Showing posts with label Wildwood Mahogany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wildwood Mahogany. Show all posts

The legacy continues...

Posted by Sharon Labels: , , , , ,


In the early hours of May 7th, my good mare, Legacy (Wildwood Legacy Lace) foaled out a beautiful bay filly. While every foal is a miracle and every foaling a landmark event, this one was more special and more noteworthy than most. This filly is the first of a sixth generation Wildwood mares. Here's how it goes: 

Duchess and I at CFR 1974

In 1968, I bought a two-year-old mare from Doug and Nancy Dear in Montana. Her name was Ma Dear but I immediately called her Duchess. Race bred (sired by Pasamonte Paul out of a Classy Bar mare), powerful and athletic, she was to be my next barrel racing mare. That she was – she took me to a CCA championship and the Canadian National Finals – but what I didn’t know is that she would found a dynasty of Wildwood horses. Duchess lived to be 36 and was with me for 34 years. She lived to see four descending generations.






Wildwood Mahogany
In 1979, I bred to Duchess to my stallion, Seco Top Moon (a black son of Top Moon) and she foaled out a bay filly, Wildwood Mahogany. I trained Mahogany and both my daughter and I
showed her in a wide variety of classes from halter to reining.





 

Wildwood Tamarac
 
Now hooked on reining, I bred Mahogany to Solanos Peppy San and, in 1987, she foaled out Wildwood Tamarac, a sorrel mare with undeniable talent, sweet personality and a fantastic disposition. I trained and showed Tamarac in reining competitions in Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC as well as many reining demonstrations. She was my first futurity reining horse! Tamarac is not only an important link in this dynasty; she is also a key element in the gene pool of many my Quarter Horses.




Wildwood Destiny

Since I wanted a foal from this good mare, I bred Tamarac and, in 1993 she gave me Wildwood Destiny, a bay filly sired by Podoco (grandson of Doc Bar with strong King breeding on the bottom). Like Destiny’s maternal ancestors, I trained and showed her. She was a dream to ride!

By now I knew I was building a dynasty! Tamarac produced six fillies in a row before producing a colt. At this point, my focus was the maternal line as I had access to sires with performance records so I was thrilled to have so many fillies from such a good mare.





Wildwood Legacy Lace packing

Not to be undone, Destiny foaled out five fillies in a row when she entered the broodmare band. The one I selected to keep was Wildwood Legacy Lace, a bay daughter of Listo Pollito Lena born in 2003. Like the rest, she went into training but, although she is a finished reining horse, I showed her only lightly, mostly because I moved and had to make a choice which horse to show. I did use Legacy trail riding, packing and as a wonderful quiet lesson horse.



Wildwood Legacy Lace and the new generation.
 Last year I bred Legacy to my stallion, Walking With Wolves and in the quiet hours of the morning of May 7th, Legacy presented me with the next generation of this Wildwood Dynasty – a beautiful, strong, healthy bay filly that taxed her mother’s strength (and mine!) to the maximum. She's perfect and she carries the genes of five great mares that I have raised, ridden, shown and bonded with. It seems like this new addition to the dynasty should have a name befitting the occasion but I have not settled on one yet. If I can’t find one that connects the dots, I will call her Shiraz. She’s bold, full-bodied and, like a fine wine, better with age.

It’s interesting that the first foal for all of the mares in this maternal line was a filly. Even Mahogany, who went on to produce several colts, had a filly first. Duchess, Mahogany, Tamarac, Destiny, Legacy and now little Shiraz. The legacy continues…



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More About Duchess

Posted by Sharon Labels: , ,

After reading over my last blog, I realized I had not begun to cover Duchess' life. She was in mine for 34 of her 36 years - through raising my family, my children growing up and leaving home, two marriages, a divorce, and several moves. That's a whole lot of time and history.

I bought Duchess (registered name Ma Dear) in Montana and named her immediately. She was a grand lady. She would have a grand name. She lived up to it.

Since Duchess was bred to race, I sent her to the track the spring after I bought her. She performed very well winning 2 firsts, 1 second, 1 third and 1 fourth (didn't like mud!) from five races. The photo below is her win in High River, Alberta.

When we brought her home from the track, I bred her to War Fly and sold the weanling to re-coup some of the expense. Then I started training her on barrels. As noted in the previous blog, she excelled at that event.

Besides her stellar barrel racing career, Duchess performed briefly as a steer wrestling horse for my brother. I think he won one cheque on her from the 3 or 4 times he dogged off of her. She also served time as a ranch horse on the Community Pasture my husband managed. And my daughter, Cindy, rode her until she had her own horse.

Duchess raised seven foals. One, Wildwood Willow, went on to become a top barrel horse. Another, Wildwood Majesty, a superb all-around mare. But it was Wildwood Mahogany who would carry Duchess' genes to the next generation and beyond. It was a sensible, logical and practical approach to my plan to breed such soundness of mind and limb into my future contenders. At thirty plus years, Duchess was more sound than some horses half her age! Video below is Duchess at 33.

In 2001, I held a 35th birthday party for my lady. Here is some video from that day. Bright of eye and quick of step, she was not-at-all an old mare - she was a grand dam.


Then, in 2002, she reigned supreme for she was the head of five generations. Here is another video of Duchess that year - the grand matriarch of a dynasty of fine Quarter Horses. She leaves a legacy - and Widwood Legacy is named for her that year, the year she died. Legacy will be adding to the dynasty in 2011 - the first of the next generation of Duchess.

Though Duchess may be remembered by others for her talent, I remember her most for her personality - her quiet confidence, her intelligence, the way she looked at me like she saw me and understood everything about me. She had a distinct way of looking back at me - she turned her head, neck very low, and kind of looked in and up - hard to explain. And her whinny... deep-throated and resonant, never shrill. I have a recording of that whinny. Once in a while I play it. If I could, I would share with you but I don't think I can attach the file.

When Duchess died, my children could not believe she was gone. She had been part of their lives for all of their lives. I knew how they felt. In could hardly remember a time when Duchess was not in close proximity. I still miss her.

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