place, the Haselauer Landhaus, which Kaye had introduced me to years before. She rests a stone’s throw from the stall of the famous stallion Contender. I visit her grave and pay my respects every time I go to Germany.”
NEW VENTURE By 1990 Karen felt her future was leading her away from dressage and more towards breeding. “I loved the breeding aspect of the horses, and realized that to do this right, I needed more stallions. But purchasing them was out of the question.” She came up with an exciting new idea. “I approached Norbert Boley of the Verband with a proposal: I, Fox Fire Farm, could sell frozen semen for the Verband in America.” Not surprisingly she received an emphatic “No!” Their concerns were regarding the extender (mixed with the live sperm in order to freeze it; see “Fact and Fiction about Frozen,” Warmbloods Today, January/February 2010), import and shipping complications, and the basic unreliability of the process. Karen suspected that for competitive reasons the Germans did not want their best stallions available to other countries. Not accepting “no” as her final answer, Karen needed
a different strategy. So down the road she went to the barn of Peter Mohr, the former head dressage rider for the Verband. “He was riding a fabulous stallion I could not take my eyes off of. The horse had a piaffe and passage to die for,” she remembers. The stallion was Cheenook by Caretino/Romantiker. “Peter was willing to give it a try, so I returned to Washington and was able to sell Cheenook semen to more than 50 mare owners with success. On my next visit to the Verband a year later, I learned that the word had spread. Suddenly the Verband was interested!” Karen made an important decision at that time: she
was going to be 100% loyal to the Verband to earn their trust. She began to offer the German stallions Contender, Alcatraz, Caretino, Cassini I, Linaro and Corrado I. These were up and coming stallions and proved to be very important for the Holsteiner breed. They all have several offspring in the international sports of show jumping, dressage, eventing and driving. So that began her business, now twenty-five years old, serving the breeders in North America with frozen semen from the Holsteiner Verband stallions.
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Top: Gunnar Mohr presents the famous Contender by Calypso II at the 100 year anniversary of the Haselau Stallion Station in 2006. Photo courtesy Haselauer Landhaus Right top: Karen and Littorio by Lord. Middle: Camiros, one of Karen’s favorites to ride and breed. Bottom: Linaro, now 22, was difficult for her to obtain from Holstein.
BUILDING THE BUSINESS As the years passed Karen continued to do well selling frozen semen for the Verband. Eventually it was suggested that Karen should take a stallion home to Fox Fire to offer fresh semen. Around this time Karen bought Camiros for herself as a dressage and breeding stallion. Camiros by Contender was champion from the Holsteiner approvals in Neumünster. Then Mr. Boley offered her Ariadus when she was on one of her trips in Holstein. Ariadus had some alternative blood, was stunningly beautiful, a super jumper and a great mover. Karen seized the opportunity. Linaro by Landgraf became the third Holsteiner
stallion to reside at Fox Fire Farm. “Linaro was the favorite horse of my dear friend Kaye Smarslik,” she recalls. “I kept pushing Mr. Boley to lease him to me. He would just laugh at my requests year after year. Linaro had been Herbert Blocker’s ride and Boley thought it not possible. At one point I needed to video Linaro in the indoor at the Verband to help promote his breedings. Gerard Muffels, stallion manager, had warned me that Herbert Blocker would disapprove if he caught me doing it. Herbert was pretty obsessive about Linaro. We sneaked Linaro
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