April 23, 2019 (Devon, PA) – George Williams, one of the longest-serving Presidents of the United States Dressage Federation, and Nancy Williams, an attorney with a special interest in equine activities, have joined the Dressage at Devon Board of Directors.
“We are thrilled to have George and Nancy on our Board,” said Robbie Kankus, Chair of the Board. “George’s national and international fame are well-deserved. And we welcome Nancy’s experience in the law and specifically equine and real estate law. With their input, the 2019 Dressage at Devon will be bigger and better than ever!”
George Williams is one of the longest serving Presidents of the United States Dressage Federation, and a prominent figure in international Dressage. As a well-respected US team competitor, Trainer, Coach, Clinician and Author, he has successfully represented the United States in International Competitions and has won numerous National Championships. He has trained many horses and riders from Junior/Young Riders to Adult Amateurs, but he is best known for piloting the black Westfalen mare Rocher to international fame. He is currently the US Dressage National Youth Coach and his leadership skills have earned him a recent appointment to the Federation Equestrian International Dressage Committee. George is known for his quiet, Classical approach to his horses and his riders as well as notorious for his dry sense of humor.
Nancy Williams is a partner with the law firm of Kleinbard LLC (Philadelphia, PA) practicing in the fields of corporate and commercial law with an emphasis on real estate, finance, mergers and acquisitions and equine law. She is currently Vice President of the Board of Directors for Dream Catchers, a premier therapeutic riding center. Nancy has been a science teacher and athletic trainer both in public and private secondary school settings and is currently active in equine activities and animal rescue.
The 2019 Dressage at Devon will take place September 24-September 29 at the Devon Horse Show Grounds in Devon, PA. For reserved seating, visitdressageatdevon.org/box-office
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About Dressage at Devon (www.dressageatdevon.org)
Dressage at Devon has been a premier North American Equestrian event since its founding in 1975. It combines world-class dressage competition and the world’s largest open breed show with the international Fall Festival show and special activities for the entire family. The six-day event attracts hundreds of riders from around the world and thousands of spectators. Dressage at Devon is a 501(c) (3) PA non-profit organization, benefitting equine education.
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Wednesday, April 24, 2019
George Williams and Nancy Williams Join the Dressage at Devon Board of Directors
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Sea Lion: Offspring Report 2019
Ruffian Stables is proud to report that three out of the fifteen foals of 2019 by Sea Lion have been born, and are looking good!
First up (video above) is a filly born in February, out of an Irish mare. She doesn't have a registered name yet, but her owner, Annie Aul of Montgomery, Alabama, reports that she was born with "a healthy appetite and the most beautiful legs you’ve ever seen! Bay, not a speck of white!"
Next up: 2019 filly Rooney, and a colt who doesn't have a name yet:
Stay tuned! Twelve more foals on the way for 2019!
Sea Lion's older offspring are just reaching the age to start careers, including Sunsprite Sargasso Sea SRC, a 2015 son of Sea Lion, out of a Hanoverian mare, bred by Pamela Duffy.
Another of Sea Lion's offspring, Sea Lioness, just qualified in April for the National Championships in the 3-year-old division of the Future Event Horse competition. Sea Lioness was born in 2016 out of an Oldenburg mare. She was bred by Sea Lion's owner, Pam Fisher, who trained and rode Sea Lion to event at the international 4* (now 5*) level. Pam will back Sea Lioness in May and teach her to free jump in preparation for the championships in September. They live in Los Alamos, California.
Congratulations to all these up-and-coming youngsters!
To read more about Sea Lion, click here to visit his Stallion Profile, with more offspring photos!
First up (video above) is a filly born in February, out of an Irish mare. She doesn't have a registered name yet, but her owner, Annie Aul of Montgomery, Alabama, reports that she was born with "a healthy appetite and the most beautiful legs you’ve ever seen! Bay, not a speck of white!"
Next up: 2019 filly Rooney, and a colt who doesn't have a name yet:
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| Rooney, 2019 filly by Sea Lion out of an Irish mare. Bred and owned by Ann Shira O'Donnell of Dallas, Texas. |
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| 2019 colt by Sea Lion out of a KWPN mare. Bred and owned by Brynn Meuchel of Kalispell, Montana. |
Sea Lion's older offspring are just reaching the age to start careers, including Sunsprite Sargasso Sea SRC, a 2015 son of Sea Lion, out of a Hanoverian mare, bred by Pamela Duffy.
