Marcosie Ponies

As a reader of H & H, in the 26th July issue I read with some disappointment the article on "Native Trends" and was saddened by some statements made by some of the breeders. So unable to contain my disappointment I wrote in to H & H for the very first time. Please find attached this weeks H & H's Letter of the Week.

OK as promised I have got a jpeg copy of the article that I wrote for the Centenary issue of The Arab Horse Society News. It's not about Pure Bred Arabs, its not Part-Bred Arabs, it's about breeding horses and ponies, and ensuring and appreciating the pivotal role of the mare in a successful breeding programme. It's a follow up on my post of 28th January. It's a discussion piece. So I have my tin-hat on - lets have some thoughts.

On the 28th January I posted about how we often just consider the importance of the sire lines when considering what we breed, and how we breed it. Three things happened, firstly a lively discussion with many many follow up comments ensued (most of them in agreement), secondly I got just short of 400 likes and stuff which for a very wordy post was a bit of a surprise, and thirdly I was asked to write a follow up article for the Arab Horse Society expanding on the post. I wrote the article and it has been published in the AHS centenary issue - I will try and get a jpeg and post it as a follow up. However I thought "money where your mouth is boy" and pulled together an advert for the same issue and this is what I have attached. THE POWER OF THE MARE.

Thank you Horse and Hound, I couldn't have put it better myself - SPIRIT ENCHANTS AGAIN. First show since retiring from the ridden rings at HOYS 2016 and she goes Riding Pony Breeding Champion and Supreme of show, gaining her Cuddy In-Hand final ticket at The Royal Three Counties. The Lady goes back to HOYS, and this time with her little boy Marcosie the Spirit of the North. Great thanks again to Jerome, James, Victoria and the Stanley Grange Show Team.

Crafton Blithe Spirit - Cuddy In-Hand Supreme Champion - Royal Three Counties
We were very disappointed as we couldn't see Spirits entry into the world of in-hand showing as a Broodmare on Saturday, when she was first in the Riding Pony Broodmares and became Supreme Champion Riding Pony Breeding. Not forgetting her foal Marcosie The Spirit of the North who also won his class.
Father's day was however a different matter! A quick breakfast with the kids and grandkids then a thr...ee hour drive to the Royal Three Counties Show to crown a fantastic weekend when Spirit qualified for the Cuddy In-Hand final at HOYS by becoming The Cuddy In-Hand Champion for the Royal Three Counties Show.
Massive thanks to James Crockford and Victoria Williams for their superb handling on the day, Brynie Lee for settling everyone's nerves, James and Jerome Harforth and everyone at the Stanley Grange Show Team for their expertise in achieving this weekend what this beautiful mare deserves.
Were all off to HOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Its that fantastic time of year again. The grass is growing, the mares have all foaled with mums and sons safe and sound, the youngsters are out at grass, the show season is in full flow, time to catch up on repair work. Life with horses is at times too busy to stand back and enjoy why we do it, so I thought I would remind myself with some photo's of the mares and foals away at stud and getting ready for the show ring. Got to remember to enjoy it before the rain, sleet, snow and shoveling comes back full bore.

Marcosie The Fourth Dimension at his second show of the year - Midland Counties :
- First yearling Colt / Filly / Gelding to mature 128cm - 138cm - Reserve Champion Riding Pony Breeding under Judge Mrs S Crane.
... Great second show, Spider is just getting better and better. I hope the picture does both Spider and James justice, both moved really well - sorry James Spider edged it. Thanks again James Crockford and the Stanley Grange Show Team.
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Marcosie Mister Mambo has finally appeared as our last foal of this year. Bernhard arrived at 10.00 pm last night and is the first foal out of the 2015 HOYS Cuddy In-Hand Pony Champion Kellythorpes Strike A Pose (Kilvington Scoundrel / Mambo No 5) by Anton Scandal (Small-Land Tapdance / Competant Lass). A very big dark bay foal with no white - mother and son doing very well. Another stunner destined for the show ring.

