For my fourth article, I have come to the Stud Farm of Whisperwood, located in the stunning bluegrass country known as Kentucky! I am in Lexington to be precise and this time, rather than focus on one stallion, I have persuaded Ronda to let me “interview” all 6 of her studs!!
Hi Ronda – thanks for the invite. Can you tell me a little bit more about this operation? Good morning yourself Nancy and welcome to my humble little farm (wink!). Here at Whisperwood we have over 1,000 acres of green grass of which around 800 acres are rolling hills and fenced pastures. There are 10 separate 10 acre stud paddocks with plenty of open space between the Paddocks that are located behind the Stud barn. The Stud Barn has space for 10 horses, although currently we are just holding 6. We also have a 20 Stall Racing String Barn All of the stalls have a run out back so they can stretch their legs a bit without having enough room to do any damage. We currently have 18 of the stalls occupied. We also have vet rooms, hot walkers and all the necessary requirements to ensure that all the horses here have access 24/7 to top of the range facilities without having to rely on outside help.
Wow, sounds impressive. Shall we get ourselves over to the studs now? MMM, Lets start Ronda if we may with SWALEAWAY. Good choice Nancy, and as you can see, he is our gentle giant, standing at 17.2hh! His is the first stall in the Stud Barn and his feelings get hurt VERY easily. He is by Swale (a son of the great Seattle Slew by a Danzig mare, Versailles Treaty). You can’t miss his white face (and yes he is a white stallion!) begging you for a carrot or a peppermint. He is the first to hang his head over his stall door and whicker “good day” to you EVERY time you step into the barn. At feeding time he is a total gentleman and waits patiently his twice daily feeds. And he is such a gent that when he is groomed and or handled (mainly by me) we don’t even use a stud chain on him. He even goes into the breeding shed without a chain. He is a charmer too being a favourite with the ladies, always taking time to romance them first, the old romantic! And when the grandkids come over he is our ”pony” ride for the little ones and both my daughter Meghan and I take turns riding him over the trails surrounding our farm, although its usually Meghan than myself.
Moving on readers we come to the polar opposite in colour from Swaleaway, a coal black stallion standing at 16.3hh is in the next stall and goes by the name of DISCAY. We haven’t seen much of him around Ronda, any reasons? Yes Nancy, he has spent the last 2 years in training as a Eventer after not getting any more takers as a breeding stallion. When our homebred colt (that we had sold) Diascay’s Shadow became a Graded MSW in his 2yr season (this season), we decided to repurchase him to expand the farm. We are eagerly awaiting the upcoming breeding season as we plan to breed a full sibling to Diascay’s Shadow. Whilst he has been training for Eventing, I have been riding him in local Events where he has been cleaning up! It’s been such a blast riding a jumper again that we’ve added a cross country course and a Indoor Riding Arena to the farm. Either myself or my Daughter have been riding him almost daily. He’s a bit more pushy in the barn when it comes to feeding time than Swaleaway and has been known to take a nip out of his handlers if he thinks they aren’t feeding fast enough! And the farrier lives in mortal fear of him! So careful with those fingers Nancy!
Talking of danger, whose the little toughie at the end of this row? Haha, that’s WINNING LAD Nancy. Even though he only stands 15.2hh Lad is the roughest of our studs to handle. He gets his temperament from his dam (Winning Colors) he has been a challenge to handle from the day he arrived, being bred by Snowbank Farm. He’d just as soon take a chuck from you as look at you. The grooms carry a crop whenever he’s turned out for the simple fact they value their hide. It’s a shame but that’s the way he has to be handled. He’s the only stallion to have a run off of his stall that leads to his paddock. After turnout, the grooms work in pairs to get him back in. The first groom goes and opens the back stall door (then hides behind it!), whilst the other rattles the feed bucket and dives out the stall (I should by shares in the best stall chain manufacturer!) because he comes charging in, then the guys work together to get the stall doors closed.
I think we should move swiftly on whilst we all have our fingers intact, whose the stunner at the top end of this barn? You mean SUNDAY DANCER Nancy? Well he is our other “giant” and like Swaleaway who you met earlier, is also very well mannered. Even though he is not quite as friendly as Swaleaway he comes close. A carbon image of his sire Sunday Silence (although Sunday Dancer is registered as a Dark Brown colt) and seems to be following in his shoes. I have a quick story for your readers too. A while back, Sunday Silence’s owners stopped by the farm and were so reminded of their own boy they gave Dancer his sire’s halter.I have to say a few tears welled up!
