Owner - Theresa Oakes
My passion for horse breeding began around 17 yrs ago when I was given a dear old Welsh/TB mare called Mabel, she produced a lovely foal for us called Ziggy, a very nice all-rounder This wonderful experience gave me the desire to continue despite sadly losing Mabel. Then came our first quality mare, an older lady from a local stud, a graded HIS mare called Borreatton Swagger, we had some stunning foals from her. I continued breeding all-rounders for several years improving the quality of our offspring along the way.
We were lucky enough to live very close to Tullis Matson’s Stallion AI Services at Twemlows Stud, Whitchurch, Shrops, The Matson family helped me enormously with help and advise and of course I got to see some wonderful visiting stallions which gave me the desire to breed top quality horses that are correct and have the trainabilty and attitude to their work.
Over the years we have gradually improved our mare herd to include some of the very best proven bloodlines available and have covered these mares with stallions who have proved their ability and have the backing of an illustrious pedigree. Many have come from Germany's top studs.
All the hours spent studying and gaining advice from experienced breeders has led us on an incredible journey, from sleepless nights to being enthused by a new arrival at the stud has enabled us to produce horses that we feel can offer quality to riders of all levels with the knowledge that the horses were bred purely based on a passion for horses not with the consideration of making the most financial gain.
In recent years we have concentrated on the Oldenburg breed and our foals have been inspected annually by the Oldenburg Verband, we have produced many Premium foals and are constantly striving to improve and learn from our experience.
Several of our horses have been successful in competition and as licenced stallions.
Our horses all have one thing in common…they are all friendly, well balanced happy individuals who have been raised carefully with as natural life as possible. Visitors are always commenting on how nice it is to see youngsters so friendly and inquisitive.
Penhaligon Stud is first and formost our home and as such the horses are part of the family we pride ourselves in ensuring that are horses are given the correct start in life. It is essential to us that we recieve positive feed back from customers and visitors to the stud and all this would not be possible without the team I rely on.
Meet the Team!!!!
Pete Oakes - General Assistant
My long suffering husband, Pete has spent the last 17yrs telling me to keep my hobby under control, when we got to seven horses and needed to move house to accommodate them, I agreed “that is it” no more...
Pete has his own horses which he hunts with several local hunts, two of these horses have been homebred, Penhaligon Annuello (Annie) and Penhaligon Hello Stranger (Hugo).
Pete has a saddlery business and has been fitting saddles for over 25yrs, he prides himself in a high level of service and very reasonable prices. He has many excellent contacts in Walsall and supplies only quality saddlery, mainly English leather.
When not fitting saddles across the country Pete is the hidden force behind what we achieve at the stud, it is only because of his hard work and sometines extreme understanding of my passion for horses that we have been able to maintain and progress the breeding of quality horses. Pete spends much of his time supporting the stud with field maintainence and ensuring the correct provisions are in place, for which the stock are very grateful!!!!!. I certainly couldn’t manage without his help.
Rhiannon Lewis - Rider/Groom
Rhiannon has helped us for the last 3 yrs on a part time basis, she is invaluable with the youngsters. Her family have been breeding horses for many many years and she has a wealth of experience in handling and starting young horses. Rhiannon has her own yard of around 30 + horses and competes successfully in show jumping competitions around the country.
Most of our youngsters are started at home with Rhiannon and will be sent away to be backed once they are confidently lungeing, long reining and accepting all aspects of ground work and handling.
Rhiannon also has Pete’s hunters to keep fit and generally turns her hand to anything, a priceless asset to the stud.
Leanne Bradley
Leanne has been riding since the age of 3yrs at a local riding school, she progressed quickly to taking her first jumping lesson...within six weeks. By the age of 5yrs Leanne started at a riding school where classical dressage was taught. The combination of well schooled ponies and a natural ability in horsemanship led her to compete in local fun shoes, showing and jumping. Show jumping competitions became Leanne’s passion and as she continued to compete she found that …what went on between the jumps made a massive difference to her success.
At the age of 12 yrs Leanne found herself with a naughty 3yr old Welsh who had the ability to get her to the floor every day for months. Through determination and education Leanne learnt that horses need patience and understanding to fulfill their potential, at this young age this proved difficult and so support had to be arranged. This support was found through International dressage rider Sarah Millis who competes for GB and has a proven success record.
So, the passion for dressage evolved and the weekly training sessions became part of learning how to get the best from your horse.
Leanne went on to be employed by Sarah Millis at the age of 16yrs and was fortunate enough to be given the ride on the well known Ludo 11 who Sarah had herself competed up to Intermediare 11. This was an amazing opportunity for Leanne to gain experience but she also gained a number of significant wins beating members of the GB squad. It was this time that Leanne was asked to ride for others competing both Nationally and Internationally. She was asked to train both horse and rider and her ability to improve all aspects of ..how a horse moves became apparent very quickly and her dedication to improving both horse and rider shone.
Leannes passion for horses then resulted in an offer of work at Korenbloom Stud, Equine Elite Auctions in Holland where she spent her time learning the art of preparation and management. Leanne also spent 5 weeks in Spain as part of the Team Millstones ensuring the preparation of Sarah’s horses on “The Sunshine Tour” Leanne then concentrated on her own education ensuring her continued training and working with some of the best riders in the UK including working with Kyra Kirkland assisting at her base in Sussex.
In 2010 Leanne was fortunate enough to be offered sponsorship by Penhaligon Stud. Through this sponsorship Leanne was given the ride on Penhaligon Rococo a 4yr old by Woodlander Rockstar with talent and the attitude to progress into advanced dressage, a future star who we feel will be one to watch out for. Along with Penhaligon Rococco also comes some of the studs up and coming youngsters with some of the best dressage bloodlines available ie Painted Black, Welt Hit 11, Converter, Rubin Star N, these sires were carefully chosen for their good character and rideability which is so important.
Penhaligon Stud have produced many quality young horses with the conformation and attitude to succeed in the sport. The stud is located in Mid Wales however many of the youngsters can now be viewed in Sussex due to the studs commitment to Leanne and her ability to produce horses in the correct manner. All the young stock can be found on the website and the stud will be happy to discuss your requirements.
Leanne is available to produce, maintain and compete horses of all levels and ages, those with quirky attitudes will be considered with the same enthusiasm.
