2019 Foals – The Boys & The Girls
The Boys play…
Relentless & Reflection
The Girls talk about it…
Rookie & Revelation
Our 2019 Foals – Two Months Old
Two months have past since we met our 2019 foals, they are all doing very well and their individual characters are beginning to shine.
Rookie
Revelation
Relentless
Reflection
Don’t Forget About The Stallion…
We all know a foal inherits 50% of its genetic make up from the sire and the dam, we constantly post about the foals and occasionally about the mares, I suppose because the foals are funny, unique and very NEW!
But, let us not forget our stallion DFR Patahas Redheart.
We have come a long way with Blu, from Switzerland at 6 months old in fact 🙂
Since his arrival Blu has been so easy to do, he’s kind and gentle, he has the most affectionate personality and that’s just a tiny contribute to his qualities as a stallion. His genetic make up is perfect for breeding and his one copy of cream adds the 50/50 chance of his foals being Buckskin or Smoky Black, not to mention his performance record in the ring!
His 2018 foal Ru has already won her first Championship and his 2019 crop are just quality with the same high level of intelligence with that soppy affectionate trait.
Blu was broken to ride earlier this year, although he turned 4 in January he needed something to focus on after the long winter, he was ridden away and took every day of learning as expected, not a bother or care in the world. None the less that doesn’t mean we are heading off in the ring under saddle, we like to give our horses time and time is what he shall have.
Out by day and in at night Blu is very chilled and enjoying a year off, time to grow mentally and physically.
He’s slightly run up at the moment in my eyes probably due to all the mares recently coming into season, we anticipate this cycle to continue unfortunately, well until our new paddocks are available, its a constant working progress here at Redheart Appaloosa Stud.
We are not breeding with him this year, we are a small stud that breed quality not quantity and we certainly don’t want a herd of young stock while the supply and demand is very unbalanced!
We are not allowed in the orchard with the horses, only for photo shoots 🙂
DRF PATAHAS REDHEART Sunday 23rd June 2019
A Day Showing At Royal Three Counties 2019
We adore agricultural shows, so much to see, so much to do and the prize money is very generous 🙂
Entries for these big shows close months before and as every horse owner knows, anything can happen, one day your horse looks amazing and the next day it looks like a completely different horse!
We entered Redheart Reality in the Main Registered class and Redheart Regent in the Part bred class, but it was the night before the show that Reality was the chosen one.
The Appaloosa Classes at Royal Three Counties are usually affiliated to BApS, the support has slowly declined and with the risk of losing the Appaloosa Classes all together someone did something about it…This year they opened the affiliation to REGISTERED APPALOOSAS (BApS and ApHC UK) & BRITISH SPOTTED PONIES, so we had a right mixture, which was rather a spectacle but a tough one for the Judge!
All the Redheart Appaloosa’s are registered with BApS & ApHC UK so, I get to choose if we go English style (plaited with bridle) or American style (braided with halter). Given the choice, especially at County level its always great to dress up different, we attract a lot of interest from the public and I believe it represents the true history our Appaloosas (it’s also easier and quicker to braid than plait) 🙂
With all the recent rain it was no surprise for a tractor to meet and greet us, credit due, the work force at the show did an exceptional job giving the conditions they were working in. We experienced a slight hick up with our entries, the computer experienced a glitch which messed up my entries but thankfully with the downloaded email confirmation on my phone it was easily rectified and we continued the day, we accept these things happen and is all taken as “A Day Showing”.
Reality was pretty shocked by the donkeys in the ring adjacent, he was pretty scared when a horse flipped over in the ring parallel to us and I struggled to run in the deep conditions but he won his young stock class, his performance was exceptional. This horse could trot around the ring on his own, stop and back up and line up on voice command, I’m sure of it!
The Championship, Redheart Reality put in another outstanding performance, placed as Reserve Champion to Desired Edition and Megan Share, we have been Reserve to Desired Edition many times and we are proud to stand next to Megan and her beautiful horse.
All In A Day’s Showing…
It’s Not All About The Foals…What About The Mares!
The mares have given birth, the mares are being great mothers and feeding their foals very well but make no mistake these foals are “calorie suckers”, it’s very important to feed the lactating mare.
The mares and foals are out 24/7, they come into the stable every evening for a feed and this gives me a great opportunity to spend just 10 minutes with each foal.
They have their foal slips on and off in the stable whilst they under supervision, we are now encouraging them to lead and they all seem pretty chilled about it!
The mares, a month or so post foaling.
Redheart Pascalius
Peyres Catori Cat
Princesse Pascale
Caricks Redheart
Photography At It’s Finest…
If you work with animals and children then you will know you have to go with the flow…
They have their own minds and don’t necessarily understand what you want from them, so you have to wait and wait and wait!
So we waited, all we wanted was one picture of all four foals together.
