Hino - The Matriarch By Sarah Milne, September 2005 It was a magic moment. The setting sun cast golden yellow light across the sky and the winter air was wonderfully still. The young horses surrounded me, a mixture of inquisitiveness and bravado driving them. They are very hairy at the moment, with thick winter coats entangled with mud, but it is still possible to see the promise of good bone structure and correct movement beneath the dreadlocks! All our young horses at Montrose Park descend from one mare with the very unfeminine name of HINO. And, as I stood next to the youngsters, I whispered a "thank you" to old HINO, the matriarch. Gay and John Meyer at Mamaku Stud, in the Wairarapa, bred HINO 22 years ago. Mamaku stud is one of the oldest and most successful sport horse studs in New Zealand. Hino is a granddaughter of TIRA MINK, sire of CHARISMA. Hino is typical of the TIRA MINK line – short coupled, dark brown, very sound with a great constitution. She is an unregistered thoroughbred, so unfortunately cannot be classified for the Hanoverian studbook. Gay and John bred three DISTELFINK foals out of Hino, and we bought every one! Then, when Hino became too old for the tough Wairarapa droughts that often enfold Mamaku Stud, we bought her too, and now she enjoys life in the green Waikato. Hino's eldest Distelfink foal was named DICE and he grew to be a tall, elegant brown gelding with an incredibly trainable disposition. As a five-year-old he won three horse trials in quick succession before being sold to the USA as an eventer. The second offspring from the Distelfink x Hino is a dark brown mare named DIVERSITY. She developed into a stylish jumper, a brilliant whipper-in horse, and winner of the NZ Showhunter Highpoints and NZ National Equitation Championships and Open Amateur Showjumping Championships. DIVERSITY was an incredibly sensitive horse to ride – very brave and sharp. I was heartbroken when she severely injured her foreleg in July 2003 after a nail pricked her sesamoid bone. The bone became infected and the fight began to save Diversity’s life. It wasn't an easy battle, nor was it cheap, but Diversity survived and she has now produced a colt by VDL's INDOCTRO, and she is in foal to EL BUNDY. The third horse from the Distelfink x Hino mating is DOUBLE O EIGHT, now a rising 7-year-old gelding. He was initially a plain and somewhat small young horse. When I saw him at Mamaku Stud as a 2-year-old I decided he was too small to buy, but fortunately my elderly father was wiser and purchased him. DOUBLE O EIGHT eventually grew to 16.1hh and proved to be a very easy horse to train with an honest scopey clean jump. He won the Zilco NZ Young Event Horse Championship as a 4-year-old, then the NZ Showhunter of the Year as a 5-year-old. Last season he successfully defended his Showhunter title and won the Junior Showhunter of the Year as well in the hands of his new owner Tessa Williams. Hino has since produced a VOLTAIRE gelding (bred by Mamaku) and sold to Australia by his producer Maurice Beatson. We have bred a DREAMBOY gelding (3-year-old) and a LITTORIO gelding (2-year-old). Both these young horses are growing up at Montrose Park, while Hino is in foal to RAMAZOTTI. Meanwhile, Hino's grandson (out of DIVERSITY, by BRILLIANT INVADER) continued the family success by winning the 2005 Zilco NZ Young Event Horse Championship in May. I feel very privileged to own HINO, and I think, for small breeders like myself, it is worth celebrating the benefits of a good prepotent mare line.