SWF History
My parents bought me a pony when I was just three years old. As I got older the ponies got bigger, and my brother and I would spend the entire day on the backs of our ponies out in the fields by our home in Michigan. As a young teenager I showed Saddlebreds but it wasn't until my brother took a summer job at an Arabian breeding farm that my family fell in love with Arabian horses.
I remember those good old days when my brother Jimmy, Scott and I, along with a whole herd of friends would attend our local Open and Class A horse shows almost every weekend. Our first Arabian was my brother's horse DM-Prince Arabi, a beautiful Egyptian /Crabbet chestnut gelding with a flaxen mane and tail. He was pretty close to the perfect horse – there was nothing he wouldn't or couldn't do. Jimmy showed him in halter, showmanship, hunt seat, western, bareback, and trail, and if he didn't have enough points to win that high point trophy there was pole bending! And this was all in the same day!!! How times have changed!
After watching my brother and Scott enjoy their Arabians so much I decided to trade in my Saddlebred mare. Although I love dark bay and chestnut, grey has always been my favorite color for an Arabian, especially a mare. So my quest for my first mare began, and soon after visiting a few farms I found her. Siltana was her name. She was a very regal flea-bitten grey mare sired by MS Santana and out of the Fire Chief daughter Siliefa. I knew she was the one the instant her owners brought her out and turned her loose. With her head held high and proud, tail flagged, she moved with such style and grace. For me, she was the mare that got me hooked on Arabians. Just watching her turned loose in the paddock was exciting and made me want to learn more about these incredible horses.
For the next several years the main focus of my life became school and other activities. Jimmy got married and Scott went off to Michigan State University. But no matter what we did in our lives, fate seemed to always bring us back to Arabian horses. I tried as much as I could to study pedigrees and attend a show every now and then, and finally life settled down a bit and it was back to Arabian horses!
The next several years, I spent a lot of time studying pedigrees, especially the Polish lines. I attended as many shows as I could and began visiting breeding farms as well. In Michigan we had so many amazing breeding farms – Dr. James Rooker, Tim & Marty Shea, Gaslight Farm, Avatar Arabians, and Grand Arabians, just to name a few. I liked to go and see the mares, then the foals, and then see the stallions they were sired by. Then I would go back again to see the foals and mares a gain. I am sure I drove more than one breeder a little crazy back then, but thanks to their patience they were assisting me with the knowledge to create a foundation for the farm and breeding program I wished to have one day.
After looking at a number of mares, Scott and I decided to buy a mare together and give this breeding thing a try. A friend of his told us about a mare she was thinking of offering for sale and we sent to see her. At that point in my life I was so excited with the thought of buying a breeding mare I really didn't care what she looked like, I just wanted my life as a breeder to begin! Luckily, she was a beautiful mare. Not the grey I had wanted, but a beautiful dark chestnut. Her name was BA Bascata. She was sired by The Muscat Tiger, a son of the legendary Muscat and her dam was of Bask and Ferzon breeding. Not only was she a pretty mare, but she also had excellent conformation and movement. Bascata was the start of the Stonewall Farm breeding program.
After the purchase of the first mare for Stonewall Farm, we traveled to see other breeders outside of Michigan. We attended the Varian Arabians Spring Fling, for example, and were amazed at the quality of horses. They were not just beautiful, but athletic as well. So, of course, we decided we wanted the blood of the great Huckleberry Bey to start our program and chose his son, Bravado Bey V, as the sire for our first foal. The next spring, after many sleepless nights, Bascata gave us a beautiful bay colt. He was everything any new breeder could hope for, and we named him Bascavado Bey. A few months later he was shown at our local futurity in the weanling class and was named the show’s grand champion. Needless to say, we were hooked. Several months later Bascavado Bey was sold and on his way to his new owner Mr. Miguel Sfeir, ,owner of the incredible Los Cedros in Scottsdale. With such instant success we decided it was time to add another mare to our one -horse breeding program!
