POV
“Wouldn’t it be inspiring to watch American-bred horses in the hands of great riders across the globe, and our dollar leading the industry?” – Abigail Ronco
Bergen at an early age. Both cautioned against show riding and the development of trendy dressage performance. In riding or breeding, it all comes down to good foundation. Why rush? I am at the very beginning of the development of my mare line and have the time to do so with the means of training. Down the road there is always room for trendy. Michael: I’ve chosen the legendary (now deceased)
Thoroughbred jumper stallion Coconut Grove for my El Bundy mare, as she’s a big girl who can use some blood, and an exciting newcomer who was reserve champion stallion in Munich this year—Coronet D’Honneur—for my Colman mare Riga. So I have the best of both worlds!
Can linebreeding further your goals? How can you build on what is in your existing mares' pedigrees to take advantage of established breeding 'nicks’ or to create one of your own for future generations? Scot: Nicks are important to look at. They help take some of the guess work out of the breeding equation. Linebreeding is a different story—this decision belongs in the hands of a very experienced breeder who knows his or her mares extremely well. For every positive trait you concentrate in the offspring, there are an equal number of negative traits getting the same potential concentration. Ronda: Linebreeding is commonly practiced in Belgium.
Since I do a lot of my shopping and learning in Belgium, I have started to think about doing some linebreeding with the variants of both Darco and Quidam de Revel in my program. I’m also very interested in seeing how my Holsteiner mares (and stallion) cross on the Darco and Quidam blood in my program. Ann: I’m captivated by
linebreeding if it’s done with great thought and attention. I see the results in my pony program from the tight breeding in my stallion Snapdragon’s (Welsh B) pedigree—he is the most consistent producer I’ve seen, especially in terms of type and movement. We will now be experimenting with the next generation, looking for Welsh B genetics in the same generation, sex balanced on both sides of the pedigree, to consolidate the traits we are looking for. While I am intrigued with the possibilities for Warmbloods too, I feel it must be done
very carefully, as the bad is equally loaded with the good when linebreeding. Remember the old saying: if it works, it’s called linebreeding, if it doesn’t, it’s inbreeding… Abigail: My 2012 Alexandro P colt is a product of well-
Michael Murphy. He has selected the legendary TB stallion Coconut Grove to breed to his big mare Evita.
thought-out and calculated reverse nicks. I started by looking at my mare, including her family history, and then turned to every stallion available to me from every registry. Because my mare is linebred, I wanted a stallion who would phenotypically complement her. Because I am outcrossing I believe that the stallion needs to be close in type, and bred tightly to his own type, so that down the line there will not be too much physical variation. Alexandro P’s movement, type, and character stirred something in my soul. I followed up on his first foal crop and his offspring displayed the characteristics I wanted to see, improved and extended in the following generations. After researching horses from similar bloodlines and
taking the time to meet Alexandro P, his family and his offspring, I had a good view on what my mare would be bringing to the equation. So far, I am very pleased with the results. This colt is developing into everything that I believed he would.
Imagine it is 2023. What changes do you see in the type, movement, jump, size, genetic composition, etc. of Warmbloods in the U.S. and in Europe? What do you see in your barn, pastures and arenas? Scot: I think jumpers are going to look a lot like they do
Ronda Stavinsky and sBs/BWP stallion Figaro B at his 70-Day Stallion Test.
now. The horse is only physically capable of jumping so high and so wide. Perhaps the quality of the average jumper will be higher than it is now but the basic physical properties that allow a horse to jump well in the first place won’t be substantially improved upon. The future dressage horses are going to look a lot more like the dressage horses of ten years ago, but with the movement and elasticity of today’s dressage horses. Rachel: Right now the
buzzword is modern. At some point, I think the use of more
and more refined, typey horses we like to call modern will start to swing the other way. Juniors and ‘ammies’ in the hunter world don’t want to ride hot, coiled-spring little TB types and we can’t lose the calmness we need. So in ten years I think we’ll see a little more substantial, Warmblood-type horse in the hunter ring.
Warmbloods Today 59
Angela Pritchard
Tamara Torti
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