JAYBEE AKEBONO

 

Picking a stallion for your mare is exciting! Yes exciting -  but it can also be difficult. 
With all the wonderful stallions available today how do you choose?
How do you really know what the stallion is like?
Well all we can do is share some stories with you about Ake (pronounced Ack-ee) and that way you’ll hopefully get to know him better and understand his qualities.

About four years ago we had a chestnut filly orphaned at 10 days old. After introducing the foal to a milk supplement, our next problem was to try and find a horse which would provide her with some equine companionship in the stable next door. All the horses rejected and frightened her except for one…. Akebono (her Dad). He shared his food with her, stood next to the wall while she slept and provided her with companionship in that lonely time. Alyssa is now rising four years old and is the weaning buddy for all the foals starting their life’s journey without their mother. She has turned into a beautiful and well socialised horse She is now giving to the youngsters what Ake gave to her when she was young.

SIZE?
If size is what you are after Ake can help in that department. It doesn’t strike you exactly how big he is until you stand next to him. At 17.2 ½ hands he’s big! When you ride him however, apart from being high off the ground, he doesn’t ride big and long. He feels light, loose and compact.  He has produced size in the majority of his foals.

OUT AND ABOUT
While standing at the gear check on Ake at a show a few months ago another horse came along and stood next to us. One of the stewards warned the other rider that she should move her mare out of the way quickly as another stallion was coming towards us. My first reaction was – Yikes a stallion is coming must get out the way – then I thought – hang on a minute I am on a stallion and a bigger one at that!!?!!

PREPARING FOR COLT SELECTION
Preparing Ake for colt selection was a fun time for us. A week before the event we hired the indoor arena where the event was being held for a couple of hours so that Ake could get a look at the environment. We also decided to give him a bit of free jumping practice as well. The arena had a course of jumps already laid out so we constructed a jumping lane on the one side. When we starting Ake free jumping down the lane he had us in stitches because after finishing the lane he would jump some of the other jumps in the arena on his way back to starting the lane again. He was having a ball.

During his free jumping session on colt selection day Ake made a point of going to say hello to each and every judge while we put the jumps up for his next run. He made such an impression on them that they all remarked about it at the end of the day after he was selected as the Premium colt. He was so enthuisiastic about his jumping on the day that he didn’t give us a chance to put the jumps down before starting down the jumping lane. As a result he started his jumping where the previous stallion left off.