Dani's Blog: Charlies Angels

Marwen Lissie

Our little brood mare band know as Charlies Angels started with the purchase of Lizzie and April just before Christmas in 2007.

I spotted a small advert in the western morning news, after months of religious trawling, for a

Holstein brood mare. We raced off hot foot to the outskirts of Redruth to see a powerful black boat of a mare, deep bodied, with short cannon bones, she floated over the ground like the morning mist towards us, bold and confident.

Marwen Lissie (Lizzie to us) belong to a stud, and had been outcrossed to their resident Welsh cob stallion but now that they were just closing down. Lizzies foal had just been weaned and Lizzie was looking for a new home and came with a Pink papered passport. She was by an imported Holstein stallion called Leonard that Charles used to jump for Mrs Wason at Trenawin stud and she was out of a Holstein mare Durfee Apres who was by the influential stallion Atlantus. And so we had our first mare for our young Pura Raza stalion Danilon!

She would need a companion though and looking around the stud a pretty mare, unmistakably stamped by Shaab the wonderful HIS stallion that has got so many good eventers, caught our eye. A neat little bright bay mare, Shabril Wil or April to her friends, had the looks of a show hack and had been together with Lizzie since she was two years old. April had enjoyed cross country with the stud owner before starting her stud career and had produced a county show winner to her credit.............and so we came home with not one but two horse for our bachelor Danilon and our breeding project was under way.

Shabril Wil (April)

Before long, a new tiny advert caught my eye in the Western morning news, this time for a thoroughbred brood mare in foal to Respendant Cee.

Divers Perk (Diva) proved to be a rangy individual, bred for chasing in Ireland by Executive Perk out of Deepwater Woman built like a show hunter she had a quiet, sweet temperament.

Although Diva had not enjoyed racing career, her jockey recalled she had performed wonderfully on the gallops at home. A virus had been suspected and eventually, after a fall she was retired to stud. West Down Stud had got her in foal with her first foal but as they wanted to downsize........and so Diva came to Ednovean Farm.

Diva and Lizzie grazing in our front field at Ednovean Farm, spring 2008.

Divers Perk in her racing days

Diva settled in well with us and produced a beautiful filly foal as I mentioned before by Resplendant Cee, in May. The little filly was three weeks premature and needed careful treatment for the first few weeks of her life. Diva although shocked by the birth of her first foal has proved to be a gentle, kind mother to little Dolly.

Dolly and Diva this summer

Dolly just before Christmas - a bright perky individual

Diva in her box - every inch the brood mare, she is now in foal to Danilon

Throughout the summer of 2008 Danilon got his first mares in foal and we hope for the new arrivals this year!!

We approached West Down stud again this Autumn and secured Joyces Hope (Belle) again in foal to Resplendant Cee. Belle is a half sister to the good Grand National horse Nil Desperandum (Nil Desparandum ran forth and fifth and was due to start anti poste favourite but broke a leg prior to the race) out of the same dam Still Hoping. Again, Belle was bred in Ireland for chasing but for us the attraction was that she had been graded Elite by the Hanovarian society after producing a cracking foal by a Hanovarian . And so the neat mare with a massive raking walk came to join us but alas she had already slipped her foal and arrived in season. She is a really charming mare with delightful manners and an optimistic outlook.