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 We had a brief outing to the Ellingham Show on Saturday. It is our most local agricultural show and has a full range of New Forest pony classes. We took Hollybrooke Distinction who won the two year old  class with some lovely comments from the judge. Sadly the class was fairly early in the day and the championship late afternoon so we did not stay, as it would have been too much for John who managed his first outing since his operation. Interestingly the cup we won we have won three times before with three different ponies. The last time was with Hollybrooke Favour in 2023.
The second photo is
Hollybrooke Theo looking super competing in, and winning his first dressage competition as mentioned in the last news update.
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 The New Forest Show was another amazing day for our stallion Hollybrooke Tinker. He had four progeny competing our own Hollybrooke Distinction was 2nd in the one two and three year old colt class. I was so thrilled with how he coped, he was a perfect gentleman throughout taking all the new sights, sounds and experiences in his stride. A huge ask as I was on my own.
Trudy Nineham and James Young showed two ponies by Tinker. Brock Brandon won the
open large New Forest ridden class. His sister Brock Bronwen was the overall New Forest in hand champion. That is the third elite show championship she has taken this year.
 Hollybrooke Tinker's Gold
who we sold as a foal and is now owned by Julia Anderson and shown by Malcolm Fry won his three year old gelding class (he won the two year old gelding class here last year) He then went on to take the young stock championship beating a very strong line up of young ponies including last year's Breed Show supreme champion. Julia had done a wonderful job with him. He was turned out to perfection and looked amazing.
It was a great week for the family as his five year old full brother Hollybrooke Theo competed in and won his very first dressage test.
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It is a very quiet time at Hollybrooke as John has had his long awaited knee replacement surgery and will be out of action for some time. I have both my farm and stud managers hats on and it is leaving me little spare time. I am hoping to be able to take Distinction or Rosabaya to the New Forest Show but at the moment that is far from certain.
Foals change so rapidly in the first few months of their lives and as the photos show ours are no exception. Hollybrooke Patience has now almost completed the change from orange to liver chestnut and Hollybrooke Dignity starts to look more like his brothers.
 
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There was success for Hollybrooke ponies at the BRC combine challenge qualifying round at Moreton. Hollybrooke Calvados was individually third and part of the winning 70cm team. Hollybrooke Halo was a member of the junior 70cm winning team and was first individually. Both ponies qualified for the championship in September. A brilliant achievement for both ponies and riders. |
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 Our super stallion Hollybrooke Tinker is the sire of some really amazing horses and ponies and these three children have all had recent successes.
The two year old colt Hollybrooke Distinction made his second show ring appearance another winning one in the two year old New Forest class at the Southern Showing Society Summer show.
The part bred Trenley Tomorrow has qualified for the British Riding Clubs Championships jumping a double clear at the qualifier. He also jumped a double clear at the Riding Club Arena Eventing National Championships
The lovely mare
Brock Bronwen was Champion New Forest Pony at both the Bath and West and the Three Counties Shows. Both Shows are part of the New Forest Breed Society Elite Scheme.
 
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I have to start this piece a with a wonderful photo that I have been sent this week.
The pony is the three year old gelding, Hollybrooke Galaxy (Skywalker/ Hollybrooke Gingernut). He is enjoying some love and attention from the grandchildren of the lady who took the photo. They have two Hollybrooke ponies and she says
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'What wonderful ponies they are with amazing temperaments' |
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I can't tell you how proud that makes us!
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We took two ponies, the three year old Hollybrooke Rosabaya (left) and and the four year old Hollybrooke Duchess (right) to one of our local shows. It was great to see both classes so well supported with over 14 ponies in each class. The judge considered both our ponies too fat. I explained it was difficult to know how to starve them more as they wintered out with no feeding or rugs just what they could find for them selves in the field. Forest ponies are very good doers! They were both placed third in their respective classes so we were very pleased
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It was a great day for Hollybrooke ponies at the NFPEC Elite Show. Our two year old colt Hollybrooke Distinction (photo below left) followed up his win at the colt inspections by winning the two and three year old colt class. We were thrilled not only with his win but also how he coped with the whole new experience. Interestingly it is the third time we have won that class. We won it with Distinction's full brother Duke back in 2013 and Jupiter in 2022.
