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August 2011
Phew - finally found time to update the website!
August is time for the annual Islay Show and this year we managed to get organised & took two ponies along. Knockandy Victoria, who is now a 4yo - she was shown as a yearling but not since then. She's looking well and as we wanted to take 2yo Magnus (Mànus Mòr of Lochindaal) to his first show, we decided that she would be a good travelling companion.
We were very pleased with Magnus at his first outing - he was well behaved & gained many admirers. He finished the day as Reserve Highland Pony Champion but it was his good behaviour that pleased us the most.
Victoria did us proud & came home with FIVE trophies!! She was in the overall championship against a Galloway cow & a Texel and I was delighted (and a bit gobsmacked) when she was placed Reserve Overall Champion of the show. Unfortunately we didn't take a camera with us so we have no photos of either pony at the show with their lovely rosettes.
We do have photos of the rosettes & cups - lots of polish required!
We came home from the show tired but happy & the good news didn't end there. The postie had been and waiting for us was a CD full of super photos of Moss (Moss of Lochindaal). We sold him to a lovely girl down in England & she and her mum have taken him out to a couple of shows and he seems to be enjoying himself.
It was hard to choose which ones to put on but here he is, many thanks to Susan & Vicky for the photos:
Nope, still not the end of the good news!
I then got a message from Nicky, who owns Murdo (Solus of Lochindaal). She's got him backed & off hacking. I was really pleased to hear this - he was one of our first foals and shares the same birth date as me, so he'll always be a bit special. He'll be 4yo now, how the time flies!!
2nd May 2011
Quartz's foal was three weeks old on Saturday and still hasn't got a name. We've got a few months before the registration deadline, hopefully we'll have thought of something suitable by then!
He'll be for sale at weaning (a small deposit now would secure). Here are the latest photos of him:
Update:- Claymore (Claidheamh Mór of Lochindaal )
Claymore has now been gelded. He's for sale, as are Myrtle & Magnus but they've not quite got rid of all their winter coat, so up to date photos will have to wait until they get rid of the 'moth eaten' look!!
9th April 2011
New arrival!
Quartz had a colt foal today. He's a chunky boy and very friendly. No idea what we're going call him!
Edindurno Glendronach x Glenedin Quartz
And a departure!
Moss of Lochindaal has found a new home down in England. He had quite a long journey ahead of him, so we decided to do it two parts. We travelled down to Moffat and, after an overnight stay, he was collected by his new owner and we waved him off with mixed emotions - happy that he's found a good home but we'll miss him! Good luck Vicky & Moss!
I'd like to recommend Craigbeck Farm to anyone either wanting a wee holiday with their horse or as a welcome stop on a long journey! Lesley & Johnston are fantastic hosts and they have excellent facilities for equines, humans and dogs:
13th February 2011
I've rearranged the website slightly & updated several of the pages. The youngstock have all had new photos added & some of the mares have too. We've also now rearranged the fields that the ponies are in, so that the youngsters can get a bit more handling.
We could have a foal or two arriving in less than a month & the two mares have been moved so that an eye can be kept on them. They did run with the stallion for a good while, so we may have a bit longer to wait yet!
I took this photo a couple of weeks ago & thought it was a nice one of our rising 2 year olds, Lena & Magnus:
30th January 2011
I can't believe it's been 4 months since I last updated the site! Despite Islay getting a good covering of snow & quite a long spell of icy temperatures, the winter (so far) has flown past. The ponies are all looking really well in their winter woolies!
The deadline for foal registration is the end of November and we left it to the last minute! Names were finally decided on & the vet came out to insert their microchips. This was the first year we've had to microchip the foals and we wanted to have them well handled before we did it, which is why we left it so late. It went well & now we know what to expect, I think we'll make a note to do it earlier next time.
Coming up with names is something we find difficult, this year we eventually decided upon: Lochindaal Campbell Myrtle for Flute's Filly, Claidheamh Mór of Lochindaal (Gaelic for Claymore) for Candy's colt and Moss of Lochindaal for Shade's Colt. All three are looking for new homes. More photos have been added to the youngstock & for sale pages.
I'd love to get across to the mainland with ponies to do some shows but ferry breakdowns, bad weather and other events always seem to get in our way. I did manage to get to the winter fair in November, just to spectate. It was -6 on the way over to Stirling & the roads weren't great. There were only a handful of folk there to watch the Highlands but the exhibitor numbers were good - well done to them for making it a very enjoyable show. Champion was the Ralston's young stallion, Moss-side Quercus Rubra - photo below.
