How confused can a little Gypsy Vanner foal be ? so far she has tried to suckle her aunt , her dad , and my husband , i dont know who was more in shock , she is a very sweet baby , all of a wobble unlike her brother a fab colt who is proving to be a real boy , from day one he was an explorer causing his mother to have many kittens each time he went off to explore , Kizzy goes off to explore without her mother knowing she has gone , she then gets lost and cries , all come to her aid ,her mother , her aunt, and her father , gypsy Vanners are a special breed , they look after their own , never in all my years of breeding have i been able to have foals born out in the field with mum and dad , aunt , baby brother and all . Please follow my post as i have much more to share , and please go and take a good look at the GYPSY MVP site , so many great horses to share with you , and a friendly team second to none .

Over the last few months i have been teaching my friend to ride again , on a steady older gelding ?? NO ! but on Roman who is just 5 years old ,and what a good boy he has been .

Last week i was at work so i asked my friend to let Roman out for a spell Given my friends lack of ability to put a head coller on i was amazed when she rang me at work and said she had put the tack on and was riding him around the field , she was very unsure that she had done the girth up tight enough , my reply was ” if you are not calling me hanging under his belly all is OK ” it was proberbly all back to front but they still both had fun , yet again i have to wonder at how kind these Vanner Stallions are , i cant speak for all but so far , Pride MVP ,Rom Rye MVP have been true to this gentle breed , and Roman is proving to be like them.

I was very proud when i bought my very first cart and harness , i had a horse that was said to be bomb proof driving and i had all i needed to go out on a summers day , the only thing i didnt have was knowlage .

Many Gypsy stallion are born in harness and pull carts as soon as they are old enough , as i said i had all i needed but really needed a teacher to show me .

all sat in front of me , horse , harness and cart , i was itching to have a go so i did ! if you dont know harness it is a very big tangle of leather , the only thing to do was to put it on the horse and then work out what went where , the collar was easy as were the driving reins , having got them in place we had to work out what bit of leather did up to the right buckles , buckles done up we then had to attach the cart , with all in place and making sure the cart could not come away from the horse i asked my friend to jump on the cart with me , the answer was NO!!!!, I had faith in my vanner stallion as he was such a gent so i climbed abord and drove him through the village , all was well until we had to turn around in a very tight corner , for 20 mins i had him back up and step forward so many times , at this point many horses would have got very cross but he did as i told him -back and forth to the point i thought i was going to have to take the cart and harness off , we got there in the end and trotted home me thinking how clever i was , I cant speak more high about the kind and forgiving nature of these Gypsy horses , this stallion is now one of Gypsy Mvp’s super stars .

Gypsy Vanner horses are also good at Dressage , Cross Country , and are more than capable of jumping as well as any other breed .

A friend i had not seen for some time came to visit with her horse as we were to enjoy a mornings ride together , we had decided to go on a ride that took about three hours and included lots of ditches to jump and fallen trees to jump over , she looked amazed when i tacked up my Vanner mare , i assured her that fluffy frathers dont stop a horse jumping , just over three hours later we returned , her horse was worn out but my mare still had a spring in her step and in fact had taken the lead all the way round .

Are Gypsy Horses comfortable is another question , people think because they are compact that they will have a short choppy stride , correct conformation in any horse will give you a comfortable ride , a very upright shoulder in any horse wil give you a choppy ride ,just today i was watching one of my young Gypsy Vanner fillies float across the ground in a trot next to my Arab mare .

Well folks the weather continues to get better , day light is longer , i spent today triming off winter beards , some folk like them kept on but i like to show my horses sweet heads off .

Frankie my Vanner Filly is looking rounder by the day , we are not sure of her foaling date , we could be up to one month out , now this horrible winter is on its way out we cant wait to have two Vanner Foals , i have been getting exited looking at the Foals Born at Gypsy MVP , there is nothing better than having foals to play with and teach new things .

The photo above was taken by the superb Equine photographer Jennifer Wilkening, it captures how gentle these Gypsy horses are with children , in fact people of all ages and abilities enjoy them , just to add , if you are looking for a Gypsy Vanner for riding -contact Erica Barton Gypsy MVP , Erica puts the right horse with the right owner she has had great feed back and made many friends due to her honesty and skill at this .

Gypsy Vanner winter coats are thick and warm and due to most of mine wintering out i have a lot of coat stripping to do , not my favorite time of year , no matter how much i stand up wind i end up covered in it , i have ofter thought as i watch it float away across the grass by the hand full that i should start knitting Gypsy Vanner hair jumpers , or bring out a line in Thermal wear , ill bet every birds nest within miles has a black and white fur lined nest .

Now spring is on the way i hope to share more of my Equine family with you , i have two Gypsy Vanner fillies both in foal so babies to look forward to , i have put an order in for two filly foals with sweet heads and lots of feather , will have to see what the stork brings .

