Twenty plus years ago, well before the full on marketing of ANCCE/PRE Andalusians and IALHA Lusitanos and Andalusians in the USA, little me was busy in Spain and Portugal buying these breeds and breeding horses in both Spain and Portugal for importation to our New York farm.
I was becoming disenfranchised with the ridiculous amount of OCD in the Hanoverian breed after buying, breeding and importing Hanoverians for over 26 years. When Gerd Brunken, the vet at Verden H.Q.Vhw, told me that 65 % of all the stallions they saw as two year olds had OCD lesions that were quickly removed via arthroscope before the stallions went to market at Celle I was stunned. My then German vet, who worked on my breeding program with warmbloods in the U.K. told me the same thing.
"Now look at the X-rays for those that are too clean," he explained. What was a girl to do? I loved my Hanoverians and warmbloods but this just wasn't working. When we had to put down a seven year old Oldenburg after having him from a foal due to the OCD issues it was the last straw.
So off I went to Spain and Portugal. The horses were then mostly bred for bullfighting. Their powers of collection were tight but impressive. Tension reined supreme in all their training. We looked also to the Interagro horses in Brazil. Herds and herds of youngsters, battling it out in the fields with terrible unkempt feet. Not quite the same marketing program that we know today from Brazil.
The breed height of these horses was 15.1hh as an average. Rarely did we meet a horse over 16hh although their stature was enough to provide more presence than the measuring stick indicated. Certainly there were no 16.3hh horses bouncing about. They would not ( back then) have been accepted into the stud book if they existed.
So this begs the question. Where has the new DNA arrived from that magically takes breeds that are hundreds of years old and have always made the 15.1hh their benchmark into the warmblood sporthorse size stratosphere?
I am not saying that I am not a fan of the 16hh to 16.2hh horse. For certain that is my favorite size to ride and train. I've done the 17hh+ lads and they always seem to break down in their hind ends just when they are making it big. No matter how well or carefully trained they are. So I learned to look at that middle range for my breeding goals for the Willowview Hill Farm breeding program.
But how has this sudden growth in size been brought about? It is a question to ponder.
For me there is a compromise. We went from straight registry breeding to cross breeding for both mental and physical soundness over six years ago. Our yard is now a mix of Dutch Warmblood crossed with Andalusian, Percheron and Belgian in small measures, a little Thoroughbred for spice. The new mare line up for this season is a sired by world class Canadian dressage team horse Gambol, a true black beauty crossed to a Thoroughbred and also Gambol crossed to a Belgian cross mare. Our two older Grand Prix geldings are Percheron/Andalusian/DWB and DWB/Percheron/TB.
What to breed the two mares to this season? That has been contemplated over and over. We bounce between the Andalusian and Lusitanos available to us from friends in Spain and Portugal, to friends in the U.K. with the same breeds, to adding back some more Dutch Warmblood.
We have found the mix of bloodlines to work impressively well over these past six years. With a slight hiatus in our breeding program due to economic downturns and soft horse market sales, we are now back at it.
Will we select a 16.3hh PRE horse? Humm. I don't know. Should we join the fray?
I was becoming disenfranchised with the ridiculous amount of OCD in the Hanoverian breed after buying, breeding and importing Hanoverians for over 26 years. When Gerd Brunken, the vet at Verden H.Q.Vhw, told me that 65 % of all the stallions they saw as two year olds had OCD lesions that were quickly removed via arthroscope before the stallions went to market at Celle I was stunned. My then German vet, who worked on my breeding program with warmbloods in the U.K. told me the same thing.
"Now look at the X-rays for those that are too clean," he explained. What was a girl to do? I loved my Hanoverians and warmbloods but this just wasn't working. When we had to put down a seven year old Oldenburg after having him from a foal due to the OCD issues it was the last straw.
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| Fenix ( Oldenburg) as a 4 year old receiving some out and about training off the arena after a longe session |
So off I went to Spain and Portugal. The horses were then mostly bred for bullfighting. Their powers of collection were tight but impressive. Tension reined supreme in all their training. We looked also to the Interagro horses in Brazil. Herds and herds of youngsters, battling it out in the fields with terrible unkempt feet. Not quite the same marketing program that we know today from Brazil.
The breed height of these horses was 15.1hh as an average. Rarely did we meet a horse over 16hh although their stature was enough to provide more presence than the measuring stick indicated. Certainly there were no 16.3hh horses bouncing about. They would not ( back then) have been accepted into the stud book if they existed.
So this begs the question. Where has the new DNA arrived from that magically takes breeds that are hundreds of years old and have always made the 15.1hh their benchmark into the warmblood sporthorse size stratosphere?
I am not saying that I am not a fan of the 16hh to 16.2hh horse. For certain that is my favorite size to ride and train. I've done the 17hh+ lads and they always seem to break down in their hind ends just when they are making it big. No matter how well or carefully trained they are. So I learned to look at that middle range for my breeding goals for the Willowview Hill Farm breeding program.
But how has this sudden growth in size been brought about? It is a question to ponder.
For me there is a compromise. We went from straight registry breeding to cross breeding for both mental and physical soundness over six years ago. Our yard is now a mix of Dutch Warmblood crossed with Andalusian, Percheron and Belgian in small measures, a little Thoroughbred for spice. The new mare line up for this season is a sired by world class Canadian dressage team horse Gambol, a true black beauty crossed to a Thoroughbred and also Gambol crossed to a Belgian cross mare. Our two older Grand Prix geldings are Percheron/Andalusian/DWB and DWB/Percheron/TB.
What to breed the two mares to this season? That has been contemplated over and over. We bounce between the Andalusian and Lusitanos available to us from friends in Spain and Portugal, to friends in the U.K. with the same breeds, to adding back some more Dutch Warmblood.
We have found the mix of bloodlines to work impressively well over these past six years. With a slight hiatus in our breeding program due to economic downturns and soft horse market sales, we are now back at it.
Will we select a 16.3hh PRE horse? Humm. I don't know. Should we join the fray?
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