Penhaligon Stud Profiles
Owner - Theresa Oakes
My passion for horse breeding began around 24 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 to old age. 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. I have recently discovered that one of my mares was Tullis’s first frozen insemination!!, it was successful I hasten to add. 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 are highly successful in competition and also 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 based at 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 receive positive feedback 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 20 + yrs telling me to keep my horse breeding under control, when we got to seven horses and needed to move house to accommodate them, I agreed “that is it” no more...I try not to count them these days!!
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), he also has IDxTB mare Chloe who we have owned for several years now, a true diamond of a horse, 20+ yrs old and still as fit and eager as a 3 yr old.
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 sometimes 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.
G P Dressage rider/Trainer Louise Hutchinson
Louise competes our dressage horses for us, she currently competes Penhaligon Rubin Noir who has been incredibly successful, they are starting to compete at PSG in 2018.
We are fortunate to have found Louise who came highly recommended by a very good friend, she has ridden our horses for several years and been successful at producing them to a high standard. Louise has competed her own horses up to Grand Prix, she has a wealth of experience and huge talent.
Stud Vet (Hafren Veterinary Group)
Jonathan Steele MVSc MRCVS
We are extremely lucky to have such a dedicated stud vet just a mile or so away. Apart from being an excellent general equine vet Jonathan is accomplished in stud work, always willing to scan mares at short notice, nothing is too much trouble and we are very fortunate to have him.
Johnny Hanson (Horse dentist)
We are fortunate to have Johnny living close to us. He is kind and patient with the horses and incredibly thorough. Johnny is extremely sought after both here and abroad with much of his work carried out in Denmark and Scandanavia.
Farrier Jim Blurton
We are so incredibly lucky to have Jim and his team just a few miles from us, our foals are inspected by Jim and any remedial work carried out to ensure the long term wellbeing and balance of the foot.
Jim Blurton - World Champion Farrier
with over 40 years industry experience - today Jim Blurton has evolved in to an international brand renowned for the development and distribution of specialist horseshoes and handmade farrier tools.
Our riders
We have been so lucky to have the help of some lovely girls from German who have come to us for several months between leaving school and starting work or university. Our first Anja Ehmann , Nathalie Hanke, Svenja Setlach and Lena Furtmyr. The girls are all in touch with us regularly and Anja is a regular visitor when she has holiday.In 2015 Maria Norin from Sweden spent the summer with us riding and keeping the yard in tip top condition. They have all been such lovely girls, all have worked hard and been a joy to have staying with us.