December 2019/January 2020 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN December 2019/January 2020 Page 11 44 Edgefield Rd. • Quarryville, PA 17566 A PMU Success Story Remember...tell our advertisers you found them in East Coast Equestrian. “I figured (the foal) would be suitable for something, I wanted to increase her jump and add a refining stallion.” Bred three times to River- man, Aurora produced SF Rama in 2015, and Premium foal Silver Fern Rakaia in 2017. For the first foal, Luke stayed with the theme of light for a name. Her husband is from New Zealand, so she chose the name Rama, the Maori word for light, which also used the initial R for Riverman. Tragedy Strikes Aurora’s third filly was to be her last. Silver Fern Rangiora, known at the farm as Ora, was born April 1, 2019. Aurora died suddenly three months later with an advanced torsion. “It was super quick. The mare’s never been lame, never been sick, she was 18,” Luke recalls. “I saw her run out of the shed, throw herself on the ground and roll. She was thrashing herself on the ground, I couldn’t keep her up. It was just so painful she wouldn’t stay up. “There was also a giant lightning storm which was kind of poetic.” Oldenberg mare Cara Mia had been acting as an auntie to Ora since her birth. After Auro- ra’s death, even though she had not had a foal this year, within three days her bag filled and she took over nursing the filly as a foster mother, “Cara stepped in on her own accord. There was nothing chem- ical about it,” Luke said. “The filly was super depressed. Even though she had a new mother, she was not herself for a long time.” Luke worried that Ora’s attitude would affect her perfor- mance at the upcoming Old- enberg inspection, but the filly responded well when she went in the ring. “One of those characteristics (Aurora’s foals) all share, when they get in the ring they act like River. They’re all showoffs,” Luke said. As it turned out, Ora ended the day as Filly Champion, with a score that beat all of the colts. Even with their high scores, none of Aurora’s three fillies can move up in the registry. “Their scores are based on their own worth, but they can only be in the bottom mare book. You can never point up because of a lack of blood. They can never be regis- tered Oldenberg, they can only be ISR Oldenberg.” Luke explained. Looking toward the future, Silver Fern Rakaia is sold to an event rider who may target her for the Young Event Horses Championships. Luke plans to keep both Rama and Ora and is taking her time with them. Luke admits that taking a chance on a PMU foal was a risk, and the results she got were totally unexpected. “Three foals, all premium quality out of a PMU foal, that doesn’t make sense,” she said. (Continued from page 5)