Gumz Farms is thrilled to announce the birth of the first foal born in Australia from their junior sire, Its A Southern Thing, commonly known as “Moonpie”. A few doses of semen were sent to Australia last fall to gauge the interest in this young sire.
“Looking at new born photos of our first Australian Minipie, we are seeing consistent traits in the foals. We love the size, strength and maturity that we are seeing across the board,” said Amy Gumz of Gumz Farms located in Morganfield, Kentucky.
Bev Rout of Shadow Valley Quarter Horses in Australia is the breeder of the mare, Winderadeen Hot Ice, and Kylie Lepley and her sister, Jacinta Brennan are the owners of the mare and handsome colt.
“It’s been a exciting couple of days,” co-owner of the mare and foal, Kylie Lepley told GoHorseShow. “We don’t breed too often and when the mare came up for sale in foal to Moonpie, it seemed like a good opportunity. My sister and I show over here, and we can’t wait to get him out and about. I live in Lewiston South Australia which I think is kind of ironic since Moonpie’s name is Its A Southern Thing. He is the sweetest friendliest foal. We are over the moon with him. It’s great for South Australia.”
Gumz adds, “The first season was a huge success, selling out of all the semen that was sent, and it was used on mares of exceptional quality,” Amy Gumz states. “We are expecting five foals in Australia–the conception rate was very high at 1.8 doses per pregnancy. The interest in Australia has been strong and an additional shipment just went to International Horse Breeders, manager/broker of services in Australia.”
Breeder Bev Rout told us that she has been friends with Amy Gumz since 2010 when she helped her purchase two mares to import.
“Amy showed me a video of Moonpie when he was a yearling, and I could see why she was so excited about him. I asked if I could breed to him once his semen was available. I put together a small band of great mares for his first crop in Australia,” Rout states. “We are really lucky to have access to such an amazing horse. I feel very privileged to have been involved in choosing the mares for this crop, and I am so happy for Kylie to be the proud owner of this beautiful colt.”
Its A Southern Thing is a 16 hand AQHA Bay Stallion by Only In The Moonlite and out of Shesa Hot Cookie. He was the recent NSBA 2015 World Champion in the Junior Western Riding with Jamie Dowdy, NSBA 2015 Reserve World Champion in the Junior Western Pleasure with Shane Dowdy, Congress 2014 Top 5 Green Hunter Under Saddle, Congress 2014 – 6th in the Green Western Riding out of 118 entries, and Congress 2012 – Top 5 Masters Western Pleasure Class Winner.
For more information about breeding to Its A Southern Thing in the United States and abroad, please contact Amy Gumz at 270-389-0887 or visit her website by clicking here.
