Janes Wildfire Farms

02/02/2025

MAC is giving a big Neigh out to Jim Raleigh for blowing up his new Jolly ball

02/01/2025

It was a blanket off day for QTS Tuff N Nuff. Almost 27 he is doing very good. Has gained his weight back from breeding season and looking for the next one this spring,

01/28/2025

So much for the human exercise ball. Have one his size with a cover ordered supposed to get here Wednesday. Hope it holds up. MAC will be so happy.

01/23/2025

First time in years my barn has been full of horses, normally they stay in run-inns except for the babies and my old boy QTS Tuff N Nuff. Even then they go out where they have run-in should they need it. Today the wind chill was really bad and the broodmares who have been allowed into the arena weren't about to leave it. I left everyone in, de-iced the water buckets and fed lots of hay. My filly Lacey wasn't drinking, so put loose mineral salt along with her grain and tonight she was drinking. She is a high energy mare and being confined to a stall is not her idea of fun. Tomorrow all will get out for a little while, length depending on Wind Chill and direction of wind. Everything, chickens, cats, dogs, horses and I are all tucked in for the night. Hope everyone and everything stays safe and warm.

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01/21/2025

Time continues, my heart horse of my youth, Denver Queen birthday was Jan. 20, 1964. I had her since she was 2 and helped her over the Rainbow Bridge at 33. She was a Crack-jack all-around horse, shows back then were Halter, Pleasure. Reining and Speed Events and she did them all. The picture with the little girl was Courtney Hill Team Penning, Denver Queen was in her 30's then and had already taught a husband and my other 2 kids to ride. Pictures of her and I in our youth, another of some of the trophies she won. Last a Reining class she won sliding on hard clay with head up which was the style at the time. She had 3 names over life Debbie as a young mare, Denver in her early teen years and Queenie as a senior mare.

01/10/2025

My daughter's mare was on vet prescribed Bute powers for a couple of weeks, she got really loose, so we put her on Probiotic Treats, and it cleared up.

01/05/2025

Mostly white Medicine Cap filly was sold within hours after this was posted. Our pretty Tobiano filly is still available. a trail, pleasure type home and her own person would be great for her.
We have snow again. Young stock having fun in it. The two fillies shown on the right will be looking for new homes in the spring. Will take payments on them till then.

01/05/2025

Oh, carter you are in time out. Katrina's c**t Carter just will not leave the fillies alone. No worried about him breeding them, but he plays way ruff. Even when they kick him, he comes back for more. Would put him with Mac the c**t who is a year older. but Mac is huge and although Carter is good sized just too much difference in size. Poor boys they just want someone to rough house with.

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01/01/2025

I have a c**t that has "Elvis eyes", those dreamy, soft, sexy eyes that drove the gals wild. Will get some pictures soon. Any people that like to jump, we have found Tuff N Nuff babies like to jump and can clear 34 inches from a stand still. So far two have cleared our stock tank and a filly just jumped out of the 34-inch feeder. What happens is they get playing and running and just jump. Guilty party pictured.

01/01/2025

12/29/2024

Fixed a lot of hot fences today. The bottom line had been buried in snow and wasn't working. Of course, one of our youngsters decided to go visit the broodmares. Boy, was he waiting at the gate to be let up as he had had enough of those mares' attitudes, as they know how to put a young fellow in his place. A couple of scrapes but nothing serious. He also got a short training session on leading and pivoting.
Also had to pull the dogs fence out of the snow. Picture of the pups, they are hunting dogs mostly Red Bone mutts that like to run and chase cats and chickens, so have to make sure they can't get out.
Now we are having cold rain, would much rather have snow.

12/24/2024

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays from my farm to you.

12/24/2024

My ageing stallion QTS Tuff N Nuff's yearling son the heir apparent Wildfires QT Mac Sun's panel testing is back. I could not ask for better results. He is 7 panel disease free.
LWO n/n, GBED n/n, HERDA n/n, HYPP n/n, MH n/n, PSSM1 n/n, MYHM n/n. Not tested for EJSCA as he doesn't carry bloodline associated with it at this time.
Look at these color results. A/a, e/e, nd2/nd2, TO/n, W20/n, EDXW1/n, EDXW3/n. One Tobiano gene but lots of white modifiers. Depending on the mare's gene he will be able to sire those gorgeous blazed faced high stocking horses in the Hot Red color and even blue Eyes. Laid back people pleasing disposition. Add two sprint genes and a curious gene he should be a good all-around horse. His pedigree: https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/wildfires+qt+mac+sun

