Newly imported stallion Whisper has wasted no time in stamping his authority on local dressage circles, taking out the Grand Prix Championship at Waitemata with new rider Jody Hartstone at the weekend.
The striking black son of Weltmeyer has been in the country for only about a week, and the Waitemata event was his first show in nearly a year.
Hartstone was delighted at Whisper's performance. "He easily got the qualifying scores to allow him to compete at the Dressage Nationals and the Horse of the Year show. To come away with three wins and the Grand Prix Championship was an added bonus."
Hartstone said Whisper's score of 69.8% in the GP freestyle was one of the highest ever recorded in the country.
 The newly imported hanoverian stallion Whisper. © Mayfield Farm |
Securing the horse proved a coup for Hartstone and Erin Mortimer, of Point Wells, as Whisper was not even officially on the market. Hartstone had already made enquiries about the 17hh Dutch-bred stallion with Dr Kerry Mack, who had bought the horse in 2003 while competing at the World Championships for Young Dressage Horses. Mack said at the time: "Whisper was too good not to bring home with me. He won the ZZ Licht with Hans Peter Minderhoud when he was seven years old (the Advanced Championship of Holland), prior to this he was second in the Bundeschampionat in the six-year-old class. It is not often that we see well performed stallions coming into Australia," she said.
Whisper, who was bred by Heinrich Niewoehner, is also known as Weltstar 38 in Germany and Whisper IV in Australia. He is a Hanoverian Licensed stallion.
Hartstone says Whisper is "truly the whole package. He is divine to ride - an incredible amount of power but with a fantastic brain and temperament to match."
Previously ridden by Brett Parbery, Whisper qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games. He has also won the Australian National Championships at Grand Prix level.
Hartstone says her short-term plan is the New Zealand Nationals, the Horse of the Year Show and then "all things going well", a trip to the Sydney CDI in the hope of a Certificate of Capability for the World Equestrian Games.
"That's a big ask for a new partnership, but he is only 13 so we will have a crack at qualifying for the next Olympics as well as the following World Equestrian Games," Hartstone said.
 The Sydney CDI is on the cards for Hartstone and Whisper. © HotShot Horses |
Whisper has already commenced stud duties, and Hartstone feels he will be an asset to dressage bloodlines in the country. "Not only is he by Weltmeyer, his dam-sire Fiener Stern is very highly regarded and it is extremely hard to find these bloodlines in this part of the world."
As well as Whisper, Hartstone's other new ride is the gelding Marceau, whom she bought from Germany in September. He is owned by Hartstone, Erin Mortimer and "The Matakana Collection", a group of dressage enthusiasts from the Rodney region.
"Marceau has had a great competition season so far, winning a good number of classes at Prix St Georges level, making the New Zealand Team at the World Dressage Challenge in only his second NZ outing, and he was reserve North Island Champion, too," said Hartstone.
At Waitemata at the weekend, Marceau missed out being Advanced Champion by a count back, but over the competition he had two wins, a third and a fourth placing.
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