Meet the Down family:

by Wylleen May of SD Farm Gypsy Horses
The youngsters
Last but not least is temperament. A properly bred Gypsy Cob is easy going.
The stallions are kept with mares and foals. Never aggressive toward the
babies, the stallion is frequently seen in the company of youngsters. It is not
uncommon for more than one stallion and his mares to share a pasture with
another stallion and his mares.
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Meet the Down family:
Today, there are six children and three grandchildren in the Down Family,
and as a family business, all the children are actively involved with the
horses. Indeed, it is a family tradition that each Down child receives two
SD colts in the pasture
fillies when they are toddlers, to help them start building their own herd.
With each filly named after their new owner, Josy Down laughingly recalls
her first attempts at making decisions about her mares’ breeding program.
“My Dad (Stevie) and I were talking…and I wanted to breed my mare to
one stallion but my Dad said it wasn’t the right combination. But I did what
I wanted anyway and had a very nice colt. The next year, I bred my mare to
the stallion my Dad wanted me to use in the first place and we had a filly that
was really something special. So, I had to admit that he was right all along!”
Stevie’s son Steve tells a similar story about his own experience with his
father’s breeding ideas.
“I wanted to put a mare to a certain stallion but my Dad, he’d say put it
to this other stallion! I usually did what I wanted (the first year) but then
the next year, I would put it to the stallion he had suggested before. Sure
enough, the foal would always be better!”
Janey loves her stallion, SD Jackpot. “Jackpot is coming up four. I found
Jackpot just after he was born and as soon
as I saw him I knew he was for me. I felt
like I had hit the jackpot so that is what I
named him.”
Dixie, the youngest of the Down family
is tough and quiet and her strength and
dedication to breeding beautiful horses is
evidenced in her favourite filly, SD Little
Miss Down. This filly lost her dam, Mandy,
when she was just 3 weeks old, after her
mare succumbed to frost colic. Dixie, with
the help of her brother and sisters, worked
night and day to save the little filly. After
trying another surrogate mare that didn’t
take to the little orphaned filly, Dixie tried
one of her Dad’s mares named Babe.
Dixie recalls, “We picked Babe, who had
lost her colt, and we gave her the little filly.
So he said, “Right, I’m giving you this little spotted filly to go towards your
breeding program.”
On the way home, Bonny says she told her Granddad, “I am going to call
that little filly ‘PRECIOUS’, because she is so precious to me.”
And the family tradition of Gypsy Cob breeding does not stop there. Little
Jamey, Steve’s oldest daughter, is already quite a horsewoman and loves
spending time with the horses. She and her Aunt Jo have already proved
to be quite a training team, working together to halter break some of the
young colts and fillies. Jamey’s little brother, Steve boy, is also a natural
around horses. Show him a horse and he immediately wants to jump on
and go for a ride bareback!
Indeed, the Down family’s dedication to this breed is boundless. Their
forefathers can rest assured that their love and dedication to the traditional
Gypsy Cob is alive and well. No matter what is fashionable, this family will
continue to breed the horse of their forebears.
SD Woolly Mammoth
The Gypsy Cob is a much older breed than most people realize. While most
Europeans were familiar with the breed, it was not held in high regard due
to the prejudice against the Gypsy community. In the late 90’s the equine
community in America discovered the breed. As the horse grew in popularity
in America, The Gypsy Cob finally began to receive the recognition it
deserved. Now horse lovers worldwide really understand what an amazing
creature the Gypsy Horse breeders have created.
It is a breed born of purpose born by necessity. It was not some romantic
idyllic lifestyle that drove the Romany Gypsy community to create this
horse…it was simply a matter of survival. The Traveller family needed a kind,
willing and dependable horse to pull their wagon essentially their home on
wheels. This hardy dependable horse was never idle.
When the family was camped, the stallion was put to work to help the family
earn their living. Most frequently hauling logs or scrap, the stallion worked
all day. At night, if he was lucky, he would be put out to pasture with the
broodmares, if not he was put on his tether and left to graze. His tether was
an ingenious invention; the chain was hooked to an ‘ibolt’ that rotated so he
could graze in a complete circle. The next night the chain was moved and
he had a whole new circle to graze.
Function dictated form. The proper shoulder set was critical since the horse
would frequently have to pull the wagon or dray 20 – 40 miles per day.
The neck should tie in well at the shoulder and the withers. A properly bred
Gypsy should have a short back and good bone with nice flat joints. A Gypsy
Mare may have a slightly longer back to accommodate the foal during
pregnancy. The chest is broad with well sprung ribs. A properly bred Gypsy
Horse should never have a coarse head but instead should have a “sweet
head” in proportion to the body. A Gypsy Cob should have an “apple butt”
with a tail set that is not to low.
Typically Gypsy Cobs are between 14h and 15h. This horse comes in all
colors but the black and white “pinto” pattern commonly referred to as
piebald is most common. The icing on the cake is the feather. It should be
silky and extend from the knee and the hocks completely covering the hoof.
Curly feather is a fault. The mane, forelock and tail should be abundant. The
mane may extend below the shoulder.
Lissy
Baby Janey with the colts
The Gypsy Cob (sometimes referred to as Gypsy Vanners, Gypsy Horses, Irish Cobs or even Tinkers) is a breed that was
originally created by the Romani Gypsies, primarily as a workhorse. But whether they were pulling wagons or hauling
drays, the Gypsy Cob has always been highly regarded for its strength, beauty and gentle temperament.
With interest in the breed increasing worldwide, and a number of dedicated breeders now breeding and showing
stunning Gypsy Cob horses around the world, Wylleen May from SD farm has an intriguing story to tell about the Down
‘family affair’ with the breed. The Down family breed Gypsy Cobs both IN the US and the UK – and are the breeders of
the stunning stallion SD Jim, who is our ‘HorseWyse poster pony’ this issue! Indeed the family’s gypsy horse traditions date
back over 200 years. Wylleen May takes up the story…
Stallions at play
Josy, Janey and Bonny Down
The GORGEOUS Gypsy Cob
She looked after her and she was really protective of her and made a really
good job of her. I would take Babe and Little Miss Down for walks to keep
her legs strong. She would follow Babe and eventually she got really playful.
She would come along and bump me with her nose.”
Bonny Down fondly recalls a wonderful story about her Granddad and how
he influenced her horses’ breeding program.
“I can remember going driving with my Granddad on his old spotted cob.
He taught me a lot about driving. I told him how much I loved his spotted
cob. He never said anything to me at the time, but then…when we took
the horse back and unharnessed him and sponged him down my Granddad
said. “Come with me to check on the others.”
We went to the horse field and he had this little spotted filly out of one of
his black mares and the spotted stallion. He said. “You like the spotted ones
don’t you?”
“Yes Granddad, I love them.”
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