cannock chase trekking centre

MY GUIDE TO THE BABIES PART 2

MY GUIDE TO THE BABIES – PART TWO

I hope you all enjoyed reading Part One of my Who’s Who guide to Zidane’s children.

And I really hope it helps you all to remember which mares are the mummies of these gorgeous young horses.

So off we go with Part Two and I start with a very special young lady.

ARIZONA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This truly gorgeous horse was also born in 2014, just three days after Nicoh’s filly foal Indiana.

Arizona is Irish Sport Horse/Dutch warmblood cross and her mother is the exceptionally gentle and kind Tia. Arizona is a beautiful coloured mare and she was Tia’s first baby.

It was so lovely raising two foals together. Indiana and Arizona always had each other for company and they played all day.

 

cannock chase trekking centre

cannock chase trekking centre

Kisses for her sister!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once they joined the rest of the herd Arizona quickly became the leader of the baby group. There were six young horses out there together and if I needed to catch them all I just had to shout Arizona and she would bring them to me.

She is the biggest of the babies so far, now standing about 16.2hh, and was an absolute dream to train. She took to it straight away and did everything I asked of her.

Arizona is very calm and also clever and I absolutely sped through the process and jumped on her. I had only done a couple of ridden sessions when I decided to take her out on the Chase.

I was so proud of her when she immediately decided that she wanted to be out in front, leading the way. She is so bold –  she even led on her first canters.

 

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Leading a canter across Cannock Chase

cannock chase trekking centre

Arizona trekking out with Dad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my experienced clients are already riding her and she is quickly becoming a firm favourite.

Arizona reminds me of an Apache horse in the Disney film Spirit and is a very loving and affectionate horse. I think she has the best of the temperament of both her parents.

Nothing fazes her and I am so excited to see how she develops. If she is this good after just a few months, the future looks amazing.

MONTANA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby number five is Montana, born in 2015 and now a three year old.

Montana’s mum is Lola, which makes her a Welsh Section D/Dutch warmblood cross.

She is the foal that caught everybody out on the sweepstake – nobody expected Lola to have a coloured foal and no-one got the colour right. In fact she is tri -coloured.

 

cannock chase trekking centre

The herd catching their first glimpse of the new arrival

cannock chase trekking centre

Montana enjoying some sun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the night she was born I was watching on the video screen and when Lola was delivering her I could see a bay head, then a black mane, and then I saw she was coloured and I was so excited.

Because of the Welsh half of her breeding she has a very pretty Arab type head. Lola is a lovely forward going mare and I will definitely have another foal from her, especially as she was such a wonderful mum.

I had to put Lola in foal – she so wanted a baby of her very own. She was our Nanny McPhee out in the field with all the babies gathered around her so she could watch over them.

2019 will be Montana’s year for being trained. I think she is going to be really nice. She is stunning to look at and moves beautifully. Her face and eyes are her mum but her body is her dad and she is very exciting.

cannock chase trekking centre

cannock chase trekking centre

Montana out in the paddock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COLORADO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The youngest of our babies is Colorado, the second foal of Tia and born in 2017.

He was another sweepstake miss because he is tri-coloured and nobody got it right.

When I delivered him I couldn’t believe how big he was and how quickly he stood up. He is the biggest foal I have ever had – just enormous.

cannock chase trekking centre

Enjoying being centre of attention outside our visitor centre.

cannock chase trekking centre

Colorado only a few days old

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We talk about how big his sister Arizona is at four and still developing – well he is going to outgrow her.

Like his sister, nothing worries him. Teeth, feet, injections – all taken in his stride. He is very bold and doesn’t look twice at anything.

The only problem with him is that he is becoming a bit of a tinker at escaping. And because of his size he has no respect for electric fences.

Cannock Chase Trekking Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So those are my babies, and by later this year I will have five of them in work. I have left a little gap because I wanted to see how the older ones took to training and then to life as a working horse here at the trekking centre. I needed to know if they had the brain for the job.

I think they have answered my questions – and now I have to decide which of my mares is next to be put in foal!