Blessed Are the Broodmares

[Fred]

[QUOTE=DLee;6546901]
I cannot watch that without crying. So incredibly beautiful. Hugs, Fred. :sadsmile:

Oh, ETA I do love my one and only TB broodmare, Stormin Scooter. Picked up through CANTER Ohio, she has given me three incredible foals.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for posting the link to Small Victory, Louise, and thank you everyone for the kind words.
It is the one song that my HH plays every single time he performs, and I can’t listen to it without crying my eyes out. Today was no exception.

[Fred]

[QUOTE=clint;6546930]
What a beautiful song, and story. Hugs to you Fred, and to your husband. Clearly Two Bitter was much loved, and repayed you in kind. My broodmares are so special to me that words aren’t really adequate to express my feelings.[/QUOTE]

Clint, thank you.
We both feel she repaid us in ways we could not have imagined.
She had had a few foals but when we got her she had been barren for 5 yrs, which in TB breeding world is pretty much a death sentence. I don’t know what arrogance made me think I could get her in foal - complete ignorance I guess.
Somehow, I got lucky and she had 3 beautiful foals for me- Lucy (the one in the song- who btw did not foal unattended, that was poetic license), Cricket and Fred, her last.

[Fred]

[QUOTE=Home Again Farm;6547100]
My mares are my treasures. They give so much and ask so little. I love that song and I send blessings and thanks to all my fellow breeders who give their mares their due. RIP Two Bitter, a mare to mourn for decades.[/QUOTE]

Lovely Home Again. thank you.

[Fred]

[QUOTE=dianehalpin;6547107]
Fred, I love you for your love for Two Bitter and the song made me cry.

I’ve tried so hard to place my one remaining broodie into the right hands, at 13 years and seven foals on the ground, since we would like to ease out of breeding; however Kleopatra, who was post-entered in the Warrenton Non-TB Broodmare Class last week as a way to get her and her new colt into the ring before his own class, won it! She’s produced champion jumpers and show hunters, some of whom have also done very well in HB, DSHB, and FEH, in this order; two fillies, two colts, two fillies, one colt and now a Sir Wanabi expected next year! Does anyone want to bet that it WON’T be a colt?

Now I don’t want to part with this mare who has been the nucleus of my breeding program and who has given me so much. She’s become a “heart horse”!

Diane Halpin & Laurel Leaf Hanoverians: Facebook[/QUOTE]

Thank you Diane.
I love your mare, she is GORGEOUS- I have been admiring your pics on FB.
I can see why she would be your ‘heart horse’, she is a beautiful girl. :yes:

jdeboer, fingers crossed for a complete recovery for your good mare.

laurierace - I love your mare too, she is beautiful.

TKR, please do tell us about your heart mare.

(I apologise for the multiple posts, I don’t know how to do those 'clips)

[DLee]

[QUOTE=Dressage_Diva333;6547018]
I agree that there aren’t really words to describe how special some of my mares are… here are a couple pictures of my wonderful little Arabian mare. Not only does she produce REALLY nice foals, she is one of the most sensitive and caring horses I have ever had the honor of knowing…

Sometimes photos speak louder than words…

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3615851922532&l=2768e7a8a4

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3615753560073&l=18629742d2

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1674353826293&l=ee47eb5ddf[/QUOTE]

Those are beautiful! I love those first moments so incredibly much, and I don’t plan on having any more foals and boy I’m going to miss that.

Here is our moment this year. :sadsmile:

[Fred]

[QUOTE=DLee;6547666]
Those are beautiful! I love those first moments so incredibly much, and I don’t plan on having any more foals and boy I’m going to miss that.

Here is our moment this year. :sadsmile:[/QUOTE]

Beautiful. :sadsmile: :yes: it is what it is all about, I think.

[Samotis]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150840693236960&set=a.10150563344316960.375789.584106959&type=3

That’s my mare picture from this year.

She had her colt on my only day off of the week in the middle of the day!

Love her! And she just loves her babies!

[Wishes_R_Horses]

Gail, Thank you for sharing. I lost my heart mare two years ago. I will never get over it. Our broodmares are our miracles who carry foals and our hearts.

[Fred]

[QUOTE=Wishes R Horses;6547891]
Gail, Thank you for sharing. I lost my heart mare two years ago. I will never get over it. Our broodmares are our miracles who carry foals and our hearts.[/QUOTE]

I’m so sorry for your loss Wishes.
They are very special indeed.

[Louise]

Fred just sent me a couple of pictures to post of Two Bitter. The first is a portrait of Fred and Two Bitter.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL721/13437073/23982422/403872287.jpg

And, the second is a picture of Two Bitter and her first foal, Lucy, the foal mentioned in Fred’s husband’s wonderful song.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL721/13437073/23982422/403872288.jpg

Every once in a while, a story grabs your heart, and holds on tight. The story of Two Bitter is certainly one of them.

[Graymaresrule]

When I got Beeza I knew i wouldn’t have her for long and that the foal she was carrying would be her last. I just wish she had given me a filly rather than a colt.

