| *Aargonat was born in Sweden and imported to the United States when he was only six months old. He comes from a long line of stallions with wonderful temperaments, intelligence and conformation. |
His bloodlines includes international champions in conformation, Arabian racing and (yes) dressage. His sire, *Probat, was rated a 10 out of 10 on movement in Sweden and this movement passes to all of the *Probat boys. |
||||
| The photo to the right shows Cheryl handling *Aargonat in halter/conformation at the AHANE show at the Big E. At the time, several people made negative comments to Bob about how dangerous it was for a little woman (Cheryl would argue that 4' 11.5" is not all that diminutive) to be handling a stud. Of course, *Aargonat was the perfect gentleman (as always) and an article in Horseman's Yankee was subsequently published in defense of stallions using *Aargonat as an example of a well behaved stallion. |  |
||||
|
Aargonat winning Level 1 Dressage Test at the AHANE show in Springfield
Massachusetts.
|
The photo to the right, shows Aargonat winning first his
First Level dressage test at the AHANE show in Springfield Massachusetts. He had only
been receiving training under saddle for less than 60 days previous to
this show. And the class was quite large. Needless to say, we
were quite proud of him! Below, he is on the way to the
dressage ring.
|
||||
| Perhaps our favorite photo of *Aargonat is the 'casual' photo to the right. You can see the beautiful 'dishy' head, chiseled muzzle and the long, romantic 'fall' of forelock! If memory serves, this photo was taken as he was gazing longlingly at 'Spunky'. Spunky was a little, dapple gray pony that all of the expensive, pure bred Arabian stallions loved. Spunky wasn't a pretty pretty mare and her papers were...well, lets just say she probably didn't have any. Who knows what it was about her that engendered such incredible equine 'love'. Spunky usually 'showed the boys her heels' and was not the slightest bit interested in them! |  |
||||
|
This video shows *Aargonat schooling in our dressage arena. |
|||||
| As noted earlier, *Aargonat PASB AASB is a very well bred Polish Arabian. His bloodlines are exceptional. He a *Probat son and, through *Probat, the great-grandson of the legendary Comet. Comet was the foundation sire for the Kuhailan Afas line and is shown in the historical photo to the right. |  |
||||
| *Probat (below) is both an American and Swedish national champion and was imported from Sweden to Poland to reinforce that line. | *Probat was one of the most famous Arabian stallions in the world until his death in 2003. He has produced several exceptional offspring both here, in the United States, and internationally. | ||||
|
|
|
||||
|
Some of *Aargonat's famous brothers, shown to the extreme right, are include Gwazd, Gil and Enrilo
|
Enrilo |
Gwazid |
Gil |
||
|
Many of these stallions have done extremely well in Arabian racing. Pamir, for example is an incomparable racer, winner of five important stakes including the Derby. *Fawor is also well known in Arabian racing as the winner of the Animex European Race Cup.
|
Pamir |
|
|||
| Pamir illustrated the famous Probat prepotency when mated with the great Saklavi mare Parma. Parma is one of the most beautiful and best producing Aswan daughters and was imported to Poland to re-establish the antique Milordka line at Jan˘w Podlaski Stud. | One of *Probat's daughters, double Reserve National Champion Mare , was recently sold at the Polish Prestige Sale for $65,000 and exported to Argentina. | ||||
Pistacja |
Another
Probat daughter, Diana, (1981) Polish Junior Reserve National Champion Mare -
sold for $1,200,000 at the Polish Ovation Sale, Scottsdale1985. |
||||
The mares Zagrobla and Eskalopka, Probat grandaughters, are also well known; Zagrobla (below) was Polish National Reserve Champion Mare in 2002. Other famous daughters include Almeria, Pikieta,
Derby winner Dalida and
|
|
Zagrobla | |||
.
| Not only is *Aargonat well bred but, as his trainer, Paula
Van der Meer said, ‘…he has a phenomenal mind!” He is a
versatile athlete having done well in a variety of different performance
sports. He is a perfect gentleman when it comes to courtship
manners, can be pasture bred and has produces several exceptional
offspring. His temperament is so exceptional that he was shown in
leadline by our daughter when she was six and he was three. He was
subsequently also shown by Shay's little friend, Lindsey - who was nine
years - old, in several, all stallion walk-trot-canter classes
against professional riders.
