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About Saith Stud
Who are we at Saith Stud ? Steve Randall, married to Sue with one daughter, Kelly. Heather Davies married to Peter with two sons, Pip and Robbie.
Here at Saith, both Steve and I just love our cobs. They are family to us and we handle them from birth. Our main aim is to produce performance cobs, but thoroughly enjoy the in-hand side as well, as it gives a valuable education for our Welsh cobs later on in life. We have both been in horses all our lives and recently worked out that our combined total dealing with horses was 88 yrs !
We don't mind if we have colts or fillies when breeding foals and would love the WP&CS to encourage geldings much more by producing special medals for them, and persuading the largest shows in the Welsh calendar to promote geldings and include them in their classes.
The friends we have met when travelling around the country showing is one of the big bonus of us owning Welsh cobs. They have been fun and fantastic company !
Welsh cobs have a long and varied history dating back well over 1,000 years. Its only in the last 200 years that cobs have changed from their original Welsh breed description written by Tudur Aled in the eraly 16th century. Unfortunately the welsh cob breed being so popular, crossed with many other types of breeds and we have lost their original lines.
the Welsh Cob Breed Description
Here at Saith, we are trying to get back to what the Welsh cob was really like. Performance is the way of the Welsh Cob today, but years ago, the stallions used to be hacked around to various studs and had to be sound and correct otherwise they would break down. Mares would be working as well as breeding. They were a tough breed. Today, many stallions are not of that standard and over-feeding and under exercising does not help. They come into the show ring, dishing and moving incorrectly. The Welsh cob's description is to cover ground, where as a lot of today's stallions are "enhanced" to move like the Hackney breed. This unfortunately is ruining the Welsh movement as many mare owners don't realise that this is not the true gait of their chosen stallion, and use him thinking that they will produce a high mover, and end up with no movement at all.
The Hackneys have now become a rare breed. This is basically because they are so uncomfortable to ride because of their high action and the main buying market is people who ride. We would hate the Welsh cob to go down this road with everyone thinking they have to produce knees touching the chins, that no-one can ride, and no-one knows how they really move. These stallions could not do a day's hard work, they would break down and be exhausted by the effort of their high action.
They are a working breed and have been for centuries, and we're pleased to see that so many people are now riding welsh cobs. Its what they are bred for and this should be promoted so much more.
There are many ways to keep Welsh cobs, but here at Saith Stud we have a few ideas on what we believe in and don't believe in.
We don't believe in keeping our Welsh Cobs shut in stables for weeks and weeks to produce "sparkle" as we want to breed that and have it naturally within our Welsh cobs.
We don't believe in heavy shoeing early (yearling and 2 yr olds) as it does encourage bad movement and poor feet.
We don't believe in over feeding youngsters. We want them to be around for a long time, have healthy bones and muscle structure. They may look a bit gangly as youngsters, but when they reach 3 they change into fluent, balanced welsh cobs.
We don't believe artificially enhancing our Welsh cob's movements with straps and chains attached to their legs to make them "lift" higher.
We love the natural Welsh Cobs and that's what ours are. Full of presence, achieving the breed description and move with force - back legs as well as front.
So that's basically what Saith Stud is all about. Producing performance based Welsh cobs with the attitude to go on to do any job and enjoy it. !!
We have to end saying that they have opened up our lives in more ways that one, and we have enjoyed being totally poor, scraping every penny we have to keep up the showing and riding.
They are a breed that you can never give up. They surprise us and enthral us, make us cry and make us shout with joy, but most of all, it's what they give back to us that is so important.
Heather Davies
Steve Randall
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