11/09/2021
It has taken me some time to come to terms with the passing of our matriarch broodmare Bremervale Shalimar+Au (Rave VF x Bremervale's Spanish Princess), she was in her 30th year and her quality of life was ebbing away and the decision was made to let her go, it was not an easy decision when they have been a constant in your life for so long, she came to us as a yearling. I couldn't let her go without paying tribute to the huge contribution she made to our stud and her legacy carries on by way of her descendants. I first saw her during a visit to Bremervale, and her breeding, quality and beautiful movement attracted me to her and the rest is history. She had a short but successful show career before importation, but that had no bearing on my reasons for buying her, I have never purchased a horse because of showring wins, I considered she could contribute well to the breeding program I was trying to establish and she certainly lived up to my expectations. She had a short but successful show career in NZ but her mission in life was not be a showhorse it was to be a broodmare and she proved to be above and beyond in that department. She was only ever bred to Bremervale Pocohontas+Au and that cross produced 10 foals in 10 years, she ever missed a beat but when CRA Sihr Shahrif+Us arrived she made it very clear she was not having that young American upstart anywhere near her even when she was red hot in season, it was one of my big regrets that she never changed her mind, she shut up shop in the breeding department when B.Pocohontas went to his new home. She was great for looking after weanlings and youngstock and she had that role for many years and in her twilight years she was a companion to an old standarbred girl of the same age and they both went over the rainbow bridge together. Shalimar was a horsemans horse, she didn't tolerate fools, she had a black and white attitude, things were either right or wrong and she would always let you know, there were no grey areas with her and that is passed on to many of her descendants, it was usually best not to argue, and she and her get did not and do not respond to being bullied,but once one worked out the rules she was an easy horse to do anything with and have around, there were never any hassles with her, so long as she was treated with common sense and respect. She had a fabulous mind right up until she left us, extremely intelligent and totally switched on to everything around her, she usually knew what was going on before we did, she always had you under observation. What more can I say apart from thank you Shalimar, you took us on a great journey and we miss you so very much.
