Fourwinds Farm is expecting quality Irish foals in 2019. While I haven’t had foals here in a decade, those years have been well spent. For much of that time it was all about the mares! Then in 2015 herd stallion Moorpark Image RID joined the family.
“Now we can start!” Not exactly sure who said it, but those words arose clearly in my mind while sitting in the barn aisle one day last winter. We have had a rough go of it in recent years, most especially 2017. My dear husband Michiel died in March of that year. He made many things possible for me including keeping hold of this beautiful farm and having the confidence to buy a breeding stallion as a middle aged amateur! Three weeks after he died I arrived in the barn to another heartbreak: Sylvie had birthed premature twins and they were dead. We didn’t know. Heartbreak upon heartbreak.
2018 was busy with breeding efforts and, this fall, getting back in the saddle. The two younger mares are confirmed in foal to Image – more about them below. Maybelle the four year old has begun her training as a riding horse. Sylvie and I are carrying on with our explorations of classical dressage. At 26 the Grand Lady River Run continues to preside over us all. Image, meanwhile, has become a dedicated family man. I look forward to riding him next year when the girls are busy with their foals.
Moorpark Image is a stallion who combines rare and performance bloodlines to present a stunning package. He has floaty athletic movement and is a very kind fellow. Selected, imported and produced by Frank Olivito, Image has produced lovely offspring throughout his life and was kept consistently in training with Adam Gamble. His get are foxhunting and eventing. I admired him for years and was honored when Frank and Adam agreed to sell him to me.
Katharine and Image
Image spent much of 2017 in Ontario at Iron Horse Equine Reproduction Services. We now have a supply of frozen semen, though it has not yet been proven. He had an Irish Draught Sport Horse filly foal in Ontario this year out of a Garryowen of Suma granddaughter. I had hoped for more, but as we know in the breeding business things don’t always go to plan. And perhaps people didn’t believe me that he may never be available again for shipping fresh cooled semen!
Fourwinds Sylvan River and All Maybelle are both the only full Irish Draught daughters in North America of their respective sires. Sylvie’s sire Garryowen of Suma (Shaun) and Maybelle’s sire Lionwood Kinsale’s Lad (Angus) are outstanding Irish Draughts who have each proven themselves. Shaun had dozens of partbred offspring bred and produced by Orchard Park Stables in Ontario They are scattered around North America showing successfully in eventing and other disciplines. Angus is one of the top performance Irish Draught stallions in the world with Gold Merit in Dressage and Silver in Show Jumping for his own performance. He is now standing in Ireland and his second crop of foals – more than twenty! – arrived this year. His foals are consistently lovely and most notable for their excellent temperaments.
Sylvie is truly one of a kind! She is Shaun’s only pure bred daughter and the only pure ID approved daughter of her dam River Run (by Powerswood Purple). River is an Irish Horse Board Quality broodmare. An impressive mare at 16.3, River produced a compact model in Sylvie who is just 15.1. Contrary to those stories you hear about Irish Draughts growing until they are six or eight, Sylvie never grew at all after her inspection at three! Shaun did produce some small ones over the years and I often wondered if he had some Connemara hiding back there in his dam line. Until she has some foals on the group it is hard to guess what size Sylvie will produce.
Maybelle
Maybelle comes from the outstanding mare family of Pearl Drop (Castana x Castleduff Silver), who also has two generations of proven progeny here in North America. Pearl’s Rockrimmon Silver Diamond daughter Little Gem produced an approved ID stallion son Kilronan’s Glenstone. Gem went on to be an eventer in California eventing with her junior rider. Pearl sons are out in the show ring and hunt field with one competing in sidesaddle steeplchase! Maybelle is starting to come into her own as a young mare showing her sire’s super temperament and the outstanding movement of both parents. She stands 15.3 hands now and may finish a little taller. Given the consistency on both sides of her pedigree I expect she will generally produce foals who finish right around 16 – 16.2 hands.
A new mare joined the family in 2018, although she will remain living in Ontario for the time being. Bramblewood Truth or Dare (Trudy) is royally bred for eventing! Her sire is Salute the Truth xx, who went Advanced in eventing and now has offspring doing so. Her dam is Sparrow’s Tiptoes by the reknowned Connemara stallion Grange Finn Sparrow. Trudy is confirmed in foal to Lionwood Kinsale’s Lad for 2019.
Trudy (Brambleridge Truth or Dare)
It’s all about the mares! I am very excited to be producing foals with these lovely mares. The Irish Draught gals are both very typey, meaning compact, athletic, deep through the barrel, with excellent limbs, joints and feet, and an extra dose of character. And Trudy brings top quality performance blood to the mix. Some of the foals will be for sale and I will be selective about who gets to buy them!! Please get in touch sooner than later if you may be interested in a Fourwinds Farm foal.
Lionwood Kinsale’s Lad ID Class 1
Photographs © Sarah Baker Forward, © Liz Freeman, ©Fade to Grey Farm