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PaxTeam Teke is sorry to hear that Pax (see past reports in 'Events') has had to be retired from competion. His owner, Stephanie Richards, writes 'Pax collapsed at the beginning of the year. Following blood tests and X rays he has now been retired from competition. The results are much better than expected and we are hoping to bring him back to work so that my mother can use him to hack.' We wish him well in his retirement. An Update on the Richardson HorsesOur yearling Yoldash (Firyuza/Dominik) is now summer holidaying with my daughter, Annette. Dash was bred for her to take on to do endurance riding in a few years time. It has turned out that Annette is expecting her first child next month and has since sold her old endurance horse, so hopefully things will work out well for the future. Annette and Simon were happy to have Dash with them for the summer and they wouldn’t be completely horseless . It was an opportunity for him to be weaned from his mother and spend a bit of time with some other horses. He is in with a humungous 18hh old boy who is now retired from show jumping, etc. He does look very small against him. Ruffy is very good though and keeps him in his place without being too unkind or too rough. Those huge feet could do a lot of damage if he were to kick out – laying his ears back is enough to keep Dash in his place. He is a bit of a wimp though and is not too keen on this roughing it out in the field in the rain (although we’ve not seen a lot of that this year). He’s used to having access to his stable for inclement weather. We have him booked in to the BEF Futurity again this year. We are going to Catherston Stud in mid-August. It will be interesting to see how we get on this year after doing well last year as a 6-week old foal. We are also hoping to take him to a show or 2 during the summer months to expand his education. He is coming along well with his natural horsemanship and enjoys learning new things. Probably, like most Akhal-Teke’s, he isn’t fazed by much and quite happily investigates most things without any fear – he’s just so interested in everything. While Yoldash has been away, I have been riding his mum, Firyuza, quite a lot and we have done a couple of sponsored rides and some endurance pleasure rides. She seems to enjoy these after spending a year looking after her son. She is now six and hopefully, next year we will expand on the endurance riding and do a few novice competitive rides. I am very lucky to have lovely forests to ride in off-road all the time but it is nice to ride in other areas of the country with different terrain. We are having such pleasure from owning Yoldash and he is much admired and loved by everyone. The locals near our yard want to know when he’s coming back. He is such a friendly ‘people’ horse. He loves everyone. Postcript - Jackie Richardson adds: Took the boy to the Futurity Tuesday 17 August. We went to Catherston Stud this time (Jenny Lorriston-Clark's place). He did very well and got 8.36 out of 10, which gave him a First Premium again. There were only 2 in the Endurance section and he just beat the other entry. I see from the results that he was somewhere in the middle for that day and is somewhere in the middle of all the endurance entries for the whole country. We were very proud of the way that he behaved. He loaded himself into the trailer both ways and didn't bat an eyelid at anything at the venue or all the other horses. The assessors liked his lovely friendly attitude. He had to go and have a chat with them when he was turned loose to canter. It was really difficult to get him to canter with me running up and down driving him away. He was only interested in the judges and the camera people. I don't think we will bother next year as we feel that he has proved he is hopefully going to be a good horse. The previous weekend, Annette took him to a local show and entered him in the coloured class in the pouring rain. He ended up 2nd out of 8. He did well as a yearling to beat other more mature horses - perhaps the judge liked duns as the winner was a dun as well. We might take him to another show this weekend and then call it a day for this year.
BEF Futurity Evaluation, July 21Even before Yoldash was born, after reading an article about these evaluations, I wanted to take our foal to this event. It seemed such a good idea to assess the youngstock that you have bred for the discipline that you have bred them for – be it eventing, show-jumping, dressage, etc. The horses, ranging from foals to 3 year olds, are looked at by a vet and any faults are noted for you to watch over the coming years. It could be a case of remedial shoeing or something for your vet to watch or it may just disappear, as they grow older. Then it’s into an indoor school where a team of 3 evaluators look at the horses. There are several venues all over the country, but as Dash is bred for Endurance and this is the first year that they are including this as an evaluation discipline we were restricted to 4 possible venues. Okehampton was our nearest, so we duly entered for 21st July and started the halter training. Yoldash is bred from Firyusa (Fizz), a grey part-bred Arab/Akhal-Teke mare bred by Gill Suttle and Dominik, Darya Hannigan’s beautiful buckskin purebred Akhal-Teke stallion. Dash was born on 4th June and is an absolute joy to us and we love him to bits. He is a cute buckskin colt and is full of inquisitiveness and fun. The day of the evaluation dawned wet and miserable with a vet time of 10.15am. Fizz loaded fine as usual and I thought Dash would follow but he wasn’t impressed and headed off round the field for a few laps before eventually being persuaded that it wasn’t so bad after all. They both travelled well for the long 3-hour journey and weren’t fazed by the sight of the other