pass, walk on and off a lorry / trailer and travel, maybe have a trim around the head? Having their manes /tails pulled? The list goes on…….
We have been extremely busy with our three yearling’s, continuously educating them but our début outings for the Redheart “babies” BEGINS THIS WEEKEND!!!! Are we ready?
We can not see how they view the world, we can only read the signs, encourage and reward when necessary.
Blu is frightened of “nothing”, Blanc’s frightened of “everything” and Ben….well Ben just is happy to have a look!
As seen through my eye’s…….
Colts or Fillies – 60 Day Sex Scans…….
Knowing the gender of a foal before it is born will help us manage several different aspects of our breeding program. In particular, we would like two non-characteristic (NC negative for the LP (Leopard Complex gene)) fillies to continue our breeding programme.
NC fillies will be perfect for our recent imported Stallion DFR Patahas Redheart (Blu) who is homozygous (LP/LP) for the Leopard Complex gene. Thus giving us a characteristic foal (LP/lp) 100% of the time with the advantage of his pedigree and statue.
The mares had their 60 day scans…..
Peyres Catori Cat (Catori) has been inseminated with Kiss My Finest Heart’s (Heart) semen.
Catori and Heart are both LP/lp for the Leopard Complex gene, therefore we have 50% chance of a characteristic foal (LP/lp), 25% chance of few spot or snow cap foal (LP/LP) and 25% chance of a non-characteristic (lp/lp).
Princess Pascale (PP) has been inseminated with Hevans EV Catorrius’s (Reus) semen.
PP is LP/lp and Reus is lp/lp for the Leopard Complex gene, therefore we have 50% chance of a non-characteristic foal (lp/lp) and 50% chance of a characteristic foal (LP/lp).
We have purposely increased our chances of non-characteristic foals this year by not using an LP/LP stallion but we have no control over the gender, it will always be 50 / 50!
The 60-day ultrasound identified both mares are carrying single live fetus which is obviously fantastic news. Eventually, the genital tubercle was located (both mares fetus were quite lively and it took a while to find the view required) didn’t help that both mare’s bladders were full either. The genital tubercle (which eventually will become the penis in a colt and the clitoris in a filly) develops on the midline of the fetus, between the hind legs. At around 55 days, the structure moves toward the umbilicus in a colt and toward the anus in a filly.
So, our wonderful Vet John Campbell (JC) gave us the news we didn’t want to hear….COLT’S!
On a serious note, we are grateful both mares are in foal, we are very grateful both fetus are “single” and “alive” and we only pray the gestation and births follow suit!
The advantage of knowing we might have colts (nothing is 100% guaranteed) is we can prepare to advertise and sell our Stallion (Reus) full brother and his first 100% FPD progeny out of PP. We also are able to either make plans for our NC filly foals in 2018 with the same mating’s or use Blu to create a GAP 6 with 100% success for characteristic foals to sell? Mmmmmm…..
Both mares were inseminated on the 6th May 2016 (“normal” gestation is 335 – 360 days, 342 days average) due date being April 16th 2017.
Let’s hope our news is wrong and those fetus were too quick for JC to accurately identify?
Supporting The Suzanne Entwistle Memorial & 40th Anniversary BApS Northern Show.
There is nothing I need to add here….
Except, Redheart Pascalius and I were proud to be part of the British Appaloosa Society‘s 40th Anniversary.
Early morning….
A clear run on the M1 heading Oop North
5th in a tough class of 13 “Best Conditioned”
3rd in the Most Colourful “Other”
2nd in “two & three-year-old fillies”
Proud to be part of the British Appaloosa Society
Suzanne was watching over and proud of you ALL……
Supporting The Foreign Breeds Society….
The FOREIGN BREED SOCIETY is a showing society for all Foreign Breeds in the UK.
Their shows cater for many different breeds such as Morgan’s, Percheron, Comtois, Lipizzaner, Fjords, Arab’s, Saddlebred’s, Paso Fino, Andalucian’s, Lusitano’s, Friesian’s, Falabella’s, American Miniatures and Shetlands, Icelandic, Haflinger and of course the Appaloosa etc. The Society also include part bred’s so in a “nut shell” the class’s are “open” or can be breed specific and offer something from the inexperienced young stock to the experienced equines covering both in hand or ridden disciplines.
So you can see why these shows appeal to us here at Redheart Appaloosas, not only do we qualify for more than one class, ensuring we gain any opportunity to improve our young horses experience but we get to meet some very interesting participants with some quite rare breeds.
Today we took Redheart Pascalius to Only Equestrian Complex for the Foreign Breeds Society Championship Horse Show. We were placed in all three classes, Foreign Breeds Youngstock, Home Produced and Appaloosa.
We qualified for the Purebred In Hand Championship and with a strong line up.
