The Hanoverian February 2002 The Hannoverian breed originated in Saxony, northern Germany. The stud at Celle was founded in 1735 and as early as 1790 pedigrees were recorded. The 19th century Hanoverian was used for transport and, as other breeds were brought to Germany, all stallions were required to be registered. Early in the 20th century a substantial work horse was required but also one that had rideability. After 2 world wars, and changes to agriculture and industry horse breeding was not profitable and some old established lines were lost. Strict regulations for conformation and performance were put in place and this is still the case today. The Hannoverian horse is a strong, correctly built, versatile, athletic Warmblooded horse capable of superior performance under saddle. – has dynamic, ground covering , elastic paces – has a willingness and capacity to perform – has a temperament and rideability suitable for any equestrian discipline. The strict breeding control has resulted in the creation of the modern Hanoverian horse which is a top performance animal. (from the NZ. Hanoverian booklet) WITZBOLD – A CONVERSATION WITH ERIC ROPIHA When Winnebago became infertile in about his third season in New Zealand a replacement was urgently required. The Hannoverian Verband was sympathetic to our problem and recommended Witzbold as a replacement. They gave him dispensation from the 100 day test, which he would have been commencing shortly after the time he was shipped to New Zealand. He arrived in July belonging to much the same syndicate that had imported Winnebago. He had fair success straight away, having a book of mares which included those booked for Winnebago and more besides. He crossed well with Thoroughbred mares. Eric feels that he would have been appreciated more had Kiwis had more experience of Warmblood horses. Thoroughbreds are easier to train and this is what most New Zealanders had used for competition. The Thoroughbred matures earlier, - they are racing at 2 years old. Warmbloods do not mature, either physically or mentally until 6 years old, so potentially good horses were being rushed and sometimes spoiled or discarded because they had not reached maturity. The Hanoverian is not just a docile performer. He has the power to collect and elevate. However he must have good conformation, the legs being particularly important. After all you cannot sell a horse that does not have good conformation. Witzbold was an excellent choice for New Zealand. He proved to be versatile and produced international performers in all disciplines. In dressage Waikare, Mosaic and Playskool. In showjumping Monopoly. In eventing Writzmarc. Eric himself bred 5 Grand Prix dressage horses by him. He died as a result of a vet giving an anthelmintic injection to which he was allergic. He just dropped and died before anyone could do anything. Eric says was very sad when he lost him. ARCTIC OAK AND HER PROGENY Arctic Oak is now 27 and has had 10 foals for Judith Wear of Longridge Farm, Coatesville. She is her foundation mare and has proved to be an exceptional Broodmare. Her progeny, bar one, carry the prefix “Winter” and then are shrubs or plants of one sort or another. At the time the late Ted Harrison was stud masterfor Winnebago and she asked him to find her a good stud mare. He found her Arctic Oak (Oakville – Arctic Ocean). At the time she was a thin maiden mare but had a lovely head and Judith loved her at first sight. The mare’s first foal was by Winnebago, born 1980. and was Winter Oak. Then came Winter Ash, by Witzbold 1981, Winter Willow –Distelfink 1983 Winter Aspen – Allermund 1985 Decoration -Distelfink 1987 bred by Jane Vallings Winter Guelder Rose – Genius 1989 Winter Ginkgo –Genius 1991 Winter Damson – Distelfink 1993 Winter Gleditisia – Genius 1995 Winter Acacia – Anamour 1997 This was the final foal of a terrific foaling record. Winter Weigela (Winter Willow by Winter Koenig) has a weanling foal , Winter Abelia who is being baby sat by her great –grandmother. All four generations are at Longridge. Arctic Oak was an excellent mother and always disciplined her foals, though she taught them to go to people by pushing them in their direction. Winter Oak was a successful eventer and was 3 times winner of the Bell Tea Circuit under Neil Sharpe. Judith had broken him in herself and rode him for a time, having lessons from Jenny Hill, her neighbour. She says, he was “a bit of a hound” and used to buck all the way down the arena. She handed him over to Neil and rode Willow. Neil also had Winter