Mark and Vicki own and operate Affluent Farms, a 52 acre farm where they have quietly raised Canadian Sport Horses, some Paints and Dexter cattle since the late 1990’s just outside of Teeswater, Ontario, Canada. All their sport horses are descended from their one R.C.M.P. broodmare, Bonny and her daughters, while the Paints were from Whata Ending (foundation Anita Venus breeding) and the cattle from Trillium Cluny lines. Their cord wood house and Cover-All barn were built by them so the farm is always in a “state of becoming”. While much of the under saddle training has been done professionally off the farm, all the foundation handling has been done by Vicki and Mark and, more recently, locally by Bev Ellis.
Vicki bought her first Canadian Sport Horse from Charlot Farms in Stratford in 1988. She purchased a 5-month old black filly named Desirée III and hoped to show and breed future Canadian Sport Horses once this mare had proven herself. Desirée’s sire was the imported Hanoverian, Dimitrij, from the D-line Hanoverians. Unfortunately Desirée was lost at almost seven years old from colic so Vicki had to look for another future C.S.H.A. broodmare. She and Mark attended the first R.C.M.P. auction in 1995 at Packenham, near Ottawa and purchased Bonny, a 12-year old broodmare in foal to Ginsberg (this stallion was sold the same day). The resulting foal in the spring of 1996 was a filly. A Lil’ Tude is still on their farm today. Vicki then tried a couple of different crosses with Bonny but her favourite was breeding to Diamant, Dimitrij’s son, owned by Hannah Joppe (formerly Hannah Walsh of Charlot Farms). That is how Dilemma, Dash and Darlington (aka Star Struck) were produced. See Alumni for Dilemma and Darlington. Dash is Vicki’s special riding horse, trained by Roy and Sue Fish, formerly of Twinholm Stable.