I was looking for a horse that could carry me. I liked the Irish Cob breed very much, but these horses were small too ... then I came across the SHIRE breed ! So I started looking for a Shires breeding farm in France. As nothing happens by chance, I learn that on the road between our two houses, there is a SHIRE breeding farm. So here I am on the road of 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 fair in 2016 (I had recognised their horses!). We start talking about SHIRE and I learn that they were expecting a foal in the following days. I then make an appointment with them, to meet their SHIRES and our "Strawberry of the Month of August" or also called Forget Me Not, who will become our first SHIRE foal.

Once Forget arrived at home in the middle of my 'little' horses, I felt that he couldn't find his place, their pace of life was too fast for him.  That's why we decided to take a friend for him, a second Shire.

 

I got in touch with Dame Marie's stud.

I decided to coincide my visit with the day of the approval of their stallion (King's father), approval done by two English judges who come for that at most once a year.

At the breeding farm they still had two foals available. My choice was for King a little smaller than the other one, but his scoundrel side had seduced me and I thought he would be the right size to make a harmonious pair with our Forget.

I was a bit worried because both judges were looking at the foals a lot, their aplomb, etc...

 

But back home, I booked King, after validation with my husband.

We followed the Gentle Giant Facebook page for a few years now.

During our trip to the Shire Horse Show on March 2018, we were able to get to know them and approach their magnificent horses. 

 

Back in France, we felt a great desire to create our own breeding operation and we decided to contact Gentle Giant to find out if he had any fillies or even mares for sale. To our great regret the answer was negative. But he put us in touch with a breeder who was one of the judges we had met when we bought King.

 

After a few discussions about our wishes and photos of his mare we bought his mare Kristal and entrusted him with the mission of covering her.

When Kristal arrived at our home in July, I couldn't help but shed my little tear as she was so beautiful, really nothing to do with the photos sent by the breeder. 

On one web page I fell in love with a one-year-old filly who lived in Belgium: Frikka.

I got in touch with the owner who told me that she was booked, but that he had not yet received the deposit to validate the booking. He still had a few days before the contract was broken. 

 

He showed us other mares for sale and in particular Orva who pleased us a lot, but I didn't forgotten the beautiful Frikka. 

We asked our judge friend for advices on these two mares and he validated the choice of Orva.

 

Fate meant that the first buyer of Frikka did not show up, so we brought the two mares home.

Our breeding was beginning to take shape.

After discussing insemination with a few breeders, we started looking for a stallion. But a lot of questions come into my head. For the girls, everything was done by photos and videos, but a stallion was not possible, we had to be sure it was the right one! Take a foal, a two-year-old stallion or an already confirmed stallion?

Every time we have found a stallion that suited us, we asked our favourite judge for his opinion, and every time he found them full of faults. That's why we asked him to find us a stallion as he knows the pedigree of our mares.

After a few months one evening at 11.50 pm we received a message from our judge saying "look at this one, he looks perfect for you and your mares". And there we see an engraving, we couldn't believe our eyes. We mandate our judge to go and visit this stallion and give us his opinion.

After his visit we contact the owner to buy R'Bill, the stallion of our breeding. 

 

We would like to thank again our judge, because without him this adventure wouldn't have been possible !!!