rider at Neumünster. He was very knowledgeable about the Trakehner and he educated Jean on strengths and weaknesses of the various bloodlines and what they produced. He also trained Jean in dressage and taught her to feel and determine what she did and did not want to ride.
n Guideline #2: The horse must be easily rideable. Jean gathered a small group of mares and stood firm in her belief that the horses must be very rideable and trainable which leads to another good lesson learned.
n Guideline # 3: Ride your mares to test both their mental and physical qualities. This greatly strengthens the knowledge base of what each mare will potentially produce, the key to successfully selling future prospects. But still, Jean lacked a stallion for their breeding operation. As an active mother of three, she expanded her farm’s business involving her two daughters as they approached their teenage years. Teaching and training with students and school horses added to the income for the farm. Boarding for some of those students added yet another means to help support her growing business. By the late 1970s Trakehners were gaining ground in
Germany and Jean met several breeders who contributed to her education. Not only were they rebuilding the breed, they were also looking for places to sell their horses. “I had enough help and advice that the trial and error period was kept to a minimum. And the way I developed as a rider made it clear to me what was needed in breeding to produce sellable riding horses,” Jean explains. “I was the typical woman rider myself —raising children, busy with life in general. I wanted a horse that easily fit into that schedule but still had the quality to excel. I tried to produce that same type.”
Early Reputation In 1977, before attending the annual auction at Neumünster, Jean and her husband Roy visited diverse German breeding farms, primarily Hanoverians. Jean heard time and again that Trakehners were inferior to other Warmblood breeds. “Hot and difficult” was the breed’s reputation, not just here in the United States but also in Germany. Trakehners, without a province of their own, were not well received by other Warmblood breeders. Competitive horses then were primarily Hanoverians and were often ridden by men. Trakehners were a lighter and more sensitive horse and did not well-tolerate the strong aids that were used with the heavier breeds. Early breeding of these “pretty” horses without enough concentration on riding qualities did not improve the image. A number of difficult and lesser-quality Trakehners had been exported to America hurting the breed’s reputation. Jean gave other Warmblood breeds a try, but found the horses heavy to leg and hand lacking the natural
40 July/August 2011
Jean and Roy traveling in Germany in the early years Photo courtesy Jean Brinkman
forwardness she had already come to love about her Trakehners. She was convinced Trakehners would find a good welcome in America where the Thoroughbred already reigned supreme in most sport disciplines. But in order to be successful in dispelling the myths, Jean had to find the right bloodlines.
n Guideline #4: Seek willing and intelligent bloodlines that offer the gaits to be competitive in dressage as well as jumping. Jean has always tried to maintain both traits by combining dressage and jumping lines. She feels that this goal gives her horses extra athletic ability along with flexibility when it comes to choosing careers for the horses. At Neumünster, Jean and Roy caught auction fever. Near the end of the auction, a tall bay mare entered the ring. Although a little underweight and slightly scruffy, Maranja owned the ring and Jean won the bid. As luck would have it, the mare was already bred to Coktail. Maranja was carrying Jean’s future superstar stallion-to-be, Martini *Pg*E*. In the 1970s and 80s, event horses were all over the map in quality and sold for low prices, hence one couldn’t develop a breeding program with financial and consistent success. Hunters were an option, but in the hunter world, Trakehners were often sold as Thoroughbreds, since that was the favored breed at the time, and trainers didn’t think the Warmblood would find a ready market. That left dressage as Jean’s primary breeding goal.
Giant Steps Forward In 1981, Jean nervously presented her young stallion Martini to the ATA for inspection. The tall and somewhat gangly Martini was approved and Jean’s breeding efforts took a new and successful turn. With Martini, she hoped to help improve the reputation of Trakehners through competition and breeding. Finally, she owned her own stallion with the
American Trakehner Association
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