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| From England`s Farming News |
|
| Foal Show Breaks New Ground In |
| Performance |
| Sep 17 2003 |
| By Ruth Loney |
|
| |
| NOW at last breeders have an outlet for showing their foals |
| loose indoor and competing for a decent prize fund. |
|
| The Half Bred Horse Breeders broke new ground last week |
| when they organised a superb foal show at Mossvale with |
| more than £1000 on offer and special prizes from Baileys and |
| the Irish Draught Society. |
|
| Lady Victoria von Wachter and KWPN dutch trainer Eric |
| Naberink were brought in specially for the event and assessed |
| each foal in batches of five before taking the top ten from 14 |
| foals in the final. |
|
| Top foal of the show was a Parco filly owned and bred by |
| George Allen of Mullentine Farms, Portadown and exhibited by |
| his son in law Ian McNeill and groom Kate Quinn from Caledon. |
|
| The Parco filly which is not for sale is sired by the grey Darco |
| stallion which competes with Ludo Phillipaerts from Belgium. |
|
| Runner up was Bertie McAvoy from Dromara with his chestnut |
| colt by Cointreau Z out of an Amiro mare, while Mark English |
| from Donacloney finished third with a Concorde filly from his |
| Euphemism show mare. |
|
| Moneymore breeder George Glover occupied fourth place with |
| his Limmerick colt out of a Whistling Top mare, while Patricia |
| McKinney s filly by VDL Arkansas, a Dublin winner from her |
| Flagmount Diamond mare finished fifth. |
|
| Banbridge schoolteacher Brian Livingstone occupied sixth plac |
| with a colt foal by VDL Douglas out of a Master Jean mare. |
| Donegal breeder Charlie McElhinney of Burnfoot travelled a |
| long distance but made it into the prizes with seventh place |
| having a Courage filly out of a Flagmount Diamond mare. |
|
| A Denel filly for Victor McComb of Ballynahinc was eighth, while |
| Shirley Chambers from Waringstown was ninth with her Zero |
| Watt filly out of her grey Autumn Slipper mare. |
|
| This was exhibited by Dessie and Mary Corr from Moy. |
|
| Carol Armstrong took tenth prize for her filly by Cavalier Royale |
| out of a Renkum Englishman mare. |
|
| Judy Maxwell of Baileys Feeds presented a cheque of £150 to |
| Victor McComb s Denel filly which was the placed foal by a |
| thoroughbred sire. The Irish Draught Horse Society presented |
| a £150 cheque to Patricia McKinney for the highest placed foal |
| with Irish Draught parentage. |
|
| The Half bred Breeders said the show was to specifically |
| facilitate and support breeders of performance foals and they |
| are delighted with the feedback from breeders. |
|
| Foals were also purchased at the show. A spokesperson said: |
| Although the format of the show, which is centred around |
| showing foals loose alongside their dams is common practice in |
| Europe and England - it is completely new to these shores. |
|
| The HBHBS and the breeders took up the challenge, resulting |
| in a show which was entertaining, informative and a great day |
| out. |
|
| Foals were assessed in groups of five with the judges making |
| measured and comprehensive assessments. |
|
| Fourteen foals were picked out to do a quick circuit of the |
| arena before the final selection was made. |
|
| They were assessed on conformation, type and paces. The |
| concept of showing foals loose was clearly a winner with |
| competitors and spectators alike. |
|
| The concept appealed because it enables foals to demonstrate |
| their innate athleticism and natural paces. |
|
| Attributes needed for the disciplines of showjumping, eventing |
| and dressage. |
|
| As the show was performance based, the HBHBS brought in |
| judges from the performance sector. |
|
| This was represented by KWPN trainer Eric Naberink. Given his |
| background and experience, assessing foals in this manner for |
| grading purposes is second nature to him. |
|
| Likewise, the judge representing the eventing and dressage |
| sectors, Lady Victoria von Wachter who has evented at |
| international level for England and stood the thoroughbred |
| stallion - American. |
|
| Prior to his death he had the accolade of being the top |
| thoroughbred sire of jumpers and event horses in England. |
|
| She said the judges were delighted to see lean, athletic foals |
| on show - pointing out that being overweight simply prevents |
| foals from showing off their natural paces. |
|
| The judges felt there was room for improvement in the |
| alignment of the neck to shoulder, that some were a bit too |
| upright in some cases which would compromise their ability to |
| flex and round over a pole in the future. |
|
| However, most have inherited the traditional Irish attribute of |
| being active and working well from behind. |
|
| Judges were impressed by the overall correctness of limbs and |
| felt that foals on show would not look out of place at top level |
| competition anywhere. |
|
| Caroline Berry from Blackscull was the vet on duty for the day |
| and Baileys Horse Feeds presented the first eight foals with a |
| bag of feed. |
|
| Lady Victoria has bred a young stallion which is now listed for |
| Sweden s Olympic team. |
|
| She runs Goddington Stud in Gloucestershire which is |
| renowned for its eventing stock, was instrumental in setting up |
| the NaSta performance test for stallions, which is now used by |
| many breed societies and is highly regarded for her judging of |
| young stock. |
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