Paints and Polo

I moved from London to Cornwall ten years ago after having worked for many years with Argentine polo ponies. I have always been an admirer of their 'stock'-type conformation and their ability to negotiate tight turns, and to stop and change direction at great speed. I set up a small livery yard and had a number of well bred ex-polo pony mares that I crossed with Quarter horses and thoroughbreds with good results and was very proud when one of my home-bred ponies was recently bought by a 10 goal Argentine player and exported back to Argentina at the end of this season. Not bad for a Cornish bred pony that comes from a county that doesn't even have its own polo club!

It was at the Royal Cornwall show several years ago that I saw a demonstration of Western riding and first saw an American Paint horse in the flesh. It was without a doubt the breed I'd been looking for, combining all the traits that I love in a horse - distinct ‘stock’-type conformation, refined features, intelligent and willing, and a unique coat pattern. I was hooked and I knew it would be the perfect cross on my polo mares! I needed to find out more about the breed, and began talking to other breeders and researching bloodlines.

The combination of colour and conformation has made the American Paint Horse the second largest breed registry in the US (after the Quarter horse) and whilst the colourful coat pattern is essential to the identity of the breed, there are also strict bloodline requirements. To be eligible for the registry, a Paint’s sire and dam have to be another registered Paint horse, Quarter horse or Thoroughbred. The breed is very versatile and can be used as a general riding horse (English and Western), for ranch work, rodeo, reining, trail riding, racing, polo, showing, jumping and driving.

I began to look for a 'pure-bred' American Paint Horse and couldn't find the quality I was looking for in this country and so turned to the internet; after talking to lots of breeders in the US, I finally imported my first mare from Wendy Malone of the Spotted Fawn Paint Horse ranch in Montana in 2007. Wendy has spent a lifetime searching out top and bottom lines of the best quality and breeds - horses that will stand up in the future in ability and conformation - and I knew that I wanted a mare from her excellent programme as a foundation to my breeding programme over here in the UK.

It had always been my plan to have a stallion, and as my band of mares was expanding, I began my search. I was looking for an American Paint Horse stallion to cross on my Paint mares and polo pony mares and also to cross on English 'sport horse' types. Height was also a big factor, as I was looking for something at least 15.2hh to cross on smaller mares, and many of the stallions I looked at were too small at 14.2hh. After more searching the internet, I finally returned to Wendy's ranch and saw that she had a beautiful homozygous grullo (blue dun) yearling colt. In his case, ‘homozygous’ means that he will only throw colour even if the mare is solid, and he was also homozygous for the black gene, meaning he will never throw a 'red' based foal, i.e. no chestnuts! Wendy was planning on keeping him for her breeding programme and he was only for sale for one day! He totally took my breath away, and after a bottle of wine and a 1 a.m. phone call, the deal was struck and 'Gabriel's Ghost' was coming to Cornwall!

March 24th 2008 was a memorable day. My first imported mare gave birth at 4 a.m. to a beautiful black and white colt. It was also my daughter’s birthday and after a quick trip to Newquay zoo as a birthday treat, I rushed back to the yard to meet Gabriel arriving all the way from Montana. It is a tribute to the breed that he calmly walked off the lorry and looked like he had travelled from down the road, not several thousand miles away! The hairy yearling has now blossomed into a beautiful young horse with an exceptional temperament and has successfully covered three mares in 2009. July 09 has seen another Paint mare arrive with a stunning red roan filly at foot, which I'd like to show next year. The mare is in foal to a dun Quarter horse stallion so 2010 will be an exciting year. My aim for Gabriel is to produce a flashy, colourful, versatile performance horse and hopefully one day some beautiful coloured polo ponies too!

All Photos: Gabriel's Ghost