Brennan's First Day

Brennan has settled in really well. This morning I let him out of the yards at 7am and he had a wee chat to Robbie who is about 100m away in a neighbouring paddock and wandered around picking at grass and taking in more of his surroundings. I left him to chill out and once I was happy he was feeling recovered and ready, I introduced him to his new grazing companion, Paddy. Paddy is a 20 year old TB gelding who has been with me for 18 of his 20 years. He's often mistaken for a matronly broodmare because of his enormous grass belly, haha! He has been retired for a few years now - no real reason other than having other horses to ride and him being a bit of a spare. Paddy has just about the worst front leg conformation of any horse I have ever seen but has always been sound. Now that he is getting older however, he is starting to find trimming a little uncomfortable so I have him on a herbal mix to (hopefully) help make him more comfortable.

It was funny when I introduced them as Brennan got verrrry excited and more than a little confused! It took a wee while and a few confused attempts to mount Paddy, before he worked out that it was not a happening thing. Last seen the two of them were grazing, side by side, almost as if attached by an invisible thread. Cuteness!

I have already had an enquiry for Brennan this season so have prepared a stud contract and sent that away. I am also trying to decide whether to put him over a mare myself. I am quite keen to do this but also aware of numbers and not keen to get myself into any difficult situations. Ideally I would like to find someone who would be interested in this foal and would lease the mare for the breeding - so, if you are interested, sing out! Mare is a 4yo Trak/TB by Holme Park Flute out of a Kenfair mare. Her name is Kingcroft Tickled Pink and the plan has always been to breed her to Hamish but she is the only mare I have at present that is suitable and not already in foal! Alternatively, I might lease another pony mare but if I do this I need to find her fast!

Here are a few photos from today:

He can see Robbie

This is for Meg

Scary hiding water trough

Cuteness

Looking at the big Man aka Robbie

Happy to have his very own friend

Sticking close to his new buddy

Greetings

And, in other news: Robbie was supposed to be collected today. I got sick of my emails and txts not being replied to so I called the number provided for the person who is to collect him who told me that he was no longer doing it today but would be able to earlyish next week ... communication FAIL! I had been stressing and waiting (and crying) most of the day for nothing! Grrrrr!

Welcome to Your New Home Brennan

Well, dear wee Brennan arrived at 5.45 this evening after 36 hours on the road. It's a loooong way from Invercargill to Bulls and then back down to Masterton for a 3 year old colt!

He's travelled pretty well but is understandably shell-shocked and quite dehydrated but he's tucked up in the yards with access to a stall and plenty of fresh water and hay and he's settling in nicely. I am so thrilled to have him here.

I took a few quick photos to share so, here they are:

Let the re-fuelling begin

Sweet face

Who is over there?

Looking quite tucked up

Hairy hoss

So, he is here, safe and sound and I am so very happy to have him - he's everything I had hoped he would be and more! And I just LOVE his colour! It's never been a focus of mine in breeding because, as far as I am concerned, a good horse is never a bad colour and there is enough to worry about matching a mare to a stallion without throwing colour requirements into the mix! But it's really neat to have a stallion with such striking colour and markings on top of the gorgeous temperament and lovely conformation of his breed. He sure ticks a lot of boxes. It will be so exciting to see what he sires. And so the adventure begins!