Merrick Stud

13/10/2025

13/10/2025

Twin zoomies in the sun yesterday-I missed the best bits (as always) 🙄🙄🙄😂♥️♥️

12/10/2025

Next in the roll call is Lowri, who surely earns the title of super-mum supreme!
Lowri came to us via a friend in need in 2020. Although her initial schooling was uneventful, she soon made it clear that she was not cut out for a ridden career. This was further confirmed when she was diagnosed with sidebone, arthritic changes in her knee and a suspected keratoma all from one X ray. At that point we decided that as she was sound and happy, and with our vet and farriers agreement, we decided to swap her to breeding a foal or two-we just didn’t intend her having 2 at once!
Things weren’t that simple though, and with a chequered breeding history having been an embryo recipient mare at a breeding establishment, we suspected she was infertile after repeatedly scanning as empty.
Nevertheless, she adores Hogan and so she joined him and ran with him for the following 3 years. In 2023 when Magnum had Minstrel (Remi) she had a phantom pregnancy, and ran milk…. so when she did the same last Summer I thought “here we go again” as she started to bag up.
The photo of her eating her feed was literally days before she went into labour, was hastily brought in and turned our worlds upside down by quickly producing twins.
I was mortified, in shock, worried sick, and convinced that we would lose either Daisy (born first) or Poppy, who was cold, flat and unable to feed. Our amazing vet was with us within an hour, we needed to warm Poppy up and get colostrum into her, so I had to hand milk 400mls of colostrum from a rather shell shocked Lowri, and we tubed this into Poppy, who after sleeping off her milk coma, was helped up and supported while she fed. Daisy was up and feeding no problem at all within minutes!
And so commenced possibly the most stressful, expensive and nerve wracking period in our lives. Lowri meanwhile embraced the role of Supermum 100%, and the rest, as they say, is history. Both foals passed their IgG tests the following day with flying colours.
She’s a funny character, she can be stand offish and there were weeks at a time where I would struggle to catch her. Having had so much intervention and handling when the twins were smaller, she’s now easier to catch and tolerates us more…but is happiest out in the field. As long as she has food, water and her babies, she’s happy.
She’s also 1/2 Cleveland Bay, and so as a rare breed she and her girls carry valuable bloodlines to continue the breed forward.
And now to the next question….while she’s still sound and young enough to have another foal, do we put her back in with Hogan? I’ll tell you what-if we do she will be scanned about a dozen times to make sure there’s only one in there!😂🦄🦄🦄♥️♥️♥️

11/10/2025

Have to laugh….♥️

11/10/2025

No comment.
And don’t tell my husband….
So go on, how many horses have you all owned, and how long did you have them for?

11/10/2025

Big thanks to

Sue Cole, Cathy Doig, Bev Hobson

for all of your support! Congrats for being top fans on a streak 🔥!

11/10/2025

Some memories can be so bittersweet, I never dreamed that this would be goodbye, but how apt that it came up on my memories today after I’ve put up a post about her second child for us.
I hope she’s up there in my little heavenly herd, happily grazing alongside the others that I’ve loved and lost.
Annabellyflop, another who’s left hoofprints on my heart.♥️ 💔 ♥️

11/10/2025

Third up….
In May 2007 we welcomed the second pony bearing the Merrick Prefix into the world.
Merrick Debonair (Thumper after the Disney character) is a Welsh Section C (Welsh Pony of Cob Type) who I bred by covering a section B mare I owned (Basford Annabel) with a Welsh cob who had competed at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), the late great Tymor Pele.
It was a gamble as no one can really guarantee what you’ll end up with, but boy has that gamble paid off!
Now adult Emma was there when he was born, she was 11 and literally weeks later our lives were ripped apart when her first pony Ruby tragically died aged just 13. It was only fitting then that Thumper become “her” pony, which he did.
Again, he’s been entirely home produced and Emma backed and broke him herself, helped by us of course, and he’s competed in showing, dressage and jumping, and being an all round fun pony to have around.
He drives me up the wall sometimes, his ability to limbo under electric fencing is unreal, but he has a face you can’t stay mad at for long!
Now 18, and with Emma busy working, he’s spent the Summer with a friend getting plenty of work to keep his ever expanding waistline in check!
There’s never been any question that he be sold on, I’m hoping one day Emma has her own children who get their first rides on her pony, just as she did on my first pony (Sovereign will get her own tribute post, as will Ruby, in the future.)

11/10/2025

10/10/2025

Second up is 21 year young Magnum. My husband was present when Magnum was conceived and born, having held her dam Fudge when she was covered by the late great coloured stallion Omar, who went back to the famous Marco Polo, and so has the same sire lines as the fabulous show jumper Milton.
On her dam side she boasts Krisinsky as her grand-sire.
He bought her on the spot, and she has been completely home produced. We backed and broke her ourselves, and she has been very lightly competed in showing, dressage and jumping. Her competitive ridden career was cut short by a giant cell tumour on her neck-more about that in a later post!
Magnum had us a beautiful bay filly in 2018. Scarlet has been retained for a ridden career and future breeding prospect (she’s my favourite but don’t tell the others!🫣😉) and also had a coloured c**t in 2023, Remi has been sold to a good friend and is already a winner in hand.
Magnum is a proper character-she’s like a steam train to ride-so wide I’ve even toyed with side saddle to save my hips! At 21 she still behaves like a 4 year old in the field and ridden! She’s also an exhibitionist-she chose to have both her foals in broad daylight! Scarlet was born at lunchtime out in the field with us present-and a road working team feet away re-surfacing the road!😂 Remi (Minstrel) was born indoors (because I grabbed her just in time to get her in 🙈😳)also in broad daylight with our neighbours watching in amazement!
She is currently coming back into work following an extended break as we have been so busy with the house build-and the twins last year of course….

There’s a lot more to tell….but here are a few photos of the mare who is now yard matriarch.
♥️♥️♥️

09/10/2025

Well I promised to introduce everyone to the full team here, and pondered the best way to do it….so many horses and ponies have influenced me over the half century that they have been my obsession for….
But for the current ones who share (or rule!) our lives I guess the only fair way is to start with our oldest resident, who is also the sire of 6 horses that we have bred.
Hogan is 22 now. Unlike most stallions he lives out 24/7/365 and only comes in to cover mares, for the vet or farrier; even then he is happiest having his feet and jabs done in the field. He is 15.3hh, a maxi cob and is bay tobiano (skewbald to us oldies lol!)
His huge bonus is his temperament. He is so sweet it’s easy to forget that he is a stallion at all. I can groom him loose in the field without even a headcollar on, with mares feet away and he is more interested in human cuddles unless one of his wives is in season!
Despite being 22 he is as fit as a fiddle. He is well known locally, having dozens of offspring in the area for people who value not only his substance, hybrid vigour and undeniable good looks, but also recognised his loving temperament which he invariably passes onto his offspring. Before we had him he used to visit mares if they were in season, covering before loading up to go back home!
We got Hogan in 2015, he has given up his travelling gi**lo ways for a cosy home life, where he is thoroughly spoilt and loved beyond compare.
He is also dad to the super twins!
So, excuse the scruffs and the mud, but this is how he’s happiest-and if he’s happy, so are we!
(You may need to click on each photo as my editing skills are in keeping with most people the wrong side of 55!🤷🏻‍♀️🙈😂)