The increasingly popular mare DSA Hey Baby ( Thee Desperado x Mystify HG ) just passed her 5th birthday, and already she has a multi-champion show record, an exceptional foal on the ground, and another foal due in 2010. She was the Egyptian Event (USA) Reserve Champion Two Year-old Futurity Filly in 2006, Egyptian Event (USA) Champion Three Year-old Futurity Filly in 2007, and Egyptian Event (USA) World Champion Mare, 4-5 Years, in 2009.

Indeed, one would not know by observing this exuberant, exotic show mare, so full of life, that things were not always so easy. Hey Baby’s entrance into the world was fraught with obstacles. She was born in the middle of a hot Texas summer. Shortly after birth Hey Baby was orphaned by her dam Mystify HG. Life for the neonate quickly became a struggle. Fortunately, her dedicated breeders, Jerel and Daphne Kerby of Dogwood Springs Arabians, shouldered the daunting task of round-the-clock foal feedings and frequent trips to the vet hospital to combat a five month battle with foal pneumonia. At feeding times, Jerel and Daphne would softly whisper “Hey Baby,” to let her know it was time to eat. The phrase was uttered so often that it finally stuck for good.

Hey Baby’s first visitors remember a pretty, delicate chestnut foal with a catheter in her neck, standing in a paddock next to the main residence of the farm. But, her quality and potential were so evident even then, that a contract for a future foal out of Hey Baby was purchased from the Kerby’s when she was only four months old. It was a big gamble on a frail tiny foal. She was that good.

By the next year, Hey Baby’s rocky start faded into memory. Another year passed, and she grew into a mare with remarkable beauty and a gentle spirit that fulfilled her breeder’s hopes and dreams. She started her show training with Arabians Ltd. in Texas, and in five short years she has established herself as a true daughter of both her outstanding *Omayma dam line and her proven sire line.

To learn more about DSA Hey Baby or her foal, visit Dogwood Springs Arabians on the web.