Oakmill Stud

Oakmill Burlington 55064

G31231

'Bertie'

Photo by Nadia Kerr

Supreme Champion and W.P.C.S. medal winner in hand. Champion and W.P.C.S. performance medal winner under saddle.

Bertie was born in a stable at Oakmill on the 2nd of June 1999. A son of Synod The Messiah and grandson of the great Synod William, we had high expectations of him even before he was born. He was all we had hoped for and more, chestnut, four white stockings and a blaze.

He was well handled as a foal and he soon learnt to trust and respect us.

As a yearling he was only very lightly shown and allowed to grow on slowly. He did however gain a 6th place at the Royal Welsh which we were delighted with as it was our first time showing there.

He continued his unhurried path towards maturity during his second year staying at home turned out in his paddock daily.

At the start of his third year we decided he was ready for the show ring and the decision was taken to send him to Graham Roberts in North Wales to be produced and shown for the season. Whilst there he had much success, including two supreme championships and one reserve, four section C championships and three reserves, three youngstock championships and a W.P.C.S. medal and a 2nd place at the Royal Welsh. He returned to Oakmill at the end of the summer for what we felt was a well earned rest.

2003 saw the start of Berties' stud duties as our resident home bred stallion.

2004~ Bertie scored the hat trick ! We had 3 beautiful filly foals, all chestnut with 4 white stockings. We wish all their new owners great success with them . After his stud duties we turned Bertie away for a few months.

At the end of the year he was broken to ride by Nadia Kerr. Sincere thanks to Nadia for doing such a brilliant job with Bert, he progressed well and has shown great talent and promise.

2005~ We gave Bert time off from his ridden work so he could carry out his stud duties. He will be turned away for the rest of the summer, then brought back into work over the winter, our aim is to have him out under saddle for the 2006 season.

Three foals have been born at Oakmill this year by Bertie, a filly and his first two sons. Bertie has again stamped his mark on all of his offspring.

2006~ At the start of the year Bertie was sent away to Sue and Lucy Craven to be produced under saddle, Lucy and Bert proved to be a formidable partnership and they had many successes throughout the following season.

In April we travelled to see Bertie perform at the BSPS Championships - it was worth the trip as he qualified for the evening performance in 2 classes and gained a very commendable 2nd.

He won the Picton Championship at Gwent NPS and was M&M Ridden Stallion Champion at West Midlands Stallion Show.

We bought Bertie home following a very busy PUK Summer Champs for a well earned rest and for some fun at home. While he had been away we had two beautiful filly foals born at Oakmill. One was sold and the other retained at stud to continue Bert's bloodlines. We also purchased back another of Bert's daughters that we had sold as a foal.


Bert glad to be home

Bert was very popular over the winter months at Oakmill with

Nadia Charlie (13yrs old) Jessie

Over the winter we gave a lot of thought to Berties future and due to the enormous potential he had shown under saddle we felt that this was where his future lay.

Plans were made for Bertie to be produced again by Sue and Lucy Craven for the 2007 season during which time he would be offered for sale to a ridden show home.

To open all opportunities in the ridden field and to give him the very best quality of life we made the decision to geld Bertie prior to the start of the season.

Just seven weeks after being gelded Bertie was back on top form qualifying for PUK summer championships in 3 classes.

Since then Bertie has also been the overall ridden champion at the Lancashire Association summer show where he won a WPCS performance medal.