Section B Welsh Ponies ~ Section D Welsh Cobs
P.O. Box 156, Herald, CA 95638
Phone: 209-748-2548   E-mail: info@goldhillswelsh.com

News from Goldhills

May 2008
The first weekend in May was a most exciting weekend at Goldhills.  While we traveled to the lovely Industry Hills Expo Center for our first gold shows of the year we were certain that Love Potion would foal.  While our horsey neighbor was on foal watch for us, Goldhills Bright Reflection presented us with a lovely bay filly by Gayfields Call the Cops!  This filly is a full sister to champions Goldhills Ready to Rumble and Goldhills Calendar Girl and we have high expections for her.  Meanwhile, Love Potion is a very sneaky mare.  On Monday, her due date, she waited until right after Gerald left to take another mare to the vet, then proceded to give us a lovely palomino colt by Llanarth Byron!  He was up dry and running around when Gerald got home two hours later.

The Southwest Spring Series shows also brought us a lot of success.  At show # 1 judge John Almond made Goldhills Hot Mocha Grand Champion C/D and Supreme Champion!  Judge Welsh selected Goldhills Genesis as her Grand Champion C/D.  Judge Welsh selected Goldhills Most Wanted (owned by Bridlewood Welsh) as her Grand Champion B and Supreme Champion.  Full sister, Goldhills Mystique was reserve Champion B and Reserve Supreme.  Judge Almond switched the two, making Goldhills Mystique Grand Champion, and Reserve Supreme Champion and Most Wanted reserve champion B.

At show # 2, Judge Eric Caleca made Goldhills Mystique Grand Champion B (with Most Wanted reserve) and she went on to be Supreme Champion!

At both shows Goldhills Mystique and Goldhills Most Wanted won their carriage driving division and each took a pleasure division championship and reserve.  Goldhills Butter Rum (owned by Carrie Kirtlan) was the C/D driving champion at both shows and also did very well in English and Western Pleasure, bringing home division championships and reserves.

Not to be left out, Goldhills Brandysnap attended his first show in Canada with Tracy Dopko, where he scored a 65.2% on his dressage test, which won his class as was the highest score all day!
 

April 2008
We are very excited to announce that Goldhills Brandysnap is now residing at Daventry Farms in Canada.  Brandysnap won his WPCSA National Championship in hand for the past three years 2005-2006-2007 and in 2007 he completed his WPCSA Legion of Merit earning performance points in english & western pleasure, pleasure & carriage driving, hunter and trail.  We are now excited to see Brandysnap move on to open competition under the tutelage of Tracy Dopko at Daventry Farms where he will continue his training over fences and take up a career in dressage and may make an appearance at a Welsh show or two.  We can't wait to see the heights this amazing cob will reach!

More exciting news in April
Goldhills Welsh Legacy presented us with our second foal of the year - a chestnut colt sired by *Okeden Taffy LOM.  This boy is a 3/4 brother to Goldhills Brandysnap, Butter Rum and Butterscotch.  He looks to be another striking cob, sure to be a winner!

March 8, 2008
We are excited to announce our first foal of the year!  This morning at the reasonable hour of 6:30, Goldhills As You Wish presented us with a lovely section B filly!  The filly is palomino, on her way to turning grey.  Proud sire is Gayfields Call the Cops LOM/LOM/AOE.  Name will be coming soon.  This is a full sister to Goldhills All That Glitters, owned by Sterling Creek Welsh and a 3/4 sister to our two-time National Champion, Goldhills Abracadabra LOM.

February 2008
February is the month we get to reflect on the prior show year and celebrate our accomplishements at the WPCSA AGM.  This year we had four National Championships to celebrate, won by Goldhills Brandysnap (Section D Stallion), Goldhills Hanky Panky (Section D Mare and C/D Pleasure Driving) and Gayfields Call the Cops (Carriage Driving).  We also enjoyed seeing four Goldhills ponies receive their Individual Legion of Merit award.  Congratulations to Goldhills Butter Rum (owner Carrie Kirtlan), Goldhills Most Wanted (owner Bridlewood Welsh), Goldhills Silver Screen (shown by Sterling Creek Welsh) and our own Goldhills Brandysnap.  It was also a thrill to see Goldhills Hanky Panky awarded with an Individual Award of Excellence - the first Cob to achieve this award!

July 2007
We had a bit of excitement at the Santa Barbara National Show.  We almost did not make it to the show because as we were pulling out of the driveway we realized the trailer brakes were not working.  The trailer is way to big to haul on hills without brakes, so we spent an hour in the morning darkness figuring out what was wrong and getting underway.  Sometime during that hour we had a stowaway climb in the trailer and travelled the 8 hours to the show with us.  As we were unpacking we discovered our grey kitty "Tabby".  She survived the trip, the show and the trip home, so now has a new name, "Travelin' Cat".

