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From Baileys Winning ways issue 14 2002

Firm Foundations

Set in the rolling countryside near Clitheroe in Lancashire, End House Stud's success is based on foresight and good old fashioned hard work.

Ever since she can remember, Trudy Goulding has had horses. As a child she was a keen show jumper and continued to compete as a Young Rider. When she first left home she based herself in Hampshire and competed from a yard where her partner, Darren Blanchard, also bought and sold performance horses. Life was tough even then as Trudy found she had to juggle several part time jobs, from modelling and promotional work to pulling pints in the local pub, in order to support her own string of horses. But when her father, Norman, retired he suggested she find a 'proper job" so when he bought End House Stud, in Lancashire, Trudy moved north to run it.

The yard was originally built to accommodate mares for the Ribblesdale Stud and later became an overflow facility for the trainer, Michael Dickinson. When the Gouldings moved in, Trudy built up a thriving livery business and as her show jumping horses were retired or sold, she started to look for youngsters to bring on as replacements. So she turned to Downes Howard, family friend and son of Garstang-based horse dealer, Joe Howard, knowing he'd know what she likes. He found 'Monty" (The Humerist), an eighteen month old TB x ID colt, who was so stunning she couldn't resist buying him! She fully intended to bring him on to compete but found that mare owners in the area thought him equally stunning and began approaching her for him to cover their mares. So the seeds were sown for her own sport horse stud using stallions with top bloodlines and whose performance records would prove their worth.

More Stallions
The following July, Trudy bought the warmblood stallion, Heatley Avalon, from a pig farm in Cheshire. "It was a classic case of love at first sight,' she admits and the relationship is clearly still very special today. She remembers peering into a shed through a grubby window and when she wiped a space so that she could see better, Avalon's big eyes and white face appeared staring back! Next came British Warmblood, Aimbry Chester - he was only 10 months old, and at 1 5hh is still the smallest of the End House Stud stallions but nevertheless, has been enormously successful in the dressage arena. Both have developed a side-line as photographic models - you may already have seen images of Avalon and Chester on Baileys products and promotional material - Avalon is the horse on the Baileys Digest Plus tub and Chester features in Baileys brochures and posters!

There are now a total of five stallions standing at End House Stud including Centyfield Nico, a coloured Polish Warmblood, and Honeybrook Siren, the only full Thoroughbred, plus a further two standing on behalf of their owners. Despite the very real risk of injury - they lost the much loved My Little Million through a cross country accident in 2000 - Trudy remains adamant that the stallions should combine a competition career with their covering duties. It really is the perfect advert for any performance stallion to be seen being successful and to prove he is sensible, adaptable and trainable - all traits that any mare owner is hoping he will pass on. Whilst Trudy no longer competes herself, she and her right hand girl, Karen Rushton Wright, school and produce the stallions at home for Andrea Morris, a local advanced event rider, to compete- and they all have impressive records across the disciplines.

Feeding for Breeding
Trudy has known Caroline Dickens, Baileys Senior Key Account Manager, for some years, so it was natural that when the issue of feeding her growing band of stallions came up, Caroline would be the one to turn to. The staple diet of most of the stallions is Buckeye Gro N Win, manufactured in this country under licence by Baileys. This nutrient dense balancer is specially formulated for breeding stock with levels of protein, vitamins and minerals to support growth at all stages, from conception on. Like all horses though, each stallion has his own nutritional needs, which vary according to his type and how much work and covering he is doing.

Mares travel to End House Stud from as far away as Aberdeen and Southampton, with up to 80 taking up residence by mid-May, the peak of the covering season. This year's exceptionally dry spring meant that many of them arrived earlier than in previous years, as the 50 acres of pasture surrounding the stud were already dry enough to sustain them. Many will return to foal down before being covered again and some will simply stay throughout their pregnancy All who do foal at End House are watched via CCTV every night for the final three weeks of their term.

Hectic Schedule
There may be up to 25 horses stabled at any one time, which can include mares, the stallions and liveries, and whilst Norman maintains his involvement by doing the early morning feeding (then going back to bed!), Trudy and Karen do all the rest. They have worked together for 5 years now and simply 'know" what needs doing each day and how they like it to be done. They do take on students for limited periods but there's no doubt that their ability to work so well together has contributed enormously to the success and efficient running of the stud. Trudy describes herself as 'front of house", dealing with mare owners, clients and vets whilst Karen organises everything else! The stallions are busiest before lunch, either covering mares or working, then Michael Davis, or one of his colleagues from Dalehead Veterinary Group, will visit every afternoon to scan mares and assess which are pregnant and which will be next in line for covering. At peak periods it's all hands on deck to fetch the mares down from the fields when even the cleaning lady and the Baileys Sales Manager can get roped in!

End House Stud is a BEVA recognised Al centre with Trudy being qualified to inseminate mares and on site laboratory facilities enabling the preparation for transportation of semen collected from End House stallions. Mares can be inseminated with chilled semen from as far away as Holland or simply from Trudy's stallions, should this method be preferred in particular circumstances. Trudy only owns two mares herself, both graded British Warmbloods and one of which is an intermediate event mare by Atlantus, the same sire as Heatley Avalon. This means she can focus all her efforts on doing her best for, and getting the most out of, her stallions without having to worry about producing youngsters. Naturally, as the years go by, there are more and more End House progeny entering the world of competition and forging their own successful careers.

Trudy is almost as familiar with the successes of her stallions' "children' as she is with those of the stallions themselves. The choice of bloodlines on offer through the stallions complement the widest range of mares, offering outstanding warmblood movement and jumping ability as well as Thoroughbred speed and stamina. Trudy is ahead of the game in developing her own comprehensive web site which profiles all the stallions, and many of their progeny, and gives mare owners a chance to preview the stud and facilities. She is, quite rightly, enormously proud of "her boys'' achievements but modest about her part in their success and that of the stud as a whole. There is no doubt that End House Stud is achieving its goal, producing top quality, sound, trainable sport horses and no doubt that this is very much the result of careful selection of the right horses and enormous team effort.
End House Stud - Tel: 01200 445426 www.endhousestud.co.uk

John Townsend of Whalley Corn Mill (with Trudy's farther, Norman) who keeps End House Stud supplied with feed.	Baileys feature heavily in the Feed Room!	(top) Mike Davis of Daleshead Veterinary Group, plans the day's scanning programme with Trudy. (bottom) Farrier, Carl Antel, (shoeing Aimbry Chester) works closely with Trudy and the vets.
Trudy with Caroline Dickens of Baileys, and her two graded British Warmblood broodmares.

e-mail stallions@endhousestud.co.uk

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