July Shows

Bastion and Bolshoy both attended the Dressage PEI Summer show and both did very well. Bolshoy was high point of the show on Saturday, with a 70% in training level 2, and Bastion was high point of the show on Sunday with a 69% in training level 2.

Bolshoy also attended a dressage show in Cape Breton, where he was high score of both days, with a 70% and a 71% in the training level.

Chris Von Martels Clinic

Megan took both of the 4 year olds, Bolshoy and Bastion to a clinic with dressage rider/trainer Chris Von Martels. They behaved very well and learned alot during the lessons!

July update

July has been a busy month here at New Perth Farms. All the foals are on the ground and healthy. the last foal was our jumper bred Verdi from the Hamlet mare who we will call Fizzarma.

We have five mares checked pregnant at this time.
Jazz/Zeoliet back to Contango
Welt Hit II back to Sandreo
Idocus/Quattro to Sandreo
Tango/Purioso to Johnson
Jet Set/Harrem to Johnson

The Floristan mare is also bred to Johnson but not long enough to check and the plan is to breed the Hamlet mare to Eldorado.


Bagatelle NPF has been sold. She was in training in Virginia with Martha and has been sold to North Carolina.

Sandreo "C"s

We free lounged our two , three year old Sandreo sons. The taller Sandreo/Jazz, Calipso and Crispin the Sandreo / Jet Set. Both are showing super movement but are quite different. They are now under saddle and are doing "walk trot".



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoX2D8NR4mM

Bolshoy/Bastion

The two four year olds got a good workout in the field yesterday with Megan riding the bl;ack Bolshoy and Martha riding the bay Bastion.

The video is at


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DhA2goVO4o

Contango pregnancy

An addition to our "mares in foal " list , Veganieta (Jazz/Zeoliet) in foal to Contango. That is the fourth mare checked pregnant this year. To check next week Floristan mare to Johnson and Welt Hit II to Sandreo the next week. Still to breed is the recently foaled Hamlet mare which we plan to breed to the Clinton son , Eldorado v d Zeshoek.

Verdi/Hamlet filly one week.

The Verdi/Hamlet filly is now one week old. This filly has great jumping breeding with Verdi doing very well and Hamlet's famous son Hickstead continuing to be at the top of world jumping.

June Update

Here a New Perth Farms we are finished foaling for the year 2010 ! It is always a big thrill and a relief to have all the foals on the ground. This year was four colts and then a filly. The filly from our jumper bred mare came two weeks early but completely developed. Her hair coat and ears look like a full term foal and she is up on her pasterns. We were concerned because Vuzarma had uddered early but she delivered a healthy filly with out problems. this filly is the twenty fourth foal for us. She has no name yet but is has to start with "F" and will likely have "zarma" at the end to indicate the mare line. Fuzarma, Fazarma, Fezarma ??? None of them exactly have the ring you would want from the announcer.

We have started breeding for 2011 and have bred five mares. Of these three have checked pregnant and one is ready to check next week and one was bred last week end. Both the mares that did not foal this year , Tango/Purioso and Idocus/ Quattro , are now pregnant for next year. We normally breed on thew heat after the foal heat. With frozen semen there is no need to complicate life by trying to get pregnancies on the foal heat. However it is impossible to have an earlier foaling if we do not breed on the foal heat.

Filly foal

The final foal of the season and the first filly is a Verdi/Hamlet.

Late spring day

The yearlings have shed out and are growing well.




The foals are growing and now the four colts are turned out with their mothers.






The Sir Oldenburg/Floristan colt is developing into a leggy boy.

Show weekend in June

The June 5th weekend was a very exciting one for New Perth Farms. All three of our Four year olds were shown sucessfully at training level. Megan showed Bolshoy (Donnatelli/Jet Set ) and Bastion (Sandreo/ Floristan) at the PEI dressage show with scores from 62 to 69. While Martha showed Bagatelle at Morven park also with scores in the 60's.

Sandreo /Welt Hit II another colt !!

The fourth colt of the year arrived, a Sandreo from our Welt Hit II/Zeoliet mare, Virgina. Fiero,a tall leggy colt with a bouncy trot and a wonderful canter.

Bastion at Training level

Bastion , 4 yr old, recieved a score of 68 at training leavel at this weekend's show.

Saturdays Ride





Sundays ride

Foals names

We now have a list of foal names for the, to date, four colts:

Fantango NPF ( Contango/Jazz)

Fanfare NPF ( Johnson/ Jet Set)

Forte NPF ( Sir Oldenburg/Floristan)

Fiero NPF ( Sandreo/Welt Hit II)

Sir Oldenburg/Floristan

We got some nice photos of the Sir Oldenburg/Floristan colt. He is five days old. He is tall and very eligant. He has a super trot and we will get some video of it up soon.

Bolshoy and Bastion lessons

Yesterday Bolshoy had a lesson with Megan riding.













As a result of technical problems, mostly the camera man, we only have a trot clip of Bastion schooling.

Sir Oldenburg/Floristan Two days old

The ,yet to named , Sir Oldenburg/ Floristan colt is tall, elegant and full of "GO".

Two of the Sandreo team.

