Blue Feather Farms

 

Hello and Welcome to Blue Feather Farms, home of a few very special Gypsy Vanner Horses.

 

Gypsy horses are an incredible breed; they are a beauty to behold, and their character a joy with which to work. Their size and temperament make them ideal companions for those like myself at, we’ll just say over 50.

 

I discovered the Gypsy Vanner after breeding registered horses of other breeds for over 30 years, including; Thoroughbreds, Warmbloods, Sport-horses and Clydesdales.  As I got older and more brittle, I was looking for a horse with the kind, cooperative temperament and chunky build of the Clydesdale but in a smaller package. This search led me to the Gypsy Vanner.  Spending two years searching for the best gypsy horses available in the UK and US before acquiring my first gypsy broodmare, I’ve now had the great pleasure of breeding and raising Gypsy Vanner foals from these mares for the past eight years.

 

All of the Blue Feather Farms foals of 2011 and previous years have been sold (sad to see each of them go!), but we are expecting a few 2012 foals, which will be posted on this website as they are born.

 

Contact for Blue Feather Farms via email is: foals@bluefeatherfarms.com

 

 

The Mares of Blue Feather Farm

 

Blue Feather

Sire: Foundation (UK)

Dam: Foundation (UK)

Registration: GV000676

 

I imported Blue Feather as a 10 year old from the wonderful Coates Gypsy in the UK (www.gypsyhorses.co.uk).  She was a sweet, gently and timid mare who touched the hearts of everyone who met her.

She was my heart horse, and the one after whom I named my gypsy horse breeding efforts – Blue Feather Farm.

After a valiant struggle on the part of our wonderful veterinarian, we sadly lost Blue Feather in 2011

 

 

 

Arctic Winter

Sire: Blond Boy Price’s Roadsweeper colt (by The Roadsweeper, UK)

Dam: Jo Wiltshire’s red and white mare, Matilda (by The Paddy Horse) (Arctic Winter’s dam is also the dam of The Lottery Horse, so she is a ˝ sister to Lottery through their mutual dam.)

Registration: GV000451F

 

 

I imported Winter as a 7 year old from the wonderful Coates Gypsy in the UK (www.gypsyhorses.co.uk).  She is a calm and confidant mare that is the alpha mare of the herd. She just takes everything in stride and quietly does whatever is asked of her.

 

Winter is a very well bred Gypsy Vanner mare, with a good deal of her parentage known for an imported horse. Her sire is a son of The Roadsweeper (UK), who was known as ‘Blond Boy Price’s Roadsweeper colt’.  Her dam is the mare Joe Wiltshire’s red and white mare (also called Matilda), who in addition to Winter, foaled the stallion The Lottery Horse.  Winter looks a great deal in markings and conformation like her famous ˝ brother The Lottery Horse.

 

Winter has incredibly heavy feathers, which fall to the ground and spread out inches from the bottom of her foot. Her tail as well is very thick and luxurious, and I am very happy that it is solid black, no white to have to keep clean!  Her mane and forelock are naturally thick; but this has been a blessing in disguise, as she is constantly getting hunks of mane caught in all sorts of things (we found enough hair one day to make a forelock wig for two other horses in a water bucket hanging contraption). 

 

Arctic Winter’s first colt foaled in the US is Alaskan Winter, a wonderful stallion now standing in Canada at Wellington County Gypsy Vanner Horses (www.muttnwood.com).

 

Winter is currently in foal to Latcho Drom and we are excited to see what this wonderful cross of impeccable bloodlines produces.

 

Athena

Sire: Latcho Drom

Dam: Crown Darby (by The Gypsy King)

Registration: GV01013F2

 

 

Athena’s registered name is Gypsy Gold Gypsy Elite Athena, a long name, so I just call her Athena. She was an embryo transfer foal with some of the good early bloodlines to come to the US, and her pedigree is DNA confirmed for both sire and dam. She is homozygous for black and heterozygous for Tobiano.

 

Athena is a heavily built mare who pushes off her back end to create a long stride for such a robust mare. I’ve just started riding her, and the walk is definitely her preferred gait (she likes whoa quite a bit as well). She is always anxious to please, so a carefully timed ‘good girl’ generally gets her working harder.

 

.

Foals due in 2012

 

Pompeii - Toy Heart

Due April 14th, 2012

 

Sire: Pompeii

Sire of Pompeii: The Ashford Horse

Dam of Pompeii:  Blue Feather

 

Dam: Toy Heart

Sire of Toy Heart: Toy Boy Jr.

Dam of Toy Heart: Belle UK

 

Toy Heart is a lovely young mare whom we own in partnership with our dear friend Nancy of Mill Cave Farm.  She is an imported daughter of Toy Boy Jr., who brings some less represented bloodlines into our breeding programs.  Solid black with just a touch of white on her face and one foot, she offers some fun color combination crosses.

Toy heart is in foal to the robust and true blue roan stallion Pompeii, standing at Villa Vanners (www.villavanners.com).

 

This Pompeii/Toy Heart foal will be born in Kentucky.

 

Latcho Drom – Arctic Winter

Due July 26th, 2012

 

Sire: Latcho Drom, standing at Gypsy Gold (www.gypsygold.com).

 

Dam: Arctic Winter

Sire of Arctic Winter: Blond Boy Price’s Roadsweeper colt (by The Roadsweeper, UK)

Dam of Arctic Winter: Jo Wiltshire’s red and white mare, Matilda (by The Paddy Horse)

 

Winter has given us some phenomenal foals in the past, and we are excited to see what this newest cross of impeccable bloodlines brings in 2012.