We in Sala...

Why we bought a Shire Horse.

Kattis that’s me. I’ve always had a soft spot for working horses such as the Ardennes and the North Swedish Coldblood - not to mention Shires!

It all started, as is often the case, as a girlish dream- impossible to imagine that I might one day really own one.

Quite unexpectedly, I saw an advert in a magazine ”Shire colt foal for sale.” We made the long journey to Rönö to meet Gina and Kjell, to have a look. It became more than a “look”-in no time at all we had bought him. Actually it was my boyfriend, Magnus, who first had his eyes opened to the Shire breed.

So now I had my first Shire horse in 1996, Duke of Winter also called Lord. When registering him    we found that he was the first Shire born in Sweden. We had him gelded when he was 1 year old as we had no intention of using him as a stud. At 2 years, I broke him in for driving and when he was 3 broke him in for riding. He was the calmest and nicest horse I had ever had.

It was now that Magnus really started taking an interest in horses and when we visited the Peterborough Spring Show in England his interest exploded! From not wanting a horse at all, Magnus suddenly wanted a stallion and it wasn’t long before Fairmead George a year-old stallion, was home with us. George and Lord got along well in all ways- enjoyed each other’s company and had lots of fun together.

Lord developed an eye infection that was difficult for me to treat. He was 180 cm tall and to administer the eye drops several times a day wasn’t easy, so we had to leave him at the Animal Hospital where they cleared up the infection but where, unhappily, he died.

The obduction showed the cause as constipation.

George missed his playmate very badly. We were extremely unhappy and at this point felt like giving up, but realized for George’s sake that we had to buy another horse. Titti and Christer tipped us off about Gemma. She was in foal with Pegasus Amber, our first-born foal on our farm. It made sense to buy her because we could have her and George together and George got put in his place, too. At the back of my mind I hoped that this foal could be my new favourite horse - and so was it! Today Amber is 4 years old and we have started to break her in for riding. Magnus has George, and together we have broken him in for driving, but it is Magnus who broke him in for riding. Not bad for someone who wasn’t in the least interested in horses!

Gemma was 10 when we bought her and today, at 16, can be ridden, though as she is a brood mare we have not broken her in for driving. During this time she hade two more foals,

Pegasus Windy in 2001 and Pegasus Brutus in 2002.

We have taken the long road with George. He was shown as a 3-year-old at the Swedish Stallion Approvals and was awarded 36 points and no veterinary criticisms. He was later shown at a Summer Show where the same Judge gave him 40 points. These extra points were what was needed for him to be classed as an approved stallion. He was duly shown again, in 2002, and was given 38 points, but failed his veterinary test. They said that his leg posture had changed. We had passed the riding and driving test with him. We’re not complaining, but we think this was rather odd.

We have had more success with our other three offspring. Our 1-year-old Brutus was awarded 38 points, 2-year-old Windy received 39 points and Amber, 3 years old, got 41 points and a Diploma at the Summer awards in Örebro in 2003.

The previous year, their dam Gemma was added to the Stud Book after passing a riding test. Gemma was not awarded points as she was above age at 10 years.

We are now waiting for our 4-year-old stallion Deighton Pegasus Coldstream to be approved even here in Sweden. We bought him from England where he had been approved as a 2-year-old. He will be shown at Grevagården in the Spring of 2004, where we hope he will be passed. That will mean that we finally have a stallion for our mares.

We also had a mare called Norcliffe Elsa but have sold her, with her foal, Pegasus Rebel. Rebel was one of the finest foals that we have had – very much a stallion right from the start. We hope that he has quietened down a bit now! Unfortunately one can’t keep all the foals on a stud farm. Selling our horses is always a wrench, but as long as we know they are in good hands, it makes things easier. For instance, it’s easier to sell to a Dad who wants a horse to drive and his son, a horse to ride! Shires should be used and not just looked at.

 We have two small children, August 4 years old and Viktor 2 years old, so our time is limited. But we take turns to ride and drive our horses. Without the help of our wonderful stable girls who ride and train our horses, I don’t know how we would manage.

 Well, that’s a little about us. Please come and visit us or telephone or e-mail us. 

                                          Magnus and Kattis