Blythewood Farm

TESTIMONIALS ABOUT BLYTHEWOOD HORSES

Debra Strong, Lawrenceville, NJ, owner of Blythewood Cherry PopTart, sired by Roadshow Doctor Pop out of Callie-Ann

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Suzie Stewart, Scottsdale, Arizona, owner of Blythewood Rare Candor (Candy [now Dandi]), 2005 filly sired by Raynyday Grand Finale out of Callie-Ann

"Candy/Dandi is getting along fine. Everyone has fallen in love with her, except her neighbor, my crabby 25 year old UVM Kitty. Even she's coming around. Dandi is not only pretty, she is so SWEET!"

Update August 29, 2007: Candy (Dandi) on her first trail ride in the Arizona desert as a coming 3 year old. Owner Suzie Stewart is aboard her 26-yr-old UVM Kitty.

Suzie writes: "She is being lightly ridden & she loves it. She goes out on the road & into the desert & she is not afraid of anything. She is very smart & I believe an alpha mare. Her care takers adore her. She can do no wrong."

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Nina Quinn, co-owner of Heyday Morgans:

"We have been breeding Morgans for over 30 years and Montey is about the most correct in conformation and Morgan type we have ever seen ."

Dominque Barbier, classical dressage trainer, about Blythewood Vermont Legend: 

"I always look at the horses I work with to find their conformation faults and inherent limitations, and then work around them for best results, but I look at this horse and try to find his faults and I can find none; he is just wonderful."

Susan Sondel, Grand Island, NY, owner of Blythewood Vermont Topic (Timmy), 2001 gelding sired by Montey:

"All I can say is thank you so much, first of all for Timmy, and of course, for bringing him to us. Timmy is everything we hoped he would be and more, he is just precious. We love him so much already.  He has adjusted better than I ever dreamed her would. He is a very smart little guy."

Stacey Smith-Bohn, Phillipsburg, NJ, owner of Blythewood Monterey Bay (Terry), 2002 gelding sired by Montey:

"Terry's out in the field behind the house where I can keep an eye on him; every once in a while he just zooms across the field for no reason.  I can't wait until we get this addition done, I'll have an upstairs sitting room that looks out on Terry's world."

"We had a really great drive with Terry this morning, he was such a good boy.  We warmed up in the ring and practiced out trots, standing on the rail and in the center and set up three pairs of cones.  Then we took him out in the big field (before the cattle come) to stretch his legs.  I even got Jay to drive him a little bit!!!!! (for the first time." 

Barbara Filippello, Little Egg Harbor, NJ, owner of Blythewood Doc Hollywood (Doc), 2004 grandson of Montey:

"Mr. Doccie has been soooo good. Today we put the bit in his mouth for the first time. He stood quietly as we put it on under his halter, then proceeded to chew and mouth for some time. After about five minutes I gave him some hay. He started nibbling on hay as if he had nothing new in his mouth. He accepted the bit without any reservation. He is amazing."

"Meanwhile back on the estate....Matt had a chain saw going cutting down some HUGE old dead trees. When a tree dropped; the horses would spook and run to the end of their paddocks. Doc was with us with just his halter on at this point. He jumped slightly but was reassured with us right there. He remained calm and stood like a little soldier. The other horses were not as calm as baby Doc. He is amazing again. :D"

"Doc has been obedient, calm and trusting. He really takes things in stride and does not stress. I guess that's what separates a Morgan from other horses. A Morgan really does stand out above the rest. I only wish I could have had one earlier in my lifetime. Better late than never."

Susan Sondel, Grand Island, NY, owner of Blythewood Polaris ("Iris") 2005 filly by Lyonhil Quasar out of Blythewood Polly Vermont:

Just thought I would drop you a line and let you know how Iris is doing. We just love her she is the sweetest thing. Our farrier was so impressed with her. Well, I just wanted you to know how much we just love our little girl.... She loves attention and I think she even likes learning new things. She has been on the cross ties already; she backs up when asked and responds to ho when we are walking her.  I am thinking about taking her to a few shows this summer and doing a few halter classes, (they do them by age around here.) 

