I am surprised at how young he is. It’s not surprising that he might benefit from a rest.
Some background from Eurodressage…
They find his predicament “annoying”? The poor boy doesn’t even turn three years old until June 2015. I really hate to see young, talented horses like this pushed so hard. 
What an awful mindset to have “annoying”. Brutal, poor lad.
Maybe something was lost in translation. But it might be an understatement, given the horse’s auction price and high expectations.
They probably meant “frustrating” or “disappointing.” I doubt they meant to sound callous.
I wasn’t really bothered by the text (semantics) of the press release, but I was rather taken aback that so much seemed to have been asked of this colt. :no: Of course his failure to live up to such expectations was understandably, news.
I can only imagine the embarrassment I would feel if I had pushed any colt, let alone an exceptional colt such as this one (that is very much in the public eye) much too hard, and then to see my poor judgement make the news.:o
Perhaps I am naive, but this type of management of a very young horse is not something that I have ever seen, certainly NOT where respected professional breeders and/or horse owners are concerned.
Perhaps I am being harsh and I should be giving kudos that they aren’t continuing to push him…but that’s really not my gut reaction…
I think there are two very different schools of thought among top professionals when it comes to the career management of young prospects: a) let horses develop at their own pace, or b) push them hard from the beginning and make sure they can handle it (physically/mentally/athletically).
Valid arguments can be made both for/against either method, but generally a horseperson staunchly takes one position or the other.
Hopefully they give this guy a bit of a vacation, though. He sure sounds like he could use it.
The horse isn’t two years old yet but the picture makes him look like a seasoned dressage horse. I mean come on… They’re getting what they created IMO; serves them right.
[QUOTE=Texarkana;8067864]
I think there are two very different schools of thought among top professionals when it comes to the career management of young prospects: a) let horses develop at their own pace, or b) push them hard from the beginning and make sure they can handle it (physically/mentally/athletically).
Valid arguments can be made both for/against either method, but generally a horseperson staunchly takes one position or the other.
Hopefully they give this guy a bit of a vacation, though. He sure sounds like he could use it.[/QUOTE]
I’ve seen the “pushing” school of thought before, but never with the (usually) physically slow- to- develop warmblood. Not before the horse was a three year old…
[QUOTE=skydy;8067882]
I’ve seen the “pushing” school of thought before, but never with the (usually) physically slow- to- develop warmblood. Not before the horse was a three year old…[/QUOTE]
IMO pushing the WB at a young age seems to have taken off like a rocket over the past 10-15 years with increased publicity at sales/stallion tests and growing numbers of young horse classes. Not all that long ago “no one” would back a WB before 4 or 5… Now they have 3yo DSHB under saddle classes.
I agree this guy has done more than his fair share, though. Especially before three!!!
I didn’t know that this has been the norm for a decade! Then again I wouldn’t, not being in the “business”.
I suppose that a brief hop onto a 3 year old,when done judiciously (after common handling,schooling with long lines etc…) to show potential isn’t the end of the world.
However as you mention, this horse has is not yet 3. Collecting semen as well, really does seem a bit much…
Andreas Helgstrand is known to push his horses pretty hard, including young stallions. He wants them performing in the ring and the breeding shed ASAP. He also bought the champion stallion from the 2013 Oldenburg licensing, and when the horse didn’t do a performance test last year, or show in young horse classes, there were comments coming out of Denmark that he not sound. (Thankfully, he did recover enough to win the Danish stallion performance test this year.)
Hopefully D’avie will overcome his fertility issues as he matures. If he doesn’t, he will probably make one heck of a performance gelding.
I wouldn’t call it the “norm,” I would just say it’s more common now where as it was practically unheard of in years past.
I’m hardly a pro on the business. But when I think about the first WB breeders that I worked for in the 1990s vs. now, a lot has changed. The main change being that there was little incentive to start your stallion so young in the past.
[QUOTE=DownYonder;8067995]
Hopefully D’avie will overcome his fertility issues as he matures. If he doesn’t, he will probably make one heck of a performance gelding.[/QUOTE]
Maybe, if he is still sound… I can’t believe that pushing that level of collection on a still maturing body does any good for future soundness…
Use of steroids can make a horse look more developed physiologically than his age may indicate, and also inhibit sperm production.
Do we know for a fact this stallion was getting steroids? It is my understanding they were tested for steroids at the licensings and SPTs.
If AH put the horse on steroids after his licensing, than he is reaping what he sowed. Maybe he will think twice before he puts another young stallion on them.
Seems to be getting more like the QH industry. Poor baby stallion.
[QUOTE=skydy;8067847]
I wasn’t really bothered by the text (semantics) of the press release, but I was rather taken aback that so much seemed to have been asked of this colt. :no: Of course his failure to live up to such expectations was understandably, news.
.[/QUOTE]
It is unfortunate that Americans are so influenced & enamored with All Things European when it comes to warmbloods.
They put ALL these colts through the licensing when they barely over 2 yrs old. This has been going on for well over 10 yrs. This means the colts are being tested & ridden most of the time before they are a full 3 yrs old. Many American breeders can hardly wait to get their hands on the semen from the latest licensing winner…surely all these experienced breeders realize how old these colts are at the time? It’s not a secret.
You know, over & over I see posters “shaming” the racing world for these sort of practices, but no one seems to get real upset when something like this happens in the WB world…I can’t believe people actually don’t realize how young these horses are?
The other thing, and a “thing” that is perhaps even more important to breeders, is that these practices obviously “skew” licensing & testing results towards the colts that mature early.
So we could be overlooking any number of horses who take abit longer to mature physically & mentally.
Certainly something to be aware of.
The unfortunate part is that anytime you put $$ into the mix, stuff can get ugly.
What I don’t understand is that if someone has as much $$ as AH seems to have, you would think giving the horse an extra 6-12 months to mature wouldn’t be a huge hardship for him (AH, not the horse).
As for the steriods…DY is correct. I recall suggesting once that so many of the colts were given steroids and one of our German COTHers (Fannie Mae?) said emphatically that all the colts were tested for drugs.
[QUOTE=not again;8068134]
Use of steroids can make a horse look more developed physiologically than his age may indicate, and also inhibit sperm production.[/QUOTE]
Just plain stress on a horse that’s not fully sexually mature can inhibit sperm production. The horse has clearly been doing a lot for an immature 2y/o WB between all the sales, the stallion licensing, being started under saddle, AND being collected for breeding!
No matter what school of thought you are in when it comes to bringing along young prospects, all of that is asking way too much.
Yes the stallions are tested for steroids at the licensing.
