DIARY2007

DIARY 2007

This page was last updated: January 1, 2008

1st JANUARY 2007

PAT, ROY and RACHEL would like to wish all our readers a ..................

We look forward to hearing from you this year and always appreciate your valuable comments. Good luck with your ponies in 2007.

We had a visit by a lovely lady from Ipswich who is now the owner of P.QUAIL. She has brought him as a ridden M&M for her daughter to ride. In the mean time he will be shown in Sec B classes and mother will bring him on and school him. We wish her the best of luck with this lovely natured colt.

9th JAN 2007

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of BLARNEY after a short illness. BLARNEY has been a wonderful friend to us all at PENNWAY and I'm sure that if there is a doggy heaven that he will be there still barking at anyone who dares to knock on the door. He will be sadly missed. His memory will live on at PENNWAY through his daughters HOPE, PEANUT, his grand daughter TWINKLE and his many other children through out the length and breadth of the UK.

12th JANUARY 2007

Something to brighten up a dull day . Push play to smile it certainly made me chuckle.

16th JANUARY 2007

Winter is really with us now and it is very,very,very wet but very mild infact the grass is growing and we have snowdrops in the garden. All the ponies are wintering really well but one fears what might be around the corner. We have only had a couple of frosts and not even one flack of snow. RACHEL'S new colt BROOKHALL GALAXY is very forward and will be ready for the early spring shows. PAT has two fillies to show as yearlings P.CINAMON out of L.COLUMBINE and P.PERL out of PADDOCK PENLLWYD. She will show P.PLUME in barren mare classes and if P.PEREGRINE does not go out under saddle he will go to some of the early breed shows. PEPSI is due in just over a week with PADDY puppies and these will be Pennway's first pure Black & Tan terriers. We are looking forward with excitement to their arrival.

21st JANUARY 2007

Very boring time of the year with constant mucking out and filing hay racks. Mud every where and now the cold is coming with snow expected this week. Really pleased with how the youngsters are coming on and we will have some serious yearlings to show this year. Pepsi getting close now and we are waiting for our first homebred B & T's.

22nd JANUARY 2007

Pepsi whelped last night and she has 4 lovely Black and Tan dog puppies by Paddy. Mother and her sons are doing well

30th JANUARY 2007

We moved a few of the mares to 4Elms today to new grazing. It has not been grazed by horses for 20 years and will be ideal for the mares in foal. We put L.COLUMBINE, L.AMETHYST, L.CYGNET, P.COLLETTE , P.JAZZ, C.MARYROSE,L.PLUME and P.PENLLWYD there, and will move the yearling fillies as soon as the weather picks up. We have had a small amount of interest in the yearling colts but sales have been very slow. Hopefully the interest will pick up with the weather.

5th FEBRUARY 2007

Pat has gone to Yorkshire for a few days R & R so Rachel and I have been left in charge. With the weather being so mild we turned both P.OSPRY and SKY out in the paddock as they both have got very full of themselves in doors. We have sold both P.PORTRAIT and P.KINGFISHER this weekend and I will announce their new owners as soon as the money has changed hands but they are both going to good showing homes.

15th FEBRUARY 2007

Pat and Rachel are hard at work getting yearlings ready to show and the coats are falling out in hand fulls. Normally they wouldn't be this advanced until the end of March. I guess it is all down to climate change.

26th FEBRUARY 2007

We had a visit yesterday from so lovely horsey people who live near Horsham and they have brought P.OSPREY. They will grow him on for their daughter to ride later on. They will pick him up next Saturday. We wish them well with him.

2nd MARCH 2007

I love watching all horse sports but the link below is an amazing display of both horse and rider plus a couple of things to brighten up a dull day.

12th MARCH 2007

Yesterday we delivered P.QUAIL to his new owner and he now belongs to Kirsty Bennison

in Colchester. She rang and said he has settled in really well and she is looking forward to showing him.

19th MARCH 2007

What a crazy season we are having. Last week we had lovely weather with temps up to 15c and the grass was growing nicely and ponies coats coming out well. We woke this morning to snow and freezing conditions which are supposed to last all week. Just glad we decided not to take the rugs off the Broodmares.

4th APRIL 2007

One of Pepsi's boy puppies has gone to his new home in Oxted and they have called him Rory. They were so excited with their new lovely boy and have been shopping for a cage lots of new toys and a bed.

