Classical Dressage Art in Motion

If you've ever produced a foal from your mare and orchestrated the entire breeding process from start to finish from sire selection, AI and delivery with imprint training and weaning, then you know how rewarding the process of horse breeding is and how it has enriched your life. Sure there are ups and downs, and I do count my blessings that in 25+ years of breeding registered Hanoverians, Dutch and Baroque horses, we have never lost a foal or mare or had any mishaps. Aside from one mare who resorbed her foal one year and went through a false pregnancy period thereafter. I know that false pregnancy is not strictly a veterinary term, but it certainly fits the experience we had in that particular instance. Now it is time to retire from the business of horse breeding. All the horses running about out there with the Willowview Hill Farm WVH, either as a prefix or suffix, are a testament to our dedication to produce kind, athletic sporthorses for the dressage world. Their progeny con...

I was recently talking to a group of students who asked about preference in breed of horse for a successful dressage horse and why Paul and I didn't breed registered warmbloods much anymore. While we bred, imported, trained and loved our 20+ years as a Hanoverian dressage breeder (with a few Oldenburgs thrown in), we came full circle in our breeding program and came back to the beauty of the cross bred horses. Why? The soundness and great temperaments that crossbreds can produce I believe comes from their genetic variety. After so many visits to Verden to purchase horses, the 65% statistic for OCD that was given me by their own vet, Dr. Gerd Bruncken was validated at every turn. Our operation in the U.K. where we also bred many Donnerhall, Lord Sinclair and other warmblood lines and imported them as part of the Willowview Hill International Collection every Spring, also taught us that OCD was a sincere issue across the German lines. We moved into Dutch Warmblood breeding as ...

As many of you know our small breeding operation at Willowview Hill Farm based now in Stamford, New York and for some years also duplicated in the U.K.,  has produced some super horses since 1993. It's hard to believe that we've been at this that long. As Spring 2014 is now on the horizon it is with renewed excitement we begin more youngsters under saddle. It is a labor or love from inception design, conception through the 11 month pregnancy, then birth and and imprint training. So after all that daily handling and lesson teaching in hand it is finally time this Spring for us to start up three fillies and introduce them to work under saddle. We are very excited! Gambol's Middernacht at 3 years old, with her 'Tina Turner" hair All three fillies are sired by Gambol. With KWPN ( GOV and others too) approval and strong Dutch warmblood genetics, Gambol himself was competed on the world stage by Canadian Ashley Holzer. His babies here have all inherited his exce...