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| Sunsprite Sargasso Sea, by Sea Lion, shown here at age 3. |
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| Sea Lioness, 2016 mare by Sea Lion, qualifying for the FEH championships. |
To read more about Sea Lion, click here to visit his Stallion Profile, with more offspring photos!
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| Sea Lion, competing at the Jersey Fresh 3-star combined training event with Pam Fisher aboard. Shannon Brinkman photo |
Monday, April 22, 2019
USEA: Judging the Future with Peter Gray
The US Eventing Association recently released an interview with Peter Gray, an eventing judge and a strong supporter of the USEA's Future Event Horse program. The article also includes input from the Oldenburg Horse Breeders' Society's Holly Simonsen, who spoke at the 2019 FEH Symposium.
Gray describes the difficulties of judging horses under 4 or 5 years old, because they are always growing and changing, and almost all young horses go through awkward phases during the first years. Gray starts with looking at the horse's balance in movement.
It's a challenge to judge youngsters as future competition prospects, and there are those in the eventing community who refuse to support the FEH program for that reason. Gray, however, believes in the program's value for multiple reasons.
Read the article here.
Gray describes the difficulties of judging horses under 4 or 5 years old, because they are always growing and changing, and almost all young horses go through awkward phases during the first years. Gray starts with looking at the horse's balance in movement.
It's a challenge to judge youngsters as future competition prospects, and there are those in the eventing community who refuse to support the FEH program for that reason. Gray, however, believes in the program's value for multiple reasons.
Read the article here.
Friday, April 19, 2019
Foundation Sire: Negro
Here is the next installment of Warmblood Stallions of North America’s Foundation Friday. Every other Friday we will be featuring a foundation sire - one who has been influential in the development of warmblood breeds. We pull from the incredible archive of The Horse Magazine, published by Chris Hector of Australia. Thank you, Chris, for permission to draw on your expertise!
1995–
170 cm
Black
Breeder: Wouter Borgers
170 cm
Black
Breeder: Wouter Borgers
Negro has a 2014 KWPN breeding value of 155 with a reliability of 93%, which put him into fourth place on the standings of dressage stallions with a reliability of over 90%. He is recorded as having sired 1066 progeny over the age of four, with 283 (26.54%) registered as competitors.
Negro is one of the most interesting sons from Ferro. Negro was the winner of both the KWPN Young Stallion competitions – in 2000 (for five-year-olds) and 2001 (for six-year-olds). The qualifying competitions take place at several places in the Netherlands: Zuidbroek, Roosendaal and Deurne, with the final at the KWPN stallion approvals in S’ Hertogenbosch.
He won the title Young Star Stallion at Zwolle in 2001. During the 2001 Young Dressage Horse World Championships in Verden, Negro was the best 6-year-old KWPN entry, placing 4th with his rider Anne van Olst (score 8.5). Negro has successfully competed in the small tour. Of his four starts, he won three times. His first start in the Big Tour, in an Intermediaire I class, he won convincingly with the score of 72.50%. And his rider Anne van Olst was dreaming of the Olympic Games in Athens. In the summer of 2003, a seemingly harmless foot infection made an abrupt ending to his sport career. The Olympic dream was shattered. His career as a sport horse was over but luckily his career as a breeding stallion could be continued. The KWPN awarded Negro Preferent status in early 2012 due to his exceptional offspring.
Owner Gert Jan van Olst says that Negro crosses best with all kind of mares for sport: “He does not need a certain type or bloodline for sporthorses, he fits for every mare. He needs a long-lined mare with a bit blood if you want the total package; a good sport horse and a good broodmare.”
“I think the qualities he gives to his progeny are very good movement, he gives power in the hindquarters. The toplines of his offspring are very correct, this makes it easier to have a good trot and canter. His offspring are having a perfect work ethic, they always want to work and are pleasant to handle.”
On the 2015/16 KWPN breeding rankings, Negro is in 6th place on the list of stallions with a reliability of over 90 with a value of 154 (94%) – up from 147 three years ago. He has sired 1198 horses over the age of four with 328 entering competition for a ratio of 27.378%.
Negro is one of the most interesting sons from Ferro. Negro was the winner of both the KWPN Young Stallion competitions – in 2000 (for five-year-olds) and 2001 (for six-year-olds). The qualifying competitions take place at several places in the Netherlands: Zuidbroek, Roosendaal and Deurne, with the final at the KWPN stallion approvals in S’ Hertogenbosch.
