Breeding a Horse of the Year Show champion is the stuff of dreams for many studs but for Romanno Stud it came true last year their home-bred Romanno Bedriska won the Cuddy supreme in-hand championship.

Jennifer Gilchrist runs Romanno Stud on the former dairy farm at Elsrickle in South Lanarkshire. She has seven sport performance and pony stallions available at stud.

The stud has had much success both in-hand and under saddle, mostly with its show ponies which have qualified for HOYS and the RIHS, including five ponies that qualified for the Cuddy final.

Bedriska is by the Olympic stallion Quando Quando out of the ST PR mare De La Rosa, and is owned by Mark Armstrong and shown by Alan Charlesworth.

"Mark said he was looking for a young horse for dressage and showing and I said to him that I thought Bedriska could win the Cuddy final," said Jennifer. "She had never been off the farm before she was sold and qualified for HOYS at her first attempt at West Midlands before winning at HOYS."

This year Bedriska will come out under saddle. Jennifer has her full younger sister at home and believes she's every bit as good as Bedriska.

"The dam line is just as important," points out Jennifer.

"All the pony mares have competed at HOYS. Primarily the breeding mare must have correct conformation, with good movement and not just daisy cutting, they need power from behind and trainability.

"The stallions are the same, they need to be easy to work with and have a life."

There are five pony stallions ranging from 12hh to 14.2hh.

"People need to appreciate that ponies can go on and do a job and not just look pretty in the ring," said Jennifer who added that the pony stallion Deanhills Royal Jubilee sired a pony that won the 128cm showjumping class at the Royal Highland Show.

Previously Jennifer would show youngstock herself but recently has stopped in order to spend more time at the stud.

"I'm fortunate that with the reputation of the stud and quality of the stock we're producing clients are seeking out the Romanno-prefix. Some of the foals are already sold and there's a lot of repeat business," says Jennifer.

"I needed to cut back on showing to offer a personal service at the stud – that has to come first."

The most recent stallion to arrive at the stud is Serano Gold, a 12-year-old Oldenburgh by Sandro Hit.

"I was looking for a modern stallion which would be a good outcross for my mares," explained Jennifer. "He's modern bred and has competed in dressage to PSG level."

He was the Oldenburg vice0champion stallion in 2004, gaining excellent marks in his 30-day performance test including 10s for temperament and trainability and 9.75 for the riders mark. His first crop of foals all received the Oldenburg premium title – he was then known as the 'foal maker'.

Her other sports stallion is Rubin Star N, who is a fully approved stallion with the Oldenburg society. He is also fully approved with the British Warmblood Society and SHBGB. In 2011 he achieved the elite stallion status with the SHBGB due to his progeny's continued success at international level.

The stallions have big loose boxes which open out into the yard, Jennifer is adament that stallions need to have the temperament and trainability.

All the mares live out together on a hardstanding area with access to grass, ad-lib haylage and strawed shelter areas. When the mares are due to foal they'll be brought into individual stables and once are bagged up are moved into the foaling boxes which have CCTV.

This year there's 16 foals due, and at the time of our visit three had been born.All the stud work is done by AI, this makes it safer for the stallions, mares and handlers.

"The majority of semen is shipped away to vets," explained Jennifer. "Mares will only come in if they require fresh semen. It suits most people as there's less stress for all concerned. Even for local mares I can travel to their yard for the AI work."

The stud has a lab for analysing semen and faciluties to freeze semen before shipping.

"People have cut back and there's not as many horses being bred but quality will always sell," concludes Jennifer.