That’s a wonderful story Ronda – you must have been quite touched. Whats he like around the barn generally? At feeding time he quietly awaits his feed while his next door neighbour (Winning Lad) raises a ruckus. The grooms draw straws to see who gets first pick of the horses to exercise, all the studs are ridden daily, and Dancer is always their first pick.He wil do anything (literally!) for peppermints. They are his favourite treat. When my son is home on leave, Dancer is the horse he always chooses to ride being he’s so good under saddle, especially Western. Dancer is always hangs his head over the stall door when he hears Daniel entering the barn.
Sounds like you have a great mix of horses in the barn – everything so far from gentle giants to mini terrors! Whose next? I think we should have a look at one of the newer studs in the farm, Nancy, namely RAMPAGE. He is of average height, being 16h and a son of Alydar and only added to our stud barn last season. However his first yearlings are looking pretty good. I have to admit that “Ram” is the snob of the barn. He’s very aloof towards the other horses but generally behaves himself with the grooms, as long as they are firm with him. Under saddle he needs a rider that isn’t afraid of him and know how to ride. He pretty much stands off and waits for you to leave his feed in the same manner a King looks at his servants, but so far we are pleased with his progeny.
Ronda, last but by no means least, who is in stall 6? This handsome chappy Nancy – this is Spleunker. He stands 17.2 and thinks he owns the barn. He has a very regal attitude towards everything he does but he’s not snobby about it. And yes you guessed it, another one who absolutely LOVES peppermint and is so very gentle when he takes it off the palm of your hand. He’s a gentleman under saddle and will go along very nicely as long as you know how to ride. At feeding time he will nicker and paw when he sees you coming but as soon as you open his door he stands quietly until you leave. I wish there were more like him too.
How much are your stallions standing for, I would imagine there is one there for every budget! Yes, you are right Nancy. They stand for the following fees (all live foal) – Rampage $5,000, Spelunker $10,000, Sunday Dancer $10,000, Swaleaway $25,000 and Winning Lad at $25,000. As Discay has only just returned to us, we are still unsure as to what fee to charge but if any of your readers are interested in using him, just tell them to email me and we can discuss it.
I am sure that at those prices there will be a few takers. How many foals did they each sire last year? In total there were 15 foals sired by my stallions, and all but 2 by our own mares. Three were sired by Swaleaway, two by Winning Lad, Sunday Dancer sired three, the same number as sired by Rampage. Spelunker was the leading sire here in figures, getting 4 mares.
With such a mix and range of talent in the barn, are there any particular types of mares that you would recommend sending to each stallion, or are they good for all types? And also why type of foals do you expect them to sire. No Nancy, if I had the luxury of being particular with the mares I would probably recommend the following:
Swaleaway - the mare should be sound to start with and preferably milers. The horse himself was very good between 1m- 1m 1/16th. However he was plagued throughout his racing careerwith injuries and soreness and in more than one race he ran on heart alone. Well from his first crop of 2 he has a MSW winning G1 G2 and G3 levels. Whilst his other 3yr runner broke his maiden a couple weeks ago making him a SpW. His second crop of 4 he got a another MSW and 2 of his other 2 2yrs are placed if I remember right..…
Discay – he isn’t fussy! Disacay’s Shadow’s dam was a sprinter so it will be interesting to see how he stretches out, as the AR shows him as a distance horse so time will tell. So far his offspring has won at both G2 and G3 levels.
Winning Lad – so far when crossed with mares by Octagonal he’s produced a Graded MSW, a Graded MSW with a Mr Prospector mare, and a SW by a Risen Star mare. So variety is the spice of his life. He is matching Discay with his runners, having winners at both G2 and G3.
Sunday Dancer – as he was a sprinter we have crossed him on mares that like to go the distance and hope that they can get in excess of 1m. Time will tell what his runners will be like but we would be hopeful of at least a G2 if not G1.
