History


	*Quality Section A’s and C’s Bred to Perform*

		History

The Gurnos Stud was established when Tom Parry moved from Danygraig Farm to the Gurnos Farm in the early 1950s. Before that he had bred Mountain Ponies and pit ponies on a smaller scale from Danygraig. The Gurnos prefix was registered in 1955, one of the first 250 Welsh prefixes to be registered in Britain. Tom bred mostly Welsh mountain ponies with a few sections Bs, although later sections C and Ds were also introduced into the stud. . As the stud grew and welsh mountain ponies became more popular, ponies were exported abroad to places such as America and Denmark. One of these ponies who were transported was Gurnos Maid who many people will find in their own pony’s breeding, as she was the Grandmother to the prolific Penual Mark.




		Gurnos Farm Pony Sales


		Gurnos Frisky, born 1956

	As demand for Welsh Mountain Ponies dropped in 1963, a dispersal sale was held at the farm where the majority of ponies were sold, although a fair few were later bought back by Tom who then continued breeding for many year. The sale at the farm became an annual event and was turned into the ‘annual south wales breeder’s sale’ in 1967 before being moved to Abergavenny in the 70s. Stallions at the stud in Tom’s era included the likes of Bowdler Blighter, Gredington Llewellyn, Brierwood Blue Boy and Cyfartha Commander, who incidentally was bred by Tom’s brother Brychan Parry.

In the 60s Tom’s son Gwyn also started breeding and this is when the section Cs and Ds were introduced, with the purchase of the cob stallions Gurnos Magic and Cilsane Dafydd, both of whom are in the pedigree of all the home bred section Cs at the stud to this present day. The most memorable cob bred at the stud was Gurnos Welsh Poppy, owned by Gwyn’s wife Gloria and bred out of Gwyn’s section C mare Gurnos Rose and by Gurnos Magic. She was only a small cob, but could hold her own in the shows and proved an invaluable brood mare, producing excellent performance ponies and broodmares alike. Some of her offspring include:

Gurnos Welsh Posy – top class brood mare and show pony. .We have many sons, daughters and grand children from her today.

Gurnos Welsh John Peel - An excellent performance pony who earned his own living giving doing weddings in harness

Gurnos Welsh Lutenant – The last section D on the farm. He has proved a tremendous performance pony, competing in a multitude of disciplines.

Gurnos welsh Rambling Rose – The last of poppy’s foals, but again an excellent brood mare who has produced some magnificant stock over the years.




		Gurnos Mystic- 8 generations from Gurnos Frisky

The stud now consists of around 50 mountain ponies and 20 section C who are bred by Gwyn and daughter Vicki although the whole family have a keen interest in horse riding. Although the main focus is now not on inhand showing, many of the stallions are broken to ride or drive and are competed in a variety of disciplines. In an ever changing world, the quality of ponies bred at the stud has stood the test of time and we continue to breed the good old fashioned type of Gurnos ponies.


	Visit the official Welsh Pony and Cob Society Web site www.wpcs.uk.com