La Crème de la Crème A
Breeds of the 2014 Dressage HOY Winners
nticipation builds each year as competitors, breeders and loyal breed aficionados look forward to receiving the United States Dressage Federation’s (USDF) “Year- book” awards magazine in their mailbox.
This special issue features the recent year’s highest scor- ing horses regardless of age or breed. These prestigious “Horse of the Year” (HOY) awards recognize the top-scoring twenty horses and riders at each level, Training through Prix St. Georges, and the top-scoring fifteen horses at Inter- mediare I, Intermediare II and Grand Prix. After removing duplicate horses placing in more than one level, 155 indi- vidual horses were awarded HOY honors in 2014 (with ten horses placing in more than one level). In total,13,378 horses competed in USDF-recognized
dressage competitions in 2014 from Training Level to Grand Prix, with the top 1.2% receiving HOY honors last year. Competing horses and riders had to meet strict performance qualifying criteria, based on cumulative scores earned throughout the year, to be eligible. The statistics presented below are based on this group of 155 HOY horses. As a separate ranking, the highest scoring horses of each
breed are awarded USDF All-Breeds Awards. Sixty-one breed registries awarded USDF All-Breeds Awards for 2014, ranging from the American Connemara Pony Society to the Westfalen Horse Association. Those winners were also published in the Yearbook.
By Gigha Steinman
How did Warmbloods Fare? Of the 155 receiving top honors,144 horses (93 percent) were
Warmbloods. This subgroup was dominated by Hanoverians (43), Dutch Warmbloods (35) and Oldenburgs (27). (See the chart on p. 34 for the entire list by breed.) Friesians, Friesian Sporthorses, a Georgian Grande, a PRE (Pura Raza Espanola, or pure Spanish horse), and a Thoroughbred made up the remaining eleven HOY winners. Of the FEI-level HOY winners (Prix St. Georges to Grand
Prix), 57 of the 61 horses were Warmbloods and the group was dominated by Dutch Warmbloods (15), Hanoverians (14), Danish Warmbloods (10) and Oldenburgs (9). Two Frie- sians, a Friesian Sporthorse, and a PRE accounted for the four non-Warmbloods.
Leading Sires The Hanoverian stallion Rotspon (Rubinstein / Argentan / Pik
Bube) was the sire of the most winners overall. The black 1995 stallion, whose first offspring were born in 2000, was the sire of a total of eight winners, with three winners at the FEI level. Rotspon was also ranked seventh on the United States Eques- trian Federation (USEF) list of Leading Dressage Sires for 2014. Rotspon’s stallion son Royal Blend also sired two winners in the non-FEI levels. Sir Donnerhall had the second most offspring in the HOY
rankings overall. The 2001 Oldenburg stallion (Sandro Hit / Donnerhall / Feldherr) sired a total of five winners.
The Hanoverian stallion Rotspon sired the most HOY winning horses in 2014.
The Oldenburg stallion Sir Donnerhall had the second most offspring in the HOY rankings overall.
Warmbloods Today 33
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