BREEDER SPOTLIGHTS
they’ve got it; a certain body type or temperament, they’ve got that too. Selection is critical to a good breeding program. By necessity and luck, I was ahead of the curve producing
what we now refer to as the “modern” type of sport horse. I started with Toroughbred mares of a very specific body type—high neck set, uphill movement—and specific blood- lines because that is what my budget would allow. Tree vol- umes of the book Bloodlines of Hunters and Jumpers in North America by P. H. Birdsall, D.V.M. became my breeding bible. I referenced the most prolific sires of winning Toroughbred jumping horses in the 1950s and ’60s and set out with my list of “must have” bloodlines for my mares. After my first generation, subsequent generations were
bred only to Warmblood stallions known for producing leg- gier types and with excellent competition results. Many of the Oldenburg-approved stallions were of this type, so I repeatedly looked to that studbook to improve my offspring. Teir open studbook offered me a great variety when selecting the most appropriate stallion to accomplish a specific breeding goal. Many of the people who buy from me purchase youngsters for the hunter ring; this is a large segment of the American market and, as a breeder, you need to produce what sells. I’ve found the Donnerhall and Rohdiamant line stallions produce beautiful movers with a spectacular hunter jump, who also do well at a 4’6” derby fence from a hunter gap! Donnerhall offspring in particular tend to have beautiful heads. Recently, I have experimented with stallions from the Argentinus line with very good results in the hunter ring. Specifically, I’ve used Apiro, a stallion who stands in the U.S. Te Voltaire line consistently produces tidy front ends and very nice movers, so those stallions can be a good choice for breeding hunters. I have also had lovely results using Viva Voltaire in Canada. All these stallions and lines are represented in the Oldenburg studbook by way of the open studbook policy. Mare owners can have access to their choice of stallions to suit their breeding goals anywhere in the world today, which makes an open studbook policy even more attractive to a breeder. With the rise in breeding technology, there are options for really nice young mares to produce a foal while they remain in training. All of my competition mares have been “working mothers.” A really nice mare in the show ring can be a breeder’s best advertisement! In addition to chilled fresh semen, which I
TOP: Chapel Hill (a.k.a. Cassini Z) as a three-year-old. BOTTOM: Nightwatch is a Grand Prix jumper shown by Holly Shepherd.
50 May/June 2017 SPECIAL Oldenburg SECTION
started with back in the 80s, I have used quite a bit of frozen semen with great success. I use embryo transfer and am now involved with ICSI. Te vast majority of buyers in the U.S. are children and amateurs, so producing an excellent athlete with a workman- like attitude who tries to please is my breeding goal. In ad- dition, Americans like to ride horses with more blood and breeding stallions have definitely moved in that direction. Oldenburg stallions tend to be more refined with pretty faces, plenty of blood and movement that translates well to the hunter ring. As a result, they are a good match for the Ameri- can market. A current marketing opportunity for breeders in America is
to produce smaller, sporty versions of dressage, eventers, hunt- ers and jumpers for children and smaller adults. Towards that end, I took a beautiful, great-moving 15-hand mare and bred her to Ridley, an Oldenburg and Weser Ems approved Ha- noverian stallion of similar size, currently standing in Virginia. Te resulting offspring was a flashy black filly with great move- ment and style and a solid temperament… in short, a real head turner. She is perfect for the older adult amateur dressage la- dies who can’t or don’t want to maneuver a large horse around the ring. And this segment of the market has buying power! At the other end of the spectrum, I produced an FEI-level
jumper by breeding my Capone mare to Cassini II, also Old- enburg approved. In combining the Contender and Capitol lines, my plan was to produce an elite-level jumper and the re- sulting offspring accomplished just that. Chapel Hill (shown under the name Cassini Z) was purchased by the Cone family and ridden by Darragh Kenny from Ireland to success in the World Cup qualifier classes at only nine years of age. What makes this particularly remarkable is that they accomplished this in just four years. Trough this spectacular horse, I learned to take time with
the young ones, especially the slower-maturing ones. In the end, they will not be behind their peers; they will rise to the level of their training and genetic ability right on time, and of sound mind and body. After 35 years breeding, I am so proud: of the horses I’ve
bred who have competed very successfully for their owners; of the owners who willingly invested a lot of time and money to develop their horses; of the professional riders who helped pro- duce these horses to the highest level of sport; and of the train- ers who trusted that the horses were exactly as I presented them when offered for sale. All this could not have happened effec- tively without the open studbook concept of the Oldenburgs. When you are a breeder, you must surround yourself
with a great team so that everyone is successful, includ- ing the horse. Define your goals and look specifically for mares and stallions that contribute to those breeding goals. I try to produce show horses who allow their owners dreams to come true, because when their dreams are real- ized, mine are too. v
Oldenburg Horse Breeder’s Society Photos courtesy Leslie Carter
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