2009 Newsletter for Future Sport Horses now available!

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Wizz Scamell's CCI**** mare Just A Nightmare confirmed in foal to Future Illusion on 1st attempt!

An excited Wizz got first attempt. We are delighted for Wizz and 'Mouse' and we look forward to seeing what these two produce!

Just A Nightmare, who was the best mare at Badminton and has also competed at Burghley is a full thoroughbred by the leading sire of eventers Just A Monarch (sire of the stallion Rock King amongst others). She stands bearly 16 hands but has proved that small is beautiful by delivering an incredible record of both 1 and 3 day successes.

Wizz says -
"I was told about six years ago to make sure I bred from my mare as she had very good blood lines through her sire-Just a Monarch. Having gone on to compete  successfully at Four Star level Mouse recently retired from Eventing and I was keen to use a young stallion and loved the look of Louis with his great conformation, athleticism and temperament. With Louis’ and Mouse’s excellent bloodlines I am eagerly looking forward to seeing what they produce, another Burghley horse I hope! Also many thanks to Julia, Louis’ Owner, for her help, suggestions and great co-operation, much appreciated."

Future Genie WINS at her first Novice Horse Trials at Allerton Park!!

Having taken the decision to step our 5 year old mare Future Genie up to Novice level in preparation for her run at the Young Horse Championships we were delighted that she not only took the upgrade in a very comfortable manner, but that she surpassed all our expectations by winning the section!

She lead from phase one after turning in a fabulous dressage of 23 which gave her a 5 point lead after this phase. She was foot perfect in the showjumping leaving all the poles up, and capped off a fantastic day by cruising round the cross country adding just 6 time penalties. The time was difficult to get and even with the added time, she still won the section by the comfortable margin of 5 points.

We are very excited about the ability Future Genie is showing and the ease with which she made this step up, and are now looking forward to her next outing.

FUTURE ILLUSION IS RANKED AS THE NO.1 SIRE OF EVENTERS AT THE 2009 BEF FUTURITY SERIES!!

After 12 evaluations which took place across the whole of the UK and in which 315 young Event horses from foals to 3 years old were assessed for potential to be the Elite prospects, Future Illusion has emerged as the No.1 Sire of Eventers. The full ranking from the BEF website is shown below.

The rankings are based on the average of the top 3 scores of their youngstock. A futher average across all progeny scores is also published. The average across the top 3 scores indicates the quality of their best horses, whereas the average across all progeny indicates the the average standard of all their stock. Not only did Future Illusion have the highest quality eventers, with his top 3 scores averaging as Elite, but his average across all scores is an extremely high 1st premium score of 85.4%. These statistics show that not only does Future Illusion produce horses with the potential to go to very top, but that he is also incredibly consistent in the quality that he produces. For all of his 3 crops of youngstock presented to date, he has still got the amazing record that ALL of them have been awarded a 1st or Elite 1st Premium as Eventers.

In addition to being the top ranked sire of Eventers he is also the Highest Ranked British Bred Stallion across ALL Disciplines, being 3rd overall from 76 stallions from across the UK and Europe with scores only marginally behind a German Dressage sire and a KWPN Showjumping sire.

Future Sport Horses produces FOUR of the Top 10 Event Foals in the 2009 BEF Futurity Evaluations, three of which are sired by Future Illusion!

From the 109 Event Foals presented for grading at venues throughout the UK we are delighted to report that FOUR of the Top 10 Event Foals were bred by ourselves -
Future Coeur de Reine - Ranked No.1 !!
Future Cornish Illusion - Ranked No.3
Future Perfect Illusion - Ranked Jt No.5
Future Jurisdiction - Ranked No.9

After having the Highest Graded Eventer last year (Future Gold Digger) and the Champion Eventer at the BEF Elite Show (Future Proposition) we are thrilled to have this year's foals again considered so highly by a number of seperate evaluation panels. We will keeping everything crossed that we can maintain the standards with next year's crop of foals!

Future Cornish Illusion is awarded ELITE status & is the CHAMPION Event Foal at the BEF Futurity Evaluations at Solihull (2)!

Future Cornish Illusion by our young stallion Future Illusion was the Highest Scoring Event Foal at the 2nd Solihull BEF Futurity Evaluation and was awarded the status of Elite with a fabulous score of 90.7%. This is the 2nd foal by Future Illusion to be awarded this extremely prestigious grade. The panel's comments included "Very well proportioned and balanced", "Very loose and rhythmical. Elastic. Covered ground well and shortened and lengthened well", "Quality type well suited to the job. Athletic."

Future Graceful Illusion was also highly regarded being awarded a 1st Premium with a score of 84.3%. The panel's comments included "Good topline. Well set on head and neck. Clean limbs", "Showed good acceleration and ground cover", "Good temperament. Harmonious type".

These are the last of Future Illusion's stock to be presented in the 2009 BEF Futurity and for the 3rd year running he has maintained his incredible record of siring 100% 1st Premium or Elite Eventers.

Future Illusion graded by prestigious German Performance Studbook the ZfdP !

We're delighted to say that after a loooong day at Moulton College with the german grading panel Future Illusion is now graded into the prestigious German performance studbook the ZfdP.

