Foundation Sire: Lord Calando

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!

1985–2011
170 cm
Dark Bay
Breeder: Erhard Krampitz

The career of this stallion is truly one of the signs of the times. Born and raised in Holstein, Germany, he finished his stud career in France – previously the most chauvinistic of countries when it came to horse breeding. Lord Calando’s sire needs little introduction – but his dam is something rather special: Perra is also the dam of Carthago, another of the great jumping competitors and sires. Her sire, Calando, was himself an international showjumper, …; he was also a good sire of jumpers with progeny with earnings of DM500,000 by 1994, and 180 state premium mares. After standing at the famous private stud farm of Maas J. Hell, Lord Calando made his move to France, to the French National Stud. In 2006, he was 47th on the list of the top 100 French stallions with 73 mares. … Lord Calando is described on the Stud website as: “a handsome and athletic horse, with very good shoulders and haunches.” … Indeed Lord Calando is rich in Thoroughbred blood. Aside from his paternal grand-sire, Ladykiller, there are three crosses of Cottage Son, one of Rantzau, one of Furioso and one of Marlon. Lord Calando hit the jackpot when he was “trial” bred while awaiting his performance test, and produced his most famous son, Lux Z. He is also the sire of Fabienne, … Locando, … Goldkueste, … and also sired Joplanda, the dam of Numero Uno.

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There's more to this article about Lord Calando on the Horse Magazine website! Click here.

Meet some of the stallion descendants of Lord Calando on WarmbloodStallionsNA.com. Click here:

Carthago Sun I 

La Marque

theHorse.com: Do Recipient Mares Pass Traits to Foals?

theHorse.com specializes in finding research of interest to horse breeders (and non-breeders) and presenting it very well.

In a recent article, "One researcher describes what we know about the receiving mare’s effect on the foal in embryo transfer scenarios."

The question asked referred specifically to a situation where a non-warmblood mare was the recipient of an embryo from a warmblood mare, and whether the recipient would influence the foal, and how. There is a lot of discussion about this in the breeding community. Read the article to find out what we really know.

On theHorse.com: "Do Recipient Mares Pass Traits to Foals?"

Photo: A pregnant mare. Etching by J. E. Ridinger. From Wellcome Trust, UK, via Wikipedia Commons.

theHorse.com: Social Media Plays Matchmaker for Mares and Orphan Foals

With all the division and nastiness on social media, it's good to think about the ways in which our online connections sometimes rise above, bringing people together for good.

From an article on theHorse.com:

"Every year horse owners across the United States and Canada whose mares have lost foals or whose foals have been orphaned turn to Facebook to connect with one another."

Read the heartwarming article here:

Social Media Plays Matchmaker for Mares and Orphan Foals

Photo credit: Jenny Dybedahl / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Meet Sea King, 2020 Colt by Sea Lion

Thoroughbred stallion Sea Lion has offspring in five countries on three continents.

Meet Sea King, a 2020 colt by Sea Lion xx bred in Germany.

Sea King was born on April 28, out of a top dam line (Acord II/Werther). He is currently being offered for sale by his breeder.

Sea Lion's owner, Pam Fisher, is thrilled with this colt, who shows plenty of bone and great balance and uphill movement in all three gaits.

Video of Sea King by Sea Lion xx

Sea Lion is a versatile Thoroughbred stallion approved by most major warmblood registries. Sea Lion has won numerous championships and competed at the highest levels of eventing, including at the Rolex 4* (now 5*), and retired sound to compete in Hunters and Jumpers. His offspring are registered in several different registries, and in five countries.

• An impressive and versatile stallion with successful eventing career plus a "retirement" show record in hunters. 
• Offspring in five countries.
• Oldest offspring starting to compete.
• Available fresh and frozen.
• Excellent motility.
• 90% conception rate on first breeding.
• Live Foal Guarantee.

For information about Sea Lion, please click here.

To inquire about breeding to Sea Lion, click to contact his owner.

theHorse.com: Wean at Six Months or Wait?

As we head towards fall, and plan to wean foals, it's interesting to look at the trend toward more natural weaning. Not everyone can do it, of course, but I'm glad that science is taking a look at the results of different weaning methods. 

A recent article on theHorse.com takes a look at a French study, which finds that "allowing foals and their dams to wean at their own pace could be a more welfare-friendly breeding strategy than traditional methods." 

“It might seem impractical to some breeders to allow foals to naturally wean from their mothers, but the potential benefits could be worth considering,” said Séverine Henry, PhD, lecturer of animal behavior at the University of Rennes, in France. If you are interested in the humane aspects of raising horses, and you have the resources, it's worth a read.

Read the full article here.


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In a similar illustration of our shifting focus more and more toward animal welfare and humane treatment, theHorse.com also addresses the question of handling foals in the breeding shed. This doesn't come up in warmblood breeding as often as other breeds, but it's still interesting.

