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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the...

American Sport Horse Breeding

I love how my blog sometimes creates neat occurrences!  :-)  I was contacted last summer via email by a woman named Kathy who was finishing up a book called The North American Sport Horse Breeder.   She said she had been looking for a Standardbred example for her book to go along with the examples of Thoroughbreds, Morgans, and Saddlebreds she had already found.  She found my mare listed in the results for a UNH dressage show (she's an alumna too!) and then found my blog!  I was amazed and flattered, especially since I think there are "better" Standardbreds out there than my own (such as my "teammates" from WEG last fall), but I agreed to supply her with some further information about Dreamy.  It seems that Kathy was amazed at her age, the fact that she is a proven broodmare, and that she has shown to be very versatile under saddle.


Kathy's website describes her breeding methods, known as the Tesio method.  From what I understand, it involves a careful and specific scrutiny of a horse's pedigree in order to make breeding decisions.  I fully admit I know very little about breeding and never plan to breed a horse; that said, I do think this type of research is interesting and amazing.  I think it is neat just the same way I think researching horse feeds and supplements is neat...not something I would ever do in real life (I'd probably suck at breeding or being a feed researcher...LOL) but certainly something that entertains me as a hobby.  And having grown up on a Morgan breeding farm, it is kind of hard to not take an interest in pedigrees, etc.


So back to Kathy's breeding book.  She was trying to get it out to the editor/publisher and literally wrote up Dreamy's chapter in the last moments.  Long after she had sent it off, the eight Standardbreds went to WEG.  When I told Kathy about our trip, she got all excited and just finished creating a whole page of info on her website!  How cool!  Plus there is general info about Standardbreds!  


Thank you Kathy, for getting out the word about the excellent domestic sport horse talent we have right HERE in North America!  And THANK YOU for including the Standardbred!  If this does not exemplify my blog title, I don't know what does!  :-)

Comments

  1. Wow, I know very little about STB pedigrees and I learned a LOT from Kathy's article. Hooray for Dreamy Starlet in the book!

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  2. Hi:
    I'm considering adopting a Standardbred....have years and years of horse experience (dressage and eventing), but know very little about bloodlines associated with this breed. Was wondering if there are any particular bloodlines that appear to be more condusive to the dressage work. I've watched a number of videos (I'm a dressage/eventing judge as well) and clearly many of these horses do struggle with the canter. Any help would be great! Thanks!

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