Kristal & Jac, 2019.
GENESIS OF SWEET GIANT
OR HOW WAS BORN THE PASSION FOR SHIRES
Animals lover since my childwood, I spent all my holidays on my aunts' and uncles' farms. I always dreamed of learning to ride a horse. But my parents wouldn't let me because of my back problems.
At 16 years old, for the first time, I had the pleasure of going on a two-weeks training course at a riding school. In spite of a fall outside which caused me a pelvic fracture, my love for horses was multiplied.
A few months later, I went to another equestrian centre for another tow-weeks course. There I learned the basics of riding and how to take care of a horse, in meadow as well as in stable.
For personal reasons, I couldn't continue to ride horses, but my love for them has always remained the same.
That's why, a few years later, for my 38th birthday, I decided to buy my own horse. Finally, I fell in love with two mares : Xana and Aitana (and yes, horses walk in pairs!). Sometime later, I owned 3 mares in my meadows ... my beautiful Aitana was secretly expecting a baby and Stella was born !
After reading several articles saying that the rider's weight should not exceed 15 to 20% of the horse's weight, I thought that I couldn't ride my mares because of my overweight (which is an aberration because my horses don't suffer ... but that's so !!!). Then I looked for a horse that could carry me. I liked very much the Irish Cob breed, but they were small in size too ... and I came across the SHIRE breed ! So I started looking for a Shires breeding in France. As nothing happens by chance, I learn that on the road between our two houses, there is a SHIRE breeding farm (and yes! with our mares, we had to move in order to keep them at home)). I am on the road to the breeding, gone to see a real SHIRE !
After several "wild" visits (stopping at the edge of the meadows to admire them), we meet the breeders at the Bordeaux internation fair in 2015 (I recognised their horses !). We start talking about SHIRE and I learned that they were expecting a foal in the following days. Therefore I agree an appointment with them, to meet their SHIRES and our "Strawberry of the Month of August", also called "Forget Me Not", our first SHIRE foal at home.
Today we have six SHIRES at home as well as a breeding farm created: SWEET GIANT.
Valy, sept'2018
