Jessica Soley Interviews Imelda Creighton from Old Mill House Stud on her breeding program that produced International Event Horse Fernhill Pimms.
When was Old Mill House Stud Founded?
My father was a far sighted man and wanted to leave a legacy. About 25 years ago He purchased a schoolmaster mare for me when I was about 16 and once she had finished competing we started to breed from her. She was my first foundation brood mare and the dam of one of our home produced current brood mares, that was a successful showjumper at Grand Prix level.
What type of Sport Horses do you produce; Showjumping, Eventing, Dressage, or a combination?
We have a bit of a combination out there but mainly eventers. Another of our foundation mares was a pure thoroughbred and she produced a considerable number of good event horses and they in turn have gone on to pass this talent on to their offspring.
It’s still early days in the scheme of things because it takes so long to get a sports horse to the top level compared to producing a flat thoroughbred. Back then we could really only produce 1 foal a year if we were lucky, now days we can use embryo transfer and still have a potentially good mare out competing.
What do you look for in a good brood mare?
I need a sound mare with a bit of blood. A mare with a good family pedigree is the most valuable and if she has a proven performance of her own that’s also good.
These are not always easy or cheap to buy. If I had to start from scratch again I would look for a good thoroughbred mare with a sound family.
They don’t need to be winners but need a trainable temperament. I was lucky enough to have produced my own home bred mares with the help of my family and that was a great bonus.
What do you look for in a Stallion?
Good question, it totally depends on the mare. One of my mares, Celestial Up Too is a full sister to a 4* eventer and half sister to a number of other eventers all of which are good blood horses. Even though she is half thoroughbred herself she throws a little plain so for her I need a really quality stallion.
Her half sister is a big quality blood mare but throws a little on the compact side, so I need something to inject size into her foals. The point of sale is also an influence as if I am going to sell as a weanling I want something current to attract a buyer. Price and availability is also a consideration, we use AI, so can we get fresh, chilled or frozen semen, is also a consideration for some of my more difficult, older, less fertile mares.
In Your Opinion, what is more important for Successful Progeny, the Dam Line or the Sire?
I have good dams from good family lines so the dam for me is very important. My foundation thoroughbred mare Celestial Drive went to 6 different sport horse stallions and produced 10 foals all of which went on to compete some to 4* level and their offspring are also proving themselves at that level in eventing.
If you have a good mare line its invaluable. We are not as good as the thoroughbred breeders at documenting pedigrees, horses are sold abroad and they get their names changed. It’s not always easy to track them down. It is getting much better these days and in another 15 years we should be able to do better pedigree assessment of mares.
In What Sphere have your progeny been most successful, and can you give examples?
Generally eventing, although my own mares were produced as showjumpers, as that was what we did as a family. We do have a few out doing showjumping up to 1.30 level in Ireland and Celestial Diamond jumped at 1.40 level in Canada.
In 2008 one of our Home Breds Won the FEI World Breeding Championships for 5 year olds in Lanaken with John Floody on board. This mare, Coppindell by VDL Arkansas and out of one of our original 3 broodmares Bansha Buttercup (Coppindell was a half sister to Bansha Vendi who competed in the Grass Roots Class in Badminton in 2018)
In 2018 I went to Badminton Horse trials as I had 3 home bred horses there. Fernhill Pimms in the 4* ridden by William Fox-Pitt, Fernhill Mojito in the 5yr old young event horse class ridden by Kitty King and another young horse in the grass roots class, Bansha Vendi ridden by Biddy Brasted-Watt.
Plus all of our Current Broodmares were bred and produced by ourselves and all have competed successfully in Showjumping, Celestial Up Too, who is a full sister to Fernhill Pimms competed successfully up to 1.20m before being retired to breeding. While both Celestial Touch (Dam of Fernhill Mojito) and Touch of Dawn jumped to Grade A and successfully competed at Grand Prix Level.
What Challenges do you face, during the breeding season and how do you counteract them?
Lack of sleep when its foaling time, which also coincides with trying to get mares in foal again. I seem to spend a lot of time driving, we do a lot of embryo transfer and between lining up recipient mares and getting donor mares covered and flushed, my poor jeep is never parked up for long. Plus we have always worked with only 2-3 Broodmares at a time, only producing 2 foals a year, and 3 on a rare occasion. Still perhaps it has been our focus on quality mares that allowed us to be so successful at producing consistently competitive progeny.
What are your plans for the future of your stud?
I want to keep going, we have some good youngsters quietly growing in the field. So far they are showing that they have the same attitude as their siblings and cousins.
I need to get some good young replacement mares from my proven pedigrees and put them with good riders to be produced. I will however take embryos off them as soon as I can. By the time they are 8 I would hope to have a 4 year old out of them ready to start competing.
If you had one piece of advice to offer to a young breeder starting out what would that be?
Have patience. Choose your mares carefully, go with the best and try to go with a mare that throws consistently the same stamp, as long as it’s a good stamp. Be prepared to cull and have a clear out its easy to get over stocked. If you sell one off and it turns out it’s a good one then be happy it will promote the others you have kept. Be prepared for the occasional disappointment, it happens.
This Interview appeared in our January 2019 Issue of Irish Sport Horse Magazine. All pictures were provided by Old Mill House Stud.