This year's babies! Hermione and Hugo
No Adelaide preparations for me this year but that doesn’t mean life has been boring or not as busy.
Spring has arrived in Tasmania and that means... babies!
At home we run a very small scale breeding program that previously only involved Stockhorses and Stockhorse crosses (anyone who has followed Berragoon Sizzle’s journey can understand why they appeal to us) but recently, in horse breeding terms anyway, we started to delve into Warmbloods and began looking at the breeding of modern event horses.
Bussie (Magritte x TB)
We started with a lovely 17+hh mare called ‘Bussie’ or Cavallo Park Artwork. She was bred by Erin Pitt (a successful Tasmanian 3* rider who rode No Objection, that interestingly was the catch ride in the Arena Eventing at the Central Park Horse Show 2017 in New York for Dom Schramm... which he won!!). Erin also bred the lovely 2* horse Cavallo Park Apollo and successful Tasmanian showjumper and Bussie’s own half brother, Cavallo Park Carousel, who won the EV Trust Final Championship at the Australian Show Jumping Championships in 2014.
Magritte
Bussie herself is by Magritte (IMP) who is a dressage stallion, standing at Revelwood Stud, who actually won both his dressage and showjumping stallion licensing tests in Flyinge, Sweden. He was the small tour champion in Sweden before becoming a successful Grand Prix horse and qualified for the 2003 European Dressage Championships.
Bussie’s dam is a lovely thoroughbred that is the dam of the above gelding, Cavallo Park Carousel. Bussie has done limited competition due to being Mum’s horse, but what she has done she has excelled at! With a spectacular jump and movement to die for she has scored over 80% in her third ever dressage test and she happily jumps around 90cm plus with heaps of scope and agility.
Higgins (above) and Heraldik (below)
Over Bussie we put the jumping stallion Higgins (IMP), by the legendary Heraldik who needs no introduction as one of the most prolific eventing sires ever (I’ll just name drop FRH Butts Abraxxas and Happy Times... !!). Higgins is out of a For Pleasure mare which is a highly sought after show jumping line.
The cross produced Thomas, a dark brown colt who is now five and about to start his ridden career now that he has been gelded. Thomas inherited his mother’s beautiful nature and has had some work under saddle which showed some incredible trainability and serious ‘Wow’ factor!
Thomas (Higgins x Bussie)
We put Thomas to a total of four of our own mares to get three fillies and a colt
Two of the fillies, one aged rising two and one a newborn, are out of a lovely big and flash TB mare that we purchased through the Magic Millions Yearling sales a few years ago but due to injury we were unable to race or ride.
Missy is by a local stallion called ‘Azevado’, by ‘Helisso’ who has strong Northern Dancer lines. She is out of the successful mare ‘Miss Moritz’ who also has Northern Dancer thorough her mare line and ‘Raise a Native’ through her sire. Missy has passed her beautiful nature and leg onto her foals Harriet and Hermione and I’m very excited to see what they do in the next few years!
Still unable to totally let go of the stock horses completely we put Thomas over our very proven ASH mare ‘Bundy’ who has produced five stunning horses now. Bundy herself is by the proven ASH sire ‘Stonybrook Finno’ and out of a very versatile and athletic ‘Freckles’ (QH) mare.
She has produced;
‘Top Shelf’ (ASH) who is rising 7 and a brilliant all rounder and, despite only being 15hh, he has jumped up to 1.20 (bareback!!)
Entally Schnapps - El Maggorie (TB) x Bundy (ASH) with Emily Hirst on board
Entally Schnapps (xTB) who as a 5 year old was very successful at EA 95 and 1m showjumping before being sold to a junior the Mornington Peninsula earlier this year
‘Scotty’ (ASH) who has just started his ridden career as a four year old and is showing great promise, Hennessy who is now rising two and by Thomas and finally ‘Excalibur’ (ASH) who is a yearling. Despite acquiring a leg injury as a yearling, Hennessy has recovered well and we are very excited to see if she continues the theme of athletic and beautifully natured horses like her brothers.
Finally, Thomas’ last foal sired before being gelded has just hit the ground and he looks to be one of the best we have bred. Out of Belle, a beautiful TB mare (By Grand Royale, her lines include Northern Dancer, Halo, Mr Prospector and on the mare side she has Better Boy and Vain) on loan from a friend, we picked her off her beautiful conformation and nature and so far the cross has produced the goods.
Hugo - Thomas (Higgins) x Belle (TB)
Hugo is an enormous black colt with a pretty little star and just by watching him move I can already imagine him galloping around a world class XC course! He looks to be a throwback to his famous ancestor Heraldik already, looking like a miniature Happy Times! I am most excited about this little colt and now I just have to wait four years before I can sit on him! Bubble wrap is on the cards I think
So with two new babies on the property and the grass going mad, it’s starting to feel like we have finally shaken off what was a very cold and miserable (for me anyway!) winter and it’s time to start doing stuff again. I have a select few horses that have just come back into work and so far so good with the shoulder (please don’t tell my surgeon). I will stick to riding the quiet ones for a while but I’m very glad to be back on and doing normal things again.
Until next time!
Alice 