Rampage - right now anything that can run! As last season was his first crop it will be a couple of years before were sure what to send him to but I wouldn’t discourage any particular type or distance. I suppose I am being greedy in again thinking that he will sire horses that can run at the highest levels but you have to dream in this game!
And finally Spelunker, there were 4 foals bred last year, and just one of them from outside sources. Pretty sure he can mix it with most mares but only time will tell again!
If you had to compare your stallions to real life stallions, who would it be and why? They can be living or dead. I am glad you asked that one Nancy, as having read your previous articles I am ready for you! I would say that Swaleaway is most like Seattle Slew, from all accounts he was another gentleman that was as kind as could be with a heart of gold. Discay is reminiscent of Seabiscuit, who was also ridden in retirement by his owner all over his ranch. I think its good for the mental well being of the horse to get out and about. And as for Winning Lad he is just like Hastings – a devil to train and breed and I think he reincarniated himself in Lad (just my luck!). No surprise that Sunday Dancer immediately makes one think of Sunday Silence, both looks and temperament and “Dancer” seems to have followed in Pop’s shoes. Rampage, mmm a bit trickier as he is a thinker but I would probably say Fair Play as he had two styles of running – when he wanted to he could but he didn’t always think you were worth his time or effort! I hate to compare any horse to Secretariat but that’s who Spelunker reminds me of. “Big Red” was very fast in his time and is well mannered at the farm but KNOWS how good he was and will remind you if you seem to forget, traits that Spelunker has in bucket loads!
And the future of Whisperwood Stud? Where you see the farm going in say 5 – 10 yrs? Hopefully to the top of the pile!!! No seriously, we have worked hard to get what we consider a good solid base of stallions covering all pockets, surfaces etc so I would be surprised if there were much selling or buying in of others. We also want to try to race the best stock but as the readers will know, working that out is worthy of a Masters Degree!
Ok well that pretty much finishes my visit and I have to say thanks to both you Ronda and your lovely children, especially Meghan for showing me around the farm. You certainly have your work cut out to keep 6 stallions busy and run a profitable racing stable!
Until next time folks – Thanks for reading!
Hi Ronda – thanks for the invite. Can you tell me a little bit more about this operation? Good morning yourself Nancy and welcome to my humble little farm (wink!). Here at Whisperwood we have over 1,000 acres of green grass of which around 800 acres are rolling hills and fenced pastures. There are 10 separate 10 acre stud paddocks with plenty of open space between the Paddocks that are located behind the Stud barn. The Stud Barn has space for 10 horses, although currently we are just holding 6. We also have a 20 Stall Racing String Barn All of the stalls have a run out back so they can stretch their legs a bit without having enough room to do any damage. We currently have 18 of the stalls occupied. We also have vet rooms, hot walkers and all the necessary requirements to ensure that all the horses here have access 24/7 to top of the range facilities without having to rely on outside help.
Wow, sounds impressive. Shall we get ourselves over to the studs now? MMM, Lets start Ronda if we may with SWALEAWAY. Good choice Nancy, and as you can see, he is our gentle giant, standing at 17.2hh! His is the first stall in the Stud Barn and his feelings get hurt VERY easily. He is by Swale (a son of the great Seattle Slew by a Danzig mare, Versailles Treaty). You can’t miss his white face (and yes he is a white stallion!) begging you for a carrot or a peppermint. He is the first to hang his head over his stall door and whicker “good day” to you EVERY time you step into the barn. At feeding time he is a total gentleman and waits patiently his twice daily feeds. And he is such a gent that when he is groomed and or handled (mainly by me) we don’t even use a stud chain on him. He even goes into the breeding shed without a chain. He is a charmer too being a favourite with the ladies, always taking time to romance them first, the old romantic! And when the grandkids come over he is our ”pony” ride for the little ones and both my daughter Meghan and I take turns riding him over the trails surrounding our farm, although its usually Meghan than myself.
