There is a lot of controversy about the "DRUM HORSE" here in the States right now..
Many people have their own views of what they should be and will try and "pigeon-hole" them to one particular style or color.Drum horses have been around many,many years before they reached the United States and sadly they are beginning to look nothing like what the history books tell us they used to be..
This is why we have included this little paragraph before "showing" you our babies.!!.
Please feel free to read the "history" of drum horses on our site (No..We are NOT the authors) and scan the many websites devoted to this style of horse..Indeed it IS a Style rather than a breed..Personally we wanted to breed for the more "Traditional" style of "Warhorse" and that is what you will see us working with..
We can all see what their history is through hundreds of years of records and pictures.So it's a shame how money and marketing ,here in the USA ,dictates what they "Should" be changed into to be "Registered" or "Classed" in new and current associations that have existed for a FRACTION of the time these true "Warhorses" have existed..
We like to think that we chose our horses along the same criteria that the old military cavalry would have used.Unlike the one horse that was noted in the history..We have no Milk Float horses from the big city...But we think our "Traditional" style Drum foals will turn many heads when they mature and will turn out to be every bit as good as their ancestors....If they don't grow to the required size and stature to "qualify"to the newly made rules.Oh well...We will still know what their TRADITIONAL background is through PEDIGREE and HISTORY....
That is what we would prefer to see so our Drums are bred with the old WARHORSE lines,directly linked to the Royal breeding and we in NO WAY want them confused with the new forms of "Gypsy" horses that have suddenly been marketed here in the USA.We would rather have documented blood..Not rumored romantic tales or hearsay...!!.
Things MAY be looking up with newer registries appearing on the scene so hopefully we will hear good things of them.We will have to see..There seems to be quite the future with Gypsies AND Drums but we feel not on the same lines..
Drum horses are a historical Tradition..They are not just "Big Gypsy Horses" as all the registries seem to want to make them.
A thought for all these new "breed" registrations would be....
How many of the True Romany Gypsy people are dealing horses with the Queens cavalry regiments??.
I would say that they would not get through the gates...!!
1906 8th Hussars Drum Horse and an Undated 1st Lifeguards Drum Horse
***D'Archangel Farm..Drum horses***
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But..
first of all...from
"BLACK FOREST SHIRES"
..Please let me introduce, "Grandpa"...
"Galway Warrior is the world famous Drum Horse stallion that was once owned by the Queen of England, as a sire of drum horses! .He stands an honest 17.1 hands high, and is by the Immortal champion Shire stallion, Edingale Mascot. Mascot won the Shire Horse championship in England many times before being exported to the USA in 1984. He is one of the best known Shire stallions of the '80s, and has sired some fabulous offspring, including Galway Warrior, out of a colored, part-shire mare. Warrior has sired some fabulous horses in the UK, and is now has his career in the US. Warrior is a proven sire of sporthorses, breeding dozens of thoroughbreds and other light breed mares over the years to make some very accomplished offspring. Many of those offspring are competing in high levels of jumping and dressage in the UK, and are winning ribbons galore! Warrior has also made several fabulous drum horses like himself when put onto Shire and Clydesdale mares."
(Please pull up BLACK FOREST SHIRES Web link on our links page for more details)
"Warrior is sane and sound, and is a phenomenal riding horse, (of course! it's not every horse that gets to carry the Queen's drums!) He moves like a dream, and passes this on to his offspring. His temperament is the best you can find, being as sane and gentle as the
day is long."
Galway Warrior and Black Forest's grey shire mare "Gracie" were invited to attend the 2003 Breyerfest at the Kentucky Horse Park. Both Warrior ( On the left) and Gracie were made into Breyer models. Warrior's model was made of fine porcelain, and sold out in record time. His model is no longer available except through dealers and occasionally through auction sites such as Ebay. "
** Text and pictures quoted / used with kind permission of Jeff and Christine Bartko of Black Forest Shires
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Fondly Remembering two VERY special Guinness Foals
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Since we tragically lost both Arwen and Faramir to colic we were going to update this page and remove them to their own "rememberance" page..However I simply had not the heart to "delete" their section here on the "Drums" page..It should be known who they were and how special they STILL are to us..So please read on and forgive us for leaving the information so outdated.....In this age of hurry and haste we do still need times to halt time and remember those we have lost....!!
Faramir...Tri-Color Drum Horse Colt
Faramir..Newly born
Sire- Chewmill Guinness
Faramir was born the day that Eowyn was DUE to be born..He was such a big foal (130lbs)...As you can see..Two totally different mares bred to this Stallion can produce very similar foals.Temperament and color are very close.Faramir was slower to warm to the idea of "people" but he slowly came to realise that these two legged hosts are not too bad after all..We expect Faramir to be quite the big guy..Again..close to two years old Faramir stands at 15.1hh and approx 1025lbs..a Little heavier now than his sister but far more athletic ..He has that same sweet Guinness manner..Even as a young stallion.
He is becoming quite the good looking boy as he gets older..
Various pictures as he grows.:
