Pony Profiiles
Cheryl Patton: What You Breed Is What You Get by Thalia Gentzel
of that size. He had a lot of bone and a beautiful pony head, and oh, what a wonderful temperament! He had a fabulous mind and such a good disposition that I could easily have had a picnic in his paddock with great confidence that he would be a 'good boy'. With his wonderful qualities, Olympian’s offspring have epitomized what you want in breeding ponies for children."
Some years ago when Cheryl Patton and I were chatting, she made a statement that has kept playing in my mind: “WHAT YOU BREED IS WHAT YOU GET.” Obviously her “ingredients” have been superior as Cheryl has raised one prominent hunter pony after another, reaching the pinnacle in 2008 as U.S. EQUESTRIAN FEDERATION LEADING MORE STALLION POWER PONY HUNTER BREEDER Cloe Olympian also sired and it looks very good for a colts who would go on to repeat performance in 2009! become fine breeding stalCheryl relates how she lions in their own right for and Mary Lambert, her Cloe Olympian All photos courtesy of Cheryl Patton Clovermeade Ponies. A Clovercroft business partpurebred Section B Welsh, ner, assembled the core of Clovercrofts Brenin, was foaled in 1994. He is out of the Clovercroft breeding herd. “Mary and I met at Madoc Mirror Image by *Smoke Tree Bronze Image, The Oak Hill School riding program when my girls a full brother to *Sleight of Hand. Sleight and took riding lessons from her. Soon Mary gave riding Bronze Image are by Mylncroft Spun Gold by Solway lessons to several of the moms too. It was great Master Bronze and out of a Coed Coch Berwynfa fun and the winter of 1989 another mother and I mare. Both these lines have been highly influential went with Mary to Gail Morris's Gayfields Welsh in Section B breeding worldwide. Ponies in Arkansas to look at stallions for two of Like Olympian, Brenin has sired many famous Mary's mares. We LOVED the ponies and I bought hunter ponies and in 2007 was #6 in USEF Leading Gayfields Runaround Sue by *Sleight of Hand. We Pony Hunter Sires with his sire in #9 position, this decided on a partnership and together purchased out of nearly 200 stallions! Currently showing are the colt, Gayfields Dylan by *Pendock Masterpiece. Clovercroft Love Bunny and Sunny Bunny, That was the beginning of Clovercroft Welsh Ponies Clovermeade Bugs Bunny, Somebunny Famous, and near Nashville, Tennessee. King Me. Dylan matured beautifully but was not getting all Clovermeade Bonnaroo is another Section B Welsh the mares in foal so he became a wonderful driving stallion by Olympian (*Findeln Blue Danube) out of pony. We bought several young colts after that but Clovercrofts Polly Ester, a daughter of Cymraeg Rain discovered not every one matures into the stallion Beau (by Farnley Lustre) and Gayfields Family Linen one desires. Finally my husband, Allen, said, 'You (by *Sleight of Hand.) Cheryl says of his breeding, need to get a REAL breeding stallion!' So the search “How much better can you get?” Bonnaroo has began!" Farnley Lustre on both his top and bottom lines. ENTER CLOE OLYMPIAN The Clovermeade crossbred stallion by Olympian "Around 1993 Mary and I admired Cloe Olympian out of Le Katie is Clovercrofts Hero of the Heart. (*Findeln Blue Danube by GlanNant Limerick x Alra His first foal in the show ring is Clovermeade Bunny Dana Amber Rose by *Clan Dana) at the Oklahoma Side Up with many more up 'n' coming. Welsh shows. His breeder, Jim Cloe, rode and drove Other stallions at Clovermeade are *Brookside him; he was beautiful and so were his foals! I called Solo (Friars Sweet William x Brookside Serenade by Jim and somehow talked him into selling Olympian. Friars Brenin Dafydd), a classic Section A Welsh, and He was nine when we got him in 1993 and he lived Wicklyn’s Make Mine Chocolate (GlanNant Scarab x until 2007. Cymraeg Applause by Cymraeg Rain Beau). Cloe Olympian brought us everything we had wanted in a stallion: He was almost 13.2 hands in his prime and was extremely typy for a Welsh pony
Next year a new stallion, Clovermeade Unbelievabunny, will start his career as a hunter pony sire. He is by Clovercrofts Brenin and out of Mapleside Blue Smoke by Gayfields Vida Blue which doubles up on the *Findeln Blue Danube bloodlines. Cheryl relates that, “When we started out, we bought great mares of several bloodlines and Olympian matched nicely with pretty much everything we had.” STALLIONS ARE ONLY HALF THE EQUATION Cheryl continues, "We feel that well-bred, good moving, beautiful broodmares and well-bred, good moving, beautiful stallions combine to produce fabulous ponies for the show ring." Gayfields Runaround Sue (*Sleight of Hand x Gayfields Silverado by *Brockwell Spider) had many famous hunter offspring by Olympian, starting off with Clovercrofts My Kinda Guy born in 1994, Summer Snowy in 1995, and Show Me the Bunny in 1996. Cheryl tells that, “Guy was a fabulous pony, one of the most beautiful ponies ever. I thought seriously about keeping him as a stallion. Sue’s foals and the foals of Gayfields Redneck Chic were the first to get my ponies noticed in the pony hunter ring.” Gayfields Redneck Chic (*Sleight of Hand x Gayfields Prydydd Laureate by *Coed Coch Prydydd x Pickwick Shan, also dam of a #1 Leading Sire, Gayfields Vida Guy Blue) has two foals currently showing, Clovercrofts Bodacious Babe and Clovermeade Call Me Peaches, both by Cloe Olympian. Clovercrofts Polly Ester (Cymraeg Rain Beau x Gayfields Family Linen by *Sleight of Hand) offspring in the show ring are Clovercrofts Love Bunny and Buster Bunny as well as Clovermeade Bugs Bunny, now in Canada. As mentioned Clovermeade Bonnaroo, an Olympian son, stands at Clovermeade. Hearty 28 year old Le Katie is the foundation mare for the Half-Welsh produced at the farm. Katie and Olympian now have Clovercrofts Honey Bunny and Clovermeade Who’s Your Bunny and Clearly Bunny in the show ring. They also have two grandfoals showing, Clovermeade Somebunny Famous and Bunny Side Up. A breeding stallion at Clovermeade, Clovercrofts Hero of the Heart, is also their son. Clovercrofts Crystal, a Katie daughter by Brownland Farm’s Farnley Lustre son, Brer Jeremy Fisher, has been retained as a broodmare. Her first foal to show is Clovermeade Somebunny Famous by Clovercrofts Brenin. Rollingwoods Rockette is by Severn Sirocco by
Ellie Ferrigno chooses Clovermeade Musica at the farm in Tennessee.
