Desert Moon Now Under Saddle

Another one of our babies is now backed, our delightful homozygous mare, AKA Starbuck's Desert Moon (TP Starbuck x Dos Colores del Cielo). She was a complete honey pie and took it all in her stride. She does love attention though! She is in foal to Roundhills Crystal King for an April 2014 buckskin & white foal. Expressions of interest in the foal taken.

Two More Palomino Fillies

Congratulations to Jacqueline Reeve on the birth of two palomino fillies by our boy,  Roundhills Crystal King. Both are AI babies. The first is out of In The Sky, Arabian mare, and the second is out of her dam, Spiritualist. Aren't they gorgeous?

Introducing AKA Crystal Star, Palomino Filly (Roundhills Crystal King x Dos Colores Del Cielo)

Performance Arabians is proud to announce the safe arrival of AKA Crystal Star, a simply gorgeous palomino filly by our cremello stallion, Roundhills Crystal King and out of Dos Colores Del Cielo, a 75% Arabian pinto mare imported from Texas. She has done us proud as this is her third filly.

Arab Horse Society Performance Awards for Calendar Year 2012

Performance Arabians' horses took 2nd, 3rd and 4th places in the above awards. Stud duties mean that we won't be able to travel to the Arabian National Championships at Malvern next week to collect our awards. However, the result is very satisfying, considering all the horses are home-bred. All points were earned in affiliated showjumping. Well done to our jockey, Leanne, for steering them to victory on numerous occasions.
2nd, with 580 points, was Laguna Flame (TP Starbuck x Mistral Whisper), 3rd, with 575 points, was Ruby Shy (Puzzles Limited Edition x Malibu Surfbreaker) and 4th, with 280 points, was Carousel Dreaming (TP Starbuck x Silverfrost Fantasia).

The stud also topped the table, by a considerable margin, for owners entering multiple horses with an incredible total of 1435 points.

Call Off The Search

Received these pics today from Paul Nicholson, the new owner of Call Off The Search (TP Starbuck x TA Caalicja). She is 93.75% Arabian and is by Performance Arabians' senior stallion, TP Starbuck. She was bred by David Whincup and has certainly inherited the jumping gene, just like TP Starbuck's other stock. Paul informs me that she is now out competing and always in the ribbons. With jumping style like that, it is not surprising! She has just been put in foal to Bey Sadik by Ganemede.

Blame It On The Bubbles (Magnum) Update

Janine Wade has just sent an updated pic of Magnum (AKA Starbuck's Champagne Star x Blame It On The Boogie). He is almost the image of his sire and is going to be equally spectacular once his baby winter fluff is shed.

Belle at 9 months.

Belle is growing fast and is now 9 months. Here are some pics of her enjoying the winter sunshine today.

Back to Normal

Performance Arabians' 2012 filly, La Belleza de Picasso (Picasso Kossack x Rodania Karisma), has made a great recovery, following colic surgery two months ago. She wasn't given a good prognosis when Clyde Veterinary Group operated. They had to remove 19' of small intestine and so many things could have gone wrong. They didn't reckon on a tough little Arabian though and she bounced back without any setbacks. Here she is on her first day of freedom, following six weeks box rest. She has been an absolute superstar throughout and won many new admirers when she was in intensive care. She has been so sensible and accepting of all that has happened. Many thanks to Andrew and Will for saving her and to all the team for their dedication, fantastic levels of care and personal interest in her (and her mum).

Qualified for National Finals

Both Ruby Shy and Laguna Flame had previously qualified for the 2nd Round of the National Amateur Series, sponsored by Dodson & Horrell. The 2nd Round was held today at Kingsbarn. Both of them have now qualified for the finals to be held at Aintree later in the year. They were two of only six clear rounds qualifying today. Ruby is now through in two sections, having secured her other qualification place at Rowallan a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, we won't be able to make the trip as we can't leave the other horses and it would be a tad too expensive, not to mention we are both working and it's a 4 day event. Shame really but that's just life.

Riley's Olympic Flame (Alfie)

Linda Riley has just sent some updated pics of Riley's Olympic Flame, Alfie to his friends, (Incandescent Flame x Piece of the Puzzle). He certainly has grown well and is a lovely sportshorse type. I am sure he will have a great future and we look forward to hearing of his progress.

Strenaby Showpiece (Pixie) Update

Strenaby Showpiece, by It's Showtyme and bred by Alma Darville, is growing into a stunning young filly. Wow!

