Stud visit to south west Scotland

Towards the end of October last year I was beginning to feel a bit anxious. I had only a few months left in Edinburgh, and it was now time to start ticking off those "must do" boxes if they were to be done before I moved back home. I contacted Dianna Stavely at the Eastlands stud to see if I could come and visit. Diana not only welcomed me to see her pony but she also arranged so that I could visit the nearby Albie stud which has recently started breeding Connemara ponies. On the last of October I drove south from Edinburgh. I had arranged to meet up with Dianna just outside of Lockerbie and from there we went together to the small village Eskdalemuir where Dianna lives. Eskdalemuir is a very small village but has an unusual tourist attraction in the shape of a Tibetan temple where monks, exiled from Tibet, live and practice their religion.

Having arrived at Dianna's we said hello to her husband John, changed to wellies, picked up some hard feed and the ubiquitous dogs that seem to exist on all Connemara studs. In this case it was two border terriers. We first went to say hello to Lockinge Frederick, the stallion of the stud. Fred lives out the year around on the hills surrounding the stud. During summer he runs with his herd of mares and foals, but at this time of year he only had the company of a single mare. Since Dianna had been to pick me up before going to see the ponies this day, and the clocks changed to daylight saving, Fred was wondering what on Earth had happened to his lunch by the time we finally showed up. Once fed he, however, had no objections to letting himself be admired. Fred has all one could wish for in terms of bone and a very good type and there was no mistaking Dianna's pride in her stallion.

From Fred we continued to say hello to the mares, youngstock and the foals. Most successful of the foundation mares has Bardsey Trinket been. She's the dam of several in hand winners, amongst others E. Burniebrae och E. Dunielle, the Canadian export E. Glendearg and a colt who has been exported to Norway*. I had the opportunity to see no less than four of her progeny, including this year's foal, a nice filly, E. Flash Favour, named after her grand dam.

All of Dianna's mares were of a uniform type. Robust ponies with one leg in each corner so to speak. In addition to Bardsey Trinket I met her half sister Bardsey Chalice and a couple of unrelated mares: Hallfields White Orchid and Dunamoney Lass. E. Bruniebrae, is the next generation broodmare and had this year been inseminated with Glencarrig Prince and held to the first service. Dianna was very happy with her use of AI. It was nice to see Burniebrae, whom I previously only had seen immaculately groomed in the show ring, wander covered in mud in huge fields and live a true horse life.

The last years' in hand show winner, E. Dunielle, has been injured this year and was for that reason kept in a field close to the house and was the only pony that was brought in at night. She too was in her winter woollies, and it was impossible not to love her charming light nose in stark contrast with an otherwise dark furry coat. After her injury had healed she had been broken to ride and now worked as a herding pony when the sheep needed to be gathered.

Having said hi to Dunielle I was treated to a big and tasty lunch. Dianna and John have been in the horse business for a long while and have bred both race horses and Shetland ponies and of course had many stories to tell. Through the Shetland ponies they have also had contacts with Sweden. These days it is, however, all about the Connemaras althoug a few thoroughbreds remain at the farm.

After the lunch we continued from Eastlands to the nearby Albie stud. On the way there Dianna told me about how the area had been affected by the foot-and-mouth disease a few years ago. It was hard to imagine how isolated the farms must have been before the area was declared free of foot-and-mouth. Willie and Penny Hodge have bred thoroughbreds for almost twenty years. A couple of years ago they borrowed Lockinge Frederick by Dianna and after two seasons with him they were firmly caught by the Connemara bug. They now have a fairly large breeding operation with three stallions and a number of mares.

We were first shown the stud's stallions. Senior stallion is the 25-year-old Tiercel Woodman who has been stationed at Albie for the past two years. Having seen several of Woodman's offspring during the past year I enjoyed meeting the man himself. He was in great shape in spite of his age and moved very well. New at the stud is the Irish Castle Gizmo. Poor Gizmo has a lot to live up to with the Castle prefix and he is perhaps not quite the same class as the siblings by Abbeyleix Owen and Castle Dame. He is, however, a nice stallion although he didn't move as well as Woodman. From the yard we continued to have a look at a three-year-old who had not yet been used for breeding. Lintavon Templ had as much pony character as one could wish for and a lovely dun coat. Perhaps a neck on the short and thick side, but otherwise very nice and with a very friendly temperament.

We finished the tour with a visit to the mares' field. Here was a collection of mares, both the stud's own and some boarders, and also the foals from this year and a couple of fillies from previous years. My favourite was probably the brown Lintavon Topaz. She was also the top dog of the field bossing the other ponies around as she pleased. Other mares to make an impression was Sydserff Reaghaun and Bardsey Stellar. The latter was a bit on the thin side and was probably looking forward to having her foal weaned.

When we had seen all the ponies we were invited in for tea over some Connemara talks of course. Like Dianna, I gave Penny and Willie a copy of the Swedish stallion catalogue and although they couldn't understand the texts they enjoyed seeing what our Swedish stallions looked like. Then it was time for Dianna and me to say thanks and return to Lockerbie where Dinanna already had reserved a table for more tea and the best sandwiches of the area. I wholeheartedly agreed after a very delicious salmon sandwich, although I could hardly fit more into my stomach after all the eating. As dusk was settling in I thanked Dianna for a great Connemara day and headed back to Edinburgh.

� Jenny Hagenblad, 2005

* I probably mixed this up with Hallfields White Orchid's son Eastlands White Heather.

All photos from Eastlands

All photos from Albie