sport horse snippets
Consul Celebrates 30 by Amber Heintzberger
C
onsul, one of the most influential sires in North America, recently celebrated his thirtieth birth- day. Standing at Iron Spring Farm in Coatesville,
Pennsylvania. this 1994 Dutch Warmblood stallion (Nim- merdor x Waloniki/Purioso) is one of the farm’s most recognized stallions. Even at 30 years old, his relevance is undiminished. Consul was from the Preferent stallion Nimmerdor’s
seventh foal crop and was his tenth son (out of 18) to be ap- proved by the KWPN. Consul’s dam Waloniki is a Star, Prefer- ent, Prestatie mare from the famous “Niki” line. She produced seven foals, and is one of the few mares to be on the KWPN mare indexes for dressage and jumpers simultaneously. For more than two decades, Consul has made his mark
on U.S. breeding and high performance equestrian com- petition. His offspring excel in every discipline and he counts among his famous progeny the international show jumper Judgement ISF, who earned more than $1.5 mil- lion in his career under rider Beezie Madden and is now an outstanding sire in his own right, also standing at Iron Spring Farm. Consul was purchased in the winter of 1988 and arrived
in the U.S. in January 1989. He bred his first mares in North America in 1989, so his oldest foals in this country are now 23 years old. Judgement ISF is from his second North American crop. Across the disciplines, his offspring continue to excel.
His son Zanzibar (x Juventafee/Farmer) was third in the 2013 USEF Developing Grand Prix Dressage Horse Cham- pionships and had three wins in the Developing Horse classes in Wellington in 2014. Consul is also the sire of four- star eventer Critical Decision, as well as numerous other athletes in all disciplines. His daughter, the Keur mare Hivona, is a Produce of Dam winner at Dressage at Devon and continues to be one of the top producing broodmares in the KWPN-NA. Consul’s own performance achievements include earn- ing 22 first place wins at Fourth Level dressage, competing as a winning show jumper in the Netherlands, and com- pleting the 100-day testing in Ermelo, the Netherlands. Consul was collected for cooled semen until the end of the 2011 breeding season at age 27 and it is still avail- able for breeding. “We froze a lot of his semen over the years, so we have really good frozen available for breeders and he continues to be one of the farm’s most popular stal- lions, producing horses for all disciplines,” says Iron Spring Farm’s Assistant Broodmare Manager Andrea Bomkamp.
60 May/June 2014 Consul, KWPN stallion that has stood at Iron Sping Farm since 1989. Consul is the oldest stallion in the history of Iron Spring
Farm, although many of the ISF stallions, including Ram- pal and Roemer, lived into their twenties. To celebrate his birthday, Consul received an extra special grooming and special attention—the staff adorned him with festive rib- bons and decorations. Not only is Consul a well-known and influential sire, he is something of a pet at the farm. His old age and vener- able status have earned him a few perks, as well as con- cessions to his particularities. “Consul is hand walked and hand grazed twice a day,” Andrea explains. “He does not like being turned loose in a field and will pace and walk the gate area, upsetting himself. He used to go in a pad- dock, but he is very sensitive to bugs and doesn’t like them at all!” Consul is also a picky eater who has gotten even pickier
with age. “The only feed he will eat is sweet feed, plus alfalfa, which most of the ISF stallions do not get,” Andrea continues. “We also hand pick grass to be fed to him sev- eral times a day in his stall. This helps get extra fluid in his digestive system. The only supplement he will eat is his Thyro-L. He also gets Cool Blue Gatorade powder in one of his water buckets. It’s the only flavor that he likes.” Today Consul is a household name amongst sport
horse enthusiasts, and his influence on American breeding is undeniable. Fortunately, he remains a strong and viva- cious character, despite his retirement, and will continue to live out his days as the patriarch of Iron Spring Farm – Cool Blue Gatorade and all.
Terri Miller
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