Winsdown Farms is dedicated to the breeding and development of user friendly, sound of mind and body Saddlebred show horses that are versitile fun, boarding barn compatable and if the owner so chooses competitive at most shows in all divisions from In Hand to Hunt to Western to Pleasure Driving, to Harness, to Park and The Gaited Divisions.

Winsdown Farms first and foremost is a breeding farm standing the highly regarded nationally rated Stallions Winsdown Hi Octane and his son Winsdown Westinghouse who shows great promise. We have a couple of exciting young stallions prospects that we are bringing along and hope to offer in the near future.

Winsdown Farms has developed and sold two nationally ranked stallions Winsdown Black Gold and Winsdown Celebration in the past. Winsdown Farms also has stood the nationally ranked stallions Mountainview's Oh Heavenly Day and Wing Medallion in the past. You will find mares decending from most of these stallions currently in our broodmare band.

Our goal is that every foal born on the farm is given every opportunity to succeed as a totally user friendly athletic well adjusted show and pleasure horse, with versitility always a top priority.

Winsdown Farms has a unique education program for it's foals. They are educated to a level far beyond their years. The program is geared to reducing dangerous fright-flight; major emphasis is placed on manners and true understanding of the task being asked. Karen Weiler and Louise Gilliland have taken years of experience to combine the methods of traditional show horse training, with methods used by great horseman such as John Lyons, Richard Shrake, and Pat Parelli all combined into a very unique system to produce the user friendly show horse that can be maintained at home by it's owner/trainer, and still be competitive at the country's better shows. We produce In Hand, Fine Harness, Pleasure Driving, Park Pleasure, Show Pleasure, Country Pleasure, Hunter Pleasure and Western Pleasure Horses. We will also start young horses so that they have the foundation to go on to excel at traditional training barns.

We no longer train outside horses, but we usually have wonderful young horses avaliable that are a product of this unique program for sale.

We offer mare care as well as foaling services with 24 attendance and video monitoring for all breeds. We will cycle your mare and receive transported semen to any stallion the mare owner chooses.

Out stallions stand to the public with transported semen shipped any day Fed Ex picks up or the owner is willing to come and pick up. Sorry no counter to counter. Payment is fast, easy, and simple as we take Visa and Master Card.

Winsdown Farms offers:

• Stud Service
• Sales of Show and Breeding prospects
• Semen Transport--Shipping and Receiving
• Mare Care
• Foaling
• Retirement Care
• Sales
• Pedigree Research including X factor trace (Go to Broodmare Families for Sample Of Work)

The History of Winsdown Farms

The name Winsdown first came into existence in 1967 (the same year that my son, James Vantrease, was born) with the purchase of the English Import Pembroke Welsh Corgi, CH Winsdelft Tilda Of Bealclose. The name Winsdelft was so liked and the Corgi was so well liked (this was out first AKC Champion) that the name Winsdown was made up from Winsdelft and has been in existence ever since and has now been connected with vast numbers of Champions.

Photo by Louise Chrry Gilliland

The Winsdown name was known in the late 60's through the mid '70's as a top name in Cardigan and Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Winsdown owned and promoted the great sire Winsdown Brymore Carbon Blue (Sire of 32 Champions from only 18 litters), who for years even after his death was tied for the Number 1 all time top producing Cardigan Welsh Corgi, siring several sons who also went on to be major producers. The Winsdown name has been connected with over 70 AKC Champions and several Group and BIS winners. The Winsdown name can still be found today in extended pedigrees on many of today's winning Cardigan and Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Winsdown was the first American kennel to export a Cardigan Welsh Corgi to England that went on to become an English Champion. This son of Winsdown Brymore Carbon Blue went on to produce many champions in England, the Netherlands, Ireland, NSW, and other countries around the world. The name Winsdown can be found World Wide in the best bred Corgis.

Photo by Louise Curry Gilliland

The early 80's brought the entry of the Winsdown name into some of the best bred Show Guinea Pigs in the country (the American and Teddy breeds), producing far too many champions around the country to count. Currently some lines can still be traced to the Winsdown influence.

Photo by Louise Gilliland

With Saddlebred experience going all the way back to 1961 at Bill Becker's Sandy Knoll Stables and with guidance not only from Bill Becker but the wonderful horsemen Pat Perelli, John Lyons, and Richard Shrake; Winsdown Saddlebred Farms came into operation near San Diego, California in 1987 with the purchase of the darling gray mare, Jammin' The Blues, who was thought to be a 3/4 sister to the much admired WC & WC producer Phi Slama Jama. Years later it was found she was only a 1/4 sister on the dam's side.

Fate is a funny thing! Pride Of Ridgefield had been loaned from Chuck Bartush (his breeder and lifetime owner) to Jim Bray (his long time friend) to breed to some of the Bray mares. When Jim Bray passed away, Pride Of Ridgefield was to have been returned to Chuck Bartush. Instead he ended up on a truck to Kentucky with the rest of the Jim Bray horses to be sold at the Jim B. Robertson sale in the Fall of 1989.

That is the first time we saw Pride Of Ridgefield and were very taken with him. We checked his breeding records and found that no foals were registered since 1982. We thought he could no longer produce and besides we weren't in the horse breeding business. We were just buying, selling, and training a few. The following January, the blood typing results gave credit where credit was due and pronounced a Pride Of Ridgefield son, CH The Karankawa Chief, as the sire of WC Phi Slama Jama.

Pride Of Ridgefield once again went to a public sale, this time in the fall of 1990 at Tattersalls. This is where he was obtained by Winsdown. In the ownership of Winsdown Farms, he went on to produce 57 foals (born from 1992 through 1997) and became the Number Two Futurity Sire of 1996. He died at Winsdown Farms in January of 1997 of heart failure at the age of 28.

From the foal crop of 1992 came Winsdown Hi Octane who was the Number One Futurity Sire 1998-2003 & 2004-2006 on Saddle and Bridle's Futurity Sire Rating. From the 1994 crop came Winsdown Black Gold who is the Number One Futurity Sire of 2003 on Saddle and Bridle's Futurity Sire Rating and in 2002 on National Horseman's Futurity Sire Rating. From the 1996 crop came CH Winsdown Sweet Oil our first Saddlebred Record Champion.

Winsdown Farms continues to breed record winning foals from the Pride Of Ridgefield sons and daughters. The future is bright for many more champion and record breaking horses produced always with the goal of sound of mind, sound of body, and competitive at the best Saddlebred Shows in the Country.