Anyone have foals by Bellissimo M or have any experience to share on what he typically passes on? I’m looking for a nice moving, supple stallion who doesn’t throw huge babies, and a smaller head, to name a few…and easy going character is a must. Easy going to be able to be a very nice dressage horse and a good companion for pleasure, trails, some jumping…Any experience to share?
you might want to scroll through this:
http://www.hippologi.com/belissimoengl.htm
these are both my belissimo kids, full siblings (lots of pictures and engl stories):
http://www.hippologi.com/bravoengl.htm
http://www.hippologi.com/brisantengl.htm
the colt took part at the 2012 hannoverian licensing, the filly has now turned five, had her first foal last year (winning the hannoverian foal inspection in westfalia) and is now two months under saddle again, doing very well (nice pics from last weekend here: http://www.hippologi.com/Biscaya.htm#1.3.2014)
today (age five) she is an exact dupe of her sire at young age (neckset/topline).
she still needs to add muscles and weigth but i am confident she will mature further.
even though the colt looks more impressive i consider the filly the better of the two. she has a strong engine, super reactive and impulsive hindleg, as such strongest beat and “takt”. her mother’s heritage and exactly the reason belissimo is not easy to breed to. you will almost always breed for ridability with belissimo, no doubt. “beat” however, is not his personal strength, neither his strength in heritage. you need an impulsive mare for that.
Can you explain further what you mean by “beat.” My mare is very forward and has a very powerful and engaged hind end. If you could describe more what you mean by beat that would help.
Lovely mare you have! Great pictures.
Love, love, love Belissimo M! As with all stallions, having the right mare is important. I have a 2000 model out of my Freestyle/Wolkenstein II mare. Fortuna is an improvement over her dam in temperament, front leg correctness, head and “uphillness”. He did not improve the neck, topline or knee action. My Fortuna has a very good hind leg but so does her dam Forte. My understanding is that he does not improve the hindleg. Fortuna was somewhat unimpressive as a foal, but then she hit age two and blossomed into this stunning creature. I have started her lightly under saddle and she is the easiest, most balanced youngster I have ever had the pleasure of training. She is definitely my favorite horse I have ever owned and she is not for sale ever! I have met several other Belissimo babies and they all seem to be consistently nice movers with good minds. My friends who have bred to him all seem pleased with the results. If you don’t mind a “plain” foal, but want a super riding horse, I would definitely consider him. Your mare should have a good hind leg and topline. Here’s a photo of Fortuna at age two
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151546795416517&set=a.396763321516.180680.568826516&type=3&theater
I don’t mind a plain foal, as long as the foal blossoms into a very nice riding horse (and nice looking as an adult). My current ride that I loooove was certainly not much to look at as a foal, but after 3 he really stood out. And the mind and character is really important to me. Has to be a pleasure to be around and to ride.
I tried your link to see Fortuna and it says that page is currently unavailable. Any other image links you could send?
Also any suggestions on who is the best person/service to order frozen semen from Bellissimo M?
In a nutshell you’ll literally always get great rideability and brain, a good walk and canter and a trot that has enough spring to it for the collected work later on. They also mostly come out pretty and tend to have great personalities.
You want to watch size as he can produce midgets, you want to make sure your mare has got a good engine and power from behind and you don’t want to breed a mare to him that tends to be soft in the ankles as he sometimes passes that along as well so fetlock-wise the mare should be on the medium to shorter side of the spectrum.
[QUOTE=fuzzvet;7462855]
Can you explain further what you mean by “beat.” My mare is very forward and has a very powerful and engaged hind end. If you could describe more what you mean by beat that would help. …[/QUOTE]
the strength of impulsion.
horses have a natural “rhythm” (takt), some more, some less visible.
the stronger the impulsion when footing behind (taking the hind feet off the ground to intiate “impulse”) the rhythm becomes a “beat”, visibly carried all through the horse from back to front.
nothing to do with speed.
nothing to do with “forward”.
strength of impulsion is the naturally given premise for leverage and self carriage.
also, an uphill horse usually shows a clear beat. or the other way round:
a horse lacking the necessary beat usually is not an uphill horse.
reason you cannot judge features like uphill or levergae form a static picture or a horse in stand.
hope that makes sense?
I am not an experienced breeder so I will leave the ins and outs of what he passes along and what type of mare he matches best with to those that are. I tried to breed to him but unfortunately mare didn’t take (well actually, the vet strongly suspected she DID take but lost it very, very early). Semen quality was about the best you could ask for, but poor momma lost her foal that season and I chock it up to stress related to that. In any case, I am absolutely in love with him and a friend had a gorgeous colt by him in 2013. Given the opportunity in the future I would most certainly breed to him again or purchase one of his babies as I’ve heard nothing but great things about their temperament, work ethic, and trainability.
I got my doses from Carol at Superior. She was fantastic to work with.
I actually like the fact that he can throw smaller horses. My mare is shorter in stature, but with a very strong uphill build, and I am hoping to increase her elasticity and rideability and keep the smaller size that she has. I’m 5’3" and she fits me very nicely so I want to improve her and keep her size. Everything I am reading about him and the videos I see of him really makes me excited to possibly breed to him. I love how laid back he looks while still able to be a spectacular dressage horse. Its the best of both worlds.
Here is a pasture image of the mare:
http://s84.photobucket.com/user/kodimouse/media/Image_zps1749e739.jpg.html
Any thoughts? I know its hard to see her neck in this image with her fuzzy mane and her looking at me…
Fuzzvet, if you PM me your email address I will send you some pictures and video of Fortuna.
[QUOTE=fuzzvet;7463573]
Also any suggestions on who is the best person/service to order frozen semen from Bellissimo M?[/QUOTE]
http://www.superiorequinesires.com/stallions/belissimo.shtml
My Belissimo M is about 16 hands at 22 months. String test says 17 hands at maturity. Dam is about 16.3 though. But her dam was 16 hands.