7th APRIL 2007

Pepsi's last pup left this morning to join his new family in South Godstone and they were really excited that they will be able to spend the Easter break to help settle him in. They have called him Barney.

Pat has brought L.AMYTHEST and P.JAZZ inside as they are both on the drop and both should foal this week. It is a wonderful time of the year and the excitement of new foals arriving puts an end to the winter blues. L.AMYTHEST is due to L.OBERON and P.JAZZ is in foal to P.PEREGRINE

9th APRIL 2007

A bit more fun so try this.

10th APRIL 2007

P.JIVE has been purchased by the Market Research Company " Northern Lights GB Ltd" and will be standing at Pennway this season. This very attractive son of C.JITTERBUG and L.CYGNET is liver chestnut and has lots of quality and hopefully will produce the goods to a few select mares. He will stand alongside P.PEREGRINE , W.GRENEDIER and HEVER GOLF RANGER.

We picked P.JIVE up and delivered him to Pennway and as I stood and looked over his door I made the simple comment that Bugsie had returned as JIVE is JITTERBUGS double. Pat looked upset at this statement and then announced that Sue Lamont had rung her this morning to tell her that Bugsie had been tragically killed in a freak paddock accident in NZ. How freaky is that? I guess fate moves in mysterious ways!!!!.

11th April 2007

JIVE has settled into his new environment really well and after a few words with RANGER he got stuck into his evening meal. No foals yet although L.AMETHYST and P.JAZZ are fully bagged up and Pat just rung to tell me that Amy has waxed so maybe tonight is the night so watch this space *********************************

12th APRIL 2007

Still no foals lets hope one of them pops tonight as C.MARYROSE is getting very close as well. We have turned 5 of the yearlings out while the weather is good and have left only Rachel's colt and P.CINAMON in as we hope to show them both this spring.

16th APRIL 2007

After a week of very little sleep I was relieved when P.JAZZ decided at about 1am on sunday morning to foal and she now has a lovely liver chestnut daughter by P.PEREGRINE which will be called P.CHA CHA. 10 minutes later at about 1.15 am L.AMETHYST decided her foal should be born as well and she now has a outstanding chestnut roan daughter by L.OBERON that Pat will call P.OPAL. this is Amy's first filly foal as her first 5 foals were all colts. They are both very friendly little people and have already had lots of visitors.

23rd APRIL 2007

Had a call from the DeQuincy's to tell me that their mare ERIMUS SHOW GIRL produced a bay colt by RANGER. He still needs to unfold a bit but we are really thrilled was her comment. P.PEREGRINE is back home after a couple of weeks extensive schooling at Helen Bakers. We moved W.GRENEDIER , L.REMBRANDT and P.PEREGRINE to Marsh Green to start covering mares. They join P.JIVE and H.G.RANGER in the Stallion barn. We have had P.JIVE on the long reins and will continue to break him in. He is a very quick learner.

24th APRIL 2007

We managed to cover P.JAZZ last night with W.GRENEDIER so if she holds it should be a nice early foal for next year. Still waiting for C.MARYROSE to foal and she is now a week overdue but well bagged up and hopefully she will produce a little Woody foal by this weekend.

26th APRIL 2007

Huge excitement at John and Sally Bedfords as their H.G.RANGER anglo yearling went to her first show at Ardingly and was 1st in its class and then went Champion at the South East Arab Show. They sent us a few pictures so I have added one for all to see. This is the filly who's mother died soon after she was born and was reared on a foster mum. (See 18th of May entry in 2006 diary).

28th APRIL 2007

C.MARYROSE foaled last night and has a strong filly by P.PEREGRINE that should go grey. We covered L.CIGNET with L.REMBRANDT and PADDOCK PENLLWYD with P.PEREGRINE.

30th APRIL 2007

These are the first pictures of P.Cha Cha and P.Opal.

3rd MAY 2007

Had a call from NZ friends Peter and Lois Henley who are on a whistle stop tour of the UK. They are currently in Northern Ireland and will be back at Heathrow tomorrow afternoon and we will get together for a long chat and a meal. They are off to Scotland early on Saturday morning. Both Cigi and Penny have gone out of season so we moved them to Hilders and brought Poppy the partbred to Marsh Green to foal and little B.Mulberry to cover her with P.Jive. Rachel is talking about taking B.Galaxy to Home Counties on monday.

