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 At Sparkling Acres, we put cool heads on foals.
There’s a lot more to what we do than making breeding choices though.
We keep our foals’ natural enthusiasm alive, so they not only come to you healthy and well grown but also confident, curious and keen to be involved with whatever you’re doing. It’s the difference between having a horse that obeys commands and having one that’s as light as a feather and can’t wait to know what you want to do next. When you buy from us, we hope you’ll give your Sparkling Acres Appaloosa a great home for a very long time, so we work very hard to make sure your horse has the best start.
Pasture, environment and management
Our horses graze on pasture that’s conditioned using mineral fertilisers. These fertilisers ensure optimum grass growth and soil condition. As a result, our horses grow strong bones and develop healthy systems, without being artificially bulked up or compromised by chemicals. We worm them as appropriate and vaccinate them against tetanus.
If our horses require treatment for injuries or illness, we treat them with homeopathic remedies. These are exceptionally effective and have no side effects. We resort to antibiotics only in cases where there’s no alternative and if we give them, you can expect that we follow them with a probiotic to replace the gut lining the antibiotics have damaged.
 That means Sparkling Acres Appaloosas are less likely to get sick or injured and more likely to make a swift recovery if they do. It means they’re as well developed as they can be and are strong enough to stand up to the performance challenges you face them with.
Wherever possible, the Sparkling Acres Appaloosas run in groups so every horse has as natural an environment as we can provide. This not only helps to produce secure, confident horses but the vital lessons they learn interacting with others in the group help them to learn from you, when it comes to training. It also means they’re well socialised, so when you take them to meet other horses, they’re more likely to stay calm.
Care of stallions
The need to take care of his herd is hardwired into a stallion’s brain. No matter how laid back they are, stallions become extremely stressed if they’re not able todo the job their instincts say they have to. You won’t see our stallions endlessly running fence lines. We give them at least one mare to take care of, allthe time and give them as many opportunities to interact with other horses as we possibly can, to keep them relaxed and happy.
 Visiting mares
We care for visiting mares as if they were our own. We try hard to ensure they're happy, healthy and comfortable while they're with us and that they go home in foal.
Care of foals
At our place, you’ll find foals to be calm, confident and curious about you. You’ll also find them drinking from their dams for months after you might expect them to be weaned and this makes all the difference in the world.
Left to their own devices, mares generally wait until their foal is well over a year old before they stop letting them drink. Our weaning process is generally carried out at about 9 months old. We’ll have made sure our foals have an older babysitter they know and trust (see example right of 3 year old filly Skip's Enchantment taking care of 2008 foals) then we’ll move them to a paddock right next to their dams. The mares and foals can still see and talk to each other but the foal can’t reach to drink, so the mare’s milk dries up. We don’t cause our mares or foals distress or put them through the trauma of separation and they’re well adjusted because of it.
 Handling
Our Appaloosas come to you respectful and responsive. They’re handled so they’re willing to give you their best effort and you can expect them to be light, enthusiastic and to understand how to do the things we tell you they have done. They're willing to be caught, brushed, have their feet picked out, tied up and loaded onto a float. They’re raised with love, care, attention to detail and responsibility.
You can expect that we haven’t caused current or future problems by over-handling or confusing our horses by being inconsistent; they know what’s expected of them and why.
Appaloosa patterning
With its superb nature, versatile conformation and unique look, an Appaloosa is a horse to aspire to own. It's a breed with a long and proud history and one that has fought its way back from the brink of extinction. Its coat pattern and characteristics (white sclera around the eye, mottled skin, striped hooves) are the most obvious way to spot an Appaloosa and are a big part of its identity so you'll never find us trying to tell you they're not important. It's part of our responsibility as an Appaloosa breeder to try to keep a high frequency of inheritable Appaloosa coat patterning in the breed.
Our breeding programme is designed to tip the odds of A ppaloosa colour (whether it's just characteristics or a full blown coat pattern) in our favour. That doesn't mean all of our foals will be born with loud colouring but you can expect that in excess of 90% of them will have Appaloosa colouring of some type.
Dealing with us
You can expect us to be honest with you. We'll do our best to ensure we recommend the right horse for you and you can call us for advice any time. If you run into a problem, we want to hear from you and we’ll do our best to help you out.
Finally, we don’t plan to stop learning until we shuffle off this mortal coil! Please, if you have the answer to something we’ve been puzzling over, think we’re wrong or think we've put you wrong, don’t hesitate to contact us.
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