Five Pines Farm & Kennel

16/08/2024

It’s Foal Friday! This weekend, make sure you stop and smell the flowers!

14/08/2024

We had the pleasure of presenting Five Pines Carolina Chrome, our 2024 Cosmeo X Black Dancer German Riding Pony c**t, at the Oldenburg Horse Breeders' Society and Weser-Ems Ponies inspection at Keystone Farms yesterday. Our thanks to Rabbit Hill Training & Sales for showing him off at his absolute best, Jasmine Heinlein Photography for capturing it all on camera and to the inspectors for awarding him Premium status. Our congratulations go out to his owner. Pictured here with his dam, Hilkens Schwarze Hexe.

Afraid you’ve missed out? We have repeated this fabulous cross for 2025! Inquire for details

29/07/2024

We were delighted to be there to help Headline Miniature American Shepherds welcome these little ones into the world!

20/07/2024

Our congratulations go out to Bethany Lee, her team and her pony Five Pines Schwarzer Sturm!!

04/07/2024

Happy 4th of July! To celebrate, we are having our only sale of the year.

Contracts must be completed and payment received by July 10th!

$100 off per dose breedings ( must be used in the 2024 season)
$200 off 2yr contracts ( 2024/2025)

Per Dose price for 2024 is $950cnd ( discounted to $850cnd)
2yr LFG Contract price for 2024/2025 is $2500cnd (discounted to $2300)

Both options are subject to shipping and tax.

Please send your mares information to us by email for consideration! [email protected]

03/07/2024

Sold!

2024 German Riding Pony C**t Five Pines Carolina Chrome (Cosmeo X Hilkens Schwarze Hexe) will be joining one of Cosmeo’s long-time admirers in North Carolina this fall. Congratulations!

23/06/2024

Our first afternoon outside was spent largely dodging raindrops!

Five Pines C(?)

He’s about as perfect as they come 💕

Cosmeo X Hilkens Schwarze Hexe

23/06/2024

Blessed are the broodmares, and this one is worth her weight in gold. Last night we welcomed a very correct, charming and curious chestnut Cosmeo c**t who is absolutely dripping in chrome. More photos to come!!

18/06/2024

🤩💕

The countdown is on!

09/06/2024

With most of our 2024 contract mares carrying the next generation of Cosmeo babies, that means we have a few contracts available to quality mares.

2 year LFG - $2500 CND

Please forward your mares details to [email protected] if you would like her to be considered.

Full details can be found on our website - www.keystonefarms.ca

Questions can be sent via email or call/text/WhatsAp - 905-429-0494

21/05/2024

THE LOOK AWAY
Looking away is one of the calming signals in dog body language.

Just like a hard stare or prolonged eye contact may be a sign that a dog’s about to react, looking away is meant to calm a situation down.

The head position when looking away will vary – from side to side, holding in one position or subtle quick turns are all common variations, all while avoiding direct eye contact.

I have often watched in fascination when one of my dogs uses this form of communication with an insect! Her favourite thing to do is to hunt, catch and then play with a Parktown Prawn (King Cricket).

She means them no harm (I think) and just wants to engage in a game of how high can you jump before I can catch you.

She will carefully carry the cricket in her mouth without hurting it to the middle of the garden where there are no bushes where it may escape to.

After a quick play bow (from her, not the cricket!) the games begin. The game can go on for some time and when the cricket gets tired or plays dead, she will stop playing, sit quietly, avoid eye contact and keep looking away before starting the game again.

By this time, I usually feel really sorry for the cricket, will rescue it and put it out of reach, but I think this is a good example of how she uses the body language of looking away to try to calm the situation down, even if her intentions are completely selfish! I have no idea if the cricket understands what she is trying to communicate.

Body language can be subtle and fleeting, but with careful observation and knowing what to look for most of us can learn to recognize and interpret what our dogs are saying.

It’s always important to look at the context, the situation and especially what the rest of the body is doing when deciphering this amazing language.

