Painted Ponies and Movie Trivia

Yesterday my daughter and I went on a little excursion.  We packed only a few necessities like water and camera, and hopped in the truck and drove across highways and byways.  We ended up two hours from home in very pretty countryside far to the west of us on the Niagara Escarpment between Grimsby and Welland, Ontario.  If you've never been in this area, it's very picturesque.  It's also close to the Hamilton Air Museum and we were very fortunate to see their restored heritage World War II Lancaster Bomber ... in flight! 

But we didn't drive all that way just for the scenery or airplanes.  We were looking for a farm.  A horse farm.  And not just any old farm ... one specializing in gorgeous coloured Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods ... and we found it!

The farm is aptly named Blazing Colours Farm and the "blazing colour" is the best part of the visit.  The breeder aims to produce beautifully coloured Thoroughbreds and Warmbloods, beyond the traditional shades of bay, black or dappled grey. 

This farm produces beautiful horses in colours of cremello, smokey black, pinto, buckskin, palomino and sabino (the white markings as in the horse above left).  Yesterday they hosted an open house, and my daughter, who follows them religiously on Facebook, begged me to go with her.  I miss seeing the horses when I used to take her to her riding lessons, and now she goes on her own to lessons in university town, so how could I refuse? 

Pluto & Scooby

Now these two gorgeous Thoroughbred brothers  (above) are a rarity.  They were sired by the stallion Cloud Ten, who was also owned by the farm, but has since been sold.  In 2005 Cloud Ten made headlines as he was the first white Thoroughbred to be foaled in Canada.  Aren't they just the most amazing silvery white?  Their names are Scooby and Pluto, and they're 3-year old stallions.  The owner plans to use them for stud services and also train them for pulling a coach for hiring out for weddings etc.  Wouldn't they look amazing as a pair pulling a wedding coach? 

I just couldn't take enough photos of these beauties, but I'll spare you scrolling through more than just a few ;)  The colour of these Thoroughbreds is cremello sabino, but just know that in the sunshine, they glowed a silvery white ... like unicorns. 

And this brings me to the movie trivia portion of my post.  Their sire Cloud Ten was sold to Disney together with another white gelding named White Pharaoh, and they were used in the recent movie "The Lone Ranger" as the horse Silver.  The horses looked identical, so they were good for doubling each other, and the studio found out about them through a You Tube video.



The temperament of these stallions (and all the horses on the farm) were incredibly calm and friendly.  There were none of the common traits associated with stallions with wild behavior and gnashing of teeth etc.  You could pet them through the fences & in the stables and they were alert, but so gentle.  Really amazing. 

Another stallion out in the field, who was a bit sleepy in the dazzling sunshine, was this beauty (above) an amazing Warmblood named Mirabeau, also cremello but he was a gorgeous golden white. 

I was trying hard to get a photo of his eyes, which were aqua blue, but he was so sleepy I just couldn't capture them properly.

This cremello Thoroughbred (below) is El Dorado, and he was stunning!!

The buckskin colour is another favourite here at the farm. 

It's unusual to see Thoroughbreds in this colour, and below is a buckskin sabino Thoroughbred named Simba Twist.  He was very playful out there in his paddock, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the attention he was getting.  He looked like he had personality plus!



Simba Twist

 

A well-chewed fence out back.

Inside the stables were many of the farm's brood mares and foals.  The foals were around two and three months old, and the quintessential of cute.

They all had their own personalities.  Some were very curious and noses were poking out of stalls when they heard people pass.  Others were shy and not to sure about so many hands stroking their soft coats.  The mothers were so very gentle, and if they were getting a bit worried by strangers petting their babies, they calmly, but effectively walked between the stall wall and the foals blocking us from their babies.  Only one mare had had quite enough and her head tossed up with teeth flashing when my daughter tried to pet her, so we just moved on without bothering her further.

This little filly (below) was my favourite ... Balou ...

Her colouring will be "smokey black" when the baby coat sheds.  You can see the darker, smoother coat coming in around her eyes and muzzle.  She was just so friendly and sweet and loved being fussed over by all the visitors.  It was hard to tear myself away from her.  Her little muzzle was so tiny, it could fit in the palm of your hand, and her head and neck reminded me of a tiny sea horse.

 

You can see the wonderful markings on this handsome stallion Sato (below).  Sato is a palomino sabino Thoroughbred stallion.  My daughter told me Sato is the original stallion the owner of the farm started with.

 

 

Sato (above & below) had beautiful golden eyes, and he was enjoying peeking round the corner of his stall at the other horses in the fields.

 

 This guy was really hamming it up for the camera ... I'm sure he knew how good looking he was ... this is Golden Time, a palomino sabino Thoroughbred stallion (below).

 

 

We nick-named him "The Tongue".  He was worse than my dog for wanting to lick you!

 

 

 

Are you still with me?  I know there are a lot of photos (175 taken in 4 hours!!), but I was just so thrilled with these beautiful beasts, I can't help but want to share them with you.  Just a few more ;)

 

My daughter's absolute favourite horse at this stable is Arts Aero, a black pinto Oldenburg Warmblood stallion (below).  After everyone had had a chance to tour the stables and the fields and kiss all the noses of the sweet little colts & fillies, we were given a demonstration in this lovely arena by the stable owner and her companions.  They had a few fun jumping competitions against each other with lots of laughs and comments with the group of visitors.

 

We've seen Arts Aero and the horse (below), who I'm pretty sure is named Mocha Twist at the Royal Winter Fair for the last couple of years.  He's a beautiful example of a pinto colouring.  Notice the owner is riding Arts Aero bareback in these photos.  They train horses and riders here as well as their breeding program, and it's just a wonderful clean, bright and spacious facility indoors and out.

 

 

 

Arts Aero is another calm and cool stallion.  Just look at him with all these kids crowding him.  He didn't move an inch!  Only his head moved around ... those feet stayed planted, which was a good thing because some of these kids were in sandals and flip flops.

 

 

And so ended our day at Blazing Colours.  I'm sure my daughter could've spent a week her entire life at these stables and been quite happy.  I truly hope she can one day realize her dream of having her own horse farm, or at the very least own her own horse.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Wendy

 

what?!  you want to see a couple more photos?!  you're worse than me ;)

 

 

 

the end!

 

Linking up with Eileen's Saturday's Critters