Read "Minimizing Foal Stress Levels in the Breeding Shed".

Foundation Friday: Furioso xx

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!

1939–1967
166 cm
Bay

In 1946, a National Stud Commission was formed in France to buy foreign stallions to increase the French gene pool. … They were shown Furioso. Admittedly his career did not greatly impress; he was now seven, and had raced 21 times and only came close to winning three times. Still “his dignity, harmonious length and general conformation were enough to seduce. Mr O’Neill, who had never ridden such a well-balanced horse, forgave him his slightly knock kneed forelegs, his somewhat tight hock and his long-legged conformation. He was purchased for 800 pounds from Mr Blunt.” … Still Furioso was exceedingly well bred. His sire Precipitation had a fine career winning seven races ranging from the 4000 metre Ascot Gold Cup to the King Edward Stakes of 2400 metres. As a stallion he was a success, eleven times amongst the 20 best sires of winners in England, and once in France. He was seven times in the top 20 sires of mares in England. Furioso’s dam, Maureen was by Son in Law, another good racehorse, and a very good sire…. Arriving in France, Furioso stood at Adrien Besnoin’s farm in Urou, near Argentan. … In 1952, his first foals were five years old, and suddenly he was in great demand – from 1954 until his death in 1967, lots were drawn for his services. …. By 1954, Furioso was topping the list of sires of winners in France thanks to jumpers like Virtuoso and Dolly II. … He was a prolific sire of Olympic horses, including the gold medallist at Tokyo, Lutteur B, and Pomone B, who carried d’Oriola to victory at the World Championship in Buenos Airies in 1956, when she was only seven years old. … As a sire of sires, Furioso was perhaps not so successful, [although] certainly his son Mexico, out the exceptional mare Dame de Ranville, was regarded as a gem…. Perhaps Furioso’s crucial influence has been as a mare sire: Ma Pomme, the full sister to Pomone B, produced a string of national and international jumpers, and importantly, when bred to the Ibrahim son, Quastor, the stallion Fair Play III, the sire of Narcos II. Furioso’s daughter, Tanagra (out of Délicieuse by Jus de Pomme) produced an extraordinary number of competitors, stallions and broodmares, the most important of which was Jalisco B. Artichaut, the dam sire of Nabab de Rêve, is out of a Furioso mare, as is Qredo de Paulstra who founded something of a dressage dynasty in Oldenburg through his son, Quattro B, the grand sire of the popular Quarterback. The blood of Furioso has had a new lease of life recently through the success of his great grandson, Kannan, a Dutch import…

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There's much more to this article about Furioso on the Horse Magazine website! Click here.

Meet some of the stallion descendants of Furioso on WarmbloodStallionsNA.com. Click here:

Mannhattan

Vegas

Contucci (1993-2020)

Photo: Alix Coleman

Hilltop Farm sadly shares the news of Contucci’s passing last Friday. The great stallion lived a wonderful 27 years, with twenty-two of them here at Hilltop Farm. Contucci (Caprimond-Lungau) was bred in Germany by Klaus Storbeck and won the dressage portion of his 100-Day Test with an impressive 147.11 points. He was purchased by Jane MacElree in 1998 and has been a cornerstone of the Hilltop Farm Stallion Roster ever since. Contucci’s impact on North American breeding has been significant. His accolades include having earned the titles USEF Dressage Breeding Sire of the Year and USEF Dressage Sire of the Year, and he has been consistently ranked in the Top 10 of the USEF Sire Rankings for the past five years. Contucci proved time and again his ability to sire winning offspring. From in-hand at inspections and breed shows and up through the Grand Prix level, Contucci offspring have been champions. He has sired licensed stallions and many Premium/Elite mares and his influence on US dressage breeding will be felt for generations to come.        

       

Contucci’s character endeared him to everyone who had the pleasure of working with him over his many years here at Hilltop.  As we spent our last hours with him, there were a lot of tears but also a lot of smiles over the many Contucci stories we all had.  Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this special stallion’s life over the years. He was truly a great one! 

Please click here to learn more about Contucci.

World Breeding News July Posted

by Anna Goebel

Another interesting issue of World Breeding News has been posted, presenting sport horse breeding on the world stage. Andrés van Daalen (page 7) reports that, world-wide, unlike during the financial crisis, breeding has not been down because of the pandemic. In his article, he also speaks as an advocate of much more cooperation between registries, something I've wanted to see for years.

This issue features individual horses (Opaline des Pins, Vivaldi, etc.) who are making names for themselves, and also breeders who have already done that (Harm Thormählen, Franca Zanetti). There are also reports on foal auctions, breeders in Brazil, Oldenburg summer festival, individual stallions, and more.

