BALMULLO FARM
8602 NW 156 Ave., Alachua, Florida 32615 Phone:386-462-3725 Email :
connemaras@windstream.net
photo courtesy of Megan Harris

BALMULLO FARM
DONNA DUCKWORTH, OWNER AND MANAGER
 
Breeding fine Connemara and Connemara-TB crosses since 1980.
We specialize in quality horses and ponies with good conformation, movement, and type.

 

WEB SITE CONTENTS

Our ponies love kids!


 

News (updated August 2007)
 
In March, Elphin Chickadee gave birth to a dun filly, Balmullo's Dixie Chick. 
 

(born 3/6/07) Balmullo's Dixie Chick at 5 months old

Sire: *Gun Smoke (Smokey Duncan x Brown Lady)

Dam: Elphin Chickadee [ M3261 XLIII ] 13.3h bay (by Maplehurst Michael MacDaire)
Bred and owned by Donna Duckworth, FL (USA)

Also in March, Thurman's Irish Peach came to stay for awhile and was bred to Concord River Roaringwater Bay. 

In May *Belle Dawn, Balmullo’s Liffey Lad, and Balmullo’s Swamp Fox went to the Pony Palooza sponsored by the Southern Welsh Pony Breeders Association.  *Belle Dawn was Champion Mountain and Moorland Pony. Minnie, as *Belle is commonly known, competed against six other Connemaras, New Forest Ponies, and Shetlands in the three and over class and then beat the winner of the 2 and under class (Liffey Lad) for the Championship. Balmullo’s Swamp Fox aka Buddy was 2nd in the 3 and over class and Reserve Champion . Buddy is owned  by Barbara Beckford.

 

In June the Region 4 ACPS show was held in Florida and many of our ponies attended.  Minnie was first in the older mares class and was the Reserve Champion Connemara.   Minnie was also third in a large Mountain and Moorland Class.  Isabelle was second in her class.  Emma was third in the older mares class and also won the Bulging Buttons class.  Bitsy (Ballencrief Sea Breeze), Morrie (Erin Terra’s Morning Star) and Laddie all showed off their wonderful temperaments in the In-hand Trail Class.

 
2007 Reserve Champion In-hand, ACPS Region IV goes to *Belle Dawn

 

In July, Miss Emma and Isabelle made the long trip to the Region 3 show in Virginia.  There Isabelle took a third out of 8 in the Filly division of the Yearling Futurity.  Miss Emma’s granddaughter, Guthrie Bonnies China Blue, was the first place winner and Champion yearling .   Emma was second in her class and much admired by all participants.  She was also awarded the prize for the oldest pony competing in the Half-Century, Ltd. class where the combined age of pony and rider must be over fifty. 

 

left to right: China Blue (Landgate Bluebeard x Balmullo's Miss Lucy) with granddam, Balmullo's Miss Emma.

 

Fernvale Matchmaker was first in the colt division of the futurity. 

left to right: Balmullo's Isabelle and future husband, Fernvale Matchmaker.

 

 

In the leadline class, Emma’s rider, Summer Fraughnaugh, was awarded the prize for the youngest rider.

 

Emma is now living in Virginia with Summer and her family and friend Jimmy aka Chesapeake Bay.

 

In August 7, Wildwych Clio, on loan from Rai Pullen of Georgia, gave birth to a beautiful bay filly, Balmullo’s Uproar.  Uproar, aka Daisy, is by Roaringwater Bay. 

 

left: Isabelle meets Uproar, 6 hours old

below:  Uproar at one week old

 

 

Also in August, Michelle Haas, Balmullo’s Gallagher and Tre Awain Dare to Dream all came for an extended visit.  Michelle is doing art work with John Tilton, potter, and also training Liffy Lad and Mr. Peeps.  (read what Mr. Peeps thinks of his training in his Diary).  Laddie is progressing at a rapid rate, already walking and trotting very quietly under saddle (photo below).

