CLEMLEV STUD

2008

AUGUST

Tuesday 5th August

I first met Ben & Lucy Hobden of the Thornetown Stud early this year when they brought their cracking D mare to Rebel.  They expressed an interest in purchasing rebel if he ever came up for sale however i said he would stay with me forever.  Unfortunately Archie has still not made the recovery that we had hoped for and is still under the hospital. He will have to return at the end of this month for another operation so I have made the heartbreaking decision to sell my boy (rebel that is not archie)

Obviously all my free time must be spent with archie and I feel that rebel will be wasted just sitting in a stable when he surely has a superb ridden career ahead of him.  So Ben & Lucy I wish you all the best with him, I hope he gives you the same pleasure and fun he has given me the past 4 years.  Good Luck

Welsh Nationals, Shrewsbury

1st & Supreme Driving Champion (2nd yr running) - Ciffig Cymro Du ()

3rd Section C stallion Class - Dabernon Cockney Rebel

JULY

RWAS

6th Section D Stallion Wagon Class - Ciffig Cymro Du ()

NORTHLEACH

1st Open Show Wagon Class & Supreme Driving Champion (3rd year running) - Ciffig Cymro Du

1st Section C Mare Class - Erwwstad Rachel

MIDLAND WELSH

1st Section C stallion class & Reserve C Champion - Dabernon Cockney Rebel

NORSE WP&C

1st C Stallion class - Dabernon Cockney Rebel

JUNE

ROYAL NORFOLK SHOW

1st C&D Stallion, Mare & Gelding Class - Dabernon Cockney Rebel

Rebel won a very strong class of 12 and did a really good show for me, however in the mixed championship he had decided enough was enough and dropped himself.  He would not put it away and was a complete shit, to put it blunt, kept rearing and being very naughty!! Consquently he will now not cover any mares this season.

 

NATIONAL MIDLANDS IN HAND SHOW

1st Section C Stallion Class & Reserve C Champion - Dabernon Cockney Rebel

This is our favourite show and Rebel strutted his stuff as usual and won his class yet again.  He has attended this show every year since a yearling and has won his class every single year.  In 2003 he was supreme yearling champion, in 2004 he was amateur home produced supreme champion & reserve supreme of show and in 2005 he again was amateur home produced supreme champion and clinwil supreme champion of the show.

However if it hadnt been for lizzie agreeing to come and been Archies nanny for the day, we wouldnt have been able to go.  Dave didnt want to go so late Friday afternoon I had bathed Rebel, Bathed and fed Archie, hooked up trailer, picked up Lizzie and away we went!!  We stayed at my best Friends and second family home, the Thompsons and they put us all up for the night along with Rebel, and we travelled to show in the morning with them.

So thank you guys, it couldnt have been done without you all.!!

EASTERN WELSH SUMMER SHOW

CHAMPION - Ciffig Cymru Du

 

RESERVE CHAMPION - Croniarth Keltic Starlight

 

PICTURES COURTESY OF FLASH HARRY PHOTOGRAPHY

Well what can I say a brilliant day for us, we took Esher Smiths Section A Stallion Croniarth Keltic Starlight and Ciffig Cymru Du for the wagon classes.  "Stan" as hes called won his class (okay he was the only one forward so that did help!!) and "Blackjack" won his class.

So after a mad dash back to the lorry and a quick change of clothes for me, we had both of them in the championship, were blackjack was champion and stan was reserve.  Not bad considering we have only had him in to be broken for 8 weeks and this was his first show.  I havnt drove a horse for over 2 years and he was a real star.

Now I have got the wrestle the reins from Dave so that I can take over the driving of Stan in the ring!!!  Not going to be a mean feat, all credit to dave though as he has done all the hard work and believe me its been hard, but stan is coming round to the idea very quickly now and is liking his new "job"

Also I must say a huge thanks to Tom & Tarn for having Archie for us (he definately wanted to go home with you tWo!!) and to Lucy and Ben, their help was invaluable and we couldnt have done it with out any of you!

And finally to Esher and Peter, you looked great both of you and made very good "headmen & women" Although Esher you need to scrub up on your camera skills!! Roll on the next show!!

 

EAST ANGLIAN NATIVE SHOW

Dave showed the lovely section C Stallion POPSTERS RICOCHET for John & Lynn Wilkinson of the Ashmeadow Stud, as they were busy showing a mare and foal.  He won the section C stallion class and I think the pair of them looked very smart indeed!!

JUNE 14TH

ARCHIE STARTED WALKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JUNE

Had a stunning filly section C foal born, the mares been threatening to have the foal for the last week and we had given up!!  However when i went to get my washing in I spotted this tiny little bundle stuck inthe biggest mud patch in the paddock, so panicing like a nutter, I went running out barefoot to get it up.  You dont even want to know what state my feet were in!!