Marcosie The Fourth Dimension at his first show of the year - Devon County Riding Pony Breeding :
- First yearling Colt / Filly / Gelding to mature 128cm - 148cm - Reserve Champion Riding Pony Breeding under Judge Mrs SA Fluck.
... Great first show, thanks to James Crockford and the Stanley Grange Show Team.
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Marcosie The Spirit of the North has put in an appearance a couple of days ahead of schedule. Zeus arrived at 3.30pm yesterday, an exquisite grey colt who is the first foal out of the RI Champion Show Pony Crafton Blithe Spirit by the outstanding Turberry Top Cat. Spirit and Zeus will be strutting there stuff in the In-Hand classes this summer with the Stanley Grange Show Team - good luck chaps these two can really move.

Marcosie The Shadow Dimension finally gets his first play-out on grass. Rudi is the only colt in the Northern Hemisphere by Llanarth Top Cat and joins his half sister Stanley Grange Swan Lake in representing this outstanding stallion in the UK. As Whiteleaze Sonata had a phenomenal show season last year she is destined to have a summer at grass, so Rudi wont be out and about until next year - probably!

Spring feels like it has finally arrived as the first foal of the year puts in an appearance. Rudi a bay colt by the legendary Llanarth Top Cat (now with Paul and Kerry Dunstan in Melbourne Australia) out of Whiteleaze Sonata (dam of the 2017 British National Foal of the Year Supreme Champion) was born at 7.00pm on Friday. Rudi is therefore the only colt by Llanarth Top Cat in the Northern Hemisphere. Rudi is three quarter brother to Marcosie The Fourth Dimension therefore we have high hopes of this gorgeous boy. And suddenly the weather feels warmer. drier and summer isn't far off.