He won the title Young Star Stallion at Zwolle in 2001. During the 2001 Young Dressage Horse World Championships in Verden, Negro was the best 6-year-old KWPN entry, placing 4th with his rider Anne van Olst (score 8.5). Negro has successfully competed in the small tour. Of his four starts, he won three times. His first start in the Big Tour, in an Intermediaire I class, he won convincingly with the score of 72.50%. And his rider Anne van Olst was dreaming of the Olympic Games in Athens. In the summer of 2003, a seemingly harmless foot infection made an abrupt ending to his sport career. The Olympic dream was shattered. His career as a sport horse was over but luckily his career as a breeding stallion could be continued. The KWPN awarded Negro Preferent status in early 2012 due to his exceptional offspring.
Owner Gert Jan van Olst says that Negro crosses best with all kind of mares for sport: “He does not need a certain type or bloodline for sporthorses, he fits for every mare. He needs a long-lined mare with a bit blood if you want the total package; a good sport horse and a good broodmare.”
“I think the qualities he gives to his progeny are very good movement, he gives power in the hindquarters. The toplines of his offspring are very correct, this makes it easier to have a good trot and canter. His offspring are having a perfect work ethic, they always want to work and are pleasant to handle.”
On the 2015/16 KWPN breeding rankings, Negro is in 6th place on the list of stallions with a reliability of over 90 with a value of 154 (94%) – up from 147 three years ago. He has sired 1198 horses over the age of four with 328 entering competition for a ratio of 27.378%.
To read the entire article, with pedigree, details of Negro's sons and daughters, on the Horse Magazine website, click here.
There are several stallion descendants of Negro in North America. Click on the following links to read about each of the ones on WarmbloodStallionsNA.com:
Friday, April 5, 2019
Foundation Sire: Argentan
Here is the next installment of Warmblood Stallions of North America’s Foundation Friday. Every other Friday we will be featuring a foundation sire - one who has been influential in the development of warmblood breeds. We pull from the incredible archive of The Horse Magazine, published by Chris Hector of Australia. Thank you, Chris, for permission to draw on your expertise!
1967–1996
165 cm
Bay
Breeder: Jürgen Clasen
165 cm
Bay
Breeder: Jürgen Clasen
Argentan was one of the most important founding sires of the modern Hanoverian.
Argentan was Reserve Champion of his stallion licensing in 1969, and the following year was 4th out of 15 candidates in the performance test.
In 1994, he was crowned Hanoverian Stallion of the Year as a result of his extraordinary success as a sire. Argentan was the sire of 805 competition horses who won a total of DM 1,648,638. His broodmares, in particular, were highly regarded and included three Champion German Riding Horse mares at the DLG show: Aragonia (1978), Ascona (1980) and Arabella (1984). He was the sire of 119 state premium mares.
However, he was also the sire of some top performers including Mario Deslauriers 1984 World Cup Showjumping winner, Aramis.
He was the sire of 19 stallion sons, including Airport, Al Capone, and - most famed of all - Argentinus.
To read the entire article, with pedigree, details of Argentan's sons and daughters, on the Horse Magazine website, click here.
There are several stallion descendants of Argentan in North America. Click on the following links to read about each of the ones on WarmbloodStallionsNA.com:
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
British Young Horse Championships a Showcase for British-Bred
A recent article on the British site EverythingHorse announced that the Bolesworth Estate would be hosting the Young Horse Championships this year. "The event, due to be held in August 2019 at the stunning Bolesworth Estate in Cheshire, will focus on young British horse talent, with an overall aim to ‘promote the best’ and make British breeding great once again."
British breeders struggle with the same issue encountered by American ones: that "more and more trainers head to Europe to select youngstock for showjumping," when there are good horses being bred at home. The show should help in "promoting a shift in trend, to encourage selection from Britain."
To read the article, click here.
To read an article by Sacha about the British Young Horse Championships 2018 on the Breeding British website, click here.
British breeders struggle with the same issue encountered by American ones: that "more and more trainers head to Europe to select youngstock for showjumping," when there are good horses being bred at home. The show should help in "promoting a shift in trend, to encourage selection from Britain."
To read the article, click here.
To read an article by Sacha about the British Young Horse Championships 2018 on the Breeding British website, click here.
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