ABOUT US
I have been asked why are bloodlines so important time and time again. The lines themselves mean nothing, but they only increase your chances of getting a horse with excellent temperament, conformation and movement, all of which in turn increases your chances of producing that horse to the top competitively. In Germany they have countless Stallions to choose from, thanks to breeding programs that have been in place for many years. The Stallions used are the very best, chosen to increase the chances of producing successful offspring. Donnerubin’s bloodlines are from the very best of those Stallions, proven so by their scores for movement, temperament and conformation but more importantly their results and their progeny’s results in competition worldwide. Donnerhall in dressage is really the King of those. Donnerubin has a double dose of Donnerhall from both sides the other large input in his bloodlines is Rubinstein who himself is the second of the great three. For good measure Donnerubin also has Wenzel I who is a very close relative to the third great Stallion of all time Weltmeyer. One of Isabel Werth’s top international horses is Warum Nicht who is a Weltmeyer x Wenzel I. Donnerubin’s other highlights in his lineage is Azent II lines which has produced the likes of Alabaster who in turn is sire the successful stallion in Australia Jaybee Alabaster. In NZ Anamour has Azent II in his lineage and has had very successful progeny.
I have spoke of temperament, but not the other two requirements for the best start in breeding a foal. Conformation is important so that their bodies can perform the assigned task with ease and build muscle in the right places without too much strain on their joints. Lord knows we struggled with that with my mare and Jerome whose conformation weren’t the best and so it was a struggle to get muscle on him in the right places, which in turn made the higher level dressage work easier. Indeed it was Jerome’s right stifle that ended up being the weak link resulting in this retirement, which had always been his weak side that we constantly had to do remedial exercises, to strengthen his hindquarters on that side for collected work to become even and straight. Ben always said from day one when I first met him that Jerome’s right stifle was the weak link and he was proven right some nearly five years later.
The final of the three movement which is an obvious factor. While a trot for example can be manufactured to a degree on collection, canter and walk cannot really be improved with training. Oscars trot is superb don’t get me wrong, but his strength lies in his walk and canter. His walk just lovely, loose and full of overtrack, we call it his German swagger. In canter he collects himself on the lunge or in the paddock just because that’s the way he’s built, he can do a slow collected canter next to me in-hand, which was a problem we had to overcome at Horse of the Year Show as evidently when in doubt canter was his motto, when of course they want to see a trot! In the paddock he sits on his haunches in canter and just pops in an expressive flying change just for fun. There is no wonder why we have our cups of tea at his paddock fence! The only problem is that we have to excite him to get him to show off, he’d rather sit around with us and have tea and a biscuit!
This is the first young horse I’ve had right from the start and I don’t profess to be the best horsewoman in the world, but I surround myself and take advice from those I consider the best in their field. The worst thing this horse has ever done is nip me when he got nervous at shows as a wee tike. That has now completely stopped after suggesting to him that nipping wasn’t the best idea he’d ever thought of and he might want to rethink his approach!! All his success so far has been because of him and the horse he is, I wish I could take more credit, but my credit only lies in the planning, he does the execution. I had the foresight to get him out and going to shows from before he was even a year old, one because in my view the earlier you can instill manners and a good training ethic into a horse the better and two, for him to get mileage before he competes under saddle. Equally when he is under saddle and into training I don’t profess to be a professional rider or even a terribly good one, but I have armed myself with the best horse I could find to make my job easier and I think it is only fair to allow others the same opportunity at a price that people can actually afford. That is why we have offered an introductory price before he starts competing under the saddle and to let breeders in a recession no less, get the foal of their dreams. We accept that most budding equestriennes don’t have a wallet the size of Donald Trumps and it seemed unfair in these fledgling years of our stud to exclude the grass roots of our sport because of cost. We think whether it be pleasure riding or top level competitive riding everyone deserves the chance to have a lovely horse.
In terms of improving our NZ Sporthorses, we think that the type of mares that will result in the most successful future progeny will either already be successful competitively or are from successful bloodlines. To that end we have offered a discount to outstanding mares. In order for our Country to exponentially increase their competitiveness internationally, we need young sporthorses who are not only from these beautiful Stallions now standing in NZ, but also from mares that have excellent conformation, movement and temperament. Luckily for us when Donnerubin reaches his peak as a Stallion, the current amazing NZ Stallions that are older now and have been breeding in the Country now for a number of years will have female progeny old enough to be bred with him and that combination is something exciting for the future NZ Sporthorse.
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