Being able to understand a dog’s emotional state through their body language helps us to predict behaviour, prevent potential problems or allows us to just enjoy observing their language.

18/05/2024

May 18th is a popular day among our broodmares! Happy Birthday to Five Pines Schwarzer Sturm and Five Pines Galway Gold!

🥳🥳🥳

12/05/2024

Happy Mother’s Day from Five Pines Farm & Kennel!

28/04/2024

Sundays are for farm projects.

03/04/2024

Getting closer! Hexe’s foal is now beagle-sized!

29/03/2024

Dante is the father of our Mabel 🥰
Congratulations Lisa T Hartjes!

I am so proud to announce, NEW AKC CHAMPION with a BEST of BREED win over Specials today at Finger Lakes show in Syracuse! Huge thanks to Karyna Cazelais for bringing out his best. Thank you Judge Michael Canalizo for finding Dante in a really nice line up of MAS's. Dante is now AKC CH CKC GCHB NW Aloha Montana Sky.

13/03/2024

💕

By Sue Weakley: Smaller equines are upping the fun for many adult dressage riders—and they’re holding their own against the big guys in the show ring.

29/02/2024

💕🐾

True herders in spite of their compact size, Miniature American Shepherds are bright, self-motivated workers and endearingly loyal and lively companion dogs who have an affinity for horses.

Why do you love the breed?

17/02/2024

Love is in the air!

Two breedings to Branley Ash Nautilus ( FS Numero Uno X Dornik B ) available at a discount due to a lack of suitable mares (one is a sibling out of the same dam). Easily among the nicest young GRP stallions North America has produced to date. 2 year LFG. PM for details.

24/01/2024

💕 T-minus 6 months until we meet our Cosmeo baby!

20/01/2024

19/01/2024

Discover judging criteria for Miniature American Shepherds: Ideal structure, movement, and key traits as per breed standards. Learn more!

31/12/2023

2023 In Review:

In January, we outlined our goals for the year. I committed myself to being the best owner-handler I could to help Mabel earn her CKC Championship.
We vowed that this would be the year our favourite mare, Hilkens Schwarze Hexe, would finally get back in foal after two frustrating years of fruitless attempts.

In February, Mabel turned one and she and I travelled to Kingston for a two-day clinic with Will Alexander, one of Canada’s most successful professional handlers.
I also participated in my first on-farm castration and our 2022 c**t, Five Pines Galway Gold, became a gelding. Keith escaped unscathed.

In March, we went legit and registered our kennel name with the Canadian Kennel Club.

In April, Galway Gold finally received his registration papers and his Premium award from Weser-Ems after having been inspected as a 3-month-old in August 2022. Branley Ash Georgia also received her Weser-Ems papers from 2021 but was not eligible for an award as COVID prevented the inspection tour from happening that year.
We helped our friends at Just 4 Paws Miniature American Shepherds welcome a beautiful litter of puppies into the world.
Mabel returned to the show ring with lots of help from our friends after a back injury knocked me out of the competition.

In May, we threw ourselves into breeding season. Honestly, it’s mostly a blur, punctuated by the scent of l**e and endless ultrasound scans. This was my third year of learning to do my own ultrasounding on-farm. Our barn cat, Stevie Nicks, tried her best to provide moral support.

In June, Mabel returned to the outdoor show circuit, where she has always done better than when we show indoors. Horse friends crossed over to the dark side and came to cheer us on.

In July, Mabel’s show career really started to take off at the Norwood shows over the Canada Day long weekend.
We had a fun cottage sleepover with breeder friends and lots and lots of dogs.
Gilded Age, a young mare we had raised from a yearling and mother to Five Pines Galway Gold, was sold to our friends at Prairie Sportpony Farm for their breeding program. She is now expecting a 2024 foal by Tackmann’s Candyman.
I threw up my hands and sent Hexe to a trusted, experienced breeder friend to see whether there were any other options we could try to help make her uterus more hospitable for an embryo. We tried some things. She came up open again.

