2017 Stallion of Distinction: Salute the Truth, continued...
ship and he…we… had a big fan club.” Wil- lie’s fan club grew primarily due to his yearly demonstrations at Maryland Horse World Expo, where Steuart would ride him bareback in the main arena. “People just liked what a pretty horse he was and how even as a stallion he could be so rideable.” It was not until 2003 that Willie and Steuart made it around their fi rst two-star, placing 29th a the Stuart CIC2*, and then 39th at the Rad- nor Hunt International 3-Day. T ey moved up to Advanced in February of 2004 at the Pine Top Spring Advanced and started working their way towards the CCI3* at Fair Hill Inter- national. T ey fi nished that fi rst three-star in 43rd place, making Salute the Truth the only American-bred T oroughbred stallion compet- ing at the Advanced level. Willie retired sound from competition at the end of 2007. For the next ten years, “T e Boss” of Dodon Farm’s only job was being a stallion.
Breeding a Legacy
Although at fi rst Steuart had big dreams of cre- ating a breeding syndicate for Salute the Truth, he changed his mind and decided to retain full ownership of the stallion and thus, full breed- ing rights. “In the high point of his career, he was covering about 30 mares a season,” Steuart remarked. “But then the recession hit and breed-
ing around the state really took a dive.” Over his breeding career, Salute the Truth
produced 148 foals that are known. “Sometimes mare owners don’t send us any updates,” Erin
down in Georgia that is really cute!” Dodon Farm bred 11 of their own mares to
him over the years with a mix of T orough- breds and Warmbloods. “He really comple- mented the Warmbloods, giving them a lighter feel,” Steuart said. “As a breeding stallion, he produced nice movers that made really quiet foxhunters and low level event horses.” Steuart went on to say that these off spring typically had a laid back personality that made them not always the most careful show jumpers. “T at is what kept many of them out of the top of the sport with pros like Buck Davidson and Boyd Martin,” he added. Although we have not seen a Willie baby in
It’s the Truth (Salute the Truth x The Associ- ate), pictured here at Morven Park (VA) was Liz Riley’s fi rst Advanced horse.
Pittman stated. T e majority of these breedings were for sport horses. And mares were not only T oroughbreds! “We bred my Paint mare to him and got this super sweet Belgian-looking geld- ing,” Erin said. “And there is a Connemara-cross
the Olympics yet, there are several who have competed at the international levels, including It’s T e Truth (aka “Tom”), owned by Advanced- level event rider Liz Riley of Charlottesville, VA. Liz bred her own Intermediate Canadian Sport- horse mare, T e Associate, to Salute the Truth with hopes of producing her fi rst Advanced horse. “My mare was only 15.2 hands and Tom was her only foal,” Liz said adding, “My mum thought I was crazy and that he would never grow big enough, but he turned out to be a very handsome 16.3 hand horse of a lifetime.” Liz did all of Tom’s training on her own, stat- ing that nothing bothered him; “I backed him
continued...
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