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The majority of today's news relates to our wonderful gold graded mare Hollybrooke Debbie and our  very special stallion Hollybrooke Tinker.
We are really pleased that it has been announced by the Breed Society that their two year old son Hollybrooke Distinction has won the award for the highest scoring colt at the spring inspection. He is the third full brother to get a stallion licence and the second to achieve the highest score.
The stud has an amazing record in both the colt and mare grading's. The last three colts we have entered have all achieved the best colt award and the last three mares presented have taken the same award in the mare section.
The photo of Distinction on the right was taken by Wendy Mason during the loose schooling section of the inspection.  It demonstrates how well he carries himself and what a wonderful mover he is.The progeny of our stallions did exceptionally well at the inspections. Hollybrooke Tinker is the sire of our winning colt. He was also the sire of one of the eight yearling colts chosen for the Futurity Yearling colt scheme and the grandfather of the winning yearling colt. Skywalker was the sire of another of the chosen yearlings.
On Easter Monday Debbie presented us with her eleventh and final foal, a colt (she has only ever had three fillies) who is a full brother to Distinction and Duke. We are thrilled with this foal. We hope this one will be just as successful as his brothers.
Debbie looks amazing but at twenty three we will not cover her again. Once this foal is weaned she will live out the rest of her days in retirement here at Hollybrooke. The photo was taken when the foal was just 3 days old.
Another pony bred here, Hollybrooke Jupiter has made a great start to the season by being placed 2nd in a large and very strong open, mixed breeds Royal international Qualifier. |
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Our first outing of the year was when we took our two year old colt Hollybrooke
 Distinction to the Breed Society colt passing. He is a full brother to the very successful Hollybrooke Duke. He was a really lovely foal but grew like a weed last year and looked more like a TB than a Forest pony. However, he has matured over the winter and is starting to achieve his initial promise.
We had taught him to load quietly but he had never traveled, he had wintered out in the field with no rug and spent his first night in a stable in over a year, the night before the inspection, so we were more than thrilled that he looked great and behaved beautifully. He passed his judges inspection and vetting. We had lots of complimentary comments about him. We now wait for the results of DNA and pssm tests before he is issued with a stallion licence.
 Another pony to make a super start to his competitive year was Hollybrooke Calvados. He jumped an amazing double clear at the BRC Show Jumping Winter Finals to assist the NFPEC 70 team to 10th place and he achieved individual 36th (out of 102) What a super pony he is.
We are still waiting for our first foal. Hollybrooke mares usually have really long gestations of about 355 to 360 days (the book says 340 days is normal) Hollybrooke Grace has taken it to the extreme this time and is now well over 370 days and still no foal. |
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We are struggling through another very wet and miserable winter up to our eyes in mud and water like all other breeders and farmers. However, the ponies all look great and the youngsters growing well.
We ended 2024 0n a super note with John and his part bred New Forest Woottonheath Obi winning his race at the New Forest Boxing Day Point to Point. As you can see from the photos it was very muddy and wet! |
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Two ponies we bred also competed in the races Hollybrooke Brown Sugar on the left and Hollybrooke Huckleberry on the right. 
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While our ponies have been having a quiet time others have been out and about.  Hollybrooke Americano (Greencottage Ambassador/ Hollybrooke Melitta) a licensed stallion in Belgium, has been producing some lovely clear rounds in show jumping.
Sadly Melitta's last years foal a smart colt by Skywalker will not be able to be shown this year as his field companion has chewed his tail!
We do have a two year old colt Hollybrooke Distinction, a full brother to the very successful Hollybrooke Duke who we plan to take to the colt grading in the spring.
Two other ponies one we bred Hollybrooke Calvados (left) and the other Brock Brendon (right) by Hollybrooke Tinker have also been out doing some early season jumping.
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We have two mares in foal, one to each of our stallions who are both due in March. However knowing our mares i expect it will be April before they arrive. |
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We at last have a foal! Hollybrooke Grace has a chestnut filly following a 375 day gestation. Definitely a record for the Hollybrooke Stud. There can be no doubt about the date she was covered as she had a scan on the 26th April last year confirming a 25 day pregnancy. The foal is absolutely huge and very mature and hairy no doubt due to the very long pregnancy.