Photo credit goes to Carolynn Bunch

Princess of Hearts (first Hungarian Riding Pony in the world) was honored at the 2009 Northwest Sport Horse Breeders’ Association annual meeting and awards banquet. Princess was bred and is owned by Henrietta Morey of Liberty Farms Sport Horse Company in Graham, Washington. She was shown to this honor by Allison Allbaugh- Cino and groomed by Tiffany Adams.

Princess is sired by Alvesta Picasso (Supreme Champion Welsh Pony) and one of Liberty Farms’ foundation Hungarian Broodmares – H Liberty Foka. H Liberty Foka was purchased from the Cooksley Ranch in 1999 by Liberty Farms and is sired by H Laszlo out of H Foka 4 by Gyemant.

The concept of developing a Hungarian Riding Pony was first born several years ago. Liberty Farms Sport Horse Company partners – Henrietta Morey and Christopher Bredeson came up with the idea when developing marketing strategies for their Hungarian Warmblood horses and their farms in Graham and Olympia, Washington.

After researching the evolution of British and German Riding Ponies in Europe, Henrietta wrote a proposal to develop a Hungarian Riding Pony section in the Hungarian Horse Association of America’s Registry. This proposal was presented to the HHAA Breeder’s Board at their annual meeting in October 2006. After analyzing and reviewing this proposal, the Breeder’s Board voted to make it official at their 2007 February meeting. Thus a new pony breed was approved. This Hungarian Riding Pony proposal and the current breed guidelines can be seen on the official website of the HHAA (http://www.hungarianhorses.org/).

In the photo from left to right: Preston Richardson and Tiffany Adams (Assistant Trainer), Phil Antush and Henrietta Morey (Liberty Farms East), Allison and Nick Cino, and Darla and Chris Bredeson (Liberty Farms West)

Congratulations to Liberty Farms’ trainer Allison Allison and Nick Cino on their November 14, 2009 wedding. We all had a fabulous time and danced the night away at their fairytale wedding held at Thornewood Castle in Lakewood, WA. The bride was stunningly beautiful, the food fabulous, and the location magical. Oh yes. and the cake(made by assistant trainer Tiffany Adams and her Mom – Jan) was incredible!

Allison Allbaugh- Cino, of Majestic Sporthorses has been the lead trainer for Liberty Farms for the past 3 years. She and her husband Nick also own the Hungarian stallion, H. Szovaljo sired by Liberty Farms’ stallion HS So Rare.

Lacey & Elizabeth

Peggy Pulse reported that her daughter Elizabeth got blues in Showmanship and English at a recent show. She took 3rd overall in English. Lacey was excellent.”

Sunlight Dancing (aka “Lacey”) was purchased by the Pulse family through Liberty Farms’ Rising Stars Program. Congrats to Elizabeth and Lacey.

Additionally, Elizabeth helped Liberty Farms groom and handle horses at the 2009 Northwest Sport Horse Breeders Classic.

Elizabeth with Rare Valor assisting Chris Bredeson at the Breeders Classic

The timing was not the best in terms of weather (Western Montana experienced an early blizzard and several inches of snow the night we arrived), but we had a great time at the 2009 National Hungarian Horse Association Meeting in Missoula & Hamilton, Montana! During a long weekend in early October, we had the good fortune be warmly welcomed by the staff of the Daly Mansion (www.dalymansion.org) for our meeting, lunch, and a wonderful tour.

The HHAA has historical ties with Daly Mansion as it was Marcus Daly’s (known as Montana’s Copper King)  grandaughter Countess Margit Bessenyey along with several other dedicated horsemen and women who had the foresight and perseverance to establish the Hungarian Horse Association of America and “save” the breed. This fascinating story is told in the book “The Heavenly Horses” by Virginia Weisel Johnson.  The lush grounds of the Daly’s summer home(22,000 plus acres at the time) became one of the premier breeding farms for Hungarian Horses in the 1940’s until the mid 1980’ s when the Countess died.

In addition to seeing old friends, talking horses until thru the wee hours and dining until we burst, we had the good fortune of seeing some local Hungarian Horses and Shagya Arabians.

Chris and Henrietta along with other members of the HHAA on the steps of the Daly Mansion in Hamilton, Montana.

One of our favorite things about breeding and raising horses is to place them in the right home and hear about the success of the pair as they pursue their show career.

Hettie, a Liberty Farms bred mare by Hadrian (Trak) out of Sunlight Dancing (TB) was sold to Brynn Hamel for Eventing. We were so pleased to hear reports from Brynn’s very dedicated show mom, Eileen, about the successes Hettie, Brynn and Amy Tryon had in 2009. Here are a few excerpts from the email reports throughout the 2009 show season:

“Just wanted to give you a quick update on Hettie….Amy (Tryon) took her down to California in February and showed her at Twin Rivers this last weekend in the Open Novice division and won with a score of 27.”

“Brynn and Hettie finished 2nd in the Junior Novice Division at Galway Downs (Temecula, CA) at the end of March on their dressage score…only 0.5 behind 1st!”

“Just wanted to let you know that Hettie and Brynn won the Junior Novice Division at Rebecca Farm in Montana on their dressage score of 25.3! They also received an award for the lowest overall junior novice dressage score. Assuming everything goes as planned, they will be moving up to training and competing at Caber Farm in August.”