However after a quick rub off with straw and a reunion with mum, both are doing well.

MAY

Took Blackjack and rebel to Suffolk County Show.  Rebel was a very naughty boy!!!  however he came 2nd in the stallion class and Blackjack forever a good boy won his Stallion class for the third year running and was reserve D champion.

Archie was the star of the show however and had his photo taken by Richard Weller-Poley, as you can see he has missed his vocation, perhaps I should take "Baby Gap" up on their modelling offer for him!!

MAY 25TH

At just after 3pm we had a excited telephone call from my very good friend Tracey White as her mare, Navestock Debonair had produced a fantastic black filly foal by our Blackjack.  Tracey has very kindly loaned us debbie so that we could have the foal, after our mare lost her foal to blackjack last year when it failed to get out of the bag, again this was a blackfilly also.

Unfortunately Tracey did have to call the vet as debbie had retained the placenta and the foal couldnt produce any poo, however after a little intervention from the vet and his hand, all is now well.  We cannot thank Tracey or Debbie enough for such a kind thing she has done for us and eagerly await their first foal show!!

MAY

We hadnt planned to go to Glanusk but we had to drop off Comet so that Owen from Nebo could pick him up so Dave decided to chuck BJ on.  When we got there Dave couldnt be bothered to show him, sooooo I did!!!  And although we only came 7th he was such a good boy and I really enjoyed it.

Archie went in to hospital on the 6th May for his operation.  He was very brave and it all went well with no problems,  he had very sore feet where his drips went and obviously a sore bottom but was discharged that evening.  They found a severe infection in his bowel so he was sent home with antibiotics and they now suspect that he has Crohns disease.  He was okay all week and his drugs finished on the friday. 

Unfortunately over that weekend he was taken very ill, he has a temperature of 106 and didnt want to be touched or ate.  We rushed him back and it turned out that the infection had spread to his stomach.

ARCHIE RECOVERING FROM HIS OPERATION

He was given some different drugs and sent home.  However he then started being sick and having diarrohea so bad, he couldnt keep anything down and it was so horrible seeing him so upset, soooo back to the doctors and he was taken off them antibiotics and put on different ones.  Then on wednesday morning (15th may) he woke up covered in a rash, sooo again back to the doctors and it turns out he now has a severe viral infection and measles. 

Then our lovely little mare by Nebo Bouncer gave birth to a lovely colt foal that unfortunately was born dead.  I do hope that our run of bad luck has finished now and we can start getting on with things, especially with archie getting better.

 

APRIL

Went to Norse WPCA Show at Wix and won the Section C Stallion Class with Dabernon Cockney Rebel. 

We have no other shows planned for this month or until after Archies Biopsy Operation on the 6th May.  Until we know what we are dealing with its very hard to concentrate on shows.

We sold our section D yearling colt Horeb Flying Comet to Heidi of the Arvalon stud in Germany.  We had tons of interest in Comet but because we put on advert that we "must sell" the offers just wasnt coming anywhere near to what we wanted for him.  To be honest I didnt care if we sold him or not as he is a fantastic little colt with such a wonderful temperament and action.  He really is a sweetie and its going to be heartbreaking to see him go.

However we have had to sell over half of our stock to cut down so that its easier for us to manage when Archie is in hospital, unfortunately depending on his biopsy results he is looking at a major operation and a lengthy situation of going in and out of hospital.  Archie will always come first, no matter how much we love our horses.  Lets keep our fingers crossed for some good news for once!

Also A BIG BIG THANK YOU  to Catherine, Roderick & children at the Horeb Stud & to Peter and Lesley Hussey at Dabernon Stud, for the stunning flowers and cards, it really meant alot to us, although not sure what my postman thought when I started blubbing like a child!!! 

MARCH

MOTHERS DAY - Had a lovely present and card from Archie!!

 

Went to SEWPCA Show and came 2nd with Rebel and 4th with Blackjack.  Had a brilliant day and lots of laughs, even Archie enjoyed himself, well  when he was awake (thanks to Courtenay Howell who expertly rocked him to sleep!!)  thanks.x

LONDON HARNESS HORSE PARADE   Well what a day, snowing freezing cold and very very "stay at home in front of fire" weather!!!  However we did go and blackjack was superb, we showed him in his new private driving collar and vehicle.  So whilst Lizzie watched Archie and Levi in the heated lorry watching DVD's and eating hot bacon sandwiches, we froze our butts off!!  It was a good result and we won a First Class Award.