The Appaloosa took Reserve Champion behind the well deserved Champion Asalla, a Fjord.
Thank you for the photographs and congratulations to Jayne Bowen. x
Purebred In Hand Champion Asalla
Owned by Jayne Bowen.
A wonderful day Supporting The Foreign Breeds Society……..
Redheart Pascalius is starting to bloom…..
Our fourth show of 2016 gave Redheart Pascalius her first Championship of 2016
The Appaloosa Horse Club UK Spring Show at Merrist Wood Equestrian Centre gave us a few classes to enter. Last years event resulted in Evee getting loose and our early departure with a few minor cuts and bruises. Thankfully this year, it was a different result. We had a “good” day in the ribbons and the highlight was qualifying for the USA Open Championship. With an exceptional level of quality in this Championship we can only be honoured to have won against such competition. We are very delighted with our home-bred filly!
Redheart Pascalius is certainly starting to bloom…..
Showing on a Bank Holiday Monday……
As Redheart Pascalius 3-year old showing campaign gets under way, our third show of 2016 was The World Breed class held at Tabley Park on Bank Holiday Monday.
We headed North passing queues of traffic on the M5 & M6 heading South and on our return journey home we past queues of traffic heading North. We certainly planned this trip well!
Delighted with her performance although she did get a bit upset by another competitor who was a stallion….thought she would have been quite familiar with a stallion “shouting / screaming” with Hevans EV Catorrius at home?
Note….do not go showing down South on a Bank Holiday Monday……
The Herd are Happy……..
The Bank Holiday weekend gave me time to capture some up to date pictures of the Herd…
Peyres Catori Cat aka Catori, confirmed in foal to Kiss My Finest Heart!
Catori and her 2015 foal are happy and confident to be separated but a great mates within the herd!
There is no doubt Catori remains at the top of the pecking order!
Redheart Regal aka Blanc is out of Peyres Catori Cat by RDF Ti Kha Atta Rain, developing in to a fine filly!
Princesse Pascale aka PP, confirmed in foal to Hevans EV Catorrius!
Redheart Royale aka Ben is out of Princesse Pascale by RDF Ti Kha Atta Rain, quite a character!
Our imported future Stud DFR Patahas Redheart aka Blu is our DREAM!
Ben & Blanc
The Herd are HAPPY!
TWO OF A KIND….
Since our mares Peyres Catori Cat and Princesse Pascale were imported at 6 months of age they have been inseparable. Their connection / bond was quickly noted as a problem when they were at the same show. The lack of concentration in the ring whilst the other mare was calling was frustrating. None the less we dealt with it, keeping them well apart or taking them to different shows.
Since being brood mares their concentration has solely been focused on their foals and nothing else until weaning, only then do they reunite their bonds. After a year off from foaling, something they both deserved their “closeness” had brought about something quite rare…..synchronised seasons!
Whether this is nature working at its best, whether this is something mares (like human females) living together do or whether it’s just coincidence I don’t know….they have made my life easier this year and if I could show them my gratitude I would….
Both mare’s were admitted to Three Counties Equine Hospital on Friday 6th May for Artificial insemination, I had notification on Sunday 8th May to say both mares were coming along nicely and they would be looking to inseminate the next day. As it happens both mares ovulated between 9am and 1pm the next day and were artificially inseminated. RESUT!
Our breeding plan…. So both mares have great conformation, blood lines, and gaits backed up by their show records but there is always room for improvement, no horse is 100% perfect…..
Being registered with Appaloosa Horse Club, Appaloosa Horse Club UK and British Appaloosa Society it is with complete intention we ensure the stallions used enable the foals to also be eligible for the same registrations.
Peyres Catori Cat x Kiss My Finest Heart
Catori is an intelligent, spirited and precocious well-built mare, we have used Heart’s semen again (imported from Spain) because the foals from this pairing (Hevans EV Catorrius and the late Redheart Cateaster) proved to be fine animals.
Princesse Pascale x Hevans EV Catorrius
PP is a very quiet reserved mare with an adorable personality, she is very well-built and stands over 16hh. Hevans EV Catorrius should complement the foal with a more compact build and pass on his outstanding intelligence, scope and bravery. Keeping the 100% FPD in mind and keeping the correct confirmation is a high priority.
On Monday 23rd May, we saw the result of their 14 day scans, we can confirm that both mares have been successfully scanned and are both in foal.
Princesse Pascale X Hevans EV Catorrius
Peyres Catori Cat X Kiss My Finest Heart
14 DAYS
We are always striving for our desired goals, to get there we would appreciate two more fillies, any colt’s will defiantly be for sale but the fillies we will keep for our future breeding plan using our imported future stallion DFR Patahas Redheart.
We all know breeding is a gamble and there are no guarantees but the end result is always a surprise with Appaloosas, let’s see what arrives in 2017?
They really are TWO OF A KIND……