Imperio do Summerwind | SW Future Foal

Meet Cathy Pierce

“I have loved horses all my life, and have owned horses since I was 16 years old. I was able to take my horse with me to college for 3 out of 4 years.

I have a wonderful husband, Randy, and two great sons. My husband and I have been hosting foreign exchange students for 14 years. I am also a coordinator for the exchange organization (ERDT/Share!). We often choose students to host who love horses. A few years ago, we hosted David from Brazil. He and his family raise Mangalarga Marchador horses. He always told us that when we came to Brazil, we would ride his horses in the mountains.

We were fortunate to be able to visit Brazil in 2012 and indeed we rode David’s Mangalarga Marchador horses in the mountains! It was a delightful experience. We had never ridden gaited horses, and they were so smooth. Even more impressive was their temperament. I rode David’s stallion-who had an amazing Picada gait! My husband rode a very nice mare. As we dismounted, my husband said “Oh man, we have to get one of these!”

When we returned home, we started looking for a Marchador horse of our own. We found that this is a relatively rare breed in North America. We used the internet to search for our first Marchador horse. We were fortunate tofind Destiny do Summerwind. She was a 5 year old buckskin mare. Her previous owner had health concerns and needed to sell her.

It felt like we changed horses in the middle of the stream. Previously we have owned Arabians, Appaloosas, and Quarter horses. The Mangalarga Marchadors are so much fun to ride and to live with. We have become dedicated to promoting this breed, and have bred Destiny, resulting in a pampa (pinto)buckskin gelding, Imperio do Summerwind.

We also were able to purchase a mare and foal from Florida, Cassandra do MManor (Cassie) and Eduardo do MManor (Eddie). Riding the Mangalarga Marchador mares is great and we look forward to riding their foals in the future.

As we have progressed with our journey of owning and breeding Mangalarga Marchadors, we have been pleased to know John and Lynn Kelley. They both are passionate and devoted to the Mangalarga Marchador breed.

The opportunity to join them in promoting the MM’s in North America is our ideal/dream situation. We hope to be able to import semen and embryos from Brazil and to showcase the MM’s in more areas of North America.”

In early November, Summerwind requested an ABCCMM inspection and Dr. Kate Barcelos came to the U.S. for a super quick trip. ABCCMM inspectors are licensed veterinarians that receive extensive training from the ABCCMM, the Brazilian Marchador Association.

We were able to arrange with other breeders so that more Marchadors also got to be seen in AZ, TX and FL.

Our inspection day was beautiful and almost 20 Marchador owners and lovers were there to see it for the first time! Asking questions and learning about what the ABCCMM is seeking in the standard of the breed, they were able to understand more about the Marchador gait, conformation and temperament requirements. Great for them, that both a foal inspection and definitive inspections were shown and the branding as well.

Foals are inspected for markings, DNA, and genetic defects (disqualification). Adult Marchadors are inspected and ridden for gait, conformation and temperament. A minimum score is required to pass for stallions, mares and geldings with the stallion score being the highest.

Inspected in AZ were:

Fidalgo do Summerwind – gelding, definitive
Jedi-Knight do Summerwind – foal, provisional
Flying Oaks Abaiba Real for Flying Oaks Ranch, OK – stallion, definitive

Inspected in TX were:

Destiny do Summerwind – mare, definitive
Imperio do Summerwind – foal, provisional
Cassandra do MManor – mare, both provisional and definitive
Eduardo do MManor – foal, on file awaiting sire’s ABCCMM registration.

Summerwind is committed to the quality and diversity of the Marchador breed here and we think the Brazilian inspection process is a great tradition to uphold.

For more information on the ABCCMM inspection process, you can click on this link to read more about it.

http://ridingmagazine.com/index.php/component/content/article/84-feature-focus-spanish-a-special-breeds/345-may-2015-quality-assurance