Severn West Wind x C.C. Serenade by Texas Brightlight. She is the dam of Clovercrofts Cinnabunny and Strawbunny. Cheryl relates, “Rockette was the pony my girls took to Welsh shows. They also did Pony Club with her and with Gayfields Silver Poet.” Sires of other broodmares at the farm are Brownland’s Peanut (to Farnley Lustre), *Carolinas Red Fox and Lemontree Sea Captain (to Solway Master Bronze), Jay Roy Bandit (to *Findeln Blue Danube), JLA Sir William (Liseter bloodlines), and Severn Frolic (to Severn West Wind). Cheryl tells us that “My favorite time is the day the foals are born. They are so sweet and innocent. It is like getting a gift straight from God. I like to look at the foals carefully the first week and again when they are three months old. To tell how they will turn out I first look at the head and the top line. Then as they get older I look at how they move and how athletic they are. So many Ellie Ferrigno and Clovermeade times I look at them Call Me Peaches. and find the looks and the qualities their parents and grandparents have. Remember you get what you breed! Then it is so exciting to see the ponies perform. I go to the Pony Hunter Finals every August and to the winter shows in Mississippi. It’s like a parent going to the football game and seeing your son play, or the ballet recital for your daughter! For years I had been in the Top Ten of Leading USEF
Pony Hunter Breeders, then second or third, so it was so exciting to finally make it to the top! My husband, Allen, got as excited as I did!” CHANGES "You may have been wondering why the switch in prefixes from Clovercroft to Clovermeade. After 15 years, Mary and I decided to dissolve our business partnership. It was time for a change and a new adventure. What better way to start fresh than to use my own new prefix, and thus Clovermeade was born. Same wonderful ponies, just a new label." And then there are all the bunny names! Cheryl tells, “Frankly I am blessed that Abbi Seley Ferrigno at Rabbit Hill loves my ponies. She is a fabulous trainer who thinks, as I do, that the ponies are wonderful individuals, each with their own way of learning, each with their own needs. She first came to look at ponies around 2000 and took five back to Connecticut with her. They were Clovercrofts Honey Bunny, Show Me the Bunny, Cinnabunny, Love Bunny, and Buster Bunny. When they arrived at Rabbit Hill they were turned loose in an arena to get some exercise. Love Bunny proceeded to canter around the ring and take the jumps on her own - to the delight of everyone there!” The rest is history! What a wonderful time this has been for all - the breeder, the trainer, and the many young riders who have found success with the ponies and “bunnies” from Clovercroft/Clovermeade and Rabbit Hill.
Cheryl’s Primer For Would-Be Breeders 1. You need a target market. You need to know what your end product is to be. Decide on three possible markets and then concentrate on your top choice of those. For me, it’s first the hunter market, then the classic Welsh pony, and driving. 2. Think ahead. Plan ahead. Do research on bloodlines in the performance areas. You can do this on the USEF website at www.usef.org. You'll see the winners' sires over and over again. Learn all those bloodlines. Look at all the old famous stallions at a favorite site of mine, www.allbreedpedigree.com. I love to look at the photos of those famous stallions and mares! 3. You get what you breed. With the cost of breeding and raising a pony it makes the most sense to breed high quality mares to high quality stallions. Initially they may cost more to purchase, but the foals are much more likely to be of that same wonderful quality. Buy the best breeding stock you can afford. 4. Visit the farms of several breeders. You will learn a lot. 5. As one breeder told me many years ago, “It takes about 10 years to get established and noticed as a breeder.” She was right. 6. You have to have incredible patience. Patience with the ponies and patience with how long it takes from conception to the show ring is a must. 7. It’s a lot of work. I love it and I love the ponies.