I am absolutely delighted that Bella has scanned in foal to Royal Concorde, due May 2020!! Ahhh I don’t know how to put into words how this feels but I am going to try my best.
To start with I will tell you a bit more about Bella & what led me to the decision to put her in foal. Bella has been my partner in crime since 2014 & so far it has been amazing. Bella took me from jumping British Novice to Newcomers & schooling over 1m30 courses (confidently!!). I love this little mare; she is a fire breathing dragon under saddle with a heart of gold when it counts. If you are one of the chosen few Bella loves a cuddle & fuss. Unfortunately Bells has had a run of bad luck with injuries & setbacks. I often wonder where we would be now if the injuries hadn’t have happened, no fence felt to big for Bella & I trust her to be my wings. Having said that I am a big believer in everything happens for a reason…
I turned Bella away in May 2018 due to an injury & thought it was the best thing for her, put bluntly it wasn’t. Bella got laminitis, on paper she is not the type & to this day I kick myself for not thinking she looked very ‘cresty’ as I had been to visit her a few days before. If I knew what I know now about laminitis it wouldn’t have happened. Fortunately it was picked up very quickly & my fantastic vet & farrier did an amazing job. The recovery period was hard, Bella is a gannet & she hated rationed feed. My wonderful old livery yard were vital in Bella’s recovery as they allowed us to have her stable back & made sure all of her haynets were well soaked, the correct weight & fed on time. We were not sure if & when Bella would come back into work. Because of this at the end of June 2018 I purchased a second horse with the view to ride whilst Bella was going through rehab.
Fast forwards to October 2018 Bella was in good health & ‘sound’. It felt so good to be back on my little pocket rocket, we got back into full work with a show planned. A few days before our comeback show & annoyingly after being clipped (she is the devil to clip) Bella went lame. From October 18 to March 19 Bella was in & out of work. The issue with Bella is she has such a busy brain that being in light work just doesn’t suit her & I hate riding her when she is super fresh, it is not fun.
After a long chat with my vet & parents I made the decision to retire Bella from work. Using Bella as a broodmare was not an easy decision to make. Mostly because of the risks involved to mare & foal, Bella means the world to me, the thought of loosing her because of a choice I made is sickening. I spoke to breeders, good friends & my sister in great depth about putting Bella in foal. The more I thought about it, the more the idea appealed & it gave Bella her own special job. Bella is incredibly bred & is a fabulous horse in her own right.
After making what I thought would be the hardest decision it was time to pick a boyfriend for Bella. Picking a stallion is a whole other very long story, there are so many lovely ones out there! After a month I decided to put Bella to Royal Concorde, a fantastic stallion who boasts a successful & sound career. Royal Concorde partnered with Shane Breen won the Hickstead Derby in 2004 & is a derby specialist. The 2019 Royal Concorde foals look very beautiful & his offspring I have seen are superb.
Seeing a strong little heartbeat in Bella’s last scan has to be the highlight of 2019 so far. I have everything crossed for a smooth pregnancy & straight forwards birth. As for gender of the foal I have no preference, a healthy mum & baby is what I am wishing for.
I will be documenting Bella’s journey into motherhood & I hope to introduce a health foal in May 2020 to Team Equissimo!
Jaymee, Bella, Tigger & Daisy xx