Blue Feather Farms

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

Gypsy Vanners 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 me, over 50.

I have been breeding horses for over 25 years, including; Thoroughbreds, Warmbloods, Clydesdales and Gypsy Vanners. As I got older (and more brittle), I was looking for a horse with the kind, cooperative temperament and build of the Clydesdale in a smaller package, and then I discovered the Gypsy Vanner.

All of my horses are registered with the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society (GVHS).

I breed these horses primarily for my own enjoyment, and because I love bringing up the foals to be human interactive partners, but since I can’t keep them all, a few young horses are occasionally offered for sale.

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

Herd Sire of Blue Feather Farm

Pompeii

GVHS registration number: GV00675F1

Sire: The Ashford Horse (aka ‘Trigger’- a colt bred by Fred Walker)

Dam: Blue Feather

Color DNA results:

Ee (Heterozygous for black)

aa (Not bay)

to/to (Not Tobiano)

Sb1 nn (Not sabino)

gg (Not Grey)

Rn/n (Heterozygous for roan)

Pompeii was imported from the UK as a weanling.

Pompeii, like his dam, is a true Blue Roan (he is not sabino ‘roaned’, not ‘grey’, not ‘roaned appy’). Roan is a ‘simple dominant’ gene which adds white hairs evenly through a base coat; so exactly ½ of his foals should be roan like him. Pompeii has a black base coat, so he is considered a Blue Roan (where the white hairs intermix with black, giving a very blue appearance). As an added bonus, he displays (as did his dam) a frosty modification of roan, which adds ‘frosting’ – light hairs also intermixed in his mane and tail.

A photo of Pompeii’s dam Blue Feather was used by Dr. Phil Sponenberg in the 2009 edition of his book: Equine Color Genetics as a representative of the reversed dapples phase seen on a Blue Roan horse. If you have this book, you can find Blue Feather on page 177 where she is showing the beautiful ‘reversed dapples’ – a phenomenon only seen on true roan horses. Pompeii has these same characteristic reversed dapples in the springtime.

Roan horses are thrilling to own, because they change color with the seasons. In fact the term for roan in Icelandic – Litforott – means ‘always changing color’. In winter, Pompeii is nearly black, in spring a pale blue-white with black dapples, and different shades of blue-grey in summer and fall.

He occasionally gets distracted by one of the other stallions in his barn calling to ‘his girls’, but other than that, he is always a perfectly behaved gentleman. He is so ‘tuned in’ to me when I am in his stall, just waits to see what is wanted of him, and he will happily stand tied for hours for grooming and fussing. In fact, if I don’t lead him off after I unhook him, he will usually stand right there where he was tied until I come and tell him what to do next. He is a low energy boy!

Pompeii is not standing to outside mares.

The Mares of Blue Feather Farm

Arctic Winter (aka Winter)

Arctic Winter is the dam of the 2009 colt Arctic Explorer above.

GVHS registration number GV00451F

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 ½ sister to Lottery through their mutual dam!)

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 has imparted her temperament to each of the two foals she has raised for me thus far.

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, known as Blond Boy Price’s Roadsweeper colt. Her dam is the mare Joe Wiltshire’s red and white mare, Matilda - who in addition to Winter, foaled the stallion The Lottery Horse. Winter looks a great deal in markings and conformation like her ½ brother Lottery.

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 as well, 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 to make a wig for two other horses in a water bucket hanging contraption).

I broke Winter to ride once she got to the US, and after a few days of getting used to the saddle, she has been trailing around with me on occasion, taking it all in stride. I’ve ridden her during the time she has been raising her foals, and each time the foals have had the same reaction – upset that I have taken over the ‘milk dispenser’ and chasing around us all the time we ride – which proved to be a good opportunity to see how the foals move.

Arctic Winter’s fabulous colt Alaskan Winter is now in Canada at:

www.muttnwood.com

A photo album for Arctic Winter can be found at:

http://pets.webshots.com/album/559663962pWmHom

Gypsy Gold Gypsy Elite Athena (long name! I call her ‘ Thena’)

GVHS registration number GV01013F2

Sire: Latcho Drom

Dam: Crown Darby (by The Gypsy King)

Thena 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 (second only to whoa). She likes to please, so a carefully timed ‘good girl’ generally gets her working harder. Thena is 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. Thena will in coming years be producing some foals with Pompeii.

Kali

GVHS registration number GV01063F1

Sire: The Lottery Horse

Dam: Sweet Cocoa Mare (by The Boss)

Kali is a more elegantly built mare with beautiful Dressage-like movement and ‘pure’ gaits. She is a quiet and kind mare who thoroughly enjoys interacting with people (I am pretty sure that she thinks she IS a person). Kali has been DNA confirmed as a daughter of The Lottery Horse, and her dam is a DNA confirmed daughter of The Boss. She is homozygous for black. Kali will in coming years be producing some foals with Pompeii.

Blue Feather

Blue Feather is the grand-dam of the 2009 colt Arctic Explorer above.

GVHS registration number GV00676F

Sire: Foundation (UK)

Dam: Foundation (UK)

Color DNA results:

Ee (Heterozygous for black)

aa (Not bay)

to/to (Not Tobiano)

Sb1 nn (Not sabino)

gg (Not Grey)

Rn/n (Heterozygous for roan)

I imported Blue Feather as a 10 year old from the wonderful Coates Gypsy in the UK (www.gypsyhorses.co.uk). She is a sweet, gently and timid mare.

Like her son Pompeii, she is a true blue roan. In the springtime she has beautiful reversed dapples, and a photo of her was used for the new edition of Dr. Sponenberg’s book on Equine Color Genetics to demonstrate the ‘reversed dapple’ effect which is seen only in true roan horses.

Blue Feather has solid black legs, which on roan horses remain black, so when she is in her lighter roan hair color seasons, her black legs make a pretty contrast to her blue body.

2009 Foals – Both SOLD

Arctic Explorer Guinness Stout

Contact for Blue Feather Farms via email:

foals@bluefeatherfarms.com