All our ponies had a very respectable show bringing home lots of good ribbons, but we were especially proud of our 6 year old Section D mare Goldhills Hanky Panky.  Two years ago as a not quite 4 year old, Hanky Panky completed her LOM at the Santa Barbara show, making her the youngest pony or cob of any section to complete her LOM.  Now, two years later, with a foal at foot, Hanky Panky won every class she was entered in and earned her 4000th point (actaully 4003) to complete her Award of Excellence!  Of course, we will wait for official WPCSA confirmation of the show results, but we believe Hanky Panky is the first cob to earn an AOE.  Gerald is just thrilled with this mare, and how well she has matured this year.  The show photographer got some amazing shots of her and will have them to us in a couple of weeks.  Thanks to Alissa Kirtlan for showing Hanky Panky under saddle.

April 2007
Well it has been a while, hasn't it?  Most of the news from 2006 can be seen at the 2006 Spotlight and 2006 foals pages.

The new year is starting off well - April 6, 10, and 12 brought the first 3 foals of the year - all fillies!  We are very pleased with each of them.  Gayfields Love Potion No. 9 delivered a beautiful palomino filly, Goldhills Love Letter.  Goldhills Hanky Panky brought us her first foal ever, a lovely bay filly, Goldhills Hot Number.  Goldhills Bright Reflection gave us her prettiest foal yet, a chestnut filly, Goldhills Broadway Lights.  All three fillies can be seen at the 2007 foals page.

April also brought the first show of the year.  We took just three animals since this was our first show with a 3 month old baby.  Despite the rain, we had a fun day, and came home with 6 blues in-hand, 3 Grand Championships and 2 Reserve Supremes for Goldhills Mirage, Goldhills High Tea and Goldhills Brandysnap.  Brandysnap also had a nice show under saddle with good ribbons.
 

New Years 2006
Looking back at 2005 it was quite a year for the ponies and cobs from Goldhills Welsh who brought home 10 Supreme Championships, five lifetime Legion of Merit Awards,  five National Championships (High Score Awards), 11 Regional Championships and nine Pacific Coast High Point Awards!  Goldhills Brandysnap, the two year old Section D colt brought home 8 Supreme Championships from all over the west coast, including Double Supreme at the Western Nationals.  Brandysnap also brought home the 2005 WPCSA National Championship for Section D Colts.    Goldhills Hanky Panky earned her lifetime achievement award, the WPCSA Individual Legion of Merit when she was two months shy of her fourth birthday, making her the youngest animal ever so honored.  Hanky Panky also brought home two 2005 WPCSA National Championships for Section D Mares and English Pleasure and a Reserve National Championship for Carriage Driving, bringing her lifetime total to 6 National Championships at four years old! Goldhills High Tea, Hanky Panky’s two year old little sister, brought home a National Championship of her own, extending the streak to four years that Goldhills bred fillies have won the D filly National Championship.   High Tea also completed the last “leg” of the Sire Legion of Merit for her sire *Okeden Taffy, and the Dam Legion of Merit for her dam, *Okeden Honeysuckle.   Not to be completely outdone by the cobs, Section B Goldhills Abracadabra earned two Supreme Championships and won what is often the most hotly contested National Championship – the Section B Mare Championship. Gayfields Call the Cops was well represented by his offspring in the show ring in 2005 where Goldhills Most Wanted (reserve National Champion B colt) finished Cops’ Sire Legion of Merit award to go along with the Individual Legion of Merit award he earned in 2000.  *Sydenham Gardenia came out to two shows in 2005, won 2 Ridden Championships, an English Pleasure Championship, and two Carriage Driving Championships, as well as completing her Individual Legion of Merit award all while she was in foal.   2005 will certainly be a year to remember for Goldhills Welsh!

November 14, 2005
Just returned from our last show of the season - and what a show it was!  A great first show put on by the SouthWest Welsh Exhibitors group - thanks for all the special extras.  It was a great show for Goldhills, with Goldhills Brandysnap bringing home Grand Champion D and Supreme Championship honors under both judges Suzan Stevens and John Almond.  Goldhills High Tea got those last few points she needed to complete her leg for both her sire's and dam's Legion of Merit awards.  Goldhills Hanky Panky and Goldhills Mystique both won their English Pleasure divisions and Hanky Panky and Call the Cops took home top honors in Carriage Driving and Pleasure Driving.

October 23, 2005
We attended our 4th ASPR Inspection and came home with our 3rd site champion - this one was particularly exciting for us as our 3 1/2 month old foal Goldhills WhoDunit went Premier!  WhoDunit put on quite a show and really moved well.  His dam, Goldhills Diamond Lil was also inspected and scored 1st
premium.  And, our colt Goldhills Musketeer  was 1st premium.  Musketeer
had to wait about 3 hours out in the sun before he was inspected, so he got
a lot of handling, but was pretty pooped by the time it was his turn to go.
Both WhoDunit and Musketeer are sired by Gayfields Call the Cops.

It has been a great year for Cops (he particularly enjoyed spending the summer
turned out with his mares!) with his two half-Welsh foals Macy Grey and Hands Up doing so well on the Hunter circuit (Macy Grey is leading the Green Medium Hunters and Hands Up is in the top five Medium Hunters), and his Welsh foals completing his Sire Legion of Merit, and now this is the icing on the cake!

