Home of 16.2hh Russian-bred TLA Halynov    Whispering Oaks Arabians has been breeding and training our Arabian sport horses for over 15 years. Halynov's offspring are  competing both nationally and internationally in endurance racing, hunter,  dressage, and other performance disciplines. Halter wins were a bonus and  proved you can have both beauty AND function! His legacy, son Hal’s Riverdance,   is producing the same quality as his sire. Our son of 3 times Top 10 Champion  Explodent, IIWP Solstar, is producing gorgeous athletic offspring as well. Our third  stallion, Romanov, son of imported 16h *Napadki (a Procent son -- close up  Priboj) is producing size, substance of bone and great movement as well.  Bette and Mark Lamore and our children, Ryan, Stacie, and Jessica, have been  involved with the Arabian breeding since the 70's, although Bette has been riding  horses since she could walk. We have been involved in all aspects of the horse  industry including showing primarily in performance, training, breeding, selling, and  shipping semen nationwide. We've already had requests for shipping overseas. In short, our involvement with our horses has  included everything from accepting their trophies at horse shows to feeding hay in one end and shoveling it out from the other!  We now have many senior citizens. They have raised our kids and will have a home with us until they cross over the Rainbow  Bridge. We remember all too many wonder trail rides. Perhaps the most memorable was our Thanksgiving family trail ride on our  neighbors huge property. Stacie insisted that she knew a shortcut. Our planned one hour ride became a 4 hour ride and we  returned to a Thanksgiving dinner of turkey jerky! It was worth it -- if only for the mileage we got out of that story.  We experienced financial hardship at one point as a result of fraud by Realtors. Suffice it to say that we became VERY hands-on  at that point. The only showing we did were Amateur Owner to Ride Classes, mostly with our children at the end of the lead line  or riding. Of course horse chores were divided amongst all of us. Our son attributes his honors in college to the discipline he  learned on the ranch. Our girls developed self-reliance and confidence that has shaped their personal and career lives. We all  relied on our senses of humor when times were tough. We heartedly recommend horses for families. Many unforgettable  wonderful memories that we built as a family -- our activities with the horses were something we could do together, at whatever  levels+ we were at individually. Kept our kids out of trouble --- either too tired-- or too busy to get into it!  Please visit our stallion page to learn more about our stallions’ offspring. Our Mares page gives a brief history of the Russian  breeding program.  We're now in Creston on 33 acres. We built a large paddock with room enough for 2-3 mommas and foals (click on picture  above) so that we could monitor newborns from our 1875 farm house deck (the margaritas are a bonus!). Next,we fenced off a  large parcel below the front of our property, which has trees and a hill, so that the older foals (and mommas) could exercise and  play once they no longer need to be closely monitored. We feed the babies, nursing and pregnant mommas our wonderful  calcium rich (for growing bones) third cutting alfalfa hay (not too rich) combined with mare and foal pellets while nursing, as well  as various supplements to meet their special needs. How those foals sprout up! We are fortunate to have local excellent forage  hay for our other horses who really clean it up! We believe barns are handy during inclement weather, which is rare for the most part in Sunny California; therefore, you will find  our horses running free on acres of hilly and level land. This is most important for developing babies and certainly keeps  everyone happy (especially us, the pooper-scoopers!). We can make arrangements for mares to be boarded at a beautiful  nearby stable, if natural cover is requested (for those mares who prefer the real thing!) © Thumbs Up Production 2010 Youngster Pasture Baby Nursery Our Ranch (Bette never had this problem with the kids)