 

News of other Balmullo Farm Ponies:

 

At the Region 4 show, held in conjunction with the Southern Welsh Pony Association, the half-Welsh daughter of Balmullo’s Matilda was the Champion Half-bred.  (Click here to see complete show results)

 

Balmullo’s Galileo and Balmullo’s Wind River, both owned by Pat Cunningham, went to the Region 7 Show outside of St. Louis.  Leo was first in the geldings class while “Wally” was third .  However, in the In-hand trail class, Wally showed his true stuff and came home with the blue ribbon.  He also was in the costume class. 

above: Leo /  below:  Wally

Balmullo’s Gallagher, a stallion owned by Michelle Haas, was the purebred Hunter Champion at the same show. 

 

At the Region 3 show, perennial contenders Susan Hearn and daughter Mattison Hearn-Desautelles, competed Susan’s Balmullo’s Billy Elliott and Mattison's Balmullo’s Katydid.  Both went home with many ribbons and Katy was awarded the prestigious Another Notch Award for being the pony that exhibited the most Connemara-like characteristics including jumping ability and saintly disposition.

Mattison and Katydid

 

And in mid-August, Balmullo’s Azalea, aka Ooh La  La, went to the Pony Finals in Lexington, Ky.  Azalea qualified for the Green Pony Hunter Finals, The Pony Finals, as well as the Medal Finals with very young rider, Katherine Woodruff.  At the competition she was tenth out of 73 in the Green Ponies!

Balmullo's Azalea, aka Ooh La La

February 2007 News
*Fernvale Matchmaker, a yearling colt by Hazy Match bred by Jimmy Canavan in Ireland, has arrived!
Matchmaker will be co-owned by Balmullo Farm and Deb Norman’s Glendale Farm and will split stud duties between the two farms.

Matchmaker

2006 News
This is Balmullo's Isabelle (below left). She is out of Belle Dawn (below right), who is by Laerken's Cascade Dawn. Isabelle's sire is Seven Hills Grey Ghost who is by Fieldstream Nicholas and out of Tullymor's Heather Lass.
 
 

  *Belle Dawn (Laerken’s Cascade Dawn X Lizabelle) aka Minnie and Balmullo’s Isabelle ( X Seven Hills Grey Ghost) as a nursling. She is everything a Connemara should be….very substantial yet beautiful and also very sweet .

*Belle Dawn (aka Minnie) while visiting at Foothills Farms Connemaras in TN.
 

 Balmullo’s Catfish (pictured below left) and Isabelle meet Goldilocks. 


Balmullo’s Wind River is settling in to his new home in Illinois with Pat Cunningham, having traveled from Florida in mid-August. Wind River aka Wally (Concord River Roaringwater Bay X Courtney’s April Frolic) was the champion gelding at the Region IV show in Georgia in July 2006. Says Pat, “I think his temperament is wonderful. He's got that same combination of quiet plus sensitive and trusting that I think is kind of remarkable. He is outgoing and curious and learns fast - I can see he's going to be very easy to train…. I took him for his first walk down to the creek, and I swear he liked the creek (was splashing in it). He's been very unflappable, pretty much unfazed by my whole arsenal of scary horse stuff… On our second walk to the creek there were some big carp stranded in a shallow part. I thought Wally might be a bit concerned about the fish splashing around, but no. So then we went up to the spillway bridge. I have lived here for 13 years and every horse/pony I've ever had has been worried about crossing it at first, except Wally. It's a small earthen bridge but water runs under it. Wally was completely fine, like he'd already been across it 100 times. I was amazed to say the least. Anyway, I'm officially in love with Wally. Endearing is a good word for him.”

Balmullo’s Stormy Weather (Seven Hills Grey Ghost X Courtney’s April Frolic) has gone to live at a beautiful farm with Balmullo’s Aoife, happily not far from Balmullo Farm in Alachua.

