nss official programme
said – ‘well we’ll get some tea and then go for him’ - which we did, all the way to Gloucester, where he had moved when Jennifer sold him.” Standing the Trakehner stallion Larkshill Rehinking briefly as the stud continued to grow, Sally bred Rachan Wunjo, awarded a Higher First Premium as a dressage foal at the BEF Futurity Evaluations in 2011, with a mark that was the 9th highest for a dressage foal that year. The next stallion to take up residence was the coloured Decopauge, purchased when his previous owner emigrated to Australia. Originally bred in Sweden, Decopauge sadly died in 2015. Sally purchased the coloured colt Siangie Braveheart as a foal in 2013, but has recently sold the son of Furst Classico again. “He was a huge foal”, says Sally, but he never really grew after reaching two and just wasn’t going to be big enough for me to ride. We produced a lovely foal by him, but I wanted to ride him and that wasn’t going to happen.”
As the stud grew in reputation, fuelled by success at grading events and in the show ring, the youngstock began to attract increasing numbers of discerning buyers and Sally and David acquired more mares. Recent purchases include a Donnerhall mare, who is to be put in foal to Broadstone Westcountry.
There is also a Ferro mare, a Quaterback mare in foal to Wonderful van’T Zwaanenheike and a Donnerkronig (German Oldenburg) mare also in foal to Broadstone Westcountry. The mare herd now totals 10 and include Opposition Springs, an intermediate event mare who will be put to the stud’s new jumping-bred stallion, the coloured Samber son, Euro Teun, who has been resident for only a few weeks.
“When it comes to marketing and selling what we breed”, Sally says, “I think it’s not so much the stock, but what you ask for them. If you’re not greedy and your bloodlines are good, the horses will sell. A lot of people overprice youngstock in my opinion, which is why they find it difficult to sell. “What we have here are mares with bloodlines I like. Yes, they are more ‘old fashioned’ perhaps, but our colt Rachan Westcountry Da Vinci (Vinnie) is a more modern type and bred to the right type of mare, will produce the type of sport horse I like to breed. I believe that we need these big, so-called old fashioned mares to maintain the substance, or the horses won’t stand up to the rigours of competition. “It’s all about fashion, which results in people thinking they need to use a foreign stallion to get a quality horse, but in fact they don’t think enough about
matching their mares to the stallion. What I do a lot of when breeding is to buy mares I like and then study bloodlines, so we have the best chance of breeding quality foals. Once they are too fine, you can’t go back without these solid mares. At the top level of any discipline, you’ll find substantial horses, with a big, powerful body and good limbs. Twig legs and a strong big body? There’s no way a horse like that will stay sound. Temperament is important too and of course we need to consider that as the horses we breed do need to be trainable and willing to work with their riders.” “Going back to selling our stock, we’re fortunate now that people will get in touch and ask before foals are even born. In the past, we did have to actually advertise, but now I do a lot of promotion on facebook and it works, because people do get in touch. Some people now ask even before foals are born and express an interest.”
Sally does all of the stallion work in the breeding season, including semen collection for AI and she probably has more experience of foaling mares than her vet - or so he says! However in addition to the stud, she and David also have a number of livery clients and amongst them are owners whose horses come to Rachan Sports Horses to be produced and shown. “We’ll have a lot of stock out
showing this summer”, says Sally. There’s David’s 3-year- old filly Rachan San’s Next Top Model and another 3-year-old, a gelding called Ramiro Master B by Ramiro B and a foal Ramiro Lady B. A mare we bred and sold, Westminster Abbey, is coming back to go out under saddle as a riding horse this year and Gabrielle Riddell, who works here with us, with be riding Rachan Riverdance in 5-year- old Burghley Young Event Horse classes. “We also have a big mare by Air Jordan Z for working hunters and then there are two of the stallions I want to ride. I’m hoping that Wonderful Van’T Zwaanenheike will get to medium level dressage this year as he’s been very consistent since I started riding him again last year after a very long break just because of lack of time. I’m also intending to ride Euro Teun in dressage competitions, as although he’s only showjumped, his bloodlines are equally suited to dressage.” Six of the stud’s mares will foal this year, three to Broadstone Westcountry, two to Wonderful van’T Zwaanenheike and one to Siangie Braveheart. Despite a workload that would turn most people rather pale to even think about, Sally is hugely enthusiastic and even finds time first thing each morning for a session in the gym before the real work on the yard begins.
The newest resident at Rachan Sports Horses is the eyecatching tobiano Euro Teun
www.theequinesite.co.uk
The coloured Rachan Wonderful War and Peace and the black Wonderful Westend Boy are both by Wonderful Van’t Zwannaneheike and owned by Stephen Murray? Are you going to come and take us out to the field – please?
Equine Page 55
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