horses at the venue. We didn’t have to wait long in the queue for our turn and the kindly vet eyed him up and thought that any faults that he might have at 6 weeks old would probably disapear over the next year or so. We were then ushered into the huge indoor arena and the assessors looked him over critically and then we had to walk a triangle a couple of times leading them both and then we let Yoldash go to trot beside his mother round the triangle again. Then came the exciting bit as my husband, Neville, held Dash at one end while I walked Fizz to the other end of the arena. Dash was then released to canter after his mother, jumping the poles marking the triangle on the way, much to everyone’s amusement. We then heard the verdict from the evaluators and they gave him marks for various sections of the assessment form. He was given a combined mark of 8.64 out of 10, which was very good and far exceeded our expectations. This earned him a First Premium rosette. Elite Premiums are for marks 9 and over and are highly prized. The assessors said that they liked him very much and that they thought he had a great future in endurance ahead of him: they liked his balance and paces and thought that he could possibly have a dressage future. This in itself, I found very interesting and is something we might pursue in due course. He also received a Reserve in the Endurance section and a rosette from Endurance GB for just turning up. So a little 6-week-old foal ended up taking home 3 lovely rosettes – can’t be bad. If you ever have a chance to go to one of these events, I would strongly recommend it as I found the evaluators very helpful and impartial. They gave very good advice where necessary. Well worth the money. The results go on the youngster’s record with National Equine Database (NED) and could be useful if you are thinking of selling in the future. Jackie Richardson 30.7.09 Update on Yoldash. Jackie writes in September: he’s growing fast. We took him to the Dorchester Show last week. He did nothing in the class but was very well behaved and enjoyed going to a party. This is a big show with a lot going on so we were pleased at how well he coped with the tannoys and all the horses milling about. It makes it so much easier as Fizzy is very laid back and doesn’t get fazed by much. It all has a calming effect on Dasha. I have a lady come to help me with Natural Horsemanship with the pair of them. We have started Dasha off and he is very good at leading around. Once he is going well we can introduce poles and walking over sheets etc We lead them both out into the forest for walks for a change. He is very independent and likes to stay with us if we are working in the field instead of keeping with his mum all the time. He is such fun and hopefully he will grow into a real ‘companion’ which is the meaning of Yoldash. Thankfully, so far he is still keeping the beautiful buckskin colour.   
The Great Rescue Ride, July 25Maria Marquise Baverstock and Mualim took part in this sponsored ride, organised by Endurance GB as part of their Tally Ho ride near Salisbury Plain, in aid of Horseworld, the Bristol based equine rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming charity. The ride was fifteen miles, starting at Kingston Deverill, near Warminster. Maria reports that the scenery and terrain were wonderful, but Mualim disliked the vetting procedure somewhat!    Akhal Teke Foals - 2009Dominik, the buckskin stallion belonging to Aylesbury Vale Akhal Tekes, (AVAT) has produced three colt foals this year. The first was born on 22 May, Yggdrysil, out of Humisha, Akhal Teke/TB x Welsh. Yoldash arrived next, on 4 June, out of Firyusa, Arab x Akhal Teke, bred at Kyzyl Akhal Tekes. His owners plan an endurance career. Watch this space for a report on his visit to a BEF futurity event at Okehampton. Finally Azar was born on 14 June, out of AVAT Stud’s Akhal Teke mare Oinam: he is a full brother to the Stud’s 2 year old filly Ayazgul.   
Exe Equestrian Club Pleasure Ride, Woodbury Common, March 15'Come and ride an Akhal Teke!’ this was an offer I could not refuse, and last year I drove to Devon to take up Maria Marquise’s kind offer. I rode her lovely big bay mare Mushmula on a couple of hacks round her farm and the Devon countryside. This spring came an even better offer – come and join us on a ten mile pleasure ride!The date coincided with the sunniest weekend of the year so far. This time I rode Perimli, a mare that Maria has on loan. Smaller than Mushmula, black, with a proud classical head – despite having spent much of her life as a brood mare, she is an absolute joy to ride. Maria’s husband Nigel, on Mushmula, joined me on the ride.
Mushmula was barefoot, Perimli had front shoes. Many of the tracks were stony, but we were able to trot for much of the way, with several short canters. The route took us through woodland, gorse covered heath, and over streams, a splendid variety of countryside. Perimli reminded me of horses I had ridden in Turkmenistan and Iran, with what I can only describe as a light, joyous, forward going movement. Her strides were so horizontal, her trot so comfortable, her transitions to canter imperceptible. I barely noticed I had ridden for ten miles! Mushmula’s feet were fine on the hard going – we passed one hairy cob hardly able to put one barefoot hoof in front of another. We left another cob behind us as we crossed a very boggy stream – here was nearly my downfall as I stopped to look for the best way through, and Perimli decided to put her head down on the bank to sniff the mud! But the mares both waded through. Only at the end did Perimli get excited – otherwise both mares happily went in front, behind, passed or were passed without batting an eyelid. These really are horses made for pleasant travelling – perfect for those of us who are not competitive in any way! |