Ginkgo and evented him to Intermediate before he was sold to Florida. Winter Aspen could be explosive but was described by Clemens Dierks as the best dressage horse in the country at one time. He was ridden by Jeanette Small and then sold on to Lisa Blackbourn who took him to Advanced. Winter Damson will be at Medium level this season with Deborah Jensen. Winter Guelder Rose belongs to Robin Scholes and is in foal to World Wide. Winter Gleditisia has started a showjumping career with Holly Crawford and Winter Acacia has just started her dressage career with Laurel Cross. Judy has a speciaal rapport with Winter Willow who she has ridden in dressage for a few years now, but I think she is attached to all her foals, places them carefully and follows their careers with interest. She chose to breed Hanoverians because she thinks they are level headed and have ability. She thinks they are demanding though, and says “if you give them an inch they will take three miles, so you have to be positive and know what you want” She has ear marked the big dark affectionate Winter Weigela for her future broodmare because she has a beautiful temperament as well as the wonderful bloodline. Some parts of this article also appear in “Horse and Pony Magazine” and I would like to thank Joan Gilchrist for permission to use these. Marie Pyke. LOUISA TELLS US ABOUT HER HANOVERIANS Louisa Hill has been associated with Hanoverians almost since she started riding horses. Her mother, Jenny, was one of the first in New Zealand to have this interest and was associated with Winnebago and Witzbold, so it was natural for Louisa to want to have Hanoverians to ride. At the moment she has 3, 2 of which she is riding in competition. The first is Gabana by Genius out of a Winnebago mare. She is 16hh. and 8 years old. Louisa says she has energy to spare but is a challenge to ride because she is so talented but is very easily distracted. She has super hock action and they are working at her piaffe. At the moment they are competing at Prix St. George. The next one is Amoroso, a gelding by the German stallion Amoroso out of Wanda. He was bred in Germany and Kalman de Jurinak found him for Louisa. She bought him as a 3 year old and he has quite a lot of Thoroughbred in his pedigree. He is now 7 in New Zealand time, and is 17.3hh. Louisa says this a lot of horse to keep in front of you! He is sweet and always tries, though he is a little nervous and fidgety. They are competing at Open Medium and Louisa says is aiming at Prix St. George by the end of the season. The third is a 5 year old, Regazzona /Rubenstein. He is very different from Amoroso, being 16.3 hh. and very compact and short coupled. He was broken at 4 and is very laid back At the moment she has not had time to do much with him but hopes to carry on with his schooling this summer. Hanoverian breeding in New Zealand (Australia) Devil’s own xx – Detektiv (The famous D-line) (Researched and compiled by Berny Maubach, Vollrath Stud) The foundation sire of the modern D-line was the chestnut stallion Detektiv, who stood at stud from 1926 – 1943 leaving (for NZ relevant) the chestnuts Dolman (1933) and Dwinger (1939) The German Stud Book splits the Dolman-line in two: The D-line (2) with Doemitz I (1943) who had two famous sons Domspatz (1952) – 3 licensed stallions leaving Diskus (1970) – Distelfink (1978) also in the dam lines of Genius (1980) & Witzbold (1975) In Australia Domherr (1971) & Daktylus (1979) And the immensely successful Dominik (1957) – 67 licensed stallions – Don Carlos (1962) leaving Dynamo (1974) – Dynamit (1981) Dynamo is also represented in Anamour’s sire’s dam line The D-line (1) with Duellant (1942) – 42 licensed stallions – who features prominently in the sire’s dam lines of Genius & Dynamit and the dam’s sire line of Distelfink In Australia Duellschuetz (1971) Doemitz progeny are mainly found in the jumping ring. Dominik offspring produced via the sheer number of licensed stallions a multitude of equestrian talent. Duellant is famous for leaving very good dressage horses. Dwinger is not very famous in his own right. However, through careful selection & crossing of existing bloodlines (Dwinger – Diskant – Disput –Donnerwetter – Donnerhall – Dream of Glory – Dream Boy ) he became the foundation sire of the very modern dressage line of Donnerhall, Grand sire of Dream Boy. In theory this must mean that in NZ we can – using the correct bloodline matching – produce any type of successful equestrian horse. The practice backs this up – the list of honour for