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August 2010

GRADING AND BREED SHOW RESULTS

The show season is in full swing for us now, with plenty of breed shows and youngstock evaluations to keep us occupied!

As always, we have been firm supporters of the BEF Futurity series; this year has again been a great success for us. Of our own foals, Touchwood Hot Spice thrilled us with collecting a High First Premium and score of 8.68 in the eventing section at Solihull. Touchwood Notevole attended the Monmouth evaluation, and despite her young age (she was less than a month old) just missed out on a First Premium by a tiny margin.

Of all the stock we have presented for our clients, they have without exception all gained First Premiums and Higher First Premiums, with the stunning Trevino by Jaguar Mail gaining an Elite premium in the eventing section with a superb score of 9.04 and a ticket into the eventers final at Osberton Horse Trials. It is so lovely for us to see these youngsters doing well, as many of them we have dealt with all the way from conception!

At the time of writing we are still waiting for the Championship shows for SHB(GB), WBB(UK) and BHHS, but all mare gradings have gone well, with all mare’s presented grading well and delighting us with their progress and behaviour.

CONFIRMED PREGNANCIES

The breeding season is starting to draw to a close for us, and we will shortly begin to put together our AI stats. Pregnancies confirmed for Touchwood mares are Mo-Jo x Weston Justice, Killarney Queen x Primitive Proposal, Tupgill’s Flight x Primitive Proposal and Posh Spice x Kings Composer.

May 2010

MAY UPDATE

Time for a general update on life at the stud! Our first pregnancies have all been confirmed, a mixture of fresh, frozen and chilled semen, including a much anticipated pregnancy to Baloubet de Rouet for our client, Vikki Shutt of Quaikin Stud. Of our own mares, the only empty one this season was Tupgill Flight, she has just had a pregnancy confirmed to Primitive Proposal. Mo-Jo will shortly be inseminated with Watermill Swatch semen. I eagerly await the births of Posh Spice and Ell Bee Bee's foals so I can make my final decision on stallions for them.

The first three foals have now been born (see our youngstock page for more details on our own foal, Touchwood Rockin' Ruby), with many more on the way, including 5 in one week, so plenty of sleep deprivation in store for us!

We are also pleased to welcome another stallion here for collections - the exciting young dressage sire, Samba Hit III. In addition to the fresh and chilled semen available from him, we also hold a stock of frozen hee.

March 2010

OPEN DAY

Our Open Day this year will be held on Saturday 17th April with all welcome to come and look around our facilities. Stallions standing here will be shown in hand and under saddle, and our stud vet Greg Staniek will be giving AI demonstrations and answering any questions. Free refreshments also available for all!

NEW STALLIONS FOR THE 2010 SEASON

We are thrilled to confirm two new competition stallions standing here for the 2010 season. The Hanoverian approved dressage stallion Keystone Rivallino will be available from April, and the AES approved 2007 Foxhunter Champion Marcolas G is also available by fresh or chilled AI.

January 2010

UK STALLION EXPO

Much of this month is of course being dominated by the snow! However, we are trying to ignore that as much as possible and instead, looking forward to our first 'event' of 2010. We shall be exhibiting at the UK Stallion Expo at Keysoe on the 13th and 14th of February and hope to see as many clients, friends and new faces as possible there. Information on all stallions standing with us in 2010 and the services we provide will be available and of course, a chance to see some of the best competition sires available in the UK in the flesh. You can see more at www.ukstallionexpo.co.uk.

November 2009

RECENTLY WEANED FOALS

All weaning is now completed! We wean the foals in small groups with their friends, so all have settled easily into their new independant lives, and their mothers seem rather relieved to have some time to themselves! At this time of year, we now concentrate on getting all those little jobs done - de-cobwebbing the barn, disinfecting everything, sorting through the hundreds of rugs and of course this year, as we are in our new yard at Nether Westcote, making sure everything is just as we want it for next season. All the cameras and infra-red lamps need testing before next foaling season and our brand new stocks will be going in shortly. Of course, we may get the chance for a bit of a rest too!

September 2009

ZFDP GRADING AT MOULTON COLLEGE

Having taken Vagebont for an assessment class, we were surprised to be asked to present him for grading. The last time he had been down a jump lane was at his ECHA grading 3 years previously, so we were hoping he would remember what it was all about! He did not disappoint though and showed himself off well to grade into Studbook 2. Due to his age, he will be required to take part in a performance test within 15 months to upgrade into book 1, but his graded status does mean his foals are now eligible for Zfdp papers upon inspection, giving mare owners another option when registering his foals. As we hadn’t planned on grading him that day, he was also required to have a full five stage vetting after the grading (stallions entered have it done beforehand), which he passed with flying colours.

AI STATS, 2009 SEASON

With the last mare confirmed in foal, we have been going over all our stats for this year, and were thrilled to discover that 81% of visiting mares were in foal on their first cycle of AI (Frozen AI included in these stats). We obviously realised it was going quite well, but it was very pleasing to actually work out the numbers. As well as a big thank you to the team here who work all hours dealing with vet visits and late night scanning and inseminated, thank you must go to our vets – both McGonnell and Gillatt, and Bourton Vale who have taken over our stud work since our move to the Cotswolds.

August 2009

BEF FUTURITY SHOW – SOLIHULL

With a lorry full of horses, we set off bright and early (6am to be precise…having already been up at 4am to do all the other horses) to Solihull for the Futurity evaluations. A great day was had by all with Touchwood Classic Jollian gaining a First Premium in the show jumping section and Touchwood Donna Camille gaining a high First Premium in the dressage section. We also presented and prepared a further two mares and foals and a yearling, who gained first premiums and a very high second premium meaning smiles all round!

HANOVARIAN REGIONAL FOAL SHOW AND MARE GRADING – ALVESCOT

Luckily not too far too travel today…just as well given the number of horses we took along! Ell Bee Bee was taken along for grading, she is already graded with BWBS, but in order for Donna Camille to receive her full Hanovarian papers and brand, Phoebe had to be graded. She graded easily into the main studbook, and Donna Camille duly gained a high score of 8.0 in her inspection and was then branded. Classic Jollian also received a great score of 7.7 (and a score of 8.0 for his movement) before being branded. Another big success of the day was Briarwood Freude, belonging to our working pupil Laura, gaining a score of 8.5 in her inspection – the highest of the day! Her mare Davina, also graded very well, and another boarder, Carmen, who is in foal to Rubinero graded with pleasing scores.