2018 has been busy and successful year – both on the stud and stallion centre.
CEVIN Z had a very busy season and it is now recognised as one of the best sportshorse stallions in the UK producing international show-jumpers as well as eventers at all levels for all breeders. He coped very well and achieved a great conception rate. CHILLI MORNING had a good this season and he has settled in to the daily life of being a stud stallion – as long as he has his daily hacks. HANDASSA (Shadwell Stud) had a good first season at Stud – his bookings for 2019 are impressive!! WELTON DOUBLE CRACKER and WINDSOR HEIGHTS continue to produce successful
offspring. It has been fun hearing about their varied roles as eventers, show horses and general multi- purpose horses and ponies from their various owners. LEGRANDE spent 6 weeks at stud (as a break from his competitive career representing the UAE).
We had a very successful Stud Open Day pre-Badminton for many of the stallions who stand or have had semen collected here. Gemma Tattersall came to show off CHILLI MORNING, WEG Bronze medallist and the only stallion to have won Badminton and now producing superb eventing stars ; William Funnell talked through CEVIN Z’s great achievements both producing eventers at every level but also international show-jumpers; Nick Gauntlett bought his lovely eventer PARTY TRICK (by Chilli Morning) and his younger brother AFTER PARTY (by Primitive Proposal),
Cholderton Ixion, a successful Cleveland Bay stallion who we are all privileged that HM Queen has been sending mares for the last three years to him at West Kington. New Priory Stud bought their outstanding show-jumping stallion NPS SUPER NOVA.
The stud was busy with 32 foals born here and numerous mares visiting our stallions or for imported chilled semen, as well as our important service of AI with frozen semen. Lucy Collins from B&W Vets, supported by senior partner Chris Shepherd and Kelly Harrison-Tait did a great job this season.
The Stallion Centre was busy with numerous stallions visiting, including the fifth return visit for NO RISK AL MAURY (Shadwell Stud) a top class Arabian racehorse producing Group 1 winners, TIMOLIN has enjoyed his holiday producing great semen for bookings from Australia, New Zealand and USA. We have also enjoyed an amazing New Forest stallion HALESTORN BRANSTON PICKLE- he runs feral on the New Forest and then accepts to be stabled and ridden under saddle to compete at the HOYS etc. We have exported a huge amount of frozen semen this year to
various countries. The order books are most encouraging for stallion owners to commit to collecting and freezing semen from numerous Our ongoing partnership with Martin Boyle, one of the great pioneers of Equine AI, continues to yield some interesting and valuable results.
Our frozen semen export venture in Kenya with Venetia Philipps, Sirai Stud (a protégé of Professor Twink Allen) is highly successful. The success rate with conceptions and foals on ground is very high – we have exported semen not only from some of our lovely native breeds but also Polo ponies, Sportshorses and Arabians. Sirai are moving forward rapidly and planning to offer the whole of East Africa a “place of excellence” for breeding. So we are pleased to be part of the project supplying frozen semen.
We held a very successful Breeding Symposium in September – with some of the greatest Equine Reproduction people in the world. Twink Allen chaired the meeting and the speakers were Dr Lee Morris (New Zealand), Dr Doug Anzack(USA), Sandra Wilsher (UK) and Venetia Philipps (Kenya) – very memorable and we hope will be an Open meeting in two years time.
We have been in conversation with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust – and have a plan to promote (in particular) the Native Pony Breeds – with a focus on the Connemaras, Dartmoor, Exmoor, New Forest and Welsh. We are planning a study day late June to launch a project connected with the Conservation of preserving rare pony bloodlines. We are also concerned with breeding from mares with rare parentage – so an interesting project will be unveiled between us and the RBST.
We do hope you have a really good Christmas and wish you all the very best for 2019. It would be great to see you here at any time if you are nearby.