individual horses would grow too long, all our stallions have produced outstanding performance horses: Witzbold (jumping & dressage), Distelfink (jumping/eventing), Genius (dressage & jumping), Dynamit (dressage). Anamour is coming through and Dream Boy’s progeny are still too young. But certainly they will follow the New Zealand trend of success. The horse world is – for the addict – fantastic and not so. We all know of tragedies. But where there is shadow there must be sun or is it “son”? When Dynamit died in November 1998, his colt DORNKAAT out of Delphi by Distelfink/Crown Lease xx, was just two weeks old. Dornkaat grew into a stunning young fellow, branded in April 1999 by Manfred Lopp, who suggested rearing him as a colt and presenting him again in two years time. This took place in March 2001 at Bilbar Lodge. Just 30 months old, splendidly - 18 - presented by Jutta Rosenblatt he showed himself off and Herr Lopp gave this report: “The young stallion is very well developed and has a striking head. However still a little lacking the stallion expression (two year old!). He is endowed with a nice long, well-muscled neck and a clearly defined wither reaching far in to the back. His saddle position and shoulder are well developed; showing a big frame with long, clear lines. His front legs are strong and well formed, and his hind legs are correct with powerful hocks. The breed type is clearly recognizable. He shows elasticity and good freedom of the shoulder as well as a confident ground-covering walk. Overall impression: A well-framed, strong and well-muscled young stallion on solid foundation with ground-covering walk. Elastic trot and good freedom of the shoulder.” Needless to say how pleased we were with this assessment. Dornkaat is jet black with four white stockings and he already has developed into a real athlete. Jutta Rosenblatt will manifest his already decent manners – going under saddle by the end of this summer. All things being equal he will stand at stud in 2002. For more information about the activities at Vollrath you are invited to visit our website: www.hanoverian.co.nz MATTHEWS HANOVERIAN STUD by Judith Matthews The stud started out because I went out to buy a Dressage horse preferably a warmblood or Hanoverian horse for Dressage. At the time I had great difficulty finding one. It was about 12 years ago, and maybe they had all been bought or I looked in the wrong places but couldn’t find a youngster. I had an older Witzbold horse and really enjoyed the movement and friendly temperament. So this is when I decided to breed my own. I had joined the Hanoverian Society so had read about Genius so went off to find a thoroughbred mare to breed to him. Well she got in foal okay, and produced a lovely bay filly then to my dismay died. We couldn’t find a foster mother as it was early in September so I hand reared this filly, it is very hard work with lots of things that go wrong including the fact that she hasn’t a normal horse temperament. She can be quite frightening at times as she has no respect and treats people like horses. We think maybe she thinks she is a human. She was also not sound in the end so she has been a brood mare for the stud as well. I had paid for another service for the mare that died so found another TB mare locally for the service, then went off to Karaka TB broodmare sales and found her a paddock mate. It was at the time the TB studs were reducing numbers so got a lovely mare in foal for $600, She proved to be a very good mare, producing six lovely Hanoverian foals for us and now her filly Greta Garbo by Genius is going to foal to WolkentanzII next month. So hopefully a filly would be great to keep the line going. Her foals all had lovely movement and good conformation. This was when I decided to try Hanoverian mares and bought Portrait by Allermund from the Pykes at September Stud. In 1996 we went off to Germany to the Hanoverian Orientation course and had never seen so many beautiful horses in one place. We got very carried away and bought Wel Kantje by Weltmeyer. This was when the rot set in and we got carried away with other imported mares from Germany and Australia. We now have a very interesting collection of imported and local mares. We have 3 mares imported from Germany and 3 from Kinnordy Stud in Queensland. We have of course State Premium Wel Kantje by Weltmeyer who has produced us three embryo foals. Diva Primero by Don Primero who has yet to get in foal but is competeing successfully. Lastly newcomer young Weltliebe by Weltmeyer, who has just