 
Balmullo’s Swamp Fox (Seven Hills Grey ghost X Ballywhim Candace) aka Buddy has also been sold but he won’t be moving! Barbara Beckford will keep him at Balmullo Farm. The two recently took part in The Great Florida Cattle Drive of 2006. They drove a huge herd of cattle through the backwoods of Central Florida, going through such historic places as Nine Cabbages, the Whaley Ranch, the native Florida wilderness of Three Lakes Wildlife Preserve, the North boundary of Lake Kissimmee, the Joe Overstreet Ranch, and many other long time working cattle ranches in the Heart of Florida's "Cow Country". Barbara had this to say about Buddy…..“Having spent most of his five years lolling in the pastoral fields of Balmullo Farm, the cattle drive was a very big adventure for Buddy. He took it all in stride, rapidly overcoming fear of many new things such as red portable water troughs being filled by firetrucks, drafthorse drawn wagons, cracker whips, mules, less-than-sane horses and even cow piles! The first morning out he was wary of the large palmetto stands (could there be cougars hiding in there?) but by the end of the day, true to his breed, he was munching on them. Our "wagon wheel" which was comprised of all the folks from our region of the state got to "drive" the cows after lunch the first day. After an initial adjustment phase where Buddy kept a very close eye on the moving herd, he got right into the spirit of driving cattle, dropped his head and walked quickly along with the herd as if he was born doing it. He is a very bright, if somewhat bratty, pony and we had a bit of excitement the 3rd night of camping when Bud and his companion discovered that our portable electric fence was no longer electrified! When we checked on them around 5am we found that our OK Corral was not so OK--it was empty! We found them a few campsites away visiting some other cowponies. True to his name, Swamp Fox loves to play in the shallow lakes in our area and on one windy, cold evening as we were riding into camp after our longest ride of the week, I rode Buddy down to a small pond for a drink. He was pretty thirsty and being a brave and forward pony, didn't stop at the edge but plowed on into the middle only to find himself swimming; it was DEEP! The water came up over his back and almost over the saddle. It really surprised both of us but after a couple scary seconds he found solid ground underneath again and pulled us out to the other side, both of us pretty covered in mud and drenched! I borrowed a blanket for Buddy and found a campfire for myself and we both survived without catching pneumonia! It was impressive to me how quickly Buddy adjusted to the clamor of this event. Several horses colicked and had other problems. Buddy never even acted tired. He was a pistol to the end of the drive. He was a champ.”

Ballencrief Seabreeze aka Bitsy (below) has come to live at Balmullo Farm. Bitsy is by the imported Hohnhorst Branni and out of Aladdin's Winter Promise. Winter Promise is one of the very few ponies in the US that is related to Strongbow. Another newcomer is Erin Terra’s Morning Glory (Balmullo’s Gallagher X Hohnhorst Madeline).


Balmullo's Liffey Lad at the 2006 Region 4 Show where he won the yearling class.

Congratulations to Balmullo's Miss Lucy, winner of the 2005 A.C.P.S. Connemara of the Year! This award is presented to a pony that has done something special to bring positive attention to the breed. Lucy was the all-breed champion of the Mountain and Mooreland class at Devon in 2004. Lucy is by C.R. Roaringwater Bay and out of Balmullo's Miss Emma by Aladdin and is owned by Cindy O'Flaherty of Middleburg, VA.




below: Laddie ( 2006)

History:

Balmullo Farm was established in 1978 for the purpose of breeding high quality Connemaras and Connemara crosses for competition in combined training events, dressage, and the hunter ring. Our motto is "handsome is as handsome does" so that temperament is of the utmost importance in creating animals that are personable and tractable.
The first purebred Connemara to come to Balmullo Farm was Rosehill's Glenconi, aka Speckles, daughter of the famous imported stallion Marconi. She joined two Thoroughbred mares living at the farm. The second Connemara was Oakhill's Sweet Ashley. They were both ridden and competed by young children for years, doing double duty as brood mares in their spare time.
 