The ZfdP is one of the most rigourous Continental studbooks and this is the first time they've ever held a stallion grading in the UK. Before you can take part each stallion must pass a 5 stage vetting, plus provide a full set of x-rays. On the day a further vet examines both the vetting and x-rays before you can present your stallion. They then have to walk and trot up on the hard, before loose jumping and then being shown in hand both loose and on the triangle, and under saddle.

He's been off work with a wrenched fetlock for nearly a month and we only got the all clear this week that we could bring him, so he had zero prep on the run up to this.

We are absolutely thrilled that he has been graded with a WBFSH member studbook and are now able to issue warmblood covering certificates for all mares covered this year. Needless to say we've opened the champagne and are all exhausted but extremely happy that we now have a stallion graded by a top German studbook.

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Future Illusion sires ALL of the top 3 Competition Horse Foals at Bucks County Show!

We had a fantastic day at Bucks County Show today having unprecedented success in the Competition Horse classes. We took two of our own mares Allercombe Loveday and Persephone Heights with their foals by Future Illusion, Future Jurisdiction (owned by Mrs Elizabeth Chiaviella Bradford of the USA), and Future Perfect Illusion. We were also delighted to meet up with the new owners of Broadstone d'Elegance and her foal by Future Illusion, Future Divine Illusion at the show as they were also entered in these classes.

The mares really set the a tough standard for their foals to follow as in a strong class of over 9 mares, Allercombe Loveday was awarded 1st place, and Persephone Heights 2nd. Their foals had a lot to live up to and we could never have possibly hoped for the result we got - a Future Illusion sired one, two, three!! Future Jurisdiction was called in 1st, with Future Perfect Illusion 2nd and Future Divine Illusion 3rd. We're not sure if this clean sweep of the top 3 positions has ever been achieved before by a stallion and are making enquiries to see if this is a unique accolade.

This achievement was felt worthy enough by Horse & Hound Magazine for them to run a comments about it in their 'Horses In The News' feature (click on thumbnail to view). Interestingly, the horse listed above Future Illusion is Opposition Buzz - a 4* eventer also by the same sire as him, Fleetwater Opposition!

Future Coeur de Reine is awarded ELITE status & is the CHAMPION Eventer at the BEF Futurity Evaluations at Heart of England!

Future Coeur de Reine by Desir du Chateau proved "who's Queen" by gaining the highest possible grading status of ELITE at today's BEF Futurity Evaluations and finished the day as the CHAMPION Eventer across all ages. She scored an amazing 92.1% with consistently high marks in all sections, and with an outstanding score of 19 out of 20 for athleticism. The evaluation panel's comments included "super topline", "over tracks well", "uphill well balanced on hind leg", "super type - what is required for modern type". It was very apt that a foal called "Heart of a Queen" was 'the queen' at the Heart of England venue!

After 8 BEF Futurity evaluations Future Coeur de Reine is currently the Highest Graded Eventer (across all Ages) which is very exciting!

Future Cantata was also presented in the showjumping section and was again highly regarded by the panel, being awarded a 1st Premium with marks of 84.6%. The panel's comments included "good, free moving, well balanced and uphill" and "good temperament".

Big day for Future Sport Horses at Carlton Horse Trials!

Today was a big day for Future Sport Horses as both our young 5 year olds were out competing, and it was our young stallion Future Illusion's first ever run at a Horse Trials. He put in a superb dressage to score 24 penalty points which was the best dressage score in his section and the judge's summary read "working easily in arena showing good free paces and a good attitude" (see the scanned score sheet below). He followed up his dressage debut with a neat clear round in the showjumping. His lack of any mileage showed at the beginning of the cross country though, with an unwelcoming drop log into a dark wood at fence 3, not seeming terribly appealing. It caught many combinations out during the day and given that it had a black flag option, one wonders whether a fence that early on the course which required an alternative was really pitched at the right level for an intro track! Whilst it would have been easier to have taken the alternative and play safe just to get a clear for the record, Jeanette believes youngsters need to go and learn and once he'd got over his natural apprehension he jumped into the darkness and went on to cruise comfortably round the rest of the course which included steps, ditches and the water. Jeanette was extremely pleased with him commenting on how he'd taken her to every fence and showed a really calm, willing attitude in all 3 phases. It was a very educational day for Future Illusion and he took it all in his very laid back style as usual, and in the photos below you can see he enjoyed every minute! We're all excited about his next outing now and hope to build on the very good start he's made.

Future Genie also put in a very pleasing performance with a 28 dressage being followed up by an unlucky pole in the showjumping following a tricky moment after the previous fence. She then went on to cruise round a very undulating course, accumulating just 1.6 time penalties. Unfortunately those time penalties were very costly and but for them she would have won the section, even with the showjump down.

All in all it was a thrilling day for all of us at Future Sport Horses to see our youngsters out and being extremely competitive. To see bigger photos below and read his dressage scoresheet, click on the thumbnails.

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Future Perfect Illusion is awarded ELITE status & is the CHAMPION Eventer at the BEF Futurity Evaluations at Keysoe!