4th MAY 2007

We had a brilliant night out with Peter and Lois Henley at our local pub.It was wonderful to catch up with them after so long.

5th MAY 2007

P.COLLETTE foaled this morning and she presented us with a lovely big strong filly that will go grey. We are very happy with the foals by P.PEREGRINE and this one is a stunner. We cant believe our luck this year with 4 purebred fillies. Only 1 more Sec B to foal and that is L.COLUMBINE. Do we dare to wish for another filly.

7th MAY 2007

Pat and Rachel took B.GALAXY to Home Counties and Rachel returned home with a smile the size of the M25. She won the Sec B yearling class with him and that was her first time out showing in 2007 so a good start to the season. Galaxy has grown into a big handsome boy with plenty of size and scope. Rachel has decided to sell him on this year and invest in another young one to bring on. So if any one is looking for an up to height dark bay colt he is worth a look at. Nick and Barbara Fuller brought their Sec D mare to RANGER last night and we got a successful mating to her. They will bring her back on Wednesday evening to retry her. We also brought POPPY ( NINFIELD MIDNIGHT MINK--MINNIE)

into a stable today as she is due this week to WESTACRE COMIC OPERA and she will need an eye kept on her as we have not foaled her before. She will be mated this season to RANGER. The really good news is that P.TAPDANCE is definitely in foal to W.A.C.OPERA and she will also go to RANGER

10th MAY 2007

Rachel Gillams mare SHANNAH is in season and we covered her with P.JIVE

15th MAY 2007

L.PLUME is in season and we covered her with P.PEREGRINE. Hopefully we will manage to get her in foal this year. POPPY is still hanging on to her's but is getting closer.

19th MAY 2007

Huge excitement in the Barker household as their Jumbo mare has presented them with a Chestnut filly by Ranger. Bob was very emotional about it all as it was one of Sylvia's last wishes to put the mare to Ranger. I'm sure the filly will give Bob lots of pleasure and fond memories. His first thoughts on a name for her was SYLVIA'S CHOICE which would be very appropriate.

20th MAY 2007

L.COLUMBINE foaled through the night a has a Chestnut Colt by D.SPRINGCORN. Pat had hoped for a Palomino but there is still time for him to change as most of Connie's foals end up a totally different colour to what they start.

21st MAY 2007

POPPY produced a very nice bay filly this morning by W.A.COMIC OPERA and it looks like a smart 14.2 riding pony. POPPY will by mated with Ranger this time. Julia from 4elms rang to say that her dressage mare had foaled and that it was a bay colt by Ranger and very handsome.

22nd MAY 2007

Sarah Whitmores mare Paarl River produced a very nice bay colt by Ranger through the night. He is quiet and very like his dad.

24th MAY 07

B.MULBERRY has finally come into season and we covered her with P.JIVE so Rachel is hoping for a liver chestnut .

26th MAY 07

Kevin Townsend arrived at Heathrow from NZ via Hong Kong today so I made the journey to Heathrow to pick him up. He hadn't changed at all in the 5 years since he was last here. We took him to a dinner party at Ruth and Terry's in the evening and he spent the night there. Pat picked him up on Sunday morning and showed him around the ponies and we spent the evening with Rachel and Tony.

28th MAY 07

We took Rachel's colt B.GALAXY to Surrey County Show and the rain never let up all day. Galaxy could not cope with the wind and rain and ended up 6th in a class for 1,2 and 3 yr olds. We got back to the yard at about 4 pm and then we moved 4 youngsters to some fresh grazing at Crawley Down. Back to the yard then to cover Poppy with Ranger and then we meet Terry and Ruth at the local pub for an evening meal.

5th JUNE 07

We arrived home on Saturday evening to find the house had been broken into with smashed windows, cupboards opened and there contents strewn all over the floor and little Pepsi missing. Spent all Sunday looking for her and resorted to putting posters on lamp posts etc. A very dear friend spent hours on websites notifying people of the fact and her hard work paid off. We found her late Monday with people about 3/4 of a mile away. She had been found petrified on Sat afternoon hiding in a garden and a lovely family had taken her in and looked after her. She is still traumatized after her ordeal but hopefully time will heal her. We are forever indebted to the wonderful friends who rallied around to help.

