Our breeding ethos

our breeding ethos is rooted in care, responsibility, and respect — both for the breed and for the horses we raise. We are deeply committed to giving our foals the best possible start in life, ensuring they grow up in a nurturing, stable environment that encourages curiosity, confidence, and calmness. From their earliest days, our young horses are handled with patience and consistency, allowing them to become well-mannered, respectful and trusting individuals. We believe in producing not just beautiful horses, but emotionally balanced and socially prepared partners, ready to thrive in their future homes — whether in the show ring, breeding shed, or as lifelong companions.
Ensuring the care of our mares is just as important as nurturing our foals, as they are the cornerstone of our breeding program. Some mares have been raised here from birth, while others are carefully selected and brought into our program. Every mare receives dedicated care and training to ensure she is emotionally and physically prepared to welcome foals when the time is right.

the BEGINNING

We aim to cover our mares between April and June, with foals arriving the following year from late April to July. This timing offers milder weather, plenty of turnout time, and the summer grass to give them growing time, giving our youngsters the best possible start.
Mares and foals begin in our quiet nursery field, closest to the stables, In the neighbouring field, our main herd grazes, allowing the foals to see and interact with them over the fence. This slow, natural introduction helps the young horses become familiar with the wider group in a calm and secure way.

nursery

During this early nursery period, foals are gently introduced to everyday handling. They spend their days in the field and are stabled overnight, learning to lead to and from the field, wear leather foal slips, have their feet handled, and enjoy light grooming — all with patient, positive reinforcement. They’re also taught to respect boundaries while their dams eat, learning soft pressure cues and polite behaviour around feed. Our mares are given a high-protein, balanced diet to support their post-foaling recovery, and we ensure that foals do not eat their dams’ feed, as it can be too rich for them at a young age — and the mares need the nutrition to recover well. This routine naturally teaches foals about boundaries, communication, and healthy feeding habits from the very start.

Spring to Summer

By around the second month, our foals begin staying out overnight with their dams and peers, with access to field shelters and trees for rest and comfort. When they’re around 3–4 months old the two herds are brought together, and the full field is opened. This thoughtful process allows for smooth and safe integration, giving the foals the chance to learn essential herd behaviours — social hierarchy, mutual grooming, and respectful communication — all under the watchful eye of their mothers. The result is confident, well-socialised young horses, well-prepared for their transition into the colder months.

We’re fortunate that our land borders active farmland, with tractors, trailers, and noisy equipment regularly passing through and occasionally topping our fields when needed. This natural exposure provides calm, consistent desensitisation to the kinds of everyday sights and sounds they may one day encounter in ridden or competition life.

Into the colder months

In autumn, the foals are moved to our larger winter field, which borders a train line and level crossing, footpaths, a cycle route, and a main road. Surrounded by gardens, wildlife, and everyday countryside life — from builders and tree surgeons to dogs, children, and farm machinery — it’s the perfect environment for raising confident, well-adjusted young horses, ready for the wider world.

colts vs fillies

COLTS are weaned based on individual testosterone levels. We believe every foal benefits from staying with its dam for as long as possible but when colts start to mature, they need to come away from the herd to avoid unwanted breeding. Once weaned, they are either retained as stallions or gelded, depending on their development and future potential. For colts born alone in a particular year, our gentle companion pony, Bear, and our other geldings provides company and stability. If more than one colt is born, they are kept together as a bonded pair until the time comes for gelding, if it is required.
After gelding, the young colts are reintroduced to a large, mixed-age herd led by our most trusted and assertive mares — a vital stage in their social development. The dominant mares instil respect and boundaries, while the beta mares help teach discipline, herd dynamics, and social hierarchy. Within this setting, the colts learn essential behaviours: mutual grooming, reading pressure and space, identifying prime grazing areas, and, above all, how to be a horse.
STALLIONS. When we decide that a young colt — or a group of colts — will be kept entire, we allow each one to be weaned naturally, in their own time. After weaning, we turn the colt out with our pregnant mares. We keep a close eye on him to ensure he doesn’t become a nuisance or attempt to cover, but because our mares are confident and well-established, they’re able to teach him what we can’t. All of our horses look to us for guidance, and we make it clear through our handling and boundaries that the mares have our permission to step in and teach the young stallion the manners he needs to become the best version of himself.
The mares show him the essential social rules: how to behave politely, how to communicate with a mare, and how to manage himself as his hormones develop. This stage is invaluable. It shapes a well-mannered, respectful stallion and gives him the early experience he needs to approach mares appropriately in the future when he eventually covers live.

FILLIES are much easier to accommodate – for obvious reasons! – however we still keep a close eye on them to ensure both dam and foal are doing well. Our goal is always for the mare to gradually wean her foal naturally, which encourages a deep-rooted bond with both her dam and the wider herd. This slow, natural process allows the filly to develop at her own pace and helps prevent behavioural issues that can arise from being weaned too early. While we strive to keep foals with their mothers for as long as possible, we never wean before 8 months unless absolutely necessary. In some cases, such as with our 2024 foals, we made the decision to wean at 12 months when a few of our older mares began to struggle post-winter — having given everything to their foals during the tougher season.