Foals ....

Watch Bonfire grow!

Below you find the link to our brand-new Webshots-Album about Bonfire Night
(last update may 2008):

Bonfire Night - watch a Foal grow

As if to prove me wrong, the all important phone call came late in the evening, march 15th: "We think it´s starting now" and 15 minutes later (we had hardly reached the car!). "Its a little colt!". The 45minute drive to Belle´s stable did not seem to come to an end, but when we reached her stable, mother&son were on their feet, with birth assistant Carsten busy showing the little colt where the milkbar is!

Well a typical male it took the little fellow about an hour to find the all-important well. Belle Fee, not exactly known for being a cosy pet, marvels in her new role as a mum so far, she is very caring and seems really pleased with what she has achieved. Mind you, we only know of one other chestnut sired by Kondor so far, so we clearly have a rarity on our hands.
Finding a name has been our favorite pastime for the last few months, but typically the (what we hope will be) final name came up minutes after we saw him: BONFIRE NIGHT.
Bonfire Night is weak in his hind legs and "has to grow into it", but some days walking on a hard surface should correct the matter. He has been thoroughly checked by a vet and has passed all tests with flying colours; all we can do now is wait for spring (and his mate - Adelma is very reluctant to deliver!) to arrive, so he can enjoy his first spring in the sun.

The Name:

Bonfire Night is held in Britain on the 5th November. It celebrates the defeat of a conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I. Bonfire Night is celebrated with bonfires and fireworks.

The Story of the Gunpowder Plot

On 5th November 1605, two years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, soldiers discovered a man called Guido (Guy) Fawkes in a cellar under the Houses of Parliament. He had with him numerous barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes was arrested and tortured. He told his torturers about a plot to blow up Parliament together with the king, James I, his ministers and Members of Parliament.

Guy Fawkes was a Roman Catholic who was angry with King James, the son of the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots, because he wanted more religous toleration towards Catholics. He had joined up with a group of four other Catholics led by Robert Catesby in the plot to kill the king. Catesby had made the mistake of inviting other Catholics to join the plot. One of these was called Francis Tresham. Tresham wrote a letter to his brother-in-law Lord Monteagle warning him not to go to Parliament and Monteagle told the government. Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators were executed as traitors.

In 1606 Parliament agreed to make 5th November a day of public thanksgiving and ever since then the day has been celebrated with fireworks and bonfires.

Bonfire Night: www.bonefire.org/guy/

www.guy-fawkes.com

18.03.2006 - Three days old

It pays to count a very good photographer among your friends, and as "KincsemPhotos" alias Silvia Göldner is mad on horses too, she did not need much persuading to visit little Bonfire at weekend. She took some wonderful photos of mother and son that we like to share here.
For breeding newbie´s like us the mother&foal relationship continues to be magical: Belle Fee is all mum, very caring and protective. She has one eye on Bonfire all the time, and even lifts her leg so he can suckle all the better. Bonfire might be small, but is very active and already uses his little voice to stage his opinion on things.
At moment the relationship to mate Adelma is on ice though; Adelma still has to give birth to her foal and is a definite no-no and not allowed near at all. Both mares are seperated for time being, but will be reunited once Adelma´s foal is born, and ready to run.

21.03.2006

The name is officially registered now (good luck that, as we would have had to alter everything;) - so welcome BONFIRE NIGHT !

Tuesday night Adelma finally gave birth to her foal too, a bay colt by Kahyasi´s son Khalkevi. The little fellow is nameless yet, and photos will appear here soon.

24.03.2006

Its fascinating to observe how little Bonfire is not only growing from week to week, but also developing his own distinct personality. He now got the hang of how to leave his box (a little step towards the paddock is a small one for mankind, but a very big one for little foals at first), he now jumps in and out like an old pro, and zooms about in his paddock, a joy to watch. Belle can hardly follow him and is very busy trying; at weekend her eyes rather seem to say: "Can you take him for an hour please, so I get some peace?!"
Bonfire holds no fears whatsoever and thought Jimmy was some kind of weird type of foal (minus two legs), and could not understand why he did not join in some games.

02.04.2006

Bonfire is 2 1/2 weeks old now and growing rapidly. His legs shape very satisfactorily, and as one can see he is busy using them too!

Mai 2006

Quite a time since we last added new photos, but no news are usually good news. While Bonfire´s mate (still no name) fought off a potentially life-threatning illness and is on the upward curve now, Bonfire is fit&well and growing; rather sideways that is, as he seems to rather gather frame, not height. The following photos have been scanned in, so lack the brilliance of digital photos.

Threesome: Adelma, Bonfire & NN

Bonfire from different angles; back, front - and trying to pick grass:

Ever seen a horse with glasses?:

02.07.2006

Bonfire is nearly 4 month old now and growing and growing; in fact he is nearly twice the size of his mate. The current heat wave had the horses rather unwilling to leave the shade, but we managed to get a few new shots:

A long time since this section has been updated, but this time it was for all the wrong reasons: Belle Fee´s horrendous accident left us in a difficult situation as far as Bonfire Night was concerned; we were advised to leave him with his mother during what were clearly stressfull and hard times in the clinic; after some time the situation was unbearable for little Bonfire though, and we took the decision to wean him. He was only 4 1/2 month at that time (early august), but quite big; we simply had to go for it as Belle Fee is still confined to her box, and little Bonfire needed to be out and running! We found him a new home with a mate to run with, and here are some new shots that clearly show how much he his grown:

Running with his new mate; Bonfire is the one on the left:

Two brand-new shots of Bonfire, taken sat., 7th of october. We are happy to report that he is fit&well, growing nicely and and is happy as Larry with his mate (no name). Bonfire certainly knows how to pose already!

No more accidents, and Bonfire is out&about, with two mates now, so three colts in total. Nothing to add thats not been said already, and, guess what, he has grown again!:

2007 - YEARLING

With the turning of the year Bonfire is now - officially at least - no foal but a proper yearling. We went to see him for the first time in the new year, here are some nice shots of him:

Summer 2007

The all-important summer of growing and developing is in full swing, but has unfortunatly been interrupted once again as Bonfire was forced to move stables - but at least he went back to a place he knows. Back to were life started Bonfire has to adapt to his old, new mates and has to find his place in a new bunch of yearling colts - but we are positivley sure that his strong personality will help him through.
This photo was taken Sat., 16th of june:

august / september 07

Things progress smoothly with Bonfire, who is started being worked by our friend Carey Williams, a great horseman who is responsible for the yearling-education in Wiedingen Stud.

update dec.07/08

Due to some unforseen circumstances Bonfire has been on the move once again. Its difficult times for small breeders with no own land once things start going wrong (as it did with Belle and Bonfire back in 2006) and one clearly is in the mercy of fellow breeders. While it was difficult to find a new home in 2006 because Bonfire was too YOUNG to be weaned really, finding a new home for him in oct. 2007 was just as difficult as many breeders deemed him to be too OLD to join an existing group of colts. After much consideration we decided to geld Bonfire Night, and he was operated on in october 07. He needed some time to recover and still looks a bit rough, but is now in an idyllic stud farm and out with a mate again, something he dearly missed the whole summer. Bonfire will be given a winter to play and just enjoy life, and will join his trainer Christian Sprengel in spring 08, when he, Bonfire, is a (hopefully) fully grown 2-year-old.

-> Check out Bonfire´s new own section: "Life as a racehorse"