Moving on readers we come to the polar opposite in colour from Swaleaway, a coal black stallion standing at 16.3hh is in the next stall and goes by the name of DISCAY. We haven’t seen much of him around Ronda, any reasons? Yes Nancy, he has spent the last 2 years in training as a Eventer after not getting any more takers as a breeding stallion. When our homebred colt (that we had sold) Diascay’s Shadow became a Graded MSW in his 2yr season (this season), we decided to repurchase him to expand the farm. We are eagerly awaiting the upcoming breeding season as we plan to breed a full sibling to Diascay’s Shadow. Whilst he has been training for Eventing, I have been riding him in local Events where he has been cleaning up! It’s been such a blast riding a jumper again that we’ve added a cross country course and a Indoor Riding Arena to the farm. Either myself or my Daughter have been riding him almost daily. He’s a bit more pushy in the barn when it comes to feeding time than Swaleaway and has been known to take a nip out of his handlers if he thinks they aren’t feeding fast enough! And the farrier lives in mortal fear of him! So careful with those fingers Nancy!
Talking of danger, whose the little toughie at the end of this row? Haha, that’s WINNING LAD Nancy. Even though he only stands 15.2hh Lad is the roughest of our studs to handle. He gets his temperament from his dam (Winning Colors) he has been a challenge to handle from the day he arrived, being bred by Snowbank Farm. He’d just as soon take a chuck from you as look at you. The grooms carry a crop whenever he’s turned out for the simple fact they value their hide. It’s a shame but that’s the way he has to be handled. He’s the only stallion to have a run off of his stall that leads to his paddock. After turnout, the grooms work in pairs to get him back in. The first groom goes and opens the back stall door (then hides behind it!), whilst the other rattles the feed bucket and dives out the stall (I should by shares in the best stall chain manufacturer!) because he comes charging in, then the guys work together to get the stall doors closed.
I think we should move swiftly on whilst we all have our fingers intact, whose the stunner at the top end of this barn? You mean SUNDAY DANCER Nancy? Well he is our other “giant” and like Swaleaway who you met earlier, is also very well mannered. Even though he is not quite as friendly as Swaleaway he comes close. A carbon image of his sire Sunday Silence (although Sunday Dancer is registered as a Dark Brown colt) and seems to be following in his shoes. I have a quick story for your readers too. A while back, Sunday Silence’s owners stopped by the farm and were so reminded of their own boy they gave Dancer his sire’s halter.I have to say a few tears welled up!
That’s a wonderful story Ronda – you must have been quite touched. Whats he like around the barn generally? At feeding time he quietly awaits his feed while his next door neighbour (Winning Lad) raises a ruckus. The grooms draw straws to see who gets first pick of the horses to exercise, all the studs are ridden daily, and Dancer is always their first pick.He wil do anything (literally!) for peppermints. They are his favourite treat. When my son is home on leave, Dancer is the horse he always chooses to ride being he’s so good under saddle, especially Western. Dancer is always hangs his head over the stall door when he hears Daniel entering the barn.
Sounds like you have a great mix of horses in the barn – everything so far from gentle giants to mini terrors! Whose next? I think we should have a look at one of the newer studs in the farm, Nancy, namely RAMPAGE. He is of average height, being 16h and a son of Alydar and only added to our stud barn last season. However his first yearlings are looking pretty good. I have to admit that “Ram” is the snob of the barn. He’s very aloof towards the other horses but generally behaves himself with the grooms, as long as they are firm with him. Under saddle he needs a rider that isn’t afraid of him and know how to ride. He pretty much stands off and waits for you to leave his feed in the same manner a King looks at his servants, but so far we are pleased with his progeny.
Ronda, last but by no means least, who is in stall 6? This handsome chappy Nancy – this is Spleunker. He stands 17.2 and thinks he owns the barn. He has a very regal attitude towards everything he does but he’s not snobby about it. And yes you guessed it, another one who absolutely LOVES peppermint and is so very gentle when he takes it off the palm of your hand. He’s a gentleman under saddle and will go along very nicely as long as you know how to ride. At feeding time he will nicker and paw when he sees you coming but as soon as you open his door he stands quietly until you leave. I wish there were more like him too.
How much are your stallions standing for, I would imagine there is one there for every budget! Yes, you are right Nancy. They stand for the following fees (all live foal) – Rampage $5,000, Spelunker $10,000, Sunday Dancer $10,000, Swaleaway $25,000 and Winning Lad at $25,000. As Discay has only just returned to us, we are still unsure as to what fee to charge but if any of your readers are interested in using him, just tell them to email me and we can discuss it.
