American-Bred Holsteiners
Embracing By Liz Cornell
and level-headed, which is why the breed has been instrumen- tal in influencing the bloodlines of other sport horse breeds and registries around the globe. While there are thousands of great Holsteiner horses
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across our vast continent, here we bring to your attention a few gems and their breeders and owners.
A Family Tradition for the McElvains Over four decades ago, New Mexican Betty McElvain fell in love with the Holsteiner breed during her visit to Schleswig Holstein in Germany. She discovered the imported stallion, Columbus, and purchased him from the American Asso- ciation of Breeders of Holsteiner Horses. His impressive bloodlines were Calypso II x Farnese. Columbus ended up being the foundation for her breeding program and she later stood several additional outside owned stallions including Manchester, Le Santo, Churchill and Chardonney. At one point she was the largest breeder of Holsteiner horses in the
olsteiner horses are known for being wonderful athletes who always aim to please their human part- ners. At the same time these horses are intelligent
United States, owning ten percent of the country’s Holsteiner population. Her son, Guy McElvain, grew up riding and has been
actively breeding and showing his own jumpers with his wife Sharon for the past twenty years. Now they are joined by their own children, Chenoa and Clayton. Betty’s farm Ran- cho La Querencia and Guy and Sharon’s Rancho Corazon merged in 2008 and has continued to breed Holsteiner sport horses. Now Chenoa, currently an amateur rider, aspires to take over the business in the future and uphold the family tradition of breeding sport horses. Which notable horse has brought them the most joy and
competitive success? His name is Courchevel. Tey bred him from the pairing of Columbus and Sharon’s personal mare, Roquetta (Rulla Roque x Crazy Kid). Sharon started Courchevel herself and went on to show him very successfully, earning many wins in the Amateur Owner jumpers and plac- ings in the Grand Prixs. A career highlight for the pair was a championship in the Amateur Owner jumpers for Zone 8. Guy also showed Courchevel at Grand Prix earning many top ribbons. In addition, Courchevel’s full sister has been one of their top-producing broodmares and they are very excited to see some of her foals in the show ring in the coming years. Another one of Courchevel’s full siblings, Chamonix, also reached the Grand Prix ring and had great success. “Courchevel has been the most successful home-bred
horse we have had to this date. He had a wonderful disposi- tion and was very willing and trainable. His mind combined with his athleticism and scope made him a once in a lifetime horse for me,” says Sharon. In regards to Courchevel’s success with his amateur rid-
ers, Betty says of his sire Columbus, “Te best thing about Columbus was his disposition. Tat was his most incredible trait that he passed on and he always passed it on. He was a worker and would do anything you wanted him to do.” Te family is also enthusiastic about a new stallion they
bred, Cristal, whose bloodlines are a combination of their own foundation lines. His dam, Electra, is by another foun- dation stallion, Lutz Wallem’s Le Santo, and Cristal’s sire
LEFT: Rancho Corazon’s stallion Cristal who was highest-scoring American-bred Holsteiner stallion in 2013 at the inspections.
44 July/August 2014 SPECIAL HOLSTEINER SECTION
David Honor
American Holsteiner Horse Association Sharon McElvain
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