Iris will be one on Sat. She is such a sweet girl. We had a little scare with her the other day:  I had just put fresh shavings and for some reason all of my horses go crazy when they get fresh shavings, bucking, rolling etc. Well my little girl rolled and flipped herself over and cast herself against the wall. Thank God I was back there. I was freaking out, I was by myself and no one is home in my neighborhood during the day. I tried pulling her away from the wall, but of course I could not. She tried to get up several times but could not. She calmly accepted what ever help I was giving her; she did not freak out at all. She stayed calm and allowed me to push her legs down towards the floor and in doing so I was really putting myself in a dangerous situation, possible to be struck by thrashing hooves. I can't believe how calm she remained; she trusted me totally, so I pushed her legs down the wall and she pushed off. I can't believe she was smart enough to figure out what I was doing.  We worked at it for a few minutes and finally away from the wall enough to get up. She got up and then bucked and danced a bit as if to say, "Hey look mom, I'm OK; chill out!!"  She really is such a smart little girl, and such a lady. We truly enjoy her (my husband is in love with her) and I have a feeling that she will be a pleasure to train and work with getting outstanding results!! Just thought I would share that little story as a testimony to her temperament and intelligence. I wish I could have more of your horses in my barn.  Ya never know!

Pat Thrasher, owner of Blythewood Beau Brummel:
 

Today Beau spent five minutes chasing a green caterpillar on the concrete while waiting for the farrier to get set up. There was grass, and a maple tree he likes to browse -- but the caterpillar was more interesting. Of course, once the farrier brought out his tools and stands and all that was even better. The barn has a bunch of jumps in the ring, including a new Liverpool jump -- one of those blue poly things that goes under a spread jump to simulate water, and of course right now it has water in it. Beau loves it and wants to paddle and play in it. The other horses in the barn are terrified of it. Typical. He self-loads, btw. I didn't teach him, he just started doing it. We trailer out at least twice a week and he has become quite the Sophisticated Traveler. He has turned into such a moose, and is a total love bug. Still opinionated, though. I am going to try and get some pics of him under saddle soon, so you can put them on your website. Maybe a nice one of him doing a half-pass or something cool like that.

"We are such hot stuff" - OK, that's a very ... self-serving,
shall we say? ... subject line.  But Beau is doing so well, and I am so ecstatic
that -- given that one cannot do backflips on line -- I had to say something.

Today we went for our regular lesson, once a week, me 'n' Beau, Ric
'n' Gofer. It was one of those days that was sort of unscripted; they
had cut hay and were waiting to rake, we were on Saturday schedule,
so everything was much less hard-wired than usual.

Backing up: the trainer I am working with is Anne Rawle, Watermark
Farm. She is very classical in her background and teaching, and has
tons of experience in making GP horses out of sow's ears <G>. I first
went to her following a recommendation from this list for long-
lining, and she has proved to be a treasure right in my back yard. We
keep our horses about 20 minutes from her farm. In one year, we have
gone from "not able to canter under saddle" to "two weeks from
changes" and it is ALL honest, classical, build the muscle work. From
less-than-Training to Third, maybe Fourth.

Anne's daughter, Ellie, is the main rider at the farm; she has three
FEI horses and a number of others in consistent work, from green to
Fourth. She is NOT a pro; she rides and trains their horses, gives no
lessons, and does not take horses in training.

But today Ellie agreed to ride Beau so I could see what he looks
like, and so I could get an opinion from someone who rides a lot of
different horses, and always has. That's my main limitation as a
rider: I have one horse, ride one horse, bond with one horse, and
have no basis of comparison.

Beau is, according to Ellie, very talented, a "seriously good horse",
"very trainable mind", and on the brink of passage, easy changes, and
everything that would make a GP horse. He needs about two weeks work
on strengthening his right hind, which we will do with cavaletti and
canter leg yields (!) in both directions.

Uh, what do I do now? I haven't thought of myself at this level.
Sometimes I think I need to go back to kindergarten for riding! but
Beau is so much fun to ride, and he seems to really enjoy the
dressage work. His ADHD won't let him relax out on trails, but in the
ring he can focus and have fun. Doing trot zig-zag half pass he just
about bursts with "I am such hot s**t" and is so pleased with
himself. If it weren't for the heifers in the next field life would
be perfect <G>. But he's even learning that he can focus and work
when huge black and white animals are LOOKING at him :-).

Ellie also said that a LOT more dressage riders ought to be riding
Morgans rather than trash WBs. Well, I guess we can all agree with that!

Pat, who is on Cloud Nine at the moment

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