Glynmagic Copper CometLithgow Houdini x Bristol Rachel Rachel 12.2 Chestnut Foaled 1994 Section A Welsh Pony Stallion Copper is a wonderful blend of his dam and sire. Like his sire, he is proud, spirited, loaded with substance and a correct and balanced mover. He gracefully combines these wonderful qualities with that of being a kind hearted athlete. His dam, Bristol Rachel-Rachel, a champion in her own right, was sired by the many time National, Supreme, and Grand Champion Bristol Sun God. Copper has inherited his father's tremendous movement and gentle temperament and the athletic ability of his grandsire, Sylvia's Comet. Initially, we had expected to sell Copper's sisters but as we discovered they too had inherited the same athletic abilities, correct movement and were so easy to train it simply made sense to retain them in our breeding program. Thus the need for a second stallion became apparent. To view Copper's get click here. The search for a second stallion from proven performance bloodlines The search actually continued for 5 years. My requirements were simple. I needed at least a medium, bold movement, the same gentle temperament that Lithgow Houdini possessed in spades and had imprinted on my herd, and the sire had to enable me to continue my fledgling line breeding program that nicked back quickly to Criban Victor (5 time winner of Royal Welsh Show and one of the three Welsh founding fathers). Most importantly our new sire had to descend from proven performance lines. It seemed simple until I seriously started looking. I found the prettier the pony the more limited its movement. Fast, flashy colored, halter ponies without proven performance history in the open show world, were easy to find. Many of these ponies have weak loins which means the power is not there to drive the front end. The result is little or no hock driving under the animal and although the pony looks fancy upfront the rear movement doesn't match and the pony is unbalanced. Strong, large strided movers that engaged their hind quarters and moved straight from the shoulder had become almost nonexistent. Section B Welsh ponies had become smaller and finer. They had evolved into ponies whose movement was elbow driven. What was missing was the power driven, large strided and most important, balanced movement of the sensible GlanNant pony that was abundant in the performance show ring ten years ago. These ponies were being shown by children both in halter and performance and they could hold their own in the hunter show world and trainers did not complain that they lacked a brain. Gone are the big athletic Mollie Butler ponies that could do it all (show hunter, endurance, eventing, driving, etc.) and still remain sound.
(Tangwyllt Brigantine, who is GlanNant breeding both on top and bottom of her pedigree, demonstrates the movement I prefer. Large strided, balanced, straight from the shoulder and all 4 feet airborne at the trot. ) Returning to the Welsh show world after years of being away showed me that judges now forgive the absence of correct movement, solid performance and appropriate behavior in favor of refined attractiveness and flashy colors. The 'new style' Welsh pony no longer has the ever important pony character, instead they resemble small Thoroughbred/Arab crosses. Today's Welsh enthusiast/breeder/judge seems to value this refined and flashy appearance over performance. Few of the halter pony winners are actually shown by children today and even fewer of these winners are shown by children in performance. The ponies I now see in the Welsh show ring are simply too hot to be shown by anyone but an adult and generally that adult is a professional handler. Many ponies that placed well were very fast movers but generally lacked the long stride and correct movement. Several judges looked at little other than the head and neck of the pony. Crooked legs, bad rears, weak loins and sausage bodies lacking the necessary depth in the girth were often placed at the front of the line. In performance judges asked for few individual tests. Poor behavior was accepted. When judging we can't forget to consider the importance of behavior and temperament. Judges and show committees must not accept inappropriate or dangerous behavior in ponies/exhibitors. Rewarding bad behavior propagates the problem by not getting the message to parents whose children are not suitably mounted, to owners whose animals are out of control, to exhibitors who "accidentally" free the pony they are showing so it's movement obviously shows better, or to breeders who then lack the incentive to breed defects out of their herds. These animals and situations are a potential danger to everyone on the show grounds especially the children for which we claim Welsh ponies are perfect. Where are we headed with our breeding programs? The fact is the original Welsh pony loaded with pony character, substance, and scope that I had initially fallen in love with is out of fashion and in danger of extinction. Certainly the breeder should strive for perfection but this must be done within the guidelines set by the breed standard. Without substance supporting strong, bold, properly engaged movement there is no superior performance. Without substance ponies can not hold up to the rigor of the real world for which, in all fairness to the pony, we should ultimately be preparing them. Movement is the key to performance be it human or equine. Substance is the key to great movement. How many delicate and refined Olympic athletes do we see? Do I want to produce the popular delicate refined pony whose performance career is most likely over by the age of 5 or 6 because their body lacks the substance to withstand the demands asked of it? No! However, that is where the Welsh trend is today. It is selfish to breed ponies for the limited use of showing in hand or as pasture ornaments. How did we get to this extreme in the breeding of Welsh ponies and where is it taking us. Can we possibly be making the conscious decision to breed inferior performing ponies for aesthetics? Many of the biggest halter winners in WPCSA halter classes only place well as yearlings or two year olds and barely, if at all, show in performance. This is especially disturbing in the stallion division because people blindly buy breedings to these unproven stallions. It is time Welsh breeders reevaluate their herds, take their ponies to open shows and see how their stock stands up to competition among other breeds. If the majority of the Welsh produced can compete in open shows and still place respectably it will be safe to say we are on the right track. However if we train our judges to judge our Welsh stock based upon what apparently has become the "new standard" for Welsh, continue to weight conformation below type and test performance at such a basic level at our Welsh shows without going to open shows to keep our perspective, we will continue to deteriorate the versatility and durability in the Welsh pony breed. So where do we go from here?
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In
the spring of 2002 I visited Rosmel Pony farm and was spellbound by
Rosmel Cotillion. His extreme movement and scope were exactly what I had
been looking for. Most importantly, Cotillion descended
from many generations of super performance bloodlines. Later the same summer I found a Cotillion son, Rosmel's Bey Cracker, offered for sale. I called Rosie
Gillette-Norris and she kindly forwarded pictures of Bey Cracker's
offspring by their Houdini daughters. My search was over!
After all the looking and contemplating I had finally found a "proven
stallion" for my Houdini daughters descending from performance
bloodlines. A large section B stallion
that was full grown, a joy to handle and had already crossed well with
our bloodlines!