In 1982 a weanling colt from Concord River Farm in New England, Concord River's Roaringwater Bay (a.k.a. "Roary"), came to join these mares. Roary's dam was the American Connemara Pony Society's Broodmare of the Year awardee, Lynfield's Proud Hope; his sire, also a society awardee, Whitewood Galway Bay.
Approved by the ACPS at his first presentation to a group of Irish and American inspectors, Roary has turned out to be the epitome of a kind and gentlemanly Connemara.
In 2001, Roary won the Stallion class at the ACPS Region 4 show in Atlanta. (pictured right)
He has sired over 50 foals out of Balmullo Farm mares, as well as a number of ponies at Vanessa Morgan's Foothills Farm and Deb Norman's Glendale Farm. In addition, he both rides and drives and has competed in a number of local horse trials. He has has spent many hours on the trail with both beginning and experienced riders wanting a day in the lovely North Florida countryside.

Roary is the perfect example of "handsome is as handsome does."

Click here for more photos and link to Roary's pedigree.

The stallion, Aladdin, well-known Connemara stallion from Virginia, also resided for one winter at Balmullo Farm (winter vacation in Florida!) and produced the beautiful Balmullo's Miss Emma (out of OakHills Miss Independence) as well as the well known stallion, Balmullo's Beacon (out of Tullymor's April Fool).

Roary and Emma have proved to be a great 'nick' producing two fillies and two colts so far.
Balmullo's Gallagher is standing at Erin Terra Farm in Missouri and Balmullo's Miss Lucy just produced her first foal by Bluebeard in Virginia. In November 2004 Miss Lucy was crowned Champion of the first-ever Mountain and Moorland Class at the Devon Horse Show in Pa., winning out over 35 Welsh, Dartmoor, Shetland and other Connemaras, and in 2005 became the ACPS's Connemara of the Year!

Seven Hills Grey Ghost (Fieldstream Nicholas X Tullymor's Heather Lass) has also produced a number of foals for Balmullo Farm. He is now owned by Mike Edwards of Ft. White, Fl, although he comes to visit alot.

Besides, Speckles, Ashley and Emma, Balmullo Farm has had a rotating band of broodmares. Some memorable ones include Tullymor's April Fool, Grand Champion at the Region 4 Show in 199X, Balmullo's Veronica (Roary X Tullymor's April Fool), Courtney's April Frolic (Custusha's Cashel Rock X Aillte Mhuire), Ballywhim Candace (by Dallen McMor), Twinkle Too, and her daughters by Roary and Fieldstream Riley, Balmullo's Little Star and Tullymor's Shandora, respectively. Both Twinkle and Shandora have rather unusual bloodlines very closely related to bothTully Lad and Toureen Laddie. Shandora is expecting a Grey Ghost foal, from an oops-a-daisy breeding, this August.



2002 started a slightly new trend at Balmullo Farm, the international trend. Our first imported pony came to Florida from Clifden, Ireland in 2002. This is *Belle Dawn (Cascade Dawn X Lisabelle). "Minnie" (pictured above) has proven to be a real joy, winning classes and championships at the Reg III and Region IV shows in 2003 and 2004. Minnie is in foal to Seven Hills Grey Ghost for an August 2006 foal. Because we have only produced colts for the last three years, in 2006 two fillies with international ties were purchased, a filly by Hohnhorst Branni, Ballencrief Sea Breeze, out of Aladdin's Winter Promise (whose lineage traces to Strongbow!) and Erin Terra Morning Star, out of the imported Hohnhorst Madeline by Balmullo's Gallagher. Also two brood mares, one bred in Canada and one bred in Australia will be coming to stay for awhile and hopefully reverse the trend on only colts. And as Roary is now 24, we will be scouring the world for a stallion to take his place.

Minnie - March 2007:

Below (l-r): Balmullo's Miss Emma and Balmullo's Aoife (Roary x Emma)

Location:

Balmullo Farm is located in north central Florida, about 15 miles northwest of Gainesville. It is an area of rolling hills and rich soil, and is ideal for raising horses. It is easily accessible from US 441, I-75 (exit 399, the Alachua exit), I-10 (SR 121, the Macclenny exit), the Gainesville airport, or the Jacksonville airport. Visitors are always welcome!


(above) Three Happy Owners of Balmullo Farm Ponies