Blackington Stud

Blackington Stud is based on part of the Walker family's arable and dairy farm in Oxfordshire. Francesca runs the stud, competes and trains the horses and ponies, chooses the stallions for each mare, and breaks and produces each youngster when the time comes. Juliet deals with the marketing of the stud and the sale and distribution of the semen. We... started breeding ponies in 2006 after putting our FEI dressage pony mare, Naturell, in foal to Hilken's Black Delight. Francesca developed an interest in pony breeding and German pony bloodlines - which has since developed into a passion - after buying Naturell late in 2001 and researching her pedigree and German competition record. We aim to breed top quality German riding ponies for both sport and breeding, selecting for conformation, temperament, rideability and movement. These ponies should have the necessary quality to contest German stallion licensings and mare gradings, so that this then offers British breeding improved benchmarking. Our dream to contest the Bundeschampionate was granted in 2013 when a pony stallion bred by us and sold as a foal, BKS White Light, contested the 3 year old stallions and again in 2015 when he competed as a 5 year old and was placed in the consolation final. Ultimately our goal for our ponies is to breed a potential FEI European Team pony, and again, we have achieved this with BKS Grand Design. The next step is to have bred a European Team Pony. These ponies must also be suitable to be ridden by children. We believe that a pony with correct conformation and a solid temperament will be much easier for a child to ride successfully - the purpose for which the German riding pony was bred. The mare is a template upon which to build, and we carefully select the most suitable stallion to complement her strengths and improve any weaknesses. In this way, by breeding from the highest quality mares and selecting the best stallions for them, we aim to produce ponies of a consistently high standard. We regularly visit studs in Germany and ...Read More