Bleker: ‘Horsegate Linnet is our best purchase ever’

In 1988, the late Len Bigley of Llanarth Stud presented the Section B yearling filly Horsegate Linnet, a three-quarter sister to the stallion Twyford Signal. That same year, she was listed in the Fayre Oaks Sale catalog. Henk Bleker was interested and asked the Bigleys for advice. Horsegate Linnet became the foundation mare of the L-line at Stal Wolling, owned by Henk and his daughter Mettina Bleker.

Henk Bleker: “When I saw Horsegate Linnet listed in the catalog, I called Len and Ann right away. Their advice was clear. She was at Wolling from 1988 to 2019. She is the founding mare of our L line. Our best purchase ever! We now have one granddaughter and two great-granddaughters of hers.”

Horsegate Linnet (s. Pendock Peregrine, d. Twyford Aecadia, gd. Rhyd-Y-Felin Selwyn) is a Crown and Preferent mare registered with the NWPCS. Her daughter, the brown roan Crown mare Wolling’s Lucy (s. Coed Coch Adrian), has a daughter—also a brown roan—named Wolling’s Lucetta (s. Thornberry Knight Errant), who is still grazing in the Westerwold pastures.

Two great-granddaughters of Horsegate Linnet also graze in those same pastures: Lucetta’s daughters Wolling’s Lunet (by Adagio de l’Aurore) and Wolling’s Larske (by Waxwing Perrin). Incidentally, in 2019, Lucetta foaled a colt by Llanarth Da Vinci (s. Cwrtycadno Cymro), named Wolling’s Lenn.

First meeting in 1976

The ties that Henk Bleker—and later his daughter Mettina—have with the Bigley family of Llanarth go back a long way. “My first encounter with the Bigleys was in 1976 at the Llanarth stud near Aberystwyth. At the time, it was mainly home to Mrs. Pauline Taylor’s Cobs. It was wonderful! I can still vividly picture the unforgettable Llanarth Meredith ap Braint,” says Bleker. “I know Len and Ann as very hospitable and interested people. Their children, Catryn and Simon, were still in diapers back then. They only had a few B’s at the time.”

That first meeting marked the beginning of a long, long series of encounters between Bleker and the Bigleys. “We mainly visited them later, after they had moved to Hereford—on the border between Wales and England.” At one point, the stars of the Llanarth B-line also came into the picture: the magnificent young stallion Twyford Signal, his son Douthwaite Signwriter as a foal after the Royal Welsh Show, Mollegaard Spartacus, whom we’d already seen as a yearling in Denmark, out of a half-sister to Signal. Impressive mares such as Llanarth Camilla, daughter of Signwriter out of a Spartacus mare. I can still see her entering the showground at the Royal Welsh as a yearling. She is also Da Vinci’s dam.”

Bleker continues: “Why are we so crazy about the B’s at Llanarth? Because they very often have that unique combination of elegant Welsh appearance and size (height, mass, and bone structure). And beautiful, calm temperaments. This year, Llanarth Ambassador is covering our mares. He’s a chestnut roan by Llanarth Da Vinci out of Stockham Melody, and his pedigree includes nearly everything we love at Llanarth: Camilla, Signwriter, Spartacus, Signal (several times), and so on.”

Llanarth: The Bigley Family

At the end of last year, Mr. Len Bigley, one of the key pillars of Lanarth Stud, passed away. Since the stud farm has built a remarkably strong foundation over the years, there are still plenty of important pillars standing to ensure that the living Lanarth legend continues undiminished. For the upcoming issue of Welsh Pony & Cob Magazine, we spoke with Ann Bigley about this. In this interview, she discusses, among other things, how their breeding of Welsh Ponies and Cobs was—and still is—a true family affair.

Issue No. 1 of Welsh Pony and Cob Magazine for 2021 will arrive on members' doorsteps around March 12.