February 3rd was the first POA stallion services auction of the year. This was the Breeders Challenge Futurity and each year we host a "Tacos and Semen" party night; complete with margaritas. You don't even have to have an available equine uterus to come hang out with us. We invite friends and family over to watch the livestream and wait for the phone to ring. Each year I try to buy at least a couple of stallions on the auction so that a couple of our babies can be eligible for the Breeders Challenge Futurity classes in September of each year.
For the BCF each stallion owner that nominates their stallion gets one slot to nominate a baby the next year and each mare owner gets one slot to nominate their mare bred to that stallion. Last year we bought Fifty Shades Darker for Cher and we nominated our own stallion, Super Cool for Fi. Both our babies this year will be BCF (and SSF) eligible.
With the auction coming around we started brainstorming who and if we would be looking to cross any of our mares outside of our own stallion. We nominated Nugget hoping to buy him back ourselves and be able to nominate two of our mares that were bred to him. We all chit chatted and I put 2 other stallions on our phone bid form, hoping that there would be an off chance that they would go reasonable enough that we would be able to bid.
The day before the auction, Sophie and I had a long chat about the result of her conversation with her knee surgeon. After hearing the news that her riding season was virtually off the table, she had been devastated. Gingerly I suggested that she move up her dreams of breeding Pepper to this year instead of some vague date in the future. At the very last second we called and added RPRs Impulsive Superman to the list of stallions we wanted to be called about knowing that it would be a lucky day if we could make that dream cross come true. We have had 5 babies by Manny and each one has been fantastic. One of them is our very own stallion, Super Cool (aka Nugget).
Backing up a second, Manny (RPRs Impulsive Superman) is Sophie's (and one of my) favorite stallion. Jess (his owner) made Sophie's dreams come true this past summer when she let Sophie hold the lead and show him in youth stallions at Congress. I don't think I have ever seen her happier than when she got the honor of showing Manny. In 2021 Jess surprised her by breeding Cher to Manny. That filly was Sophie's dream filly in every way EXCEPT she was solid and we couldn't show her in POA. We found that amazing girl the very best of homes and she is much loved. Sophie went back to dreaming about another future Manny baby and decided that some day she wanted to breed her heart pony Pepper, to her dream pony, Manny. Life had a way of pushing that dream to the front of our game plan.
The night of the stallion auction, it just so happened that Jess was one of the people taking phone bids and had my call. She had us start the bidding off and Sophie watched and listened intently to my phone conversation until she heard me say "Thank you so much, put him in Sophie's name!" and she knew she had won the bid. That was just ONE Of the times we moved Sophie to happy tears this month. She is so excited and already brainstorming names for her Pepper and Manny baby.
We stayed on the phone and won the bid for our own, Nugget for China and Cher. Then Jess called me back later for my own personal dream stallion. It was a little later in the program when Chocolatey came up for bids. I have wanted a Chocolatey baby for years. Every time one comes up for sale my heart beats faster. Last year I bid on his stallion services and had to drop out when it got too steep for my pocketbook. But I vowed that someday I would make my Chocolatey baby dreams come true. We were looking for a taller stallion for Fi and when the "gavel" fell and my name was announced for the winning bid, my own breeding dreams came true!
Thanks to the BCF we will plan on the following crosses (fingers and toes crossed) eligible for the BCF in 2025:
Silver's Precious Lady (Fi) and Chocolatey: This baby will be a wicked cool western pleasure pony and all of Fi's babies have the sweetest disposition. This baby already has a barn name picked out and we haven't even gotten our first semen shipment yet. lol Due to my love of pickles, which I coincidentally share with Chocolatey's owner, Linzy, this baby is going to be named "Pickles".
Berry Sweet Endeavor (Pepper) and RPRs Impulsive Superman (Manny) - With Manny being a supreme champion and Pepper being her own amazing self; we don't need to tell you how excited we are for this cross.
Maid of Copper (China) and Super Cool (Nugget) - You all know how amazing China's babies are and this cross will be for a full sibling to Nani (Berry Sweet Shenanigans). If it comes out as fantastic as she is, you're going to want to be on the list for this one!
Dutch Rock N Roll (Cher) and Super Cool (Nugget) - We are so excited to make this first cross! This has been a long time coming and will be an amazing baby combining RPRs Impulsive Superman bloodlines with CR Star Kid, RY Major Equity and Cutie Shadow S (of the McClaren breeding). Keep your fingers crossed for this one!
Just two weeks later the Select Sire Futurity was also hosted in a livestreamed auction with phone in bids. I was able to buy Nugget back so all of his babies will be SSF eligible once I nominate the mares. Both Chocolatey and Manny also sold on the SSF so all of our babies in 2025 will be SSF eligible when I nominate the mares. This includes one more surprise mare that we are keeping a secret for now. Wait until you see her though! She will also be crossed on Nugget for 2025. You are all going to just LOVE her!
We are going to have a bang up crop of babies in 2025 if all goes well. We are a long ways from seeing those little black dots that mean baby but it is sure fun to dream and plan! Please help us pray for a successful breeding and foaling season. It's a stressful yet joyful time that we look forward to every year and it's already getting started with working to bring mares into heat. Which baby do you want to put on your watch list? Contact us if you want to be put on the waiting list for your own Berry Sweet champion.
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