10th JUNE 07

Life is slowly returning to some normality after the trauma's of last weekend but one still flinche's at every strange sound. It certainly has a huge effect on your whole life when your privacy is invaded by thugs who enjoy creating carnage and for what. Some people have strange idea's of fun. Although Pat would not aggree Im looking for the offshore island where there are no other B..........S to make ones life so miserable for their own pleasure. Although I have been brought up with the understanding to turn the other cheek I am finding it very difficult.

13th JUNE 07

We took both P.COLLETTE and L.COLUMBINE to Ruth and Terry's to run with D.SPRINGCORN. Pat is really pleased with Columbines colt by Springcorn from last year.

H.G.RANGER is proving to be very popular again this year and 3 mares belonging to Chris Willett arrived last night and 2 polo ponies are arriving tonight.

14th JUNE 07

I put Pat on the bus to Yorkshire this morning and saw her smile for the first time in ages. Lets hope the weather stays good for her and she can get the rest she deserves. We had Elaine and Alex Kelly called in last night to see the Comic Opera filly out of Poppy and were really pleased with it. 2 more mares arrived for Ranger tonight so he is going to be a very busy boy

22nd JUNE 07

If you are having a frustrating day then push the button below and if that doesn't do your head in nothing will.

23rd JUNE 07

We had a very excited Vanessa De Quincey on the phone today really happy that their colt foal by H.G.RANGER out of ERIMUS SHOWGIRL won the riding pony foal class today. The horse world is starting to take notice of his youngsters who are showing lots of class and presence as well as wonderful temperaments.

1st July 07

Rachel took Brookhall Galaxy to the South Eastern Welsh Show today and he won the Sec B yearling class and then went Reserve Champion Youngstock. He has taken a while to come to hand but now seems to taking it in his stride. She will take him to the Norse Show next weekend.

8th JULY 07

Rachel and Pat took Galaxy to the Norse Welsh Show at Ipswitch Showgrounds today and they were really disappointed to be only 3rd in the Sec B yearling class. Best he has ever gone was Pat's comment but the judge thought he was a bit riding pony. Never mind you win some and lose some . I guess thats showing.!!!

10th JULY 07

Although it takes a lot to get Pat worked up about her ponies she really rates her filly foal (P.OPAL) out of L.AMETHYST. This filly is improving by the day and her liver chestnut roan colour makes her very attractive. I guess its good to have dreams as that is what keeps us pony breeders going.

Found this really amusing so had to pass it on to you all but just hope you have the same sense of humour as me.

A frog walks into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see by her nameplate that her name is Patricia Whack. "Miss Whack I would like to get a £30.000 loan to take a vacation." Pattie looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name. The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger and his dad is Mick Jagger , and that is ok, he knows the bank manager. Pattie explains she will need to secure the loan with some collateral. The frog says"sure I have this" and produces a tiny porcelain elephant about half an inch tall-bright and pink and perfectly formed. Very confused Pattie explains that she will have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office. She finds the manager and says. " There is a frog out there called Kermit Jagger who claims to know you and wants to borrow £30,000 and wants to use this as collateral. She holds up the tiny pink elephant" I mean what in the world is this ?"

(you are going to love this)

The bank manager looks back and says

(Wait for it)

Its a nick- nack, Pattie Whack, give the frog a loan. His old mans a Rolling Stone!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope it made you smile because I certainly did

14th July 07

Rachel took Galaxy to Kent County Show today and she was really pleased with him. He finished 3rd in the Sec B yearling class.

16th July 07

I had asked a very good friend to school a horse for the sister of my business partner. He is in my opinion the best horseman in the Northern Hemisphere . That doesn't include the Southern Hemispher (but lets not go there) and i thought he would be the ideal person to take some of the rough edges of of Sally. You explained the ride and drive to me he said but you forgot to mention the plough side of her. Dont knock that Mark because who knows by 2012 there may be a plough a half an acre as part of the test for the eventing competition now the roads tracks and steeple chase have been taken out.