turned three in European time. She arrived in NZ last October and has just been backed is going very nicely. She is brown with two white socks and a small blaze. She will finish about 16 hh. The Australian mares from Kinnordy Stud are Gratiola by Graf Landau out of a Winterkonig mare, who is a full sister to Wiking that competes in Grand Prix in Australia. Gratiola produced us an elegant and lovely moving colt ‘Gluck Star’ by Gymnastic Star last spring, she is now under saddle and will compete in the coming season. We also have Widia by Winterkonig in foal to the lovely new stallion River Dance by Rubinstien and Grimalda a grey mare by Graf Landau in foal to Gymnastic Star. Both are just four and we are looking forward to when the foals will be born. Our NZ bred mares are Gabana, who is a full sister to Gariboldi NZ who competes at Prix St George level, she had an extravagantly moving filly ‘Andora’ by Anamour this season, but didn’t conceive to frozen semen so is waiting to try again. Greta Garbo who is Medium Dressage and is having a turn at maternity, she is in foal to Wolkentanz II (This is exciting) And Grand Gift (The orphan mare) who is in foal to Dream Boy, all three of these mares are by Genius. We have Witzfleur by Witzbold who had a super colt by De Niro ‘De Caprio’ and is in foal to him again and Witzhaze also by Witzbold who has just foaled to Gymnastic Star, a lovely bay filly with 3 white sox and a star. Last but not least we have All Grace (Also medium Dressage) by Allermund out of a Winnebago mare who is also in foal to Gymnastic Star, she had a lovely Dream Boy filly ‘Day Dream’ last season. This filly seems to want to be a show jumper, she keeps jumping out. We also have Wel Kantje’s Dream Boy filly ‘Dream World’ (mostly known as Donut). Just retired is Wtizlana, she had a very correct black colt by Anamour for a last try. We called him ‘Apollo’ He will be a super moving horse with a great temperament. Also running around are two two year olds by Anamour ‘Agent Orange’ an attractive chestnut gelding from a Tb mare Tangled Belle and Portrait by Allermund’s last colt ‘Alacazam’, (unfortunatly she died after producing this lovely boy, fortunately this time we found him a foster mum) he is a third cross, she was by Allermund out of Winnebago mare, he is still a colt and is looking good, elegant, nearly black with a couple of white socks and good movement. In yet another paddock we have three three year old fillies. Welkantje’s filly by Anamour, ‘Adelheid’. She is large and black like both parents and impressive. ‘Athena’ Protraits dark brown filly by Anamour and W Gaeity’s chestnut filly ‘Aaria’ by Anamour, Gaeity was by Witzbold. These fillies have just been backed and are going very well under saddle. We also have Azena, purchased from Bilbar Lodge where Anamour stands as a future broodmare, who is four and in full work, she is Anamour-Genius- Witzbold cross, has a wonderful paces and willingness to work. She has gained 2 firsts and a second in her first dressage outing. She won the first NZ Mare performance testing. Herr Lopp thought she was wonderful. She has NZ Elite mare status. Maybe she will have a year off to have a foal this season. We also have a number of recipient mares for our embryo transfer program, so we really have a Horse farm. Doesn’t sound a lot on paper but when the blacksmith comes or it is drenching time it is a lot of work getting them all in the right place. We have imported frozen semen from Australia and Germany, it started out to be just for my own use, but to make it worthwhile I was asked to be the NZ agent for these Stallions so now have the four Hanoverian Sire’s semen stored here. De Niro, WolkentanzII, River Dance and Gymnastic Star. We intend to breed our mares with these and Anamour as well so will have lovely young horses. We are trying to breed athletic horses with a good temperament and rideabilty, we must be getting there as this years foals have all had a turn at jumping somewhere, I had planned on breeding dressage horses but maybe I should have another look at what we have. They all seem to have the good temperament and paces though and we have to wait to find out about the rest. Perhaps our aim should be to match the ‘Pykes’ of September Stud to breed a horse to go to the Olympic Games. We have youngstock for sale as all the ‘boys” are for sale and most of the ‘girls’ as well. ANGELA AND JOHN SMITH’S BREEDING SCHEME FELICITATION HAS A FILLY Angela’s Smith’s first mare was Foxy Princess (Kirrama –Rich Gift) from whom she bred