Gretzky SD. 2021 Hanoverian colt by George Clooney (De Niro) out of Hope TF (His Highness/Sandro Hit). Photo credit to Arden Liotta of Blackshire Equestrian.
Hello everyone! Here we have our Meet The Breeder Interview with Tom Edwards of Fairview Farm in MN, USA. You can read about Tom below and his breeding program. He will also be attending the Hanoverian Breeders Orientation Course in Germany this coming November(Let’s hope we get another article out of him for that!) Enjoy!!
Here is some background on the farm:
Fairview Farm, which has been in my family for over 100 years. My grandfather raised hogs and beef, and also milked cows, on the original 240 acres. My father expanded it to 400 acres. Now, my 94 yr. old mom rents out the tillable acreage and I use the barns/sheds, and some of the hills and woods as grazing land for my horses.
When/why did you get into horse breeding?
It was a case of my daughter’s passion rubbing off on me. I was the proverbial horse show dad, but then there was a big hole to fill when she went away to college. In short order, I got a TB off the racetrack to ride, and a well-bred 2-year-old GOV mare to breed. That was in 2010. Rachel wanted me to produce a nice future mount for her, post-college. I got the bug, and years later here I am, on my 3rd career.
Do you ride?
A bit, yes. I did some low-level dressage and jumping with my TB gelding. Just local schooling shows when I lived in NC, training and 1st level. Now, I ride with the Winona County (MN) Mounted Posse, which is a lot of fun. We do some ongoing desensitization training (police lights/sirens, baby carriages, drones flying at his head) and do mainly parades and the county fair, that sort of thing. We are also on call for missing person searches, but I’ve only been involved in one of those in 2 years. I even get to wear a sheriff’s deputy badge – it makes me feel all grown up. Haha.
What attributes are you breeding for?
Rideability, soundness, and temperament. Not necessarily the biggest movers, but rather correct gaits, eager to work, fun to ride, and pleasant to have in the barn. I want my foals to grow to become confident, good citizens with manners.
How many broodmares do you own?
I currently have 3, and have some prospects growing in the pasture:
Hope TF (His Highness/Sandro Hit) is the one mentioned above that I purchased from Debbie Morrison as a 2 yr old. She’s now 13 and is registered GOV, but I got her approved Hanoverian for breeding to simplify things. Rachel(Tom’s daughter) was getting some nice 2d/3d level scores with her, but I pulled rank and got her back for breeding. “Breed the best, ride the rest”, right? She has given me a really nice foal by Rotspon, and 2 super foals by KWPN George Clooney. She catches well (4 out of 5 attempts) with frozen, so that is a BIG plus!
Rousseau/Wayne Countyxx 10 year old named Rosemont, bred her to Devon Heir, and got a nice 2021 filly.
My 3rd broodmare is a KWPN mare named U Go Girl, and she’s 20. This is her 3d year with me, and although getting up there in years, she has produced a 2020 filly (custom bred to a Connemara stallion for a customer), and a 2021 jet black filly by Gaudi that I’m very excited about. I have a 2019 filly by Doctor Wendell out of a Wilmington HL mare (sold as a riding horse last year) that I think has potential, but we’ll see how she does at her Hanoverian inspection next year.
How do you pick the stallions for your mares?
My daughter has a better eye than me, but basically, we try to find horses in competition, or breeding stallions, with similar bloodlines as our mares. We then do some research and try to figure out who they are being crossed with, and which ones are most successful. I’m drawn more towards older, proven stallions over the younger “stud du jour”. We are mixing Dutch and German lines in some cases. I hope to improve my education by attending the Hanoverian Breeders Orientation Course in Germany this coming November.
What are your top 3 favorite sport horse stallions of all time?
Sandro Hit, Jazz and Donnerhall, not necessarily in that order.
What foals do you have coming for 2022?
As I explained below, I’m scaling back for a couple of years. Of my 3 broodmares, the only one bred back for 2022 is my His Highness/Sandro Hit mare, and she’s currently in foal to Benetton Dream.
Do you feel Covid hurt the breeding business in 2020?
It doesn’t seem to have had a great deal of effect from my limited viewpoint. Everyone I talk to says horses are selling.
Do you have a pipeline where you send your horses to riders, or do you sell them all?
Well, I DID have a pipeline until my daughter decided that getting married and moving to Okinawa with her new Marine husband took priority *smile*. Our plan was for me to get them to age 3, then she would back them and sell them for a massive profit *another smile*. But now I’m looking at selling the colts as weanlings, and maybe the fillies too – although some are keepers. I’m looking for a young horse starter, so if anyone out there reading this in the MN/WI/Iowa area is interested, give me a call.
Tom can be reached at: (252) 665-0694 and te_dwards@hotmail.com
Thanks Tom for the interview at www.horses4yc.com Check out Tom’s horses on the site for sale and if your looking for a young horse, get hold of him!!
