Taraco Mourinho and Quillane Accolade ridden by Jenny Knight
For 30 plus years, Jenny Knight, along with her husband Warren, owned and operated a warmblood breeding and stallion station called Wolf Run Farm in Maine. When the couple retired from breeding, they moved to their current farm in Loxahatchee, Florida where Jenny concentrates on training and competing in dressage.
Among her dressage mounts are two Welsh Cob stallions, Taraco Mourinho, the senior stallion at thirteen, and the four year old Quillane Accolade.
When a friend of Jenny’s bought a filly from Taraco Stud in the UK, there was a colt at the same farm that caught Jenny’s eye. And so, Taraco Mourinho, fondly called Mario, was imported when he was 6 months old. Bought as a breeding stallion prospect, Jenny’s first Welsh Cob has, in her words, “exceeded any and all expectations I had!” In his last year of competition, Mario was White Fences Championship Series Reserve Champion 4th Level Adult and also the National Pony Cup Eighth place 4th Level amateur with a median score of 67%. This smokey black 14.3 hand Welsh Cob stallion is Approved for breeding with Westfalen N.A. and is currently working toward Prix St. George.
Jenny’s young perlino stallion Quillane Accolade was bred by, and purchased from, Amy Riley of Quillane Welsh Cobs. Amy and Jenny became friends after meeting at the NEWPA Welsh show in NY in 2010. Jenny has followed Amy’s breeding program with interest and Jenny laughingly adds “I have an addiction to dilute horses! I fought the urge to purchase “Ritz” from (Amy) for over a year and then (in Amy’s words) got weak!”
Thank goodness for weak moments! Ritz has been busy living up to his name. His accolades in 2021 were scores to 79.075% at Avalon DSHB in NY. He qualified himself for the finals in September that year, where he placed third in the USDF breeders series championship, and was also NEDA 2 year old colt year end champion.
In 2022 Ritz was 5th USDF 3 year material colt. Currently, Ritz is busy growing and maturing and will be working toward Training and First Level for the summer of 2023.
Even though Jenny is retired from running a breeding farm, she still prefers to ride stallions. Jenny explains that she is “more than happy to offer (my) boys at stud but done with advertising them!” While you may not see these two stallions’ exploits being advertised, they are out there showing that Welsh Cobs are a serious dressage ponies!