Mulberry Walk, Gilly Meachem’s advanced eventer. When John and Angela returned from overseas their first puchase was a Ramzes II, Everest mare. It was about that time that John helped the Hanoverian Society put their stud book on computer and he has now become the president. They feel that the foundation of sport Horse breeding is the Thoroughbred and they put Hanoverian stallions over good Tb mares. However at the moment all interest is focused on Felicitation (Winnebago) who belonged to and was ridden by Eric Ropiha for a time. He gave the ride away for a while before she was retired to stud. “Flick”is now 23 years old and has had two foals for the Zander family. The Smiths bought her in foal to Dream Boy, (Dreams of Glory) the stallion imported by Shelley Williams last year. She has produced a filly foal this year and is going back to Dream Boy because Angela is so impressed with the foal. Those of us that remember Felicitation in competition remember how beautiful she was. She was one of the first Hanoverian horses we had seen competing in dressage in New Zealand and we were completely swept off our feet . Let us hope she will produce another stunning foal to Dream Boy. GENIUS By Marlene Parkinson We became interested in Hanoverians in the early 80’s when friends had come back from overseas, bringing with them photographs of the Celle stallions and the young Hanoverians from Verden.. They were so impressed with how they performed, and that sparked an interest from us. We had been involved with breeding ponies that ranged from 12.2 hh. to 14.2hh and the odd pony that grew into a park hack. With myself now competing on hacks, we were finding it hard to breed and find suitable hacks for performance. Looking back it is amazing to think that this conversation with friends prompted us to investigate, and eventually purchase a stallion. Mum (Rita Fox) wrote all over the world, to Australia (at this stage Australia was fairly new in their Warmblood breeding), Dutch Danish, English, American and German breeders. After a lot of research and photos, (videos were not around then) it was the Trakehner and the Hanoverian that stood out on the information we received. So in early May 83, three Fox’s set off to Germany to look at stallions. We met up with Kalman de Jurnak and he showed us around Verden. (where all the auction horses were). We looked at lots of young horses in boxes and nothing really impressed us that much, in fact we thought a lot of them looked quite common, until they were saddled up and moving and then we were impressed and often did not recognize it to be the same horse. At this stage in our life none of us had any interest in dressage; we were into showing, and enjoyed showjumping and eventing. So if it did not look good standing still we were not that interested. Mum was still pretty keen on the Trakehner, as they were a much more pleasing to the eye type of horse. I think at this stage I was more interested in the Hanoverian because of their power and awesome technique over fences. As we spent time at Verden watching the horses work, watching the different crosses, as far as type and temperament went there was not a lot of difference between the Trakehner and the Thoroughbred crossed over the Hannoverian. So we were all convinced that a Hanoverian stallion was what we were after, especially as the mares that we would be using would be mainly thoroughbred. Kalman showed us a few young stallions but May is not the time to be trying to find stallions as we found out later, but for farmers September, October is not an option. So the stallions we looked at were either the old fashioned heavy built type, or as one stallion was very beautiful, and a dream of a temperament, but had no technique over fences, and did lack movement. So Mum and dad went home and I stayed on to work as a groom for Rainer Schmerglatt and his showjumping team and the Verden auction horses. It was a great learning curve, not only riding and grooming experience; it was invaluable for learning about bloodlines, at the shows and also at auction center. Hannoverian seem to be fairly dominant in their breeding, and you could oftensay that is a typical Wenzel type or Don Carlos, so my little note book was getting quite full on what I liked or did not like on different bloodlines. The G line was one that was starting to get a few ticks in my book. Often they would be plainer in type, but they were sensible horses, that had good basic paces and were very sound over fences. At that stage in New Zealand dressage was