Everything sublime is as difficult as it is rare. Baruch Spinoza

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Family Tree

The beginning, Ferzon.

His grandson, GGS Topper+/

This is an old photo of WF Impressive (Topper) but it remains a really good one. He is by an old blood stallion, GGS Topper+/out of my deceased foundation mare, LF Diamond Rose. Topper is breathtakingly beautiful, as well as unbelievably athletic. He is also a really good boy, although you better know what you are doing, because he is very smart and will take advantage.
This is GDE Cassidy, owned by dressagerider who posts here. He is a GGS Topper+/ son and bred by someone I know. The GDE stands for 'Goddamned Expensive' and most of her horses carry this prefix. And horses really are that!
My mare Chaunceys Secret, a GGS Topper+/ granddaughter on the bottom (dam's line). The family resemblance is very striking between Secret and Cassidy, but they all carry the beauty gene of Ferzon. Topper has Gamaar in his pedigree, which gives him the eye that is different, but I want Ferzon in my breeding horses, as well as Gamaar. Guaranteed beauty, brains and personality. I'm kind of stuck in the past, so maybe it's best I have stopped breeding, but I really don't think so. Look at these horses, all of them. What's not to like!


7 comments:

dressage rider said...

What a beautiful family tree! Thanks for including my wonderful Cassidy in your website. It is great to see his relatives. I have sent a photo to Cassidy's breeder and we have e-mailed. Cassidy is also a very thinking horse. He learns sooo fast but then he reminds me if I am not spot on. He just hesitates and if he puts his head up, you know he is slightly disgusted! So I try to fix my riding first, then I move on to training him!

Sandra said...

It takes a thinking person to train an Arabian because they are always a step or two ahead of us! Cassidy really resembles my mare Secret. I never got a chance to use her for breeding. She has a ASB daughter that she came to me carrying, but the horse market took a nose-dive and I stopped covering mares.

Ashley Dumas said...

Sandra,

I rode an arabian horse yesterday for the first time! He was a wonderful jumping horse and seemed so intuitively responsive to what I wanted him to do. However, he did seem to have a mischevious nature : )
He was the horse that Sienna had her 'scare' on and she asked to change to a different horse. I am not sure if that was a good idea, but the instructor said 'Ok" and she rode 'my' horse who is a little taller but much slower and with more of a, I don't know how to explain, a 'farm horse' gait. Sort of long and loping. She seemed to feel more comfortable with him and the Arabian was fun for me. He ran with his head up and arched and if I whispered 'trot' he was ready to go : )

By the way, in Portuguese they use the word trot. But because of different phonetic rules they word is pronounced, "Traw - chee" It always make me smile to tell the horse to , "Traw- chee, traw - chee." If I say "trot" they just stand there : )

Sandra said...

First, I think it is best to leave it to the instructor how to handle Sienna and the horses. I have a personality that would be inclined to tell her to get on the horse and ride it, but I know that my way isn't right for every personality and can end the relationship with horses if done that way. So it's best I don't second guess something I know nothing of!
Arabians, in my absolutely biased opinion, are wonderful animals. They come in all types, personality wise, but the ALL have definite personalities. If Sienna is somewhat timid and inclined to caution, an Arabian could be her best friend or her worst nightmare. It is said though, that if you learn to ride on an Arabian, you LEARN to ride! I'm so glad you enjoyed your ride and I hope you continue with the Arab. I think you will have the time of your life and you won't let Sienna have the horse back. Of course that will mean she will surely want it back!

Ashley Dumas said...

Your horses are BEAUTIFUL!

I think you are exactly right : ) I didn't want her to 'quit' with the horse she had been riding, but I know the instructor may have other ideas that I could not even begin to fathom. I do think that the larger horse, which I was riding took the jumps with a little less forward and backward movement so maybe a big horse is actually easier to get over a jump than a shorter one, who knows: ) I feel so luck to have Guilerme as our instructor. He is very calm, very positive yet quick to correct even a tiny mistake. He rides in the best show jumping events in Brazil and lived in New Zealand to show horses. I think he was ranked third in Brazil for something last year. I heard some parents discussing this but my portuguese is so faulty that I only picked up that part : ) Well anyways, he is just really good at what he does, trained the horses we ride himself and seems to never ever leave the barn. I respect and trust him so much and was very impressed at how he handled the situation with Sienna when she refused to ride and left the ring. Sienna did begin wearing a chest guard vest this last lesson and maybe that will the lucky feather in her trunk that gives her confidence. (Sorry for using Dumbo references but this is the frequent level of my literary consumption each day : )

I did really enjoy riding (Ghost) the Arabian. I am sure if I really talk him up Sienna will be wanting to get back on Ghost : ) You seem to be pretty good at 'getting' people : )

Ash


Ash

Sandra said...

My former dressage trainer had an Arabian named Ghost. He died a year or so ago after a long, happy life. He was in his thirties at the time.
There is nothing like a well-qualified instructor with good horses to help you learn. I hope you put some photos on you blog, I'd love to see them.

Ashley Dumas said...

Yes I need to post photos but we are both on the horses at the time... I am just gonna have to take some form the saddle shots : )

Ash