This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Above left: R-Star and Kristi Nunnink on cross-country, jumping The Goose fence at Rolex Kentucky 2013. Right: D- R-Star and Kristi Nunnink in stadium jumping, Rolex Kentucky 2013.


Much of that advice came from the late Kaye Norment


Smarslik, a Holsteiner expert who lived in Germany. An American from Georgia, Kaye translated a valuable resource on Holsteiner stallions, Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Warm- blood Breed: Volume II, Stallion Approval Years 1952-1986. Charlotte was in good company. Two other Americans that Kaye helped were instructing the young Michelle Gibson and Karen Reid of Fox Fire Farm. “Kaye went to see this filly and reported, ‘Excellent filly,


very superior,’ and said the owner-breeders did not want to sell her, but chose to do so in private circumstances,” recalls Charlotte. “Kaye told me a great deal about Corofino and several other prominent individuals in the pedigree. She also suggested that when breeding Marisol it would be good to add back crosses of Landgraf or Ladykiller (but not through Lord, who was already doubled in Marisol’s pedigree). Later, this was part of my decision to breed to Riverman.” Marisol had her AHHA inspection in 1999, receiving a to- tal of 50 bonits from the German panel. “She was champion mare at her inspection, and when the judges announced her score they began by saying, ‘This is the exactly the kind of horse we want to produce.’ Scanning the online results of prior AHHA approvals, it appeared to me that at the time, no horse in the U.S. inspected by the AHHA had ever received a higher total score,” Charlotte recounts. Unfortunately for Charlotte, the lovely imported mare


grew and grew to maybe 17 hands. “Due to her size and the Lyme disease I contracted in 1997, she never became a riding horse for me.” Marisol was not put into serious professional training for


competition. However, she did once spend a month with Charlotte’s friend, Rachel Saavedra, a USDF gold medal rider who was also on the senior faculty of the USDF Instructor Certification Program. “At the time, I was considering selling Marisol. Rachel’s opinion was that the mare was clearly capable of FEI-level


26 November/December 2013


dressage, likely Grand Prix,” says Charlotte. “But Rachel felt that her highest and best use would be over fences. Rachel said that Marisol could ‘jump a house’ and I agreed. Her canter was huge, slow, rhythmic, perfectly balanced and incredibly powerful.” She adds, “So it’s really not surprising that R-Star is as talented as she is. The balance and the power definitely came through to the foal.” Charlotte bred Marisol as a three-year-old in 2000 so that


if her foal were Premium (which Rosie was), Marisol would have permanent Premium Mare status in the Holsteiner stud book. Riverman (Redfort x Landego) was her choice. “Among other things, Riverman has 3x3 sex-balanced linebreeding to Landgraf I,” she says. “That increased the influence of the Holsteiner breed-shaping Thoroughbred Ladykiller xx (sire of both Landgraf I and Lord). Riverman brought elegance, elasticity and a proven sire record—with Marisol so big and powerful, it seemed just right and was consistent with the advice I’d gotten from Kaye,” she says. Landgraf I and Lord are two influential sires in Schleswig-Holstein. The 1990 gray stallion Riverman was imported in 1995 and still stands at Hilltop Farm in Colora, Maryland. He has become one of the most successful sires in the U.S., with champions in eventing, dressage, jumping, hunters and driv- ing. Twice he has placed first in the USEF sire of year eventing list (2009 and 2010) and twice he has been the USEF top U.S.- based show jumping sire (2011 and 2012). So far in 2013, he’s ranked second on the eventing sires list, with Rosie earning the highest number of his points.


Life with Kristi Rosie moved to Kristi’s barn in 2005. “I bought her late fall of her four-year-old season,” says Kristi. Kristi had ridden Hol- steiners while working at another farm in Nevada. “I love their temperament,” she says. “I rode a lovely Holsteiner gelding imported from Germany, up to the Advanced level. Cosmic Boy was a good jumper and a really good mover.”


Both photos, Charlene Strickland


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100