Welcome to Parnell's Irish Cobs.
It
is with heavy hearts that we must tell you that Ardan, our fine
two-year old gelding, suffered from colic on July 30. He fought
hard for five days after surgery, but to no avail. We brought him
home on August 3rd, where he died peacefully among his
family and friends at The Irish Rose. We are grateful for the skill
and loving care of all those who tried so hard to help him,
including our farm veterinarian, as well as the surgeons, students
and nursing staff at Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching
Hospital. We thank you for your prayers and kind words for this
gentle horse, who will be greatly missed.
As our Irish friends say, “Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam! - May his
soul be on God's right side!”
NEWSFLASH:
Parnell’s has been invited to return to the 32nd Annual Long’s Peak
Scotish/Irish Highlands Festival to be held in Estes Park, Colorado
on September 4-7, 2008. We will be presenting some of our delightful
Gypsy Horses and displaying our restored antique
Gypsy
vardo
and flat cart at the Gypsy Village. Parnell’s
Nuala will be pulling
the flat cart in the Parade on Saturday. We hope that you will come
and see us! Please
click here for more
information about the Festival.
NEWSFLASH:
Parnell’s is pleased to be presenting some of our delightful Gypsy
Horses and displaying our restored antique
Gypsy
vardo
at the First Annual Fort Collins Irish Festival, to be held in down
town Fort Collins, Colorado on August 2-3, 2008. We hope that you
will come and see us! Please
click here for more
information about the Festival.
Check
out the
Gallery Page
to check
out the latest PhotoShows and Videos.
Welcome to The Irish Rose, home of Parnell's Irish Cobs. 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 will meet 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, whether in harness or under saddle, and we focus on these qualities as well. We currently have four prospects available for purchase, including three fillies and a stud colt.
We are pleased that we have been able to preserve another part of the Irish culture in the form of traditional driving vehicles. In early 2006, we imported a restored antique
Irish Gypsy vardo or living
wagon from Ireland for our horses to pull in parades and shows. This wagon, lovingly restored by an Irish Traveler and painted by the renowned English Gypsy painter Thomas Stephenson, dates back to the 1930's. We recently acquired an authentic Irish jaunting cart to show off the flashy movement of these horses - 'tis a grand sight to see all the hair flying when they trot!
We are
anxiously awaiting the delivery of an authentic English Gypsy flat
cart, currently undergoing restoration in England by Nick Dow, a
master cabinet maker and painter of Gypsy wagons - stay tuned for
more information and pictures!
Thank you for visiting our website - we hope you will enjoy the pictures of our fine horses, and contact us for more information regarding our available prospects as well as our broodmares. Our farm, The Irish Rose, is only an hour from Denver, and we would love to show you our horses in person!
Parnell's Irish Cobs, LLC
Charlie, Jan, Adam and Jodi