Future Perfect Illusion by our young stallion Future Illusion, lived up to his name at the British Equestrian Federation Futurity Evaluations by gaining the highest possible grading status of ELITE. When the vet examined him she gave him a '9' and said she couldn't give us any management advice as he didn't have any veterinary issues, which is a wonderful base to start from. The evaluation panel were impressed with both his conformation and athleticism with him receiving an average of 9's across the board, accompanied by the comments "very correct elegant horse, lots of quality"', "purposeful walk, expressive and balanced trot" and with regard to his canter said he had "good elevation, power, balance and expression", and for type and temperament they summed him up as a "lovely type". Following on from his successes in the Show Ring it is wonderful that he has proved that he is not just a pretty face, but that a knowledgeable evaluation panel have indicated that he is also an elite prospect as a competition horse.

Future Perfect Illusion was the only eventer of any age to be awarded Elite Status at the Keysoe evaluation, and was the Champion Eventer on the day.

We were also delighted that another of our foals (by Primitive Proposal) gained a very good 1st Premium as an Eventer with the excellent score of 85.4%. It was Future Gold Rush's first outing a she coped extremely well in quite an intimidating environment. The evaluation panel comments included "well balanced, shows energy and scope for intended discipline".

Future Genie qualifies for the British Eventing Young Horse Championships at Tweseldown!

Future Genie was foot perfect at Upton House today putting in an excellent dressage test of 28 which she followed with a double clear inside the time. She was just pipped to 1st place by 0.5 penalties but qualified for the prestigious British Eventing Young Horse Championships at Tweseldown in October. The showjumping caused it's fair share of problems with only a fraction of the field completing this phase without additional penalties. The very undulating terrain at Upton also resulted in a significant proportion of the field being unable to achieve the optimum time. Future Genie's outstanding gallop stood her in good stead though and she cruised round well inside the time to ensure she added no further penalities to her dressage score.

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Future Perfect Illusion Wins The Foal Class at Newmarket Thoroughbred Show !

Future Perfect Illusion added to his tally of wins by taking the Foal Class (any breed) at the Newmarket Thoroughbred Show at the weekend. His dam Persephone Heights also won several trophies for being the Best Thoroughbred Broodmare as well as winning the Novice Thoroughbred class and Best Female Thoroughbred.

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After a long battle with placentitis we are very sad to report the loss of Musical Lyrics Colt Foal

Nine weeks before her due date Musical Lyrics started running milk and showing signs of stage 1 labour. We began aggressive treatment for placentitis (the most common cause of premature foaling) giving antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and regumate to try to treat the infection and supress Musical Lyrics's reaction to the infection. The treatment seemed to be working and as the weeks gradually passed by with no further incident our hopes began to rise that she might go full term. Under the instruction of the vet we ceased her treatments 2 weeks before her due date and had been watching her closely.

Last night at 5pm Musical Lyrics gave birth to a dark bay colt foal. The bag broke early and he was not positioned correctly, coming nose first with no legs present. We managed to manipulate him to get his front legs up and successfuly delivered him however it was clear right away he was dysmature. Initially quite lively it was obvious that his back legs were very weak and he had a poor suck reflex. With no chance of him being able to stand to suckle we immediately milked the mare and began bottle feeding him. After quite a bright start he rapidly started to weaken, losing his suck reflex and sleeping more and more. We kept him warm in foalsaver rugs and cuddled him but he gradually slipped away, and after a heart wrending discussion with our vet we decided the kindest thing was to bring his short life to a peaceful end sooner rather than later. This loss has left us all feeling very empty as Musical Lyrics is one of our original and favourite mares and the foal was her third by our young stallion Future Illusion.

Musical Lyrics herself is well despite a severe placental infection and the loss of her foal which she has dealt with very pragmatically. Following further antibiotic treatment our vet expects her to make a full recovery.

It is with deep sadness we have to report the loss of a mare and foal

On Saturday afternoon an embryo transfer mare who was carrying one of the embryo transfer twins out of Future Genie, by Future Illusion was seen showing signs of stage 1 labour in the field. We were not expecting this particular mare to foal as she wasn't a maiden and had not yet developed much of an udder. We brought her in and she was dripping milk. We called the vet as her udder was still not developed and suspected there was a problem. Her milk test reading was 500ppm which is extremely high and indicates imminent foaling.

Our vet diagnosed a uterine torsion and advised us to take her to Rossdales in Newmarket immediately. We went straight there where they gave the mare a general anesthetic and tried to get the foal out. Unfortunately the foal had already died and couldn't be revived. Due the the damage to her uterus and poor prognosis, the decision was taken to euthanise the mare to prevent any further suffering.

We are devastated at the loss of a very special foal and deeply saddened that the mare that was carrying this foal for us has also been lost. We would like to thank Emma Thomlinson and her team at Beaufort Embryo Transfer Centre for their help and support through this awful tragedy.

Itot du Chateau voted one of Horse and Hound reader's Top 10 Horses of 2008!

Itot du Chateau was featured in Horse and Hound magazine as one of the top 10 horses that their readers would love to compete. Itot's dam is a half-sister to one of the stallions we are an agent for, Desir du Chateau.

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