Father's Day 2010

We traveled to Arlington National Cemetery to visit Duane. Madeline and Liam brought flowers to place on the head stone to honor their Grandpa.

SNOW! Snow and more snow! 23" on Feb 5th and more Feb 9th.

Maryland was hit with one of the largest snow totals from one storm, and there is more falling as this is typed. The Washington, D.C. area is headed for possibly the top spot on the record books this year in snow totals. This is one "first place" we could live without! For all our Northern friends, I know this must seem minimal, but for this region -- it's a lot!

Cadence bounding through the deep snow.

Shows

BelAir Welsh Show 2010

Luke (DMF Veni Vidi Vici) was Reserve Junior Champion Section B Colt. His first time off the farm since the MPB show when he was six weeks old, Luke marched right on the trailer and did well in the show. Good pony!

Madeline and Gam won their Walk class out of 10 entries and received good ribbons in the rest of their division.

Gracie (Westwood You Wish) was 2nd in the Leading Rein class with Madeline showing and Jackie Tremblay leading. Jackie has been training Gracie and she is doing very well. This was Gracie's first under saddle class at a show -- and the first show of the season. Very good pony!

Maryland Pony Breeders Show 2009

Luke (DMF Veni Vidi Vici) was Reserve Grand Champion Section B Pony and Junior and Reserve Jr. Champion Section B Colt.

Madeline and Gam received 1 first, 3 seconds and 3 thirds in the leadline classes. They received a 3rd in their very first Showmanship class.

Madeline and Gam.

VA Spring Fling 2009

Gracie was 1st and 3rd in a very tough class of Section B fillies. Madeline and Gambado placed 2nd in Leadline Walk, Leadline Walk -Trot and Leadline Walk-Trot Poles.

Gam and Madeline in their 2nd show together.

Devon 2009

Madeline and Flying Gambado showed in the 4 and 5 yr. old Lead line class. There were 48 in the class and Madeline was 12th.

Bonnie Blue 2009

Congratulations to Westwood You Wish on winning Reserve Champion Filly!

Dressage at Devon 2008

Westwood You Wish  aka "Gracie Lou" showed in the Breeders Group for Shawn Bigley and also in the Get of Sire class for her sire Fox Cry Nicodemus. Nicodemus, Gracie and her sister were the hit of the show. They are great ambassadors for the Welsh Breed, as they were the only Welsh ponies at this very prestigous event. The judges made very positive and impressive comments on their score sheets. Their scores were right up there with the warmbloods. Way to go Gracie Lou!!

Gracie with Elly in the Get of Sire class. Photo copyright Dena Ragan Radosevic.

Graice in the Get of Sire class. Photo copyright Dena Ragan Radosevic.

Gracie in the Breeders Group class. Photo copyright Dena Ragan Radosevic.

2008 Maryland Pony Breeders Show

Reserve Grand Champion Section A Pony

Double Junior Champion Section A Mare, First Under both judges in Yearling Section A Fillies. Handled by Paul and Cheryl Maye.

Junior Champion and Reserve Junior Champion B Filly, First under both Judges in Section B Yearling Fillies; Handled by Paul and Cheryl Maye.

Frank and Dena wish to announce the birth of their son, Liam Duane, born July 6th, just about 12 hours after the foal was born!

Windhover Classic  1976-2008

On December 18th, 2008, our beloved stallion, Classic, laid down his head and passed away. Margaret was with him and he knew that he was not alone. We purchased Classic when he was 2 months old and he was the cornerstone of Den-Mar Farm. A better disposition in a stallion could not be found -- Madeline had a final mini ride on Classic in his stall a couple of weeks before he died. He was a wonderful horse. We will miss him, as he was a member of our family and the last of our original horses.

A new book dedicated to Duane

Duane's longtime friend and colleague, Dr. Larry A. Morris, recently dedicated his new book Dangerous Women to Duane. Duane worked on many Domestic Violence and Child Abuse issues. He was dedicated to making many lives safer, including introducing the Child Safety Seat law to states and helping to build Parent's Anonymous and Child Help USA. Larry's dedication reads, "To Duane Ragan, his legacy lives on." 

On the Anniversary of his death, we would like to share some special photos of Duane and the ceremony at Arlington. Below are photos of the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Madeline and Duane and Duane at one of Classic's shows.

 Photo to the left and below are Copyright Michael Spilotro.

Madeline giving a hug to grandpa on Memorial Day at Arlington. Photo Copyright Dena Ragan Radosevic.

Duane and Classic after a successful class.

Duane and Madeline at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Duane served in the Navy for all four years of WWII, basically everywhere but in the Pacific Theater. In all, Duane served in the military for 40 years, ending as a Colonel in the Air Force. 

Cadence in the ring at the VA Spring Fling. Photo copyright Dena Ragan Radosevic.

Misc.

What better affirmation of why to breed ponies than Margaret's and Dena's horoscope from March 3rd found in The Washington Times: "CAPRICORN -- You leap forward financially by doing exactly what you like, so you may as well go for that fanciful, foolish, utterly immature and totally-worth-doing endeavor."