into the arena and what do you know if I didn’t get caught by the man himself! Herbert just glared at me. But I needed that video!” “Linaro was aging and eventually Mr. Boley caved in and let me lease him at age 16,” she continues. “Linaro is such a character. He sticks his tongue out to be massaged and really thinks he’s king of the hill. When he stands up with pride he is still amazingly beautiful at 22!” Also Linaro was champion at the Holsteiner approvals and the 100 day test in 1992. Herbert Blocker was a very good eventing rider. He participated at four Olympic Games. Sometimes when Karen is in Holstein she meets Herbert in the Haselauer Landhaus where she updates him on how Linaro is doing. Today Herbert Blocker is leading the Verband team for free jumping at the Holsteiner approvals. More recently Karen brought to Fox Fire Farm two
more interesting stallions, Quinar by Quidam de Revel and in 2010 she introduced Limoncello II by Lorentin. Quinar’s relocation came as a big surprise in Holstein; many breeders wanted to keep Quinar in Germany. This demonstrated the strength of Karen’s relationship with the Holsteiner Verband—they entrusted Karen to stand some of their best stallions at Fox Fire. Limoncello II is half-brother to Lasino and offers together with Linaro interesting bloodlines from the Ladykiller xx line. All of Karen’s stallions are premium approved with the Holsteiner Verband. Under the frozen semen program Karen sells the semen
with a “Live Foal Guarantee.” Karen works closely with her clients as the Verband wants to be able to keep tabs on their semen. First in Germany the semen is tested for all diseases and for motility; then it is frozen and sent to Karen via Dr. Lisa Metcalf in Oregon who does additional tests to determine the number of straws needed for each insemination procedure. Karen notes that “it works especially well having double tests on the semen.”
IMPORTANT CONNECTIONS Karen is obviously very knowledgeable about the breed, and if she needs information, she knows her way around Holstein to get it. Her main resource is Gunnar Mohr who is in charge of the stallion station in Haselau, where the Lienau family has been breeding for over 100 years with the Holsteiner Stamm 242. The Lienaus have stood some of the most notable stallions in Holstein including Ladykiller and currently Contender. Together with this stallion station there is a restaurant and hotel called Haselauer Landhaus that Karen has been visiting for years. There she often meets folks from the U.S., the Netherlands, New Zealand, Italy and other countries who come to
exchange information about the Holsteiner breed. The area of Haselau,
the “Haseldorfer Marsch” is one of the most important areas for Holsteiner breeding. Gerard Muffels is also a very important information source for Karen. He has been managing the main stallion station in Elmshorn for over 25 years. He has worked with stallions like Cor de la Bryere, Landgraf I, Calypso II, Cassini I, Caretino and many more. In addition, there are many breeders whom Karen has met that are more than willing to share their knowledge with her. People from the United States became eager to learn about the Holsteiner horse. “I travel to Holstein at least once a year and soon people wanted to join me in my trips. I began arranging groups of Americans to travel with me. The numbers grew to obscenity with one trip having as many as 17 people and eight cars. It became too much so now I try to go to Holstein as quietly as possible,” she says with a laugh.
LOOKING AHEAD As to the future of frozen semen Karen believes that its popularity will steadily increase. Conception rates for the different breeding methods have been studied at Colorado State University. So far it is the only laboratory- controlled study on this issue. They took semen, split the ejaculates and then bred mares with fresh semen, some with 24 hour cooled and then some with frozen. In the end the fresh semen had the highest level of fertility, with cooled semen about 10 percentage points behind it and frozen semen about 10 percent behind that,” Karen reports. After 20 years of selling frozen semen Karen has
also noticed an increase of pregnancies and is very enthusiastic about the future of her business. “Thanks to technology, fast transport and logistics, the sport horse breeding industry has become more of a global industry,” she notes. It’s people like Karen who help bring German Holsteiner breeding right into our very own barns.
Top: Sunset on Fox Island on Puget Sound, Washington State, home of Fox Fire Farm. Below: Emblems of the Holsteiner Verband (L) and Fox Fire Farm (R).
Warmbloods Today 33
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