Which Pan-Am competing horses in our !
the site of the 2011 Pan American Games held last October. The equestrian events were held at three venues: the Guadalajara Country Club (GCC), located within the city limits, that hosted the dressage and show jumping competitions; Club Hipica, a local riding club located northwest of the city, that hosted the dressage and stadium for the eventing, and Santa Sofia Golf Club located in the mountains about half an hour further northwest of Guadalajara was the site of the eventing cross-country course. As a Warmblood breeder and a journalist from
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the U.S., it was exciting to see the success of U.S. and Canadian-bred horses in the Pan American Games in Mexico last fall. On the up side, a good number of our home-bred horses were medalists, but out of 163 horses competing in the three disciplines, only 11 were identified as being bred in Canada or the U.S. These numbers may sound disappointing, however looking ahead, there is plenty of opportunity for us as North American sport horse breeders to put good riders on our good horses before the next Pan Am Games in Toronto, Canada, in 2015. That’s the gauntlet to lay down before you…a challenge for the next four years!
unny Mexico, specifically the south-central state of Jalisco and the city of Guadalajara, was
three main disciplines were actually bred in the
United States or Canada? Warmbloods Today went on a mission to find the answer.
Dressage :
Dressage was the first equestrian discipline in the 16-day run of the Games. Of the 49 competitors, five were bred in Canada or the U.S.A. They are listed in order of final placings. Paragon, a 2003 chestnut Danish Warmblood gelding
(by Blue Hors Don Schufro, out of Pari Lord by Loran, bred by Oak Hill Ranch, Folsom, LA) and owner/rider Heather Blitz of Wellington, FL, earned individual silver and team gold for their spectacular performances over the three days of competition. They finished a close second all three days (75.105% in Prix St. Georges, 77.185% in Intermediaire I, 86.650% in Intermediaire II Freestyle) behind U.S. teammates Steffen Peters and Weltino’s Magic, a German-bred Westphalian gelding. The18-hand Paragon was purchased by Heather from
Oak Hill Ranch when he was three months old. Heather was the trainer at Oak Hill at the time, and she helped plan the breeding that resulted in Paragon. “I was breaking in his dam and I loved her temperament. She had three really nice gaits and she was easy to start. So, I thought I’d like to have a young horse to raise, train and resell,” says Heather. “I loved Don Schufro and thought it would be a nice match. I was there when he was born. At three months old his trot and canter were both very nice, then he went through a few years of ‘ugly duckling’ stages, as any young horse that is going to be that
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50 January/February 2012
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