BREEDER SPOTLIGHTS
Quality Not Quantity By Laura Connaway
twofold. First, the cost of purchasing a going and talented horse is so great that I could not afford to buy a jumper that was talented enough to compete at the level that matched my ambitions. Second, I enjoy the process of training and instilling a solid relationship with my hors- es. I like developing each horse’s individual plan based on his or her personality, strengths and weaknesses. It was a natural progression for me because I grew up producing my own horses. Now my horses are just much more tal- ented and I have more knowledge. My goal is to have a great jumper with a great mind. I want to ride a horse with extreme jumping talent who is quick thinking and reacts immediately with confidence and calmness to situations in the show ring and training. With this goal in mind, I have embraced the German Oldenburg breed- ing lines that mix strength and blood. I feel the German Oldenburg breeding lines are more modern and enable me to produce horses who suit my personality and riding style. So far I have bred five horses and I am their sole trainer/rider. When my home-bred horses were ready to begin their work under saddle, I sold the remaining going horses I had so I could focus and be fully committed to my own stock. I bred one mare every other year so that I would have time to prop- erly produce each horse. My goal is to develop each horse I breed to the peak of his or her potential. I believe I have been very
A
TOP: Laura trains and competes her home-bred Oldenburgs. She and her mare Ceralena competed at Grand Prix in Wellington this past winter. MIDDLE: Quite Funny, her 8-year-old gelding, is headed into a grand prix career. BOTTOM: Boaz, a 2016 colt Laura bred using embryo transfer, who is by Balou du Rouet and out of her mare Ceralena.
48 May/June 2017 SPECIAL Oldenburg SECTION
s a competitor based in Arkansas, why should I breed my own horses? My motivation to begin breeding was
successful. Te first horse I bred (Quite Easy (Quidam de Reval) x Calido I) became a successful 3’6 hunter. I sold him when he was 11 years old. I currently own and show three of my other home-breds as jumpers. My ten-year-old mare Ceralena has wins at 1.40m and placings in 1.50m Grand Prix classes. Ceralena is also by Quite Easy x Calido I. My eight-year-old gelding Quite Funny jumped his first 1.40m classes in 2017 with a clear! Quite Funny is by Quite Easy x Quat’sous. And my six-year-old gelding Quintard, Quite Funny’s full brother, is working his way up the ranks and competing at 1.20m. My lovely Grand Prix horse Ceralena produced her first
foal by embryo transfer in 2016 so I am now starting to re- plenish my stock for the future. She produced Boaz, who is by Balou du Rouet. I have already started his training and he has a very thoughtful and engaging personality that seeks to please his handler. I do not breed more than I am comfortable training and
producing. I work full time, so time constraints are certainly an issue when planning my breeding and allotting time to start my horses properly. Just the other day I thought how lucky I am that my horses
have such consistency in their lives. Tey have never gone onto a trailer when I did not put them on and take them off. I am the only one who has ever jumped them and I was the first to swing my leg over to ride them. Tere are tremendous challenges in training a horse to the
1.50m level and certainly not every person is capable of pro- ducing a horse from start to Grand Prix. When I come out of the show ring and my horse has worked so smart and hard for me, it is a feeling beyond anything I can describe. v
The Open Studbook Advantage By Leslie Carter
breeder is to produce a horse of solid character, very well- schooled on the flat and over fences, who could be a winner for either a junior/amateur rider or for a professional riding for an owner who wants to enjoy their horse with someone else in the tack. I strive to produce a horse that is some- one’s dream horse—their “once in a lifetime” horse. To accomplish this goal and refine my results, I select stallions of modern type who excel in their fields. On the stallion side, this is how I first came to appreciate the ben- efits of the Oldenburg GOV’s open studbook, whereby they approve top stallions from other studbooks as well as their own. If you need a stallion that contributes a certain style of movement, they’ve got it; a certain jumping style,
I
run a small breeding operation in Arkansas, well outside of the hub of horse showing. My principal focus as a
Oldenburg Horse Breeders’ Society Laura Connaway Sportfot Sportfot
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