There is an interesting article by Hillevi Brasch about the Swedish digital foal inspections happening in 2020 due to Covid-19. They are using a video app called Ridesum developed in Sweden, which has great possibilities.

Also of special interest to North American readers: an article on Ontario's breeding presence. The seven CWHBA approved stallions are described, and I'm proud to say that three of the seven are featured on WarmbloodStallionsNA.com:

Beau Balou

Cabardino

Diamo Blue

Also especially interesting to Americans is the article on the Irish Army horses. The Army Equitation School was established in 1926, and its mission is "to promote the Irish horse, support Irish breeders, and to advertise the Irish-bred sport horse through participation in international events in both eventing and showjumping at the highest level." What would American breeding be like today if there had been that kind of support, say half a century ago? How could we build that now?

One feature is Part II of "Warmblood Breeding" - a three-part series by Celia Clarke on its history. Part I covered the history up to World War II, and this part continues to the present day. Part III will look into the future of warmblood breeding in a post-Covid world.

Finally, Dr. Karen Wolfsdorf, DVM has written an article on what causes a mare to lose her pregnancy.

Much worth reading! Check out the issue here.

Subscribe to WBNSH

Beau Balou

Cabardino

Diamo Blue

North American Stallion Sport Test 2020 Canceled

The North American Stallion Sport Test for 2020 has been canceled. Below is the official announcement as posted on their Facebook page.

"The organizing committee for the 2020 North American Stallion Sport Test (NASST) regrettably shares their decision to cancel the 2020 tests that were scheduled for October 26-28 in Colora, Maryland and October 30-Nov 1 in Solvang, California. These events draw in participants, spectators, and officials from three countries and many states. With the covid-19 pandemic still affecting us so heavily, we must keep the health and safety of everyone as our top priority and do not feel it would be prudent to run the tests this year.

"Each registry will be communicating with its 4 to 6-year old licensed stallions to discuss how they will handle breeding license extensions given this unique situation. For 2021, NASST will also add a testing division for 7-year old stallions to accommodate those stallions that were scheduled to attend this year as 6-year olds. Each registry also offers alternate approval routes through traditional sport.

"Updates regarding 2021 dates and locations will be published later this fall on the NASST website. We are all committed to the long-term development of North American-based stallions and will look ahead to seeing you all in 2021."

Warmblood Stallions of North America has been proud to be a media partner of the testing, and will miss attending on one or the other coast. We look forward to the NASST resuming in 2021!

Anna Goebel representing Warmblood Stallions of North America at the West Coast NASST 2019. Looking forward to 2021!
Patty Wilding photo

Foundation Friday: Lacapo

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!

Photo: Gerd Küst

1980–2013
168 cm
Grey
Breeder: Harm Thormählen

I guess when Harm Thormählen bred Lacapo, he didn’t have the future of Dutch dressage breeding on his mind, but the stallion was to play a key role anyway… Harm Thormählen admits he didn’t have dressage in mind when he planned the mating: “I would not have thought that Lacapo would become important for the Dutch dressage because of Flemmingh, but his mother, Larsa [by Capitano], had really good basic gaits and a lot of elasticity. So the movement was there. With Flemmingh this movement was doubled because his damsire, Carneval (by Cor de la Bryère,) who is bred by my now 91 year old neighbor Michel Magens, had a lot of movement as well and his mother moved also very well.” Lacapo’s sire, Landgraf, produced life 20 advanced level dressage horses in his lifetime but he was much more successful in producing jumpers. … Licensed in Holstein in 1982, Lacapo is warmly praised for his movement in the Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Breed, by Dr Dietrich Rossow: “Medium sized stallion with good expression and beautiful neck carriage. The shoulder could be more sloping. Small dip in the back. Short hip. Adequate bone with faults in the hocks and pasterns behind. Very good mover. Good jumper despite some difficulties with use of the back. Produce: Offspring of medium frame with beautiful faces and lots of appeal. Very good movers.” Lacapo stood at Siethwende in 1983, Sollwittfeld 1984-85, Marne 1986, Bredenbekshorst 1987-1990, Wahlstedt 1991, 1992-1998 Salzwedel, 1999-2007 Kollmar-Langenhals. After 2007 he … still covered some mares [for Harm Thormählen]. Harm says: “Sometimes I let him cover a mare, even in his last year that he was alive he covered a mare. He was a very strong and healthy stallion and reached the exceptional age of 33. He had a very honest and strong character. He was also very friendly; he was a real pleasure to have around.” He produced for Germany 146 broodmares and 9 approved stallions …. In The Netherlands Lacapo was to found a dressage dynasty through his son Flemmingh and his grandson Krack C. …. …

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There's much more to this article about Lacapo on the Horse Magazine website! Click here.

Meet some of the stallion descendants of Lacapo on WarmbloodStallionsNA.com. Click here:

Fairbanks

Sir Sinclair