sport
snippet horse
must have aligned in your favor the day you picked her out. That’s what happened to grand prix jumper trainer Glenn Hartigan of Alpharetta, Georgia, who never thought he would venture into breeding.
I “She certainly
didn’t look like much,” Glenn says with a laugh, re- ferring to the first time he met his Holsteiner mare O-Limbana ten years ago in Ger- many at a sales barn. She was six
years old, a chestnut, only 15.2 hands and was missing most of her mane and tail, which she had rubbed raw. Her skin was a mess and she was also too small. With all those strikes against her, Glenn was able to look past her appearance. “I stood there studying her conformation,” he contin-
ues, “and decided I had to see her jump. We put her in the jump chute and, as I suspected, she was amazing.” Glenn, who is originally from Nova Scotia, had previously worked for eight years in Germany, including at the famous Paul Schockemoehle stable. During those eight years, he gained a lot of valuable experience watching young jumper horses in the chute. “This little mare was as talented or maybe more talented than anything I’d ever watched free jump before. After learn-
By Liz Cornell Big Things Come From a Small Package
t’s every breeder’s dream to find that special mare who year after year produces one fabulous foal after the next. And if it’s your one-and-only broodmare, then the stars
ing of her ped- igree and then testing her under saddle, I knew I had to have her.” The mare’s sire was Lavaletto by Landgraf and her damsire was Capitol I followed by Caletto II and Lord. Besides her natural jumping ability, he adds, her best feature is her generous and kind temperament, which she passes on to each of her babies. Glenn was fortunate to have connections in Germany
and, since he had no room back in the U.S., he left his newly purchased mare behind at a German friend’s farm. “I figured she would be hard to sell so I decided to breed her to the stallion Contendro I [by Contender]. Limbana’s very first foal was outstanding, so I repeated that breeding the following year,” he says. Those first two siblings reside today at Glenn and his
wife Stephanie’s farm. Z-Coco Cabana, aka “Coco,” is a bay born in 2007 who now stands at 17 hands. She has become Glenn’s current top horse, having won multiple ribbons in her first year of grand prix competition in 2016. Coco’s full brother Clever, born in 2008, looks remarkably like her and is currently Stephanie’s dressage mount. So far Stephanie and Clever have won the open championship of the Holsteiner all-breeds awards at First and Second Level, and they are cur- rently showing Third. Clever can jump as well but, according to Stephanie, “He’s a bit too careful – I can barely stay in the saddle when he jumps because he jumps so high!” So far, Limbana has produced seven healthy foals with
one more on the way. “Like most breeders, we suffered some hard knocks. We lost one yearling and another preg- nancy was unfortunately twins, which went undiagnosed in Germany and went to full term, but the twins didn’t make it,” Glenn says. Four years ago, Glenn imported Limbana to the U.S. to
Left, top: A pregnant Limbana in Kentucky in 2015. Left, bottom: Stephanie Hartigan visits Limbana here in Kentucky with her 2014 colt by Canabis. Top right: Limbana in Germany in 2007 with her first foal, the filly Z-Coco Cabana.
84 March/April 2017
continue her breeding career. He felt the state of Kentucky offered the best environment for raising her foals. “I wanted them to grow up in big herds in rolling hills on nice grass. It’s so good for their early development,” he remarks. His search led him to place her at Avenir Farm in Paris, Kentucky, a breeding operation run by Donna Harrington. Other stallions that Glenn has chosen so far include Clin-
Limbana photos courtesy Glenn Hartigan
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