Warmblood By Scot Tolman S
ince the featured studbook in this issue is my studbook of choice, I’m going to go partisan on y’all and blatantly profess my devotion. If you have followed my writing throughout
the years, you know that although it may seem as if I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, as one of the most vocal North American supporters of the KWPN and KWPN- NA, I’m also one of the loudest critics. But, in this piece, I’ll save the criticism for another time. Sometimes, it would be really nice to be able
to press my forehead against my 20-year-old son’s forehead and “beam” him with perspective as easily as he just “beamed” me the latest screen shot on his Smart Phone. For a couple weeks now, we’ve been discussing what he wants for his next tattoo. He only has one so far. On his eighteenth birthday, he and his older sister got matching “T”s on their rib cages. Were the T-for-Tolman parents consulted about this decision? Oh, no. We didn’t find out until a few days later when Keagan appeared sans t-shirt for breakfast. Actually, I have nothing against tattoos— some of them are really cool and incredible expressions of self. A tattooed necklace of bloody shark teeth adorning your clavicle or the words “Hell’s Spawn” permanently inked in 1000 point font across your upper back are decisions I have to believe most people will regret at some point later in their lives, however. Keagan wants a take-down circle on his right bicep and an inspirational wrestling quotation on his left. That’s not so bad, really. But doesn’t that count as two tattoos? What it boils down to is that it’s a bit difficult for me to
discourage my son from getting a tattoo that means a lot to him, when I have a tattoo that has special significance to me. It’s the KWPN brand and it’s on my left upper arm. Of course, I was 43 and had been breeding Dutch horses for over ten years when I made this decision—I wasn’t 20 with a penchant for taking my clothes off at the slightest provocation. One of my reasons for getting the tattoo is that when our horses attend their adult keuring and make it into the KWPN studbook, I like to have them branded; it only seems fair that I should have endured a similar momentary discomfort and now bear the same brand. My second reason is that I’m a devout follower of and believer in the Dutch system. I’ve spent the better part of the last 23 years using the tools it has given me to create horses more exceptional than I could have dreamt of as that little, fat kid sitting under my Nana’s locust tree playing with the plastic horses, one of which you already know I stole/”traded” from my cousin Judy. I love the KWPN system and my tattoo, my only one by the way, is a testament to my devotion. The Dutch are a people with a rich history in art, agriculture, politics and merchandising. Generation after generation of Dutchmen have figured out how to produce what people want,
82 September/October 2013
to the highest possible standard and in numbers and amounts that belie the size of their country. They have a system for everything, including horses. (And trees. I always tell my kids that I know when I’ve left Holland and driven into Germany because the trees aren’t spaced equally apart anymore.) What’s important about this history of
scientific production and astute marketing skills is that their impetus and their continual improvement and development is driven not by any organization; progress and development
are driven by people who have a vested interest in improving and selling their products, not only for themselves but also for the next generation of both family and product. In 2012, as recently reported in the KWPN magazine, In de Strengen, based on tax collected, total horse sales for export out of Holland were $211,325,855. And, believe it or not, given the world- wide economic situation, this number is up 27 percent from the year before. Idealism and passion for horses aside, strictly from a business and production standpoint, somebody is doing something very right. Forgive me if I’ve told you this story before, but it cracks me
up every time I think about it. Upon visiting a German breeder and stallion owner, and discussing over dinner and some particularly good wine the differences between German and Dutch breeders, he said the following: “If you go to a Dutch breeder and ask for a purple horse, he won’t have one. But, he will NEXT year.” Purple horses aside, to me, the KWPN brand represents a pursuit of excellence, a tradition of systematic evaluation and a generational approach to breeding. Additionally, I’m an instant- gratification-information-overload kind of guy. There’s no other studbook that feeds my insatiable need for data more fully than the KWPN. That’s why I breed Dutch horses and that’s why I have the tattoo. I’ve been able to find part of who I am as a human being through this system. From that standpoint, Keagan’s choice of the wrestling motif for his next tattoo(s) makes sense— wrestling has taught him incredible life lessons. Although, as I write this, it’s “Shark Week” and he’s DVRing about 20 different programs. So “Shark Week” could turn into “Shark Month”…and he could come home at any moment with the gaping, bloody, toothy mouth of a Great White permanently attacking his left butt cheek.
Scot Tolman has been breeding Dutch Warmbloods for over 20 years at Shooting Star Farm in Southwestern New Hampshire. Read more of Scot’s writing at
shootingstarfarm.com.
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