still developing and dressage was considered to be the grey haired lady’s sport, so we were looking for an all round stallion that would breed versatility into our sport. It was with nervous anticipation that I attended the stallion testing on the final 2 days at Celle, to hopefully select a 3 year old stallion. With the help of Kalman, and some American people I had made friends with who had experience in buying stallions from Celle, we watched all the stallions perform. There was a couple of stallions that really stood out and I wanted, but so did the Verband!!! So it was back to the notebook again. There was this plain bay stallion, with very good bloodlines, that was performing consistently, though not as flamboyant or spectacular as the two I wanted. There was something very appealing about the way he consistently seemed to be performing. Having been a groom for 6 months I knew my way around the stable block, so I sneaked in around the boxes to have a closer look at these 3 boys behind the scenes. The plain bay named Genius was very person friendly, and one of the riders had been an auction rider at Verden, so I quizzed him about their temperaments and Genius he said I could ride. So deciding he was the horse, back to Kalman to see if he was available. Lucky for us that Dr. Hartwig was still involved with the selling of the stallions, as he had been very much involved with the Hanoverians in new Zealand. He felt that Genius would complement our N.Z. Thoroughbreds so he was available for us, but New Zealand only. That was the start of our breeding, and it has been a learning curve for us all. Looking back and reflecting over the years, he has made quite a statement in the N.Z. breeding programme. We possibly have been disadvantaged a little due to our location, but we have had access to some very good Tb. mares, that were more of the old fashioned type that produced stayers and jumpers. This meant that we were getting progeny of reasonable size, bone,and temperament and were versatile. From a very small band of progeny (Genius has only covered 205 mares in his lifetime) they got out and performed. They are horses that take time to mature, and can’t be pressured to soon, and often do not really settle into their work until they are 8 or older. But the riders who have waited are rewarded and it is interesting to see that Genius is still currently leading the leading dressage stallion, and is well up there on the showjumping and eventing sires lists. He has produced advanced dressage and eventers as well as Grand Prix showjumpers. Having competed on Genius and his progeny there are a lot of similarities. Genius himself is just under 17.0hh and most of his progeny mature at 16.2hh or better. He himself was slow to mature, and surprised the Germans when they saw him 2 years later. Their paces improve as they mature. Genius’ trot was ordinary but he developed a very powerful trot. I am often still surprised at what I think is an ordinary moving youngster, but as a 4 year old you start to see their real potential. Like their father they are as proficient over fences as they are on the flat. Genius is a real people horse and loved to be in the center of attention. He was a lovely horse to compete on, and, looking back, I wish I knew then what I know now, as riding Warmbloods is quite different, and his talent was never reached due to my lack of riding knowledge. Now, at 21 years of age, he is retired from public but still covers a few mares of our own and we still have the occasional progeny for sale. His daughters are proving to cross well with other Hanoverian stallions, and this is the direction we are intending to go. The trend at the moment seems to be to specialize in breeding e.g. dressage, rather than an all round horse. I have mixed views whether, long term, this is a good thing or not. I still feel some of the best dressage competition horses have come from jumping lines. I wonder in time whether too much attention will be made of the trot and not the canter. Also jumping horses know how to bend their knees which often are the same horses that produce a good piaffe and passage. It is a shame that the market is easier to sell dressage than jumpers as this often dictates which direction breeders go. I think we will still be hooked on breeding for a few more years yet as it is such a fascinating interest!! ANAMOUR by Wendy Freeman From 1 August 2001, Gary and Wendy Freeman , at Bilbar Lodge, have leased from the Anamour Syndicate, the Hanoverian Stallion Anamour, for the next 3 