In August, Mabel finished her CKC Championship at the Muskoka shows in Bracebridge! The cherry on top was her first Best of Breed on the final day, and also her first point toward her Grand Championship. Since Mabel doesn’t love to show, we decided to leave it at that and let her be a full-time farm dog while we finish growing her out and completing all of the health and genetic testing required to confirm she is a suitable breeding candidate.

Also in August, we finally got the news we had been waiting to hear for so long - Hexe was confirmed PREGNANT to the highly accomplished Cosmeo - 2004 Holsteiner Stallion! The most beautiful black dot I’ve ever seen. We would never have been able to achieve this milestone without our friends at Keystone Farms.

In September, we attended the first ever qualifier for the Pony Cups and the Sport Pony Star Search qualifier to support Bethany Lee and her pony Stormy. Stormy, Five Pines Schwarzer Sturm, was our last foal from Hexe in 2020 and has always been a fan favourite wherever she goes. This time, however, she really knocked it out of the park - some observers literally gasped and all eyes were on her as she trotted down the long side of the arena. Stormy ultimately took first place in the in-hand Pony Cup qualifier and Grand Champion Sport Pony! Not bad for her very first show.
Hexe’s fetus was confirmed viable with a heartbeat.

In October, Bethany and Stormy returned to RCRA for the second round of Pony Cup qualifiers and finished a very respectable fourth place out of an incredible lineup of ponies! Stormy took everything in stride with the kind of confidence we love to see in a young animal and seeing her bond with Bethany reminds us what being an ethical, small-scale breeder is really all about. We love watching our clients develop their Five Pines babies!

In November, we were at the Royal Winter Fair, as always. Unfortunately the dog shows were not invited back this year, but for us that makes Mabel’s first 3-point major of her career at RAWF the year before even more special.
Stormy took all of the unique stressors of the Royal in stride and we had a blast cheering Beth and Stormy on to finish 3rd in the in-hand Pony Cup and 2nd in the Sport Pony mare class against competitors who travelled to Toronto from all over Canada and the US. Seeing one of our homebreds on the Jumbotron in the Ricoh Coliseum was totally surreal!

December has brought us time to reflect on the successes of 2023 and everything we hope to achieve in 2024. We anticipate breeding our young mare, Georgia (Topper Harley X Georgina) in partnership with her co-owner Christine Baker of Branley Ash Sportponies but we have yet to decide on a stallion for her. Hexe’s Cosmeo foal will be a late baby in early July. And with a little luck, Mabel will pass her OFA radiographic exams shortly after her second birthday in February and we can expect her first litter of puppies in the fall.

To our clients, thank you for believing in the work we do to put these animals on the ground and give them the best foundation we possibly can. It is our passion and our life’s work.

We couldn’t do what we do without our village; our thanks go out especially to Theresa Detsikas, Amanda Stolarchuk, Jim Enborg, Amy Fletcher, Lisa T Hartjes, Zachary Brault and Crystal McMillan.

May 2024 bring all of you a healthy mix of what you want and what you need. 💕🥂

22/12/2023

💕🐾

: Versatile, enthusiastic and quick to learn, the is a protective, good-natured and devoted. While its unique size makes it a suitable companion, it still possesses the traits it was bred for – herding small stock. https://www.ckc.ca/en/Choosing-a-Dog/Choosing-a-Breed/Herding-Dogs/Miniature-American-Shepherd-en

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Polyvalent, enthousiaste et très facile à éduquer, le berger américain miniature est un compagnon fidèle, dévoué, protecteur et facile à vivre. https://www.ckc.ca/fr/Selection-d%E2%80%99un-chien/Le-choix-d%E2%80%99une-race/Chiens-de-berger/Berger-americain-miniature

12/12/2023

I’m a few days late sharing this, but Hexe’s Cosmeo baby is now roughly the size of a small kitten. It is growing fine hair on its muzzle, lips, chin and eyelashes and has a little bit less room to move around inside the allantoic sac.

💕🐈‍⬛

11/12/2023