This is a large
breeder, who is very protective of his stock. Not just anyone
can buy for him, and he doesn't sell to people in England. He doesn't want
the other lads to get his good blood. Not only does he have a large number
of horses, but he still breeds good "using size" horses. He
comes from a family that has had horses for generations, and his sons are also a
big part of the family's horses. The grandfather of this breeder was the
first man to bring colored horses out of Ireland to mix with the heavy English stock, so
this man has been with this breed since it's inception. The SD breeder is
the largest known-bloodline herd of gypsy cobs in England (and in the WORLD!),
so they have just about anything you need!
Although they have
several stallions, their main stallion is the horse called Chief. Chief is
bred from Price's Old Horse, who is a popular sire in England at this
time. SD breeds more than 100 foals a year, so there is a really
good selection here, and every one of them has known bloodlines!
SD's main stallion, Chief. He's not clean in these
pictures, but he has a great amount of wonderful feather that is pure silk!
"King", Chief's 3/4 brother (same sire, related mares). Also one of the
main sires from this farm.
The Rocking
Horse - Many of their foals are from him
A classic picture of the Rocking Horse, "Rocking" :>)
New blagdon Stallion - "Jim" the Blagdon horse. Son of Bob the Blagdon Horse.
He's bigger, about 15.1 hands, and very traditional. This breeder is using
Jim on his larger mares for some bigger foals.
Jack - A son of Bob the Blagdon Horse, and another stallion belonging to the SD
breeder. Jack has matured into a beautiful boy! Many of the SD farm
mares will be in foal to Jack.
Here is one of their
younger stallions. He's a nicely bred horse, his dam is Sovereign (by Bob
the Blagdon horse as I recall), and his
sire is Samson (as I recall, Samson is from the Sweeper Mare and TP old horse).
They call him
"The Wooly Mammoth"
"Flash Harry"
Here is a young strawberry roan stallion they have been using on their young
mares starting in 2007.
This is The "Subaru Horse" whom SD started using in 2007
This is their stallion, "Cochise".
They use him on certain, select mares.
Here is another young stallion they started using in 2007.
They call him
"Murphy"
Their old
stallion, "Laddie"
SD didn't use Laddie for long. He was a great choice for putting size on
their smaller mares, but many offspring lacked the quality they desired, so
newer stallions were used to re-establish the quality where Laddie added the
size. Laddie is truly an "old horse", being around 17 years old in 2008.
Laddie's important to know as he clearly demonstrated this breeder's plan for
creating his lines. Early in our import history we brought over many of
his nicest offspring.