12/20/2024

Long but very interesting read.
he remarkable Dr Emmaline Hill - the young Irish (genius) geneticist who knocked on the door of Jim Bolger, one of the wealthiest and most influential thoroughbred breeders and trainers in Ireland and asked him for a loan to back her research - has now managed to turn thoroughbred breeding on its head.
After 300 years of a tightly controlled Stud Book - and all the mythology that the thoroughbred breed was effectively descended from just a handful of Arabian horses - the real truth was finally revealed.
While there was certainly four or five Arabian horses, such as the Darley Arabian and the Godolphin Arabian who were all brought back to England from the Middle East , it turns out that overwhelmingly, the core base of the thoroughbred came from anything with four legs: Shetland ponies, carriage horses, farm horses, Draft horses.. you name it.
It seems that a couple of hundred years ago, all you needed to get into the Thoroughbred Stud book was to be the fastest horse at the races held down on the Village Green .
As I've mentioned in previous posts, Dr Hill has identified the real source of speed in the legendary Canadian sire Northern Dancer as being a Shetland pony mare who raced in an English village in the 16th century.
While the physical ‘type’ of the Shetland pony has disappeared over the long, 300 year history of the thoroughbred breed - that particular speed gene has been passed through intact into the Northern Dancer breed.
Dr Hill has also revealed some concerning research that shows the original thoroughbred - which she calls the TT type, the true tough stayer with all the expected characteristics of the thoroughbred - is now effectively being bred out of fashion.
While the second category is the TC Horse - that's the middle distance horse - what the world really wants today it seems is the CC horse which is all about early speed and the early running two-year-old and three-year-olds.
The thing about the mitochondrial DNA is that it is absolutely 100% accurate - it is tracing the exact footprints of the mothers mother's mother's mother's mother DNA - and so on
Further recent research by other geneticists into the mitochondrial DNA has traced the journey of pony blood into the American horse - and in particular, the American cutting horse.
Once Dr Hill established the code - how to scientifically ‘track down the tigers’ if you like - then she opened the field right up for other geneticists to track the mitochondrial path in numerous other breeds and species.
It appears that Smart Little Lena - the major sire influence of the last 30 years - actually originated from a line of Welsh mountain ponies on his female side.
He was extremely small - some say only around 13.2 hands high - with the typical cute dish face, bug eyes and quirky ways of the Welsh mountain pony.
Added to this are the revelations around the 'pink' or or strawberry roan gene and the 'blue roan' gene.
These pretty and unusual colours have rapidly risen to prominence in such champion horses as Royal Blue Boon and her various descendants as well as the popular 'pink roan' horses by horses such as Peptoboonsmal and Metallic Cat.
These breeds of horses also have a particular physical type that - when compared to the Welsh mountain pony and the Connemara - appear to be incredibly similar.
The geneticists tell us that the pony gene is completely separate to the thoroughbred gene pool from which most quarter horses and Australian stock horses were originally descended.
Because the pony gene pool is so far removed as a complete 'outlier', it is therefore going to be overwhelmingly dominant across the existing AQHA and ASHS gene pools.
In other words, if you think of the dominance that the Bos Indicus (Brahman) had over Bos Ta**us (British breeds) then you will start to
understand how it all works.
The revelation that so much Welsh and Connemara pony blood is now carried so closely in these 'pink' and 'blue' genes probably explains their smaller physical type - shorter legs, prettier heads and less speed - when compared to other horses that are descended from thoroughbreds.
Dr Emmaline Hill has been able to establish a ‘speed gene’ and she has been able to trace it using genetic markers.
The speed gene is only carried in the thoroughbred. No other breed of horse carries it in the world.
In fact her search for the ‘speed gene’ was the ‘hook’ that convinced Irish beeeder and trainer Jim Bolger to put the funding up to make her research possible.
In any case, seeing really is believing - and the comparison of photographs between famous horses and ponies (see below) is enlightening - to say the least.
While the Australian Stock Horse was mostly based on colonial thoroughbred bloodlines - along with a dash of brumby, Arab, Percheron, you name it - there was apparently also a good dash of pony in several 'breeds' such as Cecil Bruce and Paleroo Peter the sire of Rivoli Ray.
So where did the pony actually come from? Well, it's probably a no-brainer. Australian graziers and farmers all had children - no different to American ranchers and farmers.
They were kids ponies that eventually had a foal 'by that stallion down the road' and when they rode the progeny they discovered it was hardy, sure-footed and clever - and usually extremely small.
While the breed was around in some fragmented form since early American settlement, the American AQHA was only established as a formal organisation in 1940.
This is relatively recent compared to the Thoroughbred Stud book which was established in England over 300 years ago.
That means that while ponies might have been in the ‘faraway fragments’ of the breed for a very long time, those dominant Welsh or Connemara strains that found their way into horses such as Smart Little Lena, Royal Blue Boon and Metallic Cat have only been in genetic ‘play’ for a comparatively brief time - 84 years as compared to the 300 plus if the thoroughbreds.
That means all their primary physical characteristics remain strongly in place to this day - for instance, their smaller size, their colour, distinctive heads, legs etc.
These pony characterises may have been enhanced by the concentrated level of inbreeding that has been practised in recent years which has ‘enhanced’ these characteristics by constant repetition.
In other words, it appears to have stabilised a ‘type’.
It may also suggest that their superior performance characteristics (cutting ability) might be linked into their (similar) physical characteristics so the phenotype (what they actually look like) managed to ‘hitch a ride’.
So what can we learn from the revelations of the mitochondrial DNA that has so dramatically 'pulled back the genetic curtains' and brought forth all of these interesting family secrets?
That the pony will always - ALWAYS - easily dominate any gene pool that has been based on thoroughbred blood.
So saddle up folks, for all those pretty pink and blue coat colours - along with their shorter legs, cuter heads and much more limited speed - because the pony always rules - and that’s that.
They may only be small - but they sure can pack a punch.

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12/20/2024

It's almost that time of year!

Foaling season is right around the corner! Is your foaling kit stocked and ready to go?

If this is your first foaling or you don’t know where to start, the graphic lists a few essentials for you to include. Having these items ready several weeks before your mare’s due date will mean less stress and scrambling at the last minute trying to acquire what you need.

As always, your veterinarian is your best source of information. Consult your horse doctor for additional recommendations and for training on how to properly use these tools to assist your mare during and after delivery!