OK, my last post created a bit of interest, a bit of heat, and a lot of discussion - therefore time to extend the theme and kick things off again.
Now let me GET MY DEFENCE IN before I start, I believe that the UK has the most diverse breeds and types of ponies and horses in the World - we have all the building blocks.
Crash-helmet time - why is it then that it appears that we are being overtaken in our efforts by European Warmbloods, German Riding Ponies, etc etc - is it mo...re than clever marketing?
I breed British Riding Ponies and the top British ponies are World Class, however I am not sure how much they have progressed in say the past 40 years - 10%? 20%?
During the same period of time the German Riding Pony has formed a stud book and is now marketed worldwide. I use the German Riding Pony stud book only as an example of a successful development structure.
UK breeders appear to be more fragmented and less structured in their individual approach. Most foals (outside the thoroughbred world) are bred by a very large number of individuals who breed less than 3 foals per year, and each works with the best endeavours but largely in isolation.
I am beginning to wonder whether the German Riding Pony stud book model of :
- inspecting foals in the year of their birth and awarding Premiums Status to the best examples. - inspecting mares at or after three years of age and classifying them into the main studbook or Premium studbook,
would work.
Would a variation of such a structure drive an improvement in quality by signposting the requirements of correct conformation and type.
Now I know some of the studbooks have a variation of this model but not all do. Therefore would a consistent modified grading system work if it was rolled out more widely in the UK - if it was undertaken on a voluntary basis - or are we all too insular and too protective of what we are doing to open ourselves up to such an assessment.
A Premium mare status for each of the Stud Books, a panel of assessors assessing each animal, with the assessors coming from a panel of breeder-judges?
Was just thinking!
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OK, having had a 2 hours discussion on the qualities of a number of stallions, I have just had a I WISH I'D SAID THAT moment. David Zouch Ross you sent me some fantastic photographs this week which triggered this timely reminder - thank you. I am 100% sure that we need to put the best and most appropriate stallions on our mares - it's a given. However we spend infinitely longer dissecting the attributes of a stallions lines than assessing dam lines. But which is most importa...nt ? How often do we asses ponies as he's by Scoundrel, she's by Dimension, he's by Top Cat rather than celebrating the dams contribution equally. I believe my research is correct, and I am sure someone will correct me if I wrong, but can you name :
• a mare who qualified for the Cuddy In-Hand finals 6 times, had a son who qualified for the Cuddy In-Hand finals, and who then travelled half way round the world to establish a second legacy. • a mare who was the dam of two stallions in the BRP Stallion Points Competition Results in 2014 and also has a son making waves in Australia. • a mare who was the dam of 5 Cuddy In-Hand final qualifiers including a Pony Section Supreme Champion. • a dam who produced two past top ten producing BRP stallions and a Cuddy In-Hand finalist daughter, all by the same stallion.
I am pleased to say each of these mares are represented in some way amongst our ponies. I know there are other mares that could equally be on this list, hopefully they will also get some of the limelight that they deserve.
Is it time to celebrate the potency of mares that may have 10 foals in their lives, rather than just the sires that may have 10 foals in a season?
Was just thinking!
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Our Sonata (Whiteleaze Sonata - Cusop Dimension / Spinningdale Sonata by Westacre Concerto) is just one of those fantastically well-bred mares who you knew was always going to be a great mum. Sonata has had an outstanding first season as a brood mare in 2017, by becoming Champion at Notts County, Three Counties, Royal Norfolk, Great Yorkshire and Show Pony Broodmare Champion at NPS Summer Championship whilst being Reserve in the Cuddy qualifier at Royal Norfolk - thank you Ja...mes and Jerome. Sonata's first foal, by the outstanding young stallion Turberry Top Cat, had 6 County Show firsts and was Overall Supreme Champion at the British National Foal of the Year Show. So what do you do when you have a winning formula, you try something different (not massively different I am not totally STUPID!). Llanarth Top Cat is the same, by being by Cusop Dimension, but different by being out of the same dam (Carolinas Pussycat by Bwlch Zephyr) as Llanarth Alleycat and Llanarth Aristocrat. This stunning stallion is owned by Kerry Dunstan of the Malibu Park Pony Stud in Australia. Looking at what Kerry has achieved with Llanarth Top Cat in Australia we have high hopes - 11 weeks and counting.
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Our Milo (Falconhurst (Aus) Repertoire - Sandbourne Royal Ensign / Rosslyn Sweet Repose), popped up on the NPS Facebook page under Throwback Thursday. Wow the boy is only 14, which in turn makes me feel very old. But as he started his show career early he has been about a while. With the help of Dawn Lee (Milo's mum for many years) I have dug out some images which show his transition from a HOYS Cuddy qualifying yearling in 2005, through winning the Vincent Taylor Show Pony C...hampion at the NPS summer show in 2007, taking 11 County Show Championships in hand as a Riding Pony, Part-Bred Welsh and Part- Bred Arab and being Ridden Supreme at the Welsh National show. None of this is by genetic chance as Milo's sire is Sandbourne Royal Ensign who has an impeccable HOYS sire record of four different Overall Show Pony Champions, the 13.2 Show Pony of the year and the Lloyds Bank (now Cuddy) In Hand Champion Pony of the Year. Not to be outdone Milo's dam, Rosslyn Sweet Repose, was the Supreme Cuddy in hand Champion at HOYS in 2001. And the genetics live on with some scorching youngsters.
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GRUMPY OLD MEN UNITE. RIP Leon.

We are v lucky to have a perfectly mannered Marcosie Pony for our Belle here. Thank you Belle & Sudden Finality

I’m lucky enough to own two beautiful Marcosie ponies Marcosie clarabelle and Marcosie secret star. An beautiful stud with beautiful ponies that also have the best character.

We are v lucky to have a perfectly mannered Marcosie Pony for our Belle here. Thank you Belle & Sudden Finality

I’m lucky enough to own two beautiful Marcosie ponies Marcosie clarabelle and Marcosie secret star. An beautiful stud with beautiful ponies that also have the best character.