We have bought or bred five foals by Sandreo (Sandro Hit/Flemmingh). Sandreo puts his stamp on them starting with a very attractive head and neck. All of the Sandreo offspring which we have worked with have been very easy to train showing a great willingness to work. He also makes his offspring with good length in the front leg and quite able to pick them selves up in the front. Two of our 3 year old Sandreo offspring are, in front, Crispin (Sandreo/Jet Set) and Calypso (Sandreo/Jazz) were walking in the pasture when we caught this photo. In spite of the reputation of Jazz bringing some difficult horses we find Calypso one of the most willing and calm horses we have worked with.

Another Colt ! Sir Oldenburg/Floristan

The third colt arrived last night. The Sir Oldenburg colt is from our Floristan mare, Florentina. He has a white blaze and three short white socks. The yet unnamed colt is a brother for Bastion (Sandreo), Caprice (Sandreo), Demarko (Johnson) and Espertina (Sir Oldenburg). Only Bastion remains on our farm. Bastion is in training and will be shown at the June PEI Dressage show. We will get some more pictures up soon.

Fantango Contango/Jazz

Contango x Jazz

The Jazz mare ,Veganieta, delivered a large colt by Contango last night !!

More foal photos

The Johnson/Set Set foal,now three days old, was out for a romp !!

First foal of 2010

A colt by Johnson from Waltzlina (Jet Set/Haarlem) in the wee hours. Current top pick for a name "Fundi" Means tradesman in Swahili

A hack in Virginia

Martha on Wiseman (Lord Sinclair/Lancet) and Megan on Bagatelle (Donnatelli/Jazz) were out for a hack this week.

Update late April.

It is nearing the end of April and it has been a very early spring for us here in Prince Edward Island. As a result we have been able to work regularly in our out door arena and the horses are on pasture.

We like to get the horses out early even if there is not much grass growing. This eases the transition from haylege as they stay in side until they have eaten from the feeders and then go out to the pastures during the day. We do not worry about slowing the grass growth as we have lots of pasture even if it's growth gets slowed.

We have been training the three year olds and they are coming along "slowly but surely". The "C"s Crispin, Calypso and Crispin are all different in their personalities and pace of training. At this time they vary from doing walk figure eights with a rider to being led in the arena with a rider sitting on them. They are all super eager to work and it is always a major hassle at the gate as they all want to come out first. Always rewarding working with the young horses as they progress every training day.

Two of the "B"s (Four year olds)Bolshoy and Bastion are on break for a couple of weeks until Meg returns from Virginia where she is helping Martha school Bagatelle and Wiseman.

The "E"s now yearling are all in a growth spurt and are developing nicely. With the good footing they are showing us their moves !

We are watching two mares. Waltzlina (Jet Set/Haarlem) is due to Johnson later this week. She is all uddered and looks like only a few more days to go. Veganieta (Jazz/Zeoliet) is due a week later to Contango. She looks on schedule and we are looking fore ward to our first Contango foal.

No pictures of anyone at this time as they are all partially shed out and do not look their best !

Spring Training

We are currently working with the “C”s which were born in 2007. They are Calypso (Sandreo/Jazz), Charlton (Concorde/Hamlet) and Crispin(Sandreo/ Jet Set).

Our training plan is to halter break the foals and then do some in hand work with the yearlings. They learn to walk and trot with us and be groomed and handled in general.
In the fall of the two year old year we teach them to lounge and tack them up. They may do a few steps with a rider leaning over them. We lounge them lightly but they learn to lounge and to accept the bit and trot and canter with the stirrups down. The stirrups bumping against them desensitize them to contact on their sides. They learn to work with the bit in their mouth . We do a lot of work at the mounting block asking the 2yr old to stand while a rider stands on the block on both sides. The rider does all the things a bad rider would do. This includes whacking the saddle to make a noise and clapping hands over the top of the horse before mounting. This, hopefully, prevents any surprises when real riding starts. All three C’s were started on this routine last fall and then given a winter break.

We have started back with them this spring and the first step is to review last season lessons. Then we move on to sitting on them and then a few steps with a rider and then on to some walking while being led. Then a few trot steps working up to walk and trot of the lead. By mid summer they should be able do walk-trot figure eights. Last summer we were able to take all three of the “B”s to a show. We only showed one but the other three went in the warm up ring and behaved well. We go slowly and always “quit while we are ahead”. By late summer they should be ready to hack out with an older horse as a steadying influence.

This is all accompanied by lots of trailer rides. We do not have an indoor arena so to work in the winter/spring we have to trailer the young ones to an indoor arena. This takes time but getting them off the farm and trailer savvy is a big part of training.

The “B”s are doing what we think four year olds should be doing. They are doing walk, trot, and canter and getting in condition. They have learned to go “on the bit” and are getting various experiences. The ones that are not sold will go to some shows and continue to get various experiences.

Working with young horses is a very rewarding experience as every day they learn something new and progress one more step in the training process.

Bastion NPF

Megan had a lesson on Bastion with Erin MacQuarrie. The weekend cooperated with an unseasonably warm 25C temperature. Bastion(Sandreo/Floristan) is now four years old. We started him under saddle last year and then gave him a break for the winter. He started back with Megan last month and has quickly started to work into the contact. We took him to two shows last year as a noncompete and he behaved like a professional.

Bastion is for sale and would make a great mount for an rider who is looking for a young horse with unlimited potential.