years. Anamour’s first crop of foals are now under saddle at 5 years of age and what a debut they have made. At the New Zealand Dressage Championships 2001, Aachenbach, bred at Bilbar Lodge, won the Young Dressage Horse of the Year. All Black II was 3rd and Amour, also bred at Bilbar Lodge was 10th. At the Horse of the Year show 2001, Adler won the Junior Sporthorse of the year with AJE Reserve. In 1999 Akkord won the tittle of Sporthorse of the year as a 2 year old, also bred at Bilbar Lodge. Our main aim is to breed horses with rideability, and to accomplish this we have carefully selected mares to breed to Anamour. Anamour was selected from Germany to breed compatibly to the existing Hanoverian mares in New Zealand. We have also bred successfully to our Thoroughbred mares and continue to do so. In 1998 we began exporting chilled semen to Australia with over 90% success rate. Cheryl O’Brien at Remi Stud, outside Brisbane, works very efficiently as an agent for Anamour and this exercise has increased in the last two years. His progeny in Australia are only 2 years old. Academy Award, won the Champion Yearling at the Australian Warmblood Horse Association’s Young Horse Show in 2001. We are very pleased with the progress of Anamour’s progeny and we continue to breed from selected mares, mainly for rideability, but we are successfully breeding outstanding temperament and superior movement also. We welcome visitors to Bilbar Lodge to inspect Anamour and his progeny from weanlings up to 3 year olds. DREAM BOY Dream Boy was the final choice that Shelley Williams made when she decided to bring a German bred stallion into New Zealand. But it was not as easy as just that. Initially she found one that she liked in a catalogue for one of the Hannoverian elite auctions and she even bid on it. The horse sold for Dm 190000 but not to Shelley! Then she found Ludwig Christmann, breeding director of the Hannoverian Verband, to help her choose something within her budget. Shelley asked him to find something that would cross well over the mares already in New Zealand, especially the Anamour fillies, who would soon be reaching breeding age. She was quite definite that she wanted good rideability and temperament. As she had fallen for Donnerhall, if she could find the attributes she wanted in his bloodline she would be a happy person. Amongst the host of stallions she saw in the catalogues Dream Boy seemed to attract her attention. On tape his “look at me” quality caught her eye straight away. She liked his paces, especially his walk, having a great overtrack. His canter was athletic and, what is more, he had the right bloodlines. He is by Dream of Glory, - DONNERHALL, out of Erntekrone (Eisenherze). So his topline is dressage and his bottomline is jumping making a well balanced pedigree for a versatile stallion. Relying on Herr Christmann’s advice and her own gut feelings she settled on Dreamboy. She wanted a young stallion but this meant that there were no progeny on which she could base a choice but, on the other hand, it is hoped that each generation is better than the previous one because it has been based on breeding the best to the best and matching the stallion and the mare. To make it even more difficult Shelley found that the Germans were not good at videoing and showed as much grass as horse! Shelley says she decided that she trusted Herr Christmann and that, if she went over there they would show her ten stallions and she would have fallen in love with every single one of them. All she would have done was spend money! Her decision was backed up by breeders here who booked in mares to Dream Boy before he had even arrived in New Zealand. He arrived here late last October and served mares almost straight away and this number rose to 30 in his first season. He achieved 100% conception rate on the property which is excellent any time but amazing for a stallion who has just traveled, especially from the other hemisphere. The selection of mares covered a wide range of bloodlines from mares by Distelfink and Witzbold to Trakehners. Judith Matthew’s beautiful imported mare, Wel Kantje, has an embryo transfer foal by him. Shelley is not a competitive person and likes to spend her time with her mares and young horses rather than competing. She says people ask her why she does not get a really good rider to ride Dream Boy, but she says that she is the one who saved the money to bring the horse in and so she is the one who is going to enjoy him. She likes to hear him screaming out to her when she comes up the drive.