Laguna Flame Cruises to Discovery Win.

Laguna Flame won the Discovery Class at the Scottish National Equestrian Centre today. It was a huge class with well over 50 competitors. The competition was stiff but Laguna Flame showed his Arabian speed and agility, comfortably winning the class. It was also a qualifier for Scottish Horse of the Year Show at Ingliston. Ruby Shy qualified earlier in the year so we have two through to the final.

Foalie Update.

The breeders of two of this year's foals have sent recent pics to show how well they are growing. Turning a lovely liver chestnut tobiano is Apollo by Picasso Kossack and out of Tilly, bred by Kate Hedges. What a smart-looking boy he is! Next up is Blame It On The Bubbles (aka Magnum) by AKA Starbuck's Champagne Star and out of Blame It On The Boogie, bred by Janine Wade. He's getting his dad's black points and is such a looker with his four high white stockings.  He also has dad's white mark on his rump and will be a gorgeous buckskin colour. Lush!

Ruby Shy Enters Her First 110cm Class

We were off to Rowallan today. Fortunately, with the jumping outdoors, the weather stayed fine until we left and then the Heavens opened. Laguna Flame got off to a great start, winning the 90cm Open before Ruby Shy took the plunge in her first 110cm class. She jumped super-confidently and went clear in the first phase, just tapping off the back pole of a very wide oxer in the jump-off phase. She finished third which was a great performance, with some very experienced horses behind her in the results. She qualified for the Second Round of the British Amateur Championships at this height, having already qualified at 90cm and 1m.

Ruby Shy Takes 1m Open at Rowallan

Ruby jumped well in the 1m Open at Rowallan today. She jumped a lovely double clear in the outside arena, taking the class by over 7 seconds.

Trailblazers at Kingsbarn

We took Laguna Flame and Carousel Dreaming to Kingsbarn yesterday for the Trailblazers qualifying classes. Carousel Dreaming got off to a great start in the 75cm Open by winning the class with a double clear. She did a terrific jump-off and deservedly won the class. She was supposed to go again in the 85cm class but went lame in the warm-up after leap-frogging over another horse's pee. We substituted Laguna Flame for her and he easily won the class with another double clear. Next up was the 95 cm class and he won that too with yet another double clear. He went again in the 105cm class, tapping out one pole but still finishing fourth.

Apollo Recovering Well.

Kate Hedges tells us that Apollo, by Picasso Kossack, has had a bit of a rough time, picking up an infection through his umbilical stump. He's been on antibiotics and seems to be doing well now. Best wishes for a full recovery.

British National Arabian Championships, Malvern

We have just returned from our summer break at the Arabian National Championships held at The Three Counties Showground, Malvern. The sun shone very brightly and it was so hot, a welcome break from the never-ending rain this summer. We were there for the Performance Awards which were held on Saturday. The presentation was made in the main ring with a good crowd and a marquee full of VIPs. Simon Richardson did a great commentary, as usual, which was very informative for the onlookers about each individual horse's breeding and achievements. It was good to be part of the AHS promotion of the performance side of the breed and to see the other performance horses forward for their awards, from a variety of disciplines including endurance, showjumping, dressage, showing and eventing. Having 4 of our horses in the top 8 is a great achievement and one which was recognised by the President of the AHS.

On the Thursday and Friday, Leanne competed Ruby Shy and Laguna Flame in the showjumping classes. Ruby Shy finished with a 1st, two 2nds, a 3rd and a 6th. Laguna Flame did even better with two 1sts, a 2nd, two 3rds and a 5th. He was also awarded the Showjumping Award for the best overall performance at the show. This was the first time both of them had jumped on grass and if Laguna Flame hadn't slipped and almost fallen in one of his classes he would have added another 1st.

Malvern Break

Leanne and I are currently in the Malvern Hills staying with Claire and Peter at Brockhill Farm. Ruby Shy and Laguna Flame are here for the National Championships at the Three Counties Showground. They will be competing in the showjumping events tomorrow and Friday before returning for the presentation of the Performance Awards in the main ring on Saturday. The top 10  have been invited to the presentation. Ruby took 3rd overall, Laguna Flame 4th, Carousel Dreaming 6th and It's Showtyme 8th. This is the view we wake up to in the morning.

iFlame's Filly Latest Pics.

Incandescent Flame's filly, down in Norfolk, is certainly growing quickly and she's not 3 weeks old yet. Her stable name is Ferdie and what a cutie she is, beautifully marked and definitely her daddy's girl!