Double R Arabians

Gone before we even got to know you.... sad news at our little stud this month... Karial finally foaled after a record breaking 393 days. Sadly, her beautiful chestnut/grey colt never lived to take a breath. A tragic end to a much awaited arrival.

Rest in Peace little boy... may you run fast and free over the rainbow bridge.

Its always wonderful to hear from the owners of progeny, either bred by us, or from our breeding stock..... we had some wonderful news from over the Tasman this week about one of Anjuli's "foals" - now a super endurance gelding!

Willowvale Sirrah (exp NZ) aka Sam finished 10th lightweight at the Tom Quilty in Victoria, and was selected as the lightweight horse for the Queensland team. He was the only NZ bred horse, and this is a wonderful achievement at this prestigious test of human and equine fortitude!

Young Fudge (RR Amahl) is of course a maternal half brother to Willowvale Sirrah, and we are sure he will follow in his brothers footsteps!!

Well the shortest day of the year has come and gone and so surely we are on the upward spiral to Spring... well thats the theory at any rate!

Karial and Reign are looking very much in foal now, so I am excitedly counting down the weeks, not long at all to go, with Karial's foal due in around 8 weeks. Her last (and only other) foal is a tall grey mare to Simeon Sadir (imp/exp), who is, by all accounts a very striking girl. This is a much awaited baby for our stud as we are very much looking forward to how the immortal genes of Saracin Karim cross with our gorgeous Rum with his strong Ansata lines.

Reign is a filly we bred here, by the high percentage crabbet sire - El Indian Firegold (Indian Fire Dance) and should be a very interesting cross with Rum, both have strong bodies, loads of leg and huge powerful movement. Reign has grown into a very tall young mare so the resultant foal should be a versatile flashy elegant young horse.

Anyway, enough rambling! I really just wanted an excuse to pop on here to share a midwinter fluffy photo (pictured above) of the "baby of the farm" - wee Fudgely, who is now weaned and as you can see is a gorgeous bouncy boy, he is going to be a superb show gelding for some lucky person thats for sure! Please feel free to enquire as he is for sale!

** RR Amahl (aka Fudge) at 1 week old

Surprise Surprise the nail test said filly and Anjuli foaled (@ 360days!!!) a leggy dark bay/grey COLT lol. The nail is getting traded in. RR Amahl or "Fudge" as he as currently known, is leggy and refined and will grow up to be a wonderful elegant young man.

In other news young Bartly arrived safe and sound at his new home all the way down in Gore! It sounds as if Bart is already winning his new family round with his lovely movement and superb temperament!

Young "Mo" (RR Shaheen) is now weaned, gelded and branded. He is growing into an exceptional young fellow now, and is tall and elegant! He has that explosive Rum movement which just makes everyone stop in their tracks to watch! Mo has been sold and is happily now living with his new family!

This time last year we were celebrating the arrival of a very hairy, very late, but extremely gorgeous colt foal.... the first for our then recently imported senior stallion Sorella Sarum *Au.....

Since then we welcomed into the world 2 more colts - of course they were all colts, but all were gorgeous scopey individuals with Rum's explosive movement, extreme tail carriage and exceptional temperaments. What a season! We are so thrilled with the cross of Rum's elegance and type over our beautiful strong foundation mares. The double of the good strong movement has exceeded expectations....

Jerry (the first born colt) is destined for an endurance career, and left with his dam "Dell Royal Silver" to Kevin Prangley's in late February. Sam was sold before he was a week old and is the darling of his new owner Amy Whitfield - he joins JA Saladins Fyre in Amy's "herd" and we get regular updates of how this rising star is tackling new adventures! Little "Mo" was a late foal - arriving on the 18th April - but better late than never, as his dam "Anazeh's Indian Silver" is a mare we had not yet had a foal out of. He was well worth the wait and is proving to be as upstanding and impressive as the other 2 Rum babies.

Pictured above is young Sam @ 9mths old.

This season we are standing Rum at public stud via private treaty so please contact us for details, we are also planning on breeding a few of our own mares, and of course would appreciate some "filly dust" from the Filly Fairy!

* Baby Mo in all his winter glory...

PJ left for his new home last week... in true PJ style he won over all the truck drivers on his big journey to Nelson and impressed everyone with his amicable nature and impeccable manners! We are so proud of the young stallion this boy has grown into.

His new family is so thrilled with him and we look forward to hearing how he progresses and what adventures he gets up to!

The Farm is very quiet without him here.... for now anyway! I am sure as Spring rolls around and the girls start cycling Rum will make himself heard!

All the horses are doing well and looking forward to finer weather thats for sure.... I am waiting anxiously for my next crop of Rum foals!

I am very proud to announce our latest arrival, once again Rum has stamped this baby not only with those big grey goggles, but with a typey little face and lovely shoulder and strong body..... India has proven herself an excellent mare too with this, our first foal from her for the stud!

Please join us in welcoming this stunning young colt into the world... once again the nail said FILLY, but this time we were not surprised at all when SHE turned out to be a HE hehehehe. However, when the colts are as good as our 3 boys have been this season, how can one be anything but over the moon?