See the two photos of Shaylene (with her blue ribbon directly below) and Shaylene, Aargonat and I immediately after the win |
|
|
|
| At that same show, one of our daughter's little friends was having a difficult time with her fairly high-strung mare. The youngster was only nine so it was with some hesitancy that we offered to let her ride my much calmer stallion in a class or two. The two pinned consistently - sometimes against professional riders - thus proving that not all stallions are inappropriate for children. In fact, the picture of Aargonat on our home page (where there is the choice between the Arabians or the Newfoundlands) was taken of him at at the AHANE show while ridden by the little girl. The actual photo was taken by artist, Christina Trott, who then did the portrait of him based on that photo and exhibited it at the 'Art in the Park' show in Andover, MA I just had to purchase it...! The photo (below and to the right) is of little Lindsay riding *Aargonat in the Native Costume Class at the Big E in Springfield, Massachusetts. All of the other riders were professionals except for Lindsey. The pair won a standing ovation from the crowd and a second place ribbon. Not bad for a little, nine year old girl and a four year old stud when competing against professional riders?! |
When 'show nerves' got to Cheryl - even for schooling shows - she can always count on *Aargonat to be the calm partner of the two. Cheryl can usually take him anywhere without problems even if she hasn't ridden him for several weeks. They just pop into the trailer, head off to a show and he performs beautifully, calmly. In fact, he often covers for her mistakes because he knows the 'tests' by heart. However calm Aargonat is, Cheryl never quite anticipated just how calm he would be at a dressage show one sunny, warm afternoon. While waiting for Aargonat's class to be called, fully tacked up and mounted, he realized that this was time for his afternoon 'sun nap'! So, fully tacked and mounted, he closed his eyes and had his little nap. Hey, you have to be civilized even under pressure. And, in terms of performance, he pinned much better than the dutch warmblood whose owner disparagingly referred to *Aargonat as '... a pretty lawn ornament...'
|
|
| By the time *Aargonat was four, he had produced several
nice foals - both for us and for others. His breeding manners were always
excellent. His behavior with the mares was courtly and gentle; he knew
what constituted good breeding manners for both him and for the 'girls'.
One day when we were trail riding close to home, we came upon a neighbor
riding her mare. As it turned out, the mare was in heat, 'dumped' her
rider, galloped eagerly to *Aargonat and clearly indicated her 'interest'.
I had just started riding him on the trails so, needless to say, my life
flashed before my eyes as I braced myself for the worst. Luckily, my calm,
gentle boy was used to more 'lady like' behavior in mares. He looked at
the mare in disdain for such rude manners. We helped mare and rider
reunite and went off on our own way shortly after.
When he was five, we finally took *Aargonat to a professional trainer due to
pressure from friends and family asserting that '...a little woman like Cheryl should never handle a
stallion, in the first place, but most certainly not one which hadn't been
professionally trained". So, off he went to Van der Meer Farms for his first
show season. He did very well in the 'class A' circuit with Paula Van der Meer
but my most memorable anecdote occurred when I took him out for a walk at the
AHANE show. He hadn't had an opportunity for a good roll since the show started
and, immediately upon stepping outside of the barn at the 'Big E' (Springfield
show grounds, he spied the perfect 'roll spot'. It was grassy and soft but quite
congested with other people and horses milling about. Cheryl was sure that he
wouldn't humiliate her with such un-stallion-like behavior as rolling in public.
How wrong she was! Amidst ‘guffaws’, 'chortles' and some just plain raucous
laughter, he rolled contentedly despite being on a lead line, got to his feet,
gave a great shake, and looked around as if to say "What's the matter with all
of you, haven't you ever seen a horse roll before?!" |
Of course *Aargonat stands at stud here at Stone Ridge Farm ... a job that he thoroughly enjoys! His pure Polish pedigree is impeccable and his manners always excellent. His babies have always been beautiful, polite, typey and correct! His 2 1/2 year old son, Wiedza od Gabriel (out of our mare, Scientia (Wisdom x Gabyiat's Felona) still lives here in Dunstable – just a few miles down the road from us. Although Gabe, as he is called, is a still stallion, he has inherited his dad's pleasant demeanor and is absolutely gorgeous! Information about *Aargonat's sire, *Probat, and his other champion offspring can be found at the following websites:
|