Besides her breeder and myself she has had two other owners and produced my Sophie,
https://picasaweb.google.com/carolp3231/Sophie#5467746109601587538
SLR’s Penmerryl’s Moonshadow http://www.evanssporthorses.com/images/moon2.jpg

Tully Mac’s Big Time
http://www.blackberryridgefarm.com/images_new/sold/Bigtime_sold.jpg
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/406332_10151964633415324_1571158362_n.jpg
Tully Mac’s Trendsetter
http://belltowerstud.weebly.com/uploads/7/2/0/1/7201230/6637019_orig.jpg

and her still unnamed and otherwise unpictured yearling colt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKnkKmIWh2U

And so to the WB breeder who expressed the hope that Sophie’s sibs were not shivering in some feedlot…

[Fred]

[QUOTE=Louise;6547995]
Fred just sent me a couple of pictures to post of Two Bitter. The first is a portrait of Fred and Two Bitter.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL721/13437073/23982422/403872287.jpg

And, the second is a picture of Two Bitter and her first foal, Lucy, the foal mentioned in Fred’s husband’s wonderful song.

http://pic100.picturetrail.com/VOL721/13437073/23982422/403872288.jpg

Every once in a while, a story grabs your heart, and holds on tight. The story of Two Bitter is certainly one of them.[/QUOTE]

Thank you Louise. One of these days, I will learn how to post pictures.

All these years later, I still tear up looking at her.

[clint]

She was beautiful. Years and years ago I read a short story called The Look of Eagles. I loved that story and never forgot it. There is something about her in that first picture that reminds me of the description of a horse with the look of eagles.

[Fred]

[QUOTE=clint;6549027]
She was beautiful. Years and years ago I read a short story called The Look of Eagles. I loved that story and never forgot it. There is something about her in that first picture that reminds me of the description of a horse with the look of eagles.[/QUOTE]

Thank you clint, she was very beautiful to me too. I used to stand by her stall, watching her eat, just looking at her.

I remember that story too.:yes:

I am hoping that others will share their ‘special mare’ stories and memories too.

[Equine_Reproduction]

<smile>…Lovely story, “Fred”…I have to be really, really careful when we pick a filly or mare to keep. I just seem incapable of ever letting them go. Funny…my “heart” mare was an Anglo Arab that I endurance raced in my late teens. She was never out of the top five and the second to the last race I ever did on her I was 8 months pregnant with my daughter. Fast forward 16 years later - my daughter decided she wanted to try her hand at endurance racing. She borrowed an 8 yo Arab gelding and as my mare was still healthy, sound and fit, I figured no harm no foul… So, my daughter and I spent months conditioning for a 25 mile race. The old mare and I both completed the race and I will never forget the glee and joy my daughter had - she beat us by 8 minutes <lol>. Not bad for a couple old ladies that we even COMPLETED the race. That mare was Belafonte’s grandmother and lived to the ripe old age of 36…She is also the mare that is currently in my profile picture on Facebook and below. I miss that mare every single day and compare every horse I ride to her. Funnily, my daughter’s current riding horse is her granddaughter and I suspect, will always be her “heart” horse…Bittersweet

[dianehalpin]

That’s wonderful, Kathy. I am really loving these stories of our great broodmares. Broodmares are like a box of chocolates…you never know what you are going to get inside!

[Somermist]

My broodmares are the favorite part of breeding for me. We lost my favorite broodmare 4 years ago at age 33. I showed and owned that mare her entire life. Got her at 6 months old. Keepsake won many awards, gave me a Reserve World Champion filly, but mostly, was my heart. The entire family calls the broodmare pasture she is buried in “Keepsakes Pasture”. Those old girls leave such an impact on all of us.

The song was just beautiful.

[Fred]

[QUOTE=dianehalpin;6549573]
That’s wonderful, Kathy. I am really loving these stories of our great broodmares. Broodmares are like a box of chocolates…you never know what you are going to get inside![/QUOTE]

:yes: I agree Diane.
That was a great story Kathy, thank you for telling us about your wonderful mare (and the story behind your profile pic)…makes me all teary.
And when you said ‘bittersweet’ it gave me a start, because that is the name I gave one of my beautiful fillies - a Mum granddaughter I named in her honour - ‘Bittersweet’.

[Fred]

[QUOTE=Somermist;6549638]
My broodmares are the favorite part of breeding for me. We lost my favorite broodmare 4 years ago at age 33. I showed and owned that mare her entire life. Got her at 6 months old. Keepsake won many awards, gave me a Reserve World Champion filly, but mostly, was my heart. The entire family calls the broodmare pasture she is buried in “Keepsakes Pasture”. Those old girls leave such an impact on all of us.

The song was just beautiful.[/QUOTE]

Thank you Somermist.
I’m sorry for your loss of your dear Keepsake, but her name is appropriate,isn’t it?
She will be with you always. Thank you for sharing her story with us.
:sadsmile:

[sid]

I’ve been unable to post on COTH for sometime now (new computer glitch), but have been following this thread.

Touches my heart, as I too have loved and admired my “girls”, as family.

Of my original 4 broodmares circa 1990, one remains – Rollicking Cat (aka “Sly”) now age 28. I lost the others over the last few years – all in their mid 20s.

Sly was just reunited in the last year with one of her daughters, Calli (who is 20!) She still looks great, even having Cushings, and as kind as they come – but she is totally deaf now. She uses Calli as her “ears”, staying by her side constantly.

Recalling how the roles have reversed --from parenting, to now being parented by her own “foal” in her golden years-- is really bittersweet. :sadsmile:

I am blessed to have been a part of what I call “the sisterhood” of broodmares.