I am sure that at those prices there will be a few takers. How many foals did they each sire last year? In total there were 15 foals sired by my stallions, and all but 2 by our own mares. Three were sired by Swaleaway, two by Winning Lad, Sunday Dancer sired three, the same number as sired by Rampage. Spelunker was the leading sire here in figures, getting 4 mares.
With such a mix and range of talent in the barn, are there any particular types of mares that you would recommend sending to each stallion, or are they good for all types? And also why type of foals do you expect them to sire. No Nancy, if I had the luxury of being particular with the mares I would probably recommend the following:
Swaleaway - the mare should be sound to start with and preferably milers. The horse himself was very good between 1m- 1m 1/16th. However he was plagued throughout his racing careerwith injuries and soreness and in more than one race he ran on heart alone. Well from his first crop of 2 he has a MSW winning G1 G2 and G3 levels. Whilst his other 3yr runner broke his maiden a couple weeks ago making him a SpW. His second crop of 4 he got a another MSW and 2 of his other 2 2yrs are placed if I remember right..…
Discay – he isn’t fussy! Disacay’s Shadow’s dam was a sprinter so it will be interesting to see how he stretches out, as the AR shows him as a distance horse so time will tell. So far his offspring has won at both G2 and G3 levels.
Winning Lad – so far when crossed with mares by Octagonal he’s produced a Graded MSW, a Graded MSW with a Mr Prospector mare, and a SW by a Risen Star mare. So variety is the spice of his life. He is matching Discay with his runners, having winners at both G2 and G3.
Sunday Dancer – as he was a sprinter we have crossed him on mares that like to go the distance and hope that they can get in excess of 1m. Time will tell what his runners will be like but we would be hopeful of at least a G2 if not G1.
Rampage - right now anything that can run! As last season was his first crop it will be a couple of years before were sure what to send him to but I wouldn’t discourage any particular type or distance. I suppose I am being greedy in again thinking that he will sire horses that can run at the highest levels but you have to dream in this game!
And finally Spelunker, there were 4 foals bred last year, and just one of them from outside sources. Pretty sure he can mix it with most mares but only time will tell again!
If you had to compare your stallions to real life stallions, who would it be and why? They can be living or dead. I am glad you asked that one Nancy, as having read your previous articles I am ready for you! I would say that Swaleaway is most like Seattle Slew, from all accounts he was another gentleman that was as kind as could be with a heart of gold. Discay is reminiscent of Seabiscuit, who was also ridden in retirement by his owner all over his ranch. I think its good for the mental well being of the horse to get out and about. And as for Winning Lad he is just like Hastings – a devil to train and breed and I think he reincarniated himself in Lad (just my luck!). No surprise that Sunday Dancer immediately makes one think of Sunday Silence, both looks and temperament and “Dancer” seems to have followed in Pop’s shoes. Rampage, mmm a bit trickier as he is a thinker but I would probably say Fair Play as he had two styles of running – when he wanted to he could but he didn’t always think you were worth his time or effort! I hate to compare any horse to Secretariat but that’s who Spelunker reminds me of. “Big Red” was very fast in his time and is well mannered at the farm but KNOWS how good he was and will remind you if you seem to forget, traits that Spelunker has in bucket loads!
And the future of Whisperwood Stud? Where you see the farm going in say 5 – 10 yrs? Hopefully to the top of the pile!!! No seriously, we have worked hard to get what we consider a good solid base of stallions covering all pockets, surfaces etc so I would be surprised if there were much selling or buying in of others. We also want to try to race the best stock but as the readers will know, working that out is worthy of a Masters Degree!
Ok well that pretty much finishes my visit and I have to say thanks to both you Ronda and your lovely children, especially Meghan for showing me around the farm. You certainly have your work cut out to keep 6 stallions busy and run a profitable racing stable!
Until next time folks – Thanks for reading!
1 comment:
Quite a nice article Ronda and Nancy. I feel like I really know a couple of those studs personally now.
I have a new fondness for Swaleaway. Especially since he is the father of a recent acquisition of mine, Stowaway, who is also pure white just like his daddy.
Keep an eye on Stowaway. He is gonna enhance Swaleaway's rep!
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