STALLION TEST CHAMPIONS By Charlene Strickland Fabian performing at the 70-Day Stallion Test. Martha presented Fabian to the Oldenburg Horse
Breeders’ Society in the fall of 2010, running her yearling herself. Society director Holly Simensen said he had a good trot and good walk. (Yearlings don’t receive scores with this registry.) Martha also taught Fabian to free jump on the lunge,
and her colt surprised her over one obstacle he initially re- fused. “He stopped dead and looked at it. I said, ‘I told you, I want you to get over that jump.’ He backed up four steps and jumped, and my jaw dropped. Do you understand what I am saying? He just went over the jump!” Starting under saddle, Fabian again showed his sen-
sitivity. Martha took her time, seeing he was afraid of the saddle and stirrups. “He had that streak where new things would upset him. He was very reactive, and really strong. He was probably one of the strongest horses I’ve sat on as a three-year-old.” Martha thought he would fear her riding him, but in-
stead, “He was thinking, ‘You are scared—I should walk real slow.’ We would walk two or three steps, then stop. I felt he was saying, ‘I need to take care of you.’ He was care- ful so I wouldn’t get nervous,” she says. “At Silver Creek, I told them, ‘He’s a really nice stallion
for an old lady, and let’s keep him that way.’ He wants to take care of his rider. He doesn’t want to hurt people,” Mar- tha adds.
IN THE BREEDING BARN Martha breeds Fabian herself. He waits in a large stall, where she brings in the mare. “He’s figured out I won’t
Fabian as a yearling presented by Martha Diaz at the 2010 Inspection of the Oldenburg Horse Breeders Society.
bring her in until he’s on the other side of the stall.” She first bred him as a late two-year-old, holding the mare with Fabian loose. She and the young stud worked out a system. “At first he had his head on my side so I could look in his eye. I could see him thinking, ‘I can’t look at you while I’m on her.’ He slid off her, like he was not excited any more. Then he jumps on her again and has his head on the other side. Now I don’t even look at him.” Martha’s found that Fabian’s offspring look and act like him. She first bred him to a Thoroughbred and a Quarter Horse, “just to see if once he bred he would behave and still be a nice stallion.” Next she bred him to two Warm- blood mares for approved RPSI foals, and will continue breeding him to her own three Warmbloods. Martha showed Fabian once in 2013, at a July USEF
show in Albuquerque. He scored 70 percent in First Level Test 1, and 75.645 in Test 3. She’s planning to bring him to Second Level in his first 2014 show and Third Level later this year. Martha says happily, “When he came back from the
stallion test, he was really fit. His muscles are rock hard, and that is the only reason I would consider Third Level. They get those horses really fit at Silver Creek, galloping them a lot.”
Warmbloods Today 19
Charlene Strickland
Kimmy Risser Photography
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