31st JULY 07

After much soul searching and long nights talking about what was the best move for us we have decided to move our entire operation to Wales. The price of land either to buy or rent is the south east made it impossible for us to run our stud within our budget. We looked at the various options and have settled for Wales were the price of land,stables and a house were affordable. Lots of Welsh shows and the choice of dozens of stallions made it the obvious choice. Lots of work to do to set the yard up but hopefully it will work out for the best

12th AUGUST 07

Slowly getting all the ponies to Wales. We moved all the stallions and colts thru on the first trip and got them settled into their new surroundings. We then moved the barren mares and youngstock thru and some of the mares with foals at foot. One more load should have them all here then life can return to some sort of normality. The ponies that are already here have really thrived and obviously enjoy the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of the Welsh mountains and valleys. The next big thing will be to get ponies ready for Fayre Oaks, we have entered P.KINGFISHER, P.WREN and L.CYGNET and we will try and sell a few foals privately.

14th AUGUST 07

Pat should have brought the last of the mares and foals through to Wales today but because of the gale force winds and rain we decided not to take a risk. Hopefully the weather will settle down again so we can have all the ponies together. Pat had a good weekend in Yorkshire when she went to Victoria Hensby's wedding. She said it was a fabulous day and everyone enjoyed themselves. I really wish I could have been there with her.

27th AUGUST 07

Pat and Rachel took L.PLUME to Edenbridge and Oxted and she was 2nd in the Barren Mare and Gelding class. I had a ring from a very emotional Bob Barker today to tell me that his H.G RANGER foal had won the foal class and then gone Champion Hunter at Edenbridge and Oxted today. That is the best news I have had for a long time, I hope Slyvia was watching from above. I am sure she would have been really proud.

23rd OCTOBER 07

Sorry the diary hasn't been updated for a while but I have been out of sorts and didn't feel up to it, but things are looking brighter and I will bring you all up to date with the news soon as we are now back in Kent.

1st NOVEMBER 07

Things are getting back to normal and we have sold a few to reduce our numbers. We sold P.KINGFISHER, P.WREN and L.CYGNET at Fayre Oaks and then we sold 3 foals privately. They were P.CHA CHA, P.ALARCH and the colt foal out of P.TAPDANCE by W.A.COMIC OPERA. That will leave us 6 Sec B Mares, L.AMETHYST, L.COLUMBINE, L.PLUME, P.COLLETTE, P.JAZZ and P.PENLYWDD, 1 partbred mare P.TAPDANCE,2 yearlings P.CINAMON, P,PERL, and 2 filly foals P.OPAL and P.ROSEMARI ,and 1 colt foal P.CONSORT. We also have P.PEREGRINE, L.REMBRANDT and HEVER GOLF RANGER.

5th NOVEMBER 07

We weaned 3 foals today OPAL,ROSEMARI and CHA CHA who went to her new owner, so that only leaves CONSORT on his mother and he will stay with her until the end of the month.

26th NOVEMBER 07

Called to see Bob Barker today and also saw his chestnut filly foal by RANGER and what a stunner she is. She was Champion in-hand hunter at Edenbridge and Oxted show but is twice the filly now. Rachel has taken over Lydens and has her 3 nags there. She has Brookhall Mulbery in foal to Pennway Jive, Pennway Cha Cha and a Section A filly from Twyford. We have Ranger,Peregrine,Opal, Rosemari, Amethyst, Collette, Penny,Plume and Jazz at Coppings.

30th NOVEMBER 07

We have sold L.REMBRANDT and he is going to Wales as a stud stallion and I wish his new owners the best of luck with him. We have also sold all of the Paddy-Pepsi pups and they have all gone to lovely homes. We are really pleased for Dulcie who's bitch whelped 4 bitch puppies to P.PADDY.

6th DECEMBER 07

Really pleased with our 2 filly foals who have both weaned well especially L.AMETHYSTS filly who is a real stunner. . Unfortunately the WP&CS wont let us call her OPAL so we have called her MAGNOLIA

13th DECEMBER 07

Pennway mares in full winter coat at Coppings Farm making the most of 7 1/2 hours of daylight

22nd DECEMBER 07

Pats latest art work. Its a pastel of Farchnyns Studs "Coed Coch Ariandy"

28th DECEMBER 07

Ruth & Terry Thacker's terrier bitch Ruby came to visit Paddy and it was love at first sight. We will have to wait till the end of February to see the result.