October 16, 2005
Just home from the Halloween Haunt show in Paso Robles.  Huge thanks to the
Gearhart & Boyd families and everyone in the SLWPA for putting on a great
show.  The Halloween games were lots of fun for exhibitors and spectators
and are part of what makes this show especially fun.

Most exciting news from the show for us was *Sydenham Gardenia completing
the last points she needed for her Legion of Merit.  She did it in style,
winning the Ridden Cob & Ridden Championship, the Carriage Driving Division
and the English Pleasure Division.  At the end of the show, she got her
shoes pulled and she is going back out into the pasture to raise her 2006
foal.

Not to be left out Goldhills Brandysnap won his class under both judges and was Grand Champion D under both judges, then went on to win his sixth Supreme Championship of the year!

July 18, 2005
More very exciting news at Goldhills.  We just returned from the 2005 WPCSA Western National in Eugene, OR.  What a great show for us!  Goldhills Brandysnap won Supreme Champion under both judges.  To make it even better, his full brother Goldhills Butter Rum owned by Carrie Kirtlan was the Supreme Champion Gelding under both judges.  We think this is the first time two full brothers have ever had a "Double, Double" Supreme Show!

To top it off, Goldhills Most Wanted finished up the final leg for Cops' sire Legion of Merit award!  Thank you Megan Blythe for doing such a great job with "Mo"!

July 10, 2005
We just had our third and final foal of the year - it has been a colt year
at Goldhills, all three boys.  Looks like we will be big supporters of the
gelding incentive plan when it gets developed.  You can see the boys at
2005foals - they will all be for sale, so let us know if you are interested.  The most recent foal is our first buckskin by Call the Cops.  He also needs a name - needs to start with "D", his dam is Goldhills Diamond Lil.

In more exciting news - if we have kept track of everything correctly,
Goldhills Hanky Panky has just completed her Legion of Merit!  We are really
proud of her, this is a huge accomplishment, and being a late foal, she has
not even reached her 4th birthday yet.
 
 

April 2004
The show year is starting out with a bang!  Two bronze shows with 68 and 69 ponies entered - Goldhills ponies had great shows bringing home 4 Supreme championships, plus 3 performance division championships.  Check out the spotlight for more details.  Our first foal of the year made her appearance April 3 and is just what we hoped for!  She is sired by *Okeden Taffy and will be named Goldhills Toffee, and we will have photos soon.  Her mother Toandos Titwillow is on lease from Marianna Avery - thanks Marianna!
 

March 2004
February turned out to be a fun month.  One of the highlights was our trip to the WPCSA Annual General Meeting and Awards Banquet.  Our own *Sydenham Gardenia stole the show with her 4 High Score Championships, and stable mate, Goldhills Hanky Panky brought home her own Championship as well!  February and March have seen a lot of ponies coming and going or "pony swapping" as we like to call it!  Ready to Rumble came home from training, Diamond Lil came home on sabbatical from her job as a kid's pony to join the broodmares.  Silver Screen and Most Wanted have found new homes and we look forward to watching their show careers in the future.  Bit O Honey and Superstition are both spending some time with the Boyd family getting some training and Bit O Honey will be starting her broodmare career as well.  We are now waiting for the broodmares to start delivering their packages - this time of the year is better than Christmas, waiting to find out just what we get!  Our first foal is due any day now, and then we will be waiting until the middle of May for the next one!  Many of the pages to the website have had updates.
 

February 1, 2004
We have been having lots of fun with the youngstock.  They are learning all kinds of new things about life and living with people.  We have taken lots of pictures and have updated many of the webpages over the past few weeks.  Hot Fudge, Butterscotch, Bit O Honey, Diamond Lil, Silver Rose, and As You Wish all have new and updated pictures.
 

New Years 2004
Reflecting back on 2003, we had a truly exceptional year.  Our ponies had a great year in the show ring, bringing home 5 National Championships and numerous local and regional wins in California, Oregon and Washington.  Call the Cops had another great year competing in CDE's across the country....Arizona, Florida, Georgia as well as California.  The ponies great scores earned them a spot on the USEF Long List for both 2003 and 2004.  Check the In the Spotlight section for more details.  We were also blessed with four fabulous foals in 2003, two B's and two D's, one colt and one filly each.  The B filly, Goldhills Imagine That has found a great new home, and the two colts are available to great homes, although they will see the show ring if they stay here!  Goldhills Most Wanted also got to go to his Sport Pony Inspection, where he was graded first premium, making four of four first premium foals for Cops.  Cops has also now sired four Supreme Champions.

We are now looking forward to 2004, although we are still have not decided which ponies and cobs we will be showing, we DO know who is going to be foaling, and we are expecting quite a year!  Four section D foals and five section B foals will be the biggest foal crop for us ever - it is a bit daunting!  We have several proven crosses being repeated, and a four new ones, so it should be a fun year.  2004 also brings a big birthday for *Okeden Taffy, complete with party favors for our customers.  Check out Taffy's Birthday for more details.