Newsflash: Parnell's is pleased to announce the birth of Parnell's Cormac mac Airt - born on May 1st at 8:30 am (our first day-time birth in years!).  Cormac, who weighed in at 130 pounds, is by Parnell's Leannan out of Parnell's Roisin.  Cormac, a stunning piebald pattern, is named for the first High King of Ireland crowned at the legendary Hill of Tara, the historical seat of Irish Kings in County Meath, Ireland.   Click here for Cormac's first photoshow - check back with us in the next few days for more pictures of this striking colt.

Newsflash: Parnell's is pleased to announce the arrival of Parnell's Meadbh - born on April 17th at the very respectable hours of 9:45pm! Meadbh (pronounced "Mave") is by Parnell's Leannan out of Parnell's Cahir, and will be a blue and white tobiano! She is named for the legendary Irish Warrior Queen, who was rich, beautiful, strong and powerful - the most powerful woman in Bronze Age Ireland. Our Meadbh was up and nursing within 40 minutes of birth, and hasn't slowed down yet - check back with us in the next few days for more pictures of this striking filly. Click here for her first photoshow!  Visit her page!

 

Newsflash: Parnell’s just finished participating in the Lucky Joe’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Fort Collins – Charlie drove our blue stallion Parnell’s Leannan in his parade debut with the restored Gypsy flat cart. Thanks to our friends and fellow Gypsy horse enthusiasts, we had enough help to get us through a crowded Parade route with our load of Irish refreshments intact! Check out the PhotoShow in the Gallery.
 

 

Newsflash:  We’ve had an unusually warm and dry Winter at the Irish Rose farm this year, so we took the opportunity to introduce our new lurchers, Brann and Finn, to their Gypsy horse heritage after the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Both boys have a healthy curiosity, as well as a healthy respect, for the horses – Parnell’s Nuala just seems bemused by their presence! We’re looking forward to the time when they can ride the carts and vardos with us in true Gypsy style.

 

Newsflash: Parnell’s is getting the Irish Rose Farm ready for our annual Spring Open House – mark your calendar for Saturday, May 19, 2012. We will display our horses and driving vehicles, and you will have the opportunity to interact with these wonderful horses, “up close and personal”! For those visitors considering purchasing a Gypsy horse, we will have special pricing in effect on our sale horses (check out the Horses for Sale page for new prices!). In addition, both Rosin and Cahir will have foals at side (about 5 weeks old) – there is nothing cuter than a Gypsy horse baby! Check back with us for more details (or contact us if you have questions).

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Welcome to The Irish Rose, home of Parnell's Irish Cobs.  We hope that you and your family have enjoyed a wonderful Holiday season – we had a quite Christmas at the Irish Rose Farm and even got a bit of snow just in time for a White Christmas!   The Gypsy Horses have put on their wonderful thick winter coats and many of them are working on great mustaches.  They don’t seem to mind the temperature extremes we have been experiencing the past few days – from single digit overnight lows to daytime highs in the low 50’s!  It does make it a bit of a challenge to keep them working over the winter, but we use every “warm” day that we get to exercise them.

It’s been a wonderful year for Parnell’s in 2011 - we sent several horses to their new “forever homes”, including Parnell’s Laoise, as mentioned in the News Flash above.  Now is the time to start planning for the 2012 show and performance season.  Parnell’s still has several fine young horses, as well as selected bloodstock, available at very attractive prices.  And we will have new foals from Cahir and Roisin in the Spring, and from Lisdoonvarna in the Fall of 2012.  Be sure and check out the “Horses for Sale” page for the latest information on our available horses.  Thinking about breeding your mare this year?  Our blue stallion, Parnell’s Leannan, will be standing to a limited number of approved Gypsy mares in 2012 – be sure and visit his page for more information (and look at Caoinlean and Si Gaoithe, his first foals from 2010!)  If you are in the Fort Collins area and would like to visit with our herd, or see Leannan in person, please contact us to arrange your visit!

We are often asked how we got involved with Gypsy Horses - we became fascinated with these small, colorful, draft-type horses and their link to our Irish ancestry a few years ago, and decided to start a horse breeding operation here in Northern Colorado.  These horses, commonly referred to as Gypsy horses, Gypsy Vanners, Gypsy Cobs or Tinker horses, are renowned for their extremely docile nature, endurance, weight-pulling ability and extraordinary looks.  As you will see from the pictures, a trademark of these horses is the extreme thickness of mane and tail, as well as the extravagant "feathering" on the legs.

At Parnell's, our goal is to breed, train and show the finest traditional Irish Cobs. We are meeting this goal by carefully matching our broodmares with hand-picked stallions in terms of conformation and color.  We also believe that it is equally important to maintain their well-deserved reputation for being hard-working horses with gentle dispositions.  We breed for performance, whether in harness or under saddle, and we focus on the qualities that promote the ability to perform in multiple disciplines.  We currently have eight horses available for purchase, including five mares (three in foal!), a gelding and our fine stallion - please see the Horses for Sale page for more information and pictures.

We are pleased that we have been able to preserve another part of the Irish culture in the form of traditional driving vehicles.  We are privileged to own two Irish Gypsy vardos or living wagons, an English Gypsy flat cart and an authentic Irish jaunting cart - please make sure you check the Driving Vehicles page for more information and photos of these lovely vehicles!

Thank you for visiting our website - we hope you will enjoy the pictures of our fine horses and our traditional Gypsy driving vehicles.  Please contact us for more information regarding our available Horses for Sale.  Our farm, The Irish Rose, is only an hour North of Denver, CO and we would love to show you our horses and wagons in person!