Silver Omen - 1989-2022
The Big "O": 1989 grey stallion, pure Crabbet.
Omen’s superb and tractable temperament has been passed on to all his foals, and we are thrilled with what he left for us.
All of his progeny proved easy to start and are good rides. Several are open endurance horses.
They are good-looking but most importantly are built to be riding horses.
When Omen was with his previous owners in Australia he did two 80km heavyweight rides. We also saw some very nice young stock by him. Omen became Aurora’s main sire after he arrived in 2006.
Omen left several purebred and partbred progeny for Aurora.
In mid-2019, Omen was bred to our pure Crabbet mare Silver Crescent (1996-2022) (Overdale Farm Magic Silver x Overdale Farm Rishalanie). Cressie had already had three foals for Aurora, two pure Crabbet mares - Aurora Clouded Moon (2008 by Boomori Finale) and Aurora Southern Star (2011 by Silver Omen) - and the Crabbet-Polish purebred Aurora Midnight Diamond (2013 by Pilot).
Some months later both Omen and Cressie travelled to the North Island to live at Makahiwi Stud. In March 2020, the stud welcomed the colt Makahiwi Silver Comet.
Another pure Crabbet foal by Omen was also born at Makahiwi Stud.
Temperament
One of the qualities that drew us to Omen when we first saw him in Australia was his wonderful nature. Always easy to handle and manage.
When he arrived on the boat from Australia with Fenwick Regenta, Neil was working in Auckland, and at that time it was possible to get close to the horses being shipped and watch them come off the boat. Being a stallion, Omen was the last to be brought out. While he waited his turn his massive whinny rang through the port and had the horse handler very concerned that he had to bring out a rearing, leaping, and poorly behaved stallion. But Omen walked off like the perfect gentleman he was, much to the surprise of the handler.
Omen would also allow other horses to eat his food when he was running with them. When he was paddocked with his son Rain Man, the pair had to be separated as Omen would miss out.
Below, Omen is pictured sharing his dinner with young Alaska at Makahiwi Stud.
Pedigree
Omen has nine crosses through his sire line to the great Polish-bred stallion Skowronek and three through his dam line.
His pedigree has no Greylight or Sindh blood.
When it comes to the great war mare Rodania, Omen has 12 crosses through his damline and eight through his sire line. This must be the reason he was so athletic.
This is what horse breeding is about.