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Harkaway Quince
Rising 2 year old filly by
Lenny's Horse out of
Tansy
(picture taken at 11
months) |
SOLD
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SOLD
Magpie
15.1hh
Our ride/drive mare |
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We breed just occasionally. We are
not a commercial farm that must keep
breeding foals to exist, whatever
the state of the economy. A foal is not
a commodity, to be produced and sold
to keep the cash flow going. Each
breeding takes months of serious
consideration, deciding what
qualities we seek in a stallion to
suit what we see in each of our
girls.
When we do decide to breed one of
our mares, our priorities are excellence of
temperament and conformation along
with breed type and powerful
movement.
And we never
lose sight of the importance of
excellent feather. Of
course, hair is not vital to a
healthy, happy Gypsy Vanner, but it
is
vital to breed type. Feather is not
everything, but you can't have
everything if you don't have
feather! Proper feather in a fully
mature Gypsy starts at the knees and
hocks and runs all around the leg
(not just down the back) and to the
ground. You can not see the fetlocks
in a proper Gypsy in full
feather.
Another trait we always keep to the
forefront of our mind is that this
is a draft breed. Yes...their
enormous versatility, willingness
and surprising athleticism for such
a massive horse means they
will be able to do many of the
things lighter horses might do. But
when one looks at a Gypsy the very
first thing that should come to mind
is that one is looking at a small
draft horse and not an old style
warmblood or Saddlebred with hair.
Of all the factors that go towards
making our decisions though,
temperament is the first
consideration, in both the stallion
and the mare. What good is a Vanner,
however beautiful, if he or she
doesn't have the sunny, sweet
disposition for which the breed is
famous?
One other trait we value enormously
is the height of the
older style Vanner. The current
fashion in the UK is for the Romany
to breed ever more tiny horses.
Heights are getting down below
12hh. They are as cute as buttons
but our preference is for the older
style Vanner that can be a versatile
driving and riding horse. As
much as genetics and good fortune
will allow, we aim to breed a Vanner
around 15hh.
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