Within an hour (that’s amazing) we got not what we asked for but for what we hoped for, four foals in a line.
Boom… The Redheart 2019 foals, not only in a line but in age order! Priceless
I’m not a photographer, I don’t pretend to be a photographer but I do like to capture images of my horses that speak volumes to the equine world!
Ghost’s Stiches OUT!
Well since Ghost’s accident her wound has healed really well, no discharge, limited swelling, no infection and today she gets her stitches out!
She hasn’t coped very well with box rest and although we’ve kept our pony in with her for company, all she’s wanted to do it be out with her friends! I don’t like keeping horses in, even through the winter months ALL the horses go out but on this occasion we’ve had to be cruel to be kind!
Fernando Bulnes takes Ghost’s stitches out…
Tidy job but we expect scar tissue, we are very grateful to Fernando for looking after our filly with continuous updates and checks we are even more thankful Ghost is a filly and a very well-bred filly at that because her show ring career is sure to be over before it’s began!
The 2019 Foals Genetic Results…Surprise Gene!
When breeding Appaloosas, part of the registration is parentage DNA testing. It involves pulling mane or tail hairs (with roots) and sending to an Animal Genetics Lab, the certificate is then sent with the registration documents and the results clarified with the dam and sire’s DNA on the breed association database.
For our own satisfaction, we like to know “for a fact” what Appaloosa genetics our foals have inherited. We requested the combination panel of Leopard Complex, Pattern gene, Base Colour, Cream and we decided this year to check for Dun!!!
So here are the results…
Redheart RelentlessHomozygous black (EE aa) few spot (LP/LP) colt with one copy of the Pattern gene (PATN1/patn1).
Redheart RookieBay (EE Aa) with one copy of Cream (CR/cr) making her a Buckskin, she’s a few spot (LP/LP) with one copy of the Pattern gene (PATN1/patn1).
Redheart RevelationHomozygous black (EE aa) with one copy of the cream gene (CR/cr) making her a smokey black near leopard filly. Heterozygous Leopard Print (LP/lp) and heterozygous Pattern (PATN1/patn1).
Redheart ReflectionBay (EE Aa) with one copy of cream (CR/cr) making him a buckskin leopard. He’s heterozygous Leopard Print (LP/lp) and homozygous pattern (PATN1/PATN1). Reflection is the reason we chose to test for the Dun gene, his phenotype is quite unique in my mind and as it is with Appaloosas, they always surprise you! Very much curiosity but the results proved his dam Caricks Redheart carries the gene nd1, a gene found in Dun’s that can show primitive markings (nd1/nd2) not to be confused with the Dun gene that affects colour dilution.
Now that’s a surprise!
April FOALS…
Well, what a month!
Two weeks (from the 15th to 28th April) we’ve seen the delivery of four healthy foals!
At 344 days Catori gave birth to an unusually marked few spot colt, six days later at 349 days PP gave birth to a buckskin few spot filly, which we will keep because the odds for another is quite high (50% filly, 50% buckskin and 50% homozygous). This is the 5th foal born at the stud on the 21st of April!
Another six days passed and we saw just before midnight the safe arrival of Evee’s first foal, a filly born at 333 days on Friday 26th. With what seemed like only a few hours sleep…we sat waiting and watching our second maiden Myka deliver her leopard colt at 355 days (just past midnight) on the 28th.
All our mares are exceptionally well and being great mothers to their foals, all the foals are healthy and have all straightened up and now running around the field.
To be honest, April has been a blur, there are many emotions of foaling but the best sight for any breeder is the view of two feet and a nose!
From the delivery, the foals all managed to latch on and all the mares passed the placenta (all intact). We do consider ourselves very fortunate especially seeing what unfolded before us!!!
Please see each page for more information…
April madness!
You Can’t Wrap Them In Cotton Wool…
Horses are horses and we can’t wrap them in cotton wool although we do try so hard to prevent injury’s! Accidents happen no matter what!
Ghost our new filly has settled well, she’s been accepted within the herd and now plays with Regent and Reality but and it’s a big BUT on this occasion their playing has caused great upset at Redheart Appaloosas!
One of the boys has caught Ghost’s leg hind leg, a wound that I have seen many times before and I know it’s not a good!
Despite little sleep as we have tended to Princesse Pascale and her new arrival, we loaded Ghost at first sight of this wound and headed off to Three Counties Equine Hospital.
At this point we didn’t know if the injury had affected the tendon sheath, she wasn’t lame so this was a blessing, all we could do was clean it, bandage it and let the professional deal with it.
Thankfully Ghost is a very sensible filly, she loaded and was a dream for the Vet and staff which makes the process so much easier to deal with.
It wasn’t long before the good news came, the injury hadn’t interfered with the tendons. She was stitched up and brought back home on strict box rest.
A very tidy stitch up by Fernando Bulnes MRCVS,
We have a long journey ahead of us but we will do our best…