Also again this year i will be going to Appleby on behalf of Gypsy MVP, i will spend 3 days plus taking photos and chatting to people so i will have lots to share with you .

Today was the first day it was safe to ride my Gypsy Stallion Made in England (Roman) out on the road , no ice ,snow or frost to slip on , as ever cars slow down look and smile , because he looks like a big Teddy bear with fluffy feathers flying he appeals to people with children in the car , they wind down their windows and want to stroke him but i am worried about those little fingers poked up his nose that Roman may see as baby carrots .Riding through the village when the children are on holiday is just the same , people in their gardens will ask what sort of horse he is , then within seconds kids appear with carrots and apples and it turns into pony rides , before you know it there is a line of children , there are not many Stallions you could do this with , Made in England can be seen on Gypsy MVP stallion page , the photo above is also of him .

Please feel free to ask me questions , i look forward to making this Blog fun , as i said i have Gypsy Vanner foals due , i have a Gypsy Vanner filly i am going to break in very soon for those who want to see how we do it as a family , we are also breaking in my Daughters 3 year old Vanner Colt who is a bit on the shy side . Bye for now friends.

Today is the day i take more photos of My Gypsy Vanner Stallion Made in England, as was yesterday -last week and many times last month .

Due to the very bad weather and a long walk to the field on sheet ice most mornings , it became clear that it was dangerous for me and him , he is such a Gent but he is no Ice Skater i myself am also not that good, the last straw was when his feet slid out from under him going north , south , east and west , as i tried to hold him up this put me off balance also , i tried to stand my ground but my arms were flapping like a demented hen trying to steady myself -all was lost and i slid under him , once we both got back to our feet it was back to the stable , if this had been shot on Vid to music it would have been a U Tube sensation .

Now , back to photographing my Vanner Stallion , 5 days ago there was no snow or ice and as he had been in for 5 days i thought i would get the most amazing photos , i wont explain i will just post pics , you will see he rolled like a puppy and all he would show me was his bottom .

I am also due to put Lexington on the MVP site , she is an amazing Gypsy filly , half sister to Cassavia , her Sire is Casanova and her Grandsire Dazzle Dance .

This filly is another story so i hope you join me again soon for more fun .

No heavy duty stockings to keep them  warm and dry , no need to stock up on shaver blades and  no expensive creams to keep out fungal infection or to treat it , for those of you a bit confused at this point I am referring to my lovely Gypsy Vanner’s Fluffy  Dusters that adorn their legs .

I have been asked by many folk what I do with the horses legs in the winter when they are standing in mud day on day , ” Do they get infections ?” they ask , my answer is simple !! ”Leave them alone. ”

This winter in the UK has been the most harsh since records began , straw was as is near on impossible to get hold of hence most of mine have been out all winter , this is the beauty of the breed , they thrive where my Arabians would have been shivering and dancing on the spot because their feet were cold , it is said that horses don’t feel the cold of snow in their feet but watching my Arabians do a good River Dance audition-  I tend to differ .

Too many people fiddle with their horses feathers during winter conditions , they bring them in and wash the mud off with warm water and shampoo – thus striping any natural oil protection away, that is when the likes of mud fever strikes as it can get to the skin, then what do they  do? Tthey  start clipping bits of feather off to clean what is underneath – yet more skin exposure and more infection risk  that spreads , they keep scrubbing and adding cream and so it goes on .

This is only my recommendation for feather  but it has worked so far -

Gypsy Vanners out for the winter, if the legs are healthy before hand , leave them alone , if you do bring them into the stable for the night the mud will dry and fall off, ok you wont have white fluffy feather but that can wait until spring , there will be horses that rub feather during the winter as warm feathers can be host to lice and mites but your vet will advise you as to what you can spray on to eliminate these before they rub raw patches .

I now have several hairy mammoths in my fields , normally due to human nature and how we pamper our animals I would have taken them in at the first snow fall , but the next day the the snow had been replaced with a sheet of sheer ice  that  made it dangerous to lead them to the stables that are some distance from the field , but  with a constant source of fibre in the way of hay they look grand , this again is the beauty of Gypsy Horses .

I have only had to stable one of our Vanners and he is my Stallion Made in England , we had an amazing Stallion paddock erected in the summer , but come winter the posts shrunk and the fence became loose, after several attempts to re erect the fence in frozen ground we gave up , please come back to see my next post -The Stabled Horse !!

This is where you will see the best the gyspy folk have to show , Gypsy horse Stallions , fabulous mares , the gypsy Vanner is shown at its best at Appleby , we look forward to it all year , no shows in the UK can get near to this .
You can see on our site pictures of years gone by , this year we aim to take photos to take you deeper into the world of the Gypsy horse and the people that own them , we will cover the best examples of the breed , we will also share with you stories from the fair .
Gypsy Mvp have a team of five going this year .