Warmblood Eventers - the beginning June 2003 Bob Berkahn stood 2 stallions, Mt. Hotham and Mt. Everest and Warmblood breeding began. Mt. Hotham did not stay but went back to Australia but 2 more stallions were imported, Ramzes II and The Immigrant (previously called “Formateur ”), who were Dutch Warmbloods. At this point the Warmblood Association was formed. At the same time the Hanoverian Society began with a syndicate importing Winnebago. Two new imports then were Polaris, who joined the other stallions at Berkahns and the Hanoverian Witzbold, who came to replace Winnebago when the latter’s fertility decreased.These stallions were brought in to cross with New Zealand TB mares. Bloodlines tracing back to these stallions can be found in Eventers today. One of the early breeders was Brian and Joy Savage. The first they bred was kept as a stallion but they did not wish to commercialise and Joy rode him as a show horse and did a little hunting. The second was Flugelman, who retired from eventing when he was 16 but was hacked by Joy until 18. Then he was retired completely, having won the Accumulator once and been second once. He was competed originally by Paul O’Brien but when Paul went to England Bryce took over. Another of the early breeders was Beth Fife, who saw the possibilities to be derived from putting a Hanoverian over NZ TB mares. She bred from the TB mare Ikebana using Winnebago and produced Hahndorf. She used this stallion over a group of good mares that she selected and proof of her far-sightedness can be seen in the number of “Charlton” horses that are competing today. Judy Wear was breeding Hanoverian x Warmbloods too and found some of these were well suited to eventing. The first to achieve many successes was Winter Oak. At about this time Rupert and Anne Vallance imported Distelfink for their Longspring Stud. He had good showjumping lines and came as a sire for breeding showjumpers. However besides showjumpers he sired some excellent eventers. From here on many more people started to breed Warmbloods and more stallions were imported,producing horses for all disciplines. Also some purebred mares were imported so breeding pure Warmblood became a reality. Horses for eventing were still TB crosses, however. Trakehners were lighter than most other European Warmbloods as they had always been riding horses. Part of their training was over cross country fences and they were used for hunting. Before World War 2 there was a steeplechase purely for Trakehners. Since then Thoroughbred blood has been carefully introduced to refine and lighten other Warmblood breeds, making them more suitable for eventing. In Europe breeders put Thoroughbred stallions over their Warmblood mares. They have large number of these mares while the TB stallions are imported or bred from imported lines, so are fewer. In New Zealand we have a large pool of good TB mares and fewer Warmblood stallions so we usually have done it the other way around. However, some authorities in Europe insist that the Thoroughbred should be in the top line – blood over bone. For some of our better known Warmblood cross TBs see the Roll of Honour: (This list is in no particular order – do not be offended! It is more of an excersise to show that there is a huge variety of warmblood horses that have competed in this discipline. If we have left some horses off then please advise – we will do an addenda in the next issue.) Warendorf -Witzbold Jagermeister – Polarschnee Mulberry Walk – Hahndorf GV Danzar – Distelfink Denver – Distelfink The Mistress – Jaguar Rhinesdale – Mt Everest D ’Nazeer – Distelfink Distinction -Distelfink Gretel -Polaris Bam Bam -Polaris Kintyre -Belmont Golden Boy Limited Edition – JK Lucas Spoken For – Spoken in Jest Writzmarc – Witzbold Tielcey Glenbrook – Genius GV Braveheart – Distelfink Fleetsin --Trick or Treat Arctic Oak – Winnebago Winter Gingko – Genius Flugelmann – Wohler ll Dunfyne --Distelfink Ray the Rat -Polaris Pebbles -Wohler ll Diplomat -Wohler ll Belmont Agio -Gruenhorn de Trichon Rockrose -Polarschnee Kudos -Polarschnee Polar Stoneybroke – Polarschnee Drakensberg – Distelfink Charlton Intrigue – Hahndorf The Boomer -Uraeus Moro -Falkensee HR Class Act -Argonaut Style xx HR Serious Moonlight – Wohler ll Staccato – Hahndorf Gwenita -Mt Everest Othello – Loewenherz Wily Fox – Hahndorf Ichbin – Hahndorf Charlton Noted – Oldenburg Santana --The Immigrant Charlton Encore – Hahndorf Charlton Design – Hahndorf South Pole -Polarschnee Teymara -Falkensee HR Tusitala -Wohler ll Henton Dungarven -Dynamit Charlton Newsboy – Hahndorf Charlton Novel -Hahndorf Belmont Oh Boy -Belmont Golden Boy Te Peka Gienburn – Genius Charlton Newsboy -Hahndorf Charlton Lattice -Hahndorf