The next year I spent a lot of time at the trainer’s farm, watching, listening and learning. I had become very fond of the Polish bloodlines that were so popular at that time. The next purchase for Stonewall Farms would double our numbers, two amazing mares, both beautiful and with pedigrees rich with history. You could just look at them and know they were celebrities! Burza a gorgeous tall stretchy flea-bitten grey, was a daughter of Bandos and out of the mare Busznica, bred by Janów Podlaski State Stud of Poland. The second mare, Bellogia, was a beautiful grey daughter of the legendary *Bask, out of the double *Naborr daughter Bar Lena. At this point there could be no doubt that both Scott and myself were stricken with Arabian horse fever. Stonewall Farm was on its way! At this point we had been working with a local trainer and asked him if he should ever come across a mare, a special mare that could put Stonewall Farm on the map, to please let us know. Several months later and after looking at a lot of mares we received a phone call. Our trainer got word that a mare he had worked with before had just become available that morning. I jumped in the car and was off to see as the trainer had put it "the mare that will change your life and put your breeding program on the map!" But after rushing to the farm, the mare was not there! I remember this like yesterday – I was handed a pedigree and given twenty-four hours to pay for this mare. Needless to say, with a lot of praying and a sign from God, I purchased this mare sight unseen. She was BB Flamingo Rose, and when “BB” arrived at the farm and I saw her for the first time, I knew I had made the right decision. This mare was going to change my life forever.
The following year we had decided to bred BB Flamingo Rose to the stallion that was my first love, *Padron. I first saw *Padron at the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show. When he was presented by David Boggs, I was so captivated by the beauty and presence of this stallion it was as if I were in a trance. He was so full of himself! I decided at that moment that if I ever owned a mare, she would have to be bred to *Padron. So years later, “BB” left for Midwest Training Center and returned to us in foal to the great *Padron. The following spring she gave us a beautiful chestnut colt. We named him Vegas because he was flashy, exciting, and full of surprises. The following year Vegas was sold to a breeder from Saudi Arabi. “BB” was then bred to Magnum Psyche, a young stallion owned by our next door neighbors and good friends John and Tracey Benoit. He was just two-years old at that point and we were very excited to have the opportunity to breed to him. The following spring we were blessed with another gorgeous chestnut colt. Staying with the gambling theme, we named this one Casino. He was everything we, and all of Magnum's fans, had hoped for. We bred “BB” back to Magnum and the results the following spring were nothing short of amazing. We named that filly SWF Desert Rose and she will always be a part of the Stonewall Farm breeding program. She was born a beautiful bright chestnut and then, for the next two years, was the most awful color combination of grey and chestnut! She was a spitfire, and it seemed like she spent most of her first two years on her back legs. But she was a dream for us – a wild and crazy dream come t rue. Desert Rose gave Stonewall Farm our first US National Reserve Championship under the guidance and training of Michael Byatt and Robin Hopkinson. I will never forget that moment when the announcer said “Our Reserve National Champion is owned, bred and shown by David Cains..... SWF Desert Rose," Desert Rose has become one of our prized broodmares and a favorite of many visitors. She will remain here at Stonewall Farm, having babies and making memories for us for the rest of her life.
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Like so many of us in the Arabian horse world, our lives are touched by certain stallions, mares, and foals that we see at shows, in magazines ,or while visiting farms. As I visited more and more farms I began noticing a look and style of Arabian horse that really caught my eye. They were all daughters of a certain stallion and, one after another, they stole my heart. The sire of these mares was the incredible *Eukaliptus. I started a wish list and a *Eukaliptus daughter was at the top! Luck was with me, as a found a little grey mare for sale outside of Atlanta. She was sired by *Eukaliptus and out of the Serafix daughter CheChe. Checkers was her name, and she came to live at Stonewall Farm and gave us several beautiful foals. Checkers was bred to Marwan Al Shaqab the first year Marwan came to the USA and gave us the beautiful Marrakech, a flea-bitten grey mare.