PUK WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS  Attended PUK with Blackjack at end of March at Towerlands, complete waste of time, although the horse didnt put a foot wrong we were just out of the top 6th, came 7th in one class after being dropped from 4th, because the judge said he went like a hackney, had to much knee action and was "to welsh" not really sure how a welsh cob can be to welsh but there you go!!  We enjoyed ourselves, thanks to Lizzie for coming along and being groom and thanks to my sisterinlaw for having Archie for me.

FEBRUARY

Brought London in as he kept bullying the mares, Archie is very happy as is levi.  Took Blackjack out for a ride and he decided he couldnt possibly walk through some logs to get home, so I got off to lead him through. BIG mistake he decided that the only way he could get through was at speed, I couldnt get out the way quick enough and ended up with a dislocated shoulder, I swear he was trying to get a piggy back!!  Having it put back in was worse than having Archie!!!!  Hence no shows for us this month!

JANUARY

We went to Longwood again to blow away the cobwebs as he has hadnt been ridden since the show at great chart due to trying to organise archies first birthday (pics on his page), constant trips backwards & forwards to the hospital with him and then of course Christmas!!  Blackjack won his class, but was really a complete plonker, he thought he was doing an inhand class and apart from pulling my arms out he just wanted to canter on the spot and ping about like a little reindeer!!!  We did go into the championship to see if we could try and calm him down, which worked a little bit as he was slighlty calmer but was still like a coiled spring, hence we didnt come anywhere!!!!  My fault entirely as he had been ridden for only 1 week prior to the show, but not alot I could do about that.  Maybe I will let Dave get that Au'Pair he keeps on about!!

We went to Home Counties Ridden Show at The College and he came 8th in the Novice Class which was disappointing as the little horse went like a dream, not putting a foot wrong but hey ho thats showing for you!!  Then we committed the cardinal sin and were late for the Open Class, luckily the judge allowed us to take part and we came 4th in very good company.

 

2007 SUM UP_- CIFFIG CYMRO DU - CHAMPION & SUPREME IN HAND, RIDDEN & DRIVEN

SEPTEMBER

After Blackjack had finished his last County driving show which was at Orsett, Dave decided to let me start riding blackjack again, he hadnt been ridden since April/May 2006 so I was a little doubtful that he would be going well enough to catch the last few shows of the season, however I started riding him again much to his disgust and after 3 weeks we took him to The Welsh Hackney Harness Show at The David Broome Centre.  He won his wagon class, won his first try at a Exercise Vehicle Class and came 4th in the Ride and Drive (photo that was used in journal 2008)  Not bad and he was very well behaved as always.

OCTOBER

I then took him to the Ridden Show at Longwood Equestrian Centre in October which is a great show to get yor novices out, I didnt want to take him in the walk and trot class as There are always young children in it and we wasnt sure how he was going to react indoors with alot of horses in such close proximity so I entered him in the Open M&M class, which he won!!  We then waited for the Supreme Championship to give him abit more "ring craft" and he only went and won that!!  Well made up for the wait, we arrived at 12.30 and didnt get into our class until 4.45pm!!!  I think the Championship took place at about 7.30pm!!  Then to just add a little more excitement after I had untacked him and put him back in the trailer, I went to go and help Lizzie get Archie ready to go home and when we came back out, Blackjack had taken his headollar off and chucked that and his bridle over the back of the trailer ramp and had his head over looking around and was being fussed by a group of little children!!  Thankgod he has such a calm and gentle temperament!!

Because he was going so well I asked Dave if we could do a couple of Affiliated classes with him, Dave relented (he does love the horse and is quite protective of him really!!) so off we went to the Home Counties Ridden Show in November at The College.  Here he came 3rd in a very strong Confined Novice Class so als no qualification, the lady judge said he was a nice type but had a little bit to much knee action for her, which is a fair comment. 

I decided to take him in the Open class under the Gentleman judge who was infact the Novice Judges husband.  He absolutely loved blackjack and put him first and then had him Open Welsh Champion and therefore qualifying him for the Open Final at PUK.  We did take him in the Supreme Championship but he was a little tired and just lacked that flair, however we were more than pleased with him, not bad for only his 3rd ridden show!!! 

NOVEMBER

Our last ridden show of the season was The Great Chart show at Blue Barn where Blackjack came 2nd in the Confined Novice Class and therefore gained his Novice Ticket.  He has now qualified for both PUK finals and hopefully I can pesuade Dave to let me take him, but its looking doubtful!!

DECEMBER

DAVE BECOMES A GRANDAD!!! (Baby Dave seen here at 8 weeks - pic taken 2nd march 2008)