From 3 quite different mares, the boys have all been quite different, but with a distinct "Rum" stamp to them - all are friendly, easy to work with, show powerful movement and real charisma and charm.

What a fantastic first season for our glorious Rum. Of course the outside mare Rum served had a filly......

It seems Summer is here with a bang, and finally the grass is coming away as it should! All the horses are starting to get that well rounded look that we like to see before the grass dries up totally and of course before winter hits!

I have only bred 3 mares thus far, Anazeh's Indian Silver (fingers crossed for a filly!), Willowvale Anjuli (who has not returned) and Silver Karial (who I am waiting to see if she returns) and may possibly still breed Willowvale Shannara though it is getting a bit late now. All the girls have gone to Rum, as his foals on the ground this season are just getting better and better!

Dell Royal Silver and her scopey grey colt are due to go home to Kevin Prangley in the near future as per our lease agreement. Jerry, the colt (pictured) will certainly excel at any athletic endeavour that he is put to, so I look forward to hearing how he grows on.

Aside from that, its the usual case of getting the barn full of hay, the stables sorted for the spring babies, and firewood stacked, oh and of course enjoying the gorgeous sunny weather!

Congratulations to Amy Whitfield who has purchased our lovely week old grey colt out of Dell Amira by Sorella Sarum.

We wish this team all the best in their future together and are just rapt that this delightful young horse has himself such a loving, caring home! He will head down to his new home once he is weaned, where he will join Amy's other gelding the elegant JA Salladins Fyre.

Here is the little man meeting his new human:

Above photos: Bonni Paul

In true Amira style the latest addition to the stud arrived unexpectedly early at about 12:30at night on the 6th December. Good girl that she is though, Amira waited until I went down in my pj's (of course) to sit down and present us with this beautiful dark bay colt!

Yes a colt. After the nail test said FILLY and we purposefully only bred her on day 3 for a FILLY, we have a beautiful, darling bouncing baby BOY.

Regardless of the sex, we are very pleased with new little man who has yet to be named, more photo's of him as he unscrunches- being 3 weeks early he has a bit of that to do .

photo: Bonni Paul

Well Amira is up by the house in the foaling paddock - given her histroy of springing those babies on us 3 weeks early we thought it best to bring her up now (she is due late December) to give her time to settle before the big day! She is look a glowing picture of imminent motherhood as always!

Rum's 2 babies on the ground already are growing on well - our colt out of Silver is just a delight, with a friendly temperament and just so wonderfully put together! Very happy with this big boy even with his "mottled going grey" look.

His partbred filly is going grey fast, and is just a source of joy for her owners!

Rum has served a few of our own mares now, so now its just the waiting game to see if they return!

8 October 2007

Photo above - 1st time up and still damp!

FINALLY almost 1 year to the day Dell Royal Silver delivered a VERY large grey colt at the respectable hour of 8am this morning! Of course it would have been a good deal more respectable had she let me know she had no intention of getting down to business last night when I made my way down to check for what felt like the millionth time.

This young man is the first purebred progeny for our stallion Sorella Sarum over here in NZ, and even as a crumpled newborn he is everything we hoped for! With Silver being a good moving mare and Rum being a real rocket, he should have the movement to match his good looks!

This colt is SOLD!

24 September 2007

We are very excited to announce that 3 new ladies arrived at our farm today! Willowvale Anjuli (Ralvon Luke +Au x Dellmount Leala), Dell Shannara (Ralvon Courage +Au x Juliet) and Silver Karial (Saracen Karim+Can x Gold Kanial)  arrived safe and sound this morning!

These girls are real treasures - being "family" to the mare band, and with further Ansata lines, they will be valued additions! Shannara is of course a full sister to our beautiful Amira, and Anjuli is out of India's dam, as well as tracing back to some Ansata lines we think will nick well with Rum. They are proven broodmares with progeny doing well in endurance offshore. Their youngest progeny by Willowvale Sa'arfari belong to the Vucjich Family - a filly to Anjuli (3/4in blood sister to Willowvale Alladin -  2000 National champion junior gelding) and a colt to Shannara.

Shannara is more reserved than Anjuli, but both girls have been simply a delight to handle already - Anjuli thinks she really needs to be the centre of your attention at all times and just seems to adore people - she even accompanied me right into the feed room today much to my shock!

Silver Karial is a mare we have been looking for for many months, being one of the few last remaining Karim daughters, when we found her, we simply could not pass her by, and so she too joins the band. Karial is a versatile wee mare, performing well in both English and Western ridden disciplines.

Photo's of our new girls to follow as soon as they have settled in!

Thank you to all who made it possible for Anjuli, Shannara and Karial to become a part of our family.

Well 2007 foaling is well under way around the country, and for us, the first mare to produce a Rum baby is Queenie, a big bay standardbred, belonging to a friend of ours. Rum blew her away after she after she saw him not long after he arrived. His presence and charisma won her over, and she wanted some of that at home!

So the mare came for a visit on day 3 of her cycle to breed for a filly....... and a filly she produced! A tall bay going grey filly with a pretty little dished face and the most precious little grey goggles!

I am sure you will join us in welcoming this little princess to the world!

Photo's above taken at 2 days old.