Category: Formosus Sporthorses News

The latest of what is happening at the farm.

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The foals of 2023

  This year’s crop: a colt and a filly; both dark with a very small star and that is pretty much where all comparisons end. Thorium (Finest/Wolkentanz II/Ferro) the colt was born first to the maiden mare Divine who despite a difficult birth (as in the colt was big and she was a maiden and she retained the placenta and needed some amount of intervention) revealed herself to be a terrific doting mother. From day one he looked like an Asian supermodel: Sexy as all hell, thin, bony and a bit androgynous at first :. We could tell right away that he was a tall, leggy, long-lined colt....

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Expected 2023 foals

  Expected 2023 foals Despite a hard summer we are looking forward to the 2023 foaling season with 2 special foals 2022- What a hard and sad summer… Never having had to deal with any horse in my care colicing before (well nothing serious- some gas colic that passed on their own) I had two surgical case of colic in the summer of 2022. Two cases that could only be resolved by surgery. We sadly lost Rascalina to what looked like a post foaling colic just 12 hours after the birth of her filly. She was never quite right after the birth and it just got worse with...

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The foals of 2022

3 beautiful foals this year. 3 lovely souls, cherished and expected and dearly loved right from the start. 4 good mares that took care of them the best they could and allowed them to be born safely and grow up well. I think they fit in well with my constant goals of : well bred, well handled and well raised. Superstition (Morricone/Kreation (Rubinero/Donnerhall): the black shinny pearl   Like her brothers before her, she was born very a very sensitive but sensible soul. Thin skin, impressionable, not overly fond of humans and generally finding their touch a bit much at first. Less sensitive by far than Pavarotti (v....

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Expected 2022 foals

The never-ending summer. On August 15th the breeding season came to an end at the farm. It had been 16 weeks of work to get there. 112 days of thinking about breeding, wondering and pondering, checking mares, ordering semen, and counting days. With two mares open (not pregnant): Zigami and Rascalina, the idea was to start early and to breed Kreation after she had foaled later in the season. Or so the plan was… We had two custom foals planned for clients for those two mares. The stallions were carefully selected, the contracts were signed and we were ready to go in mid-May when the mares started to...

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A study in contrast- the foals of 2020

The 2020 foals have reached their 6 months birthdays. Every year, every foal comes into the world with its own characteristics and they slowly evolve into the horse that they will be as adults. Watching the beginning of this journey is always fascinating. In almost all aspects this year’s foals couldn’t be more different from each other. One is small, refined, sensitive, insecure, and black. The other is big-boned, self-confident, quiet, and pale palomino. The black colt-Pavarotti (aka Zoom)-Fabregas x Kreation This little guy is like a little butterfly coming out of his chrysalis. He was vulnerable and soft and sensitive but he is learning to cope with...

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Good bye 2020

The solstice, the shortest day of the year is for me the real turning point of winter, the start of the New Year as the days begins to lengthen. On that day I always like to reflect (as I wait for the sun to finally appear over the horizon so I can go out and do chores!). 2020 was a terrible year for so many and I feel that every day in the reports we hear and the stories we tell and share. The way society dealt with the pandemic this year has both elated and depressed me. But for us here, 2020 was a great year. What...

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You are enough!

One thing that bugs me is reading posts or ads for horses that are for sale (or  “looking for a new zip code”-as seems to be a popular way of saying things) it’s when I read that it’s because “I can’t do this horse justice “, or “this horse has too much potential. ” Now, I realize those might be formulas to make the horse seem more attractive than it might be in order to attract more attention but I really don’t like the sentiment. (Does it even work?) I don’t like to think that some owner thinks that if their horses are not out competing then it...

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How do we breed for the amateur market?

With so many breeders focusing on breeding for the amateur market, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to define what WE mean by the term: “breeding for the dedicated amateur.” After all, here at Formosus, we breed for them, for you, we do not breed for ourselves, other breeders, breed associations, or for the judges. I think it is important to articulate this core value of our breeding program as it makes it clear to us and to others. So first of all: what are “amateurs riders”? If we look at what they have in common we can then find where we need to focus our...

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Expected 2021 foals

The breeding season for 2020 is now over.   Some years, all goes well. This year was one of them: the timing was perfect and both mares caught on their first cycle. Somehow, just like last year, they ended up being bred just 3 days apart. This year they foaled about 2 weeks apart, we shall see what happens next summer! We have some interesting foals coming up next year if all goes well. It’s a long 11 months between now and then but it won’t change what we have coming up so we might as well let you know!   Kreation had a very nice foal by...

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August News from the Farm

The summer has been amazing here in Alberta, we had tons of rain and the pastures are so thick; the haying was hampered by how tangled and moist the grass grew. The mare and foals are out on pasture about 16 hours a day. Our pasture this year has everything: alfalfa, brome, timothy, and some wild grass I don’t know but that the horses love to graze. The foals are surprisingly not engaging with each other yet. It will take a bit longer. The black colt Pavarotti is certainly mischievous enough but the palomino Marcello seems lower energy and not as motivated to engage. He is cheeky however...

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