Danish Warmbloods at Devon

[_Tradewind]

I was struck, this weekend at DAD, by how many horses competing in the FEI classes were listed as Danish Warmbloods. Of the 12 horses competing in the Grand Prix Freestyle last night, 4 of them are identified as Danish.

I know next to nothing about Danish horses so excuse my ignorance, but where are these horses coming from?? I imagine most are imported, yet they seemed to be highly overrepresented at the “elite” levels this weekend despite the fact that Danish Warmbloods don’t seem to have much of a presence in North America. How many North American breeders are even breeding them? Am I (are we) missing something?

[vineyridge]

Remember that Denmark is right next to Germany, and Holstein used to be Danish. I seem to remember that the Danes buy huge numbers of horses from Germany for their breeding stock as an ongoing practice.

Aren’t the stallions who had “wrong” foals german bred horses standing in Denmark?

[Elles]

http://varmblod.dk/DK.aspx

[pony_grandma]

A list of the US breeders on the US website http://varmblod.dk/US/BREEDERS.aspx

[_Tradewind]

[QUOTE=pony grandma;7781060]
A list of the US breeders on the US website http://varmblod.dk/US/BREEDERS.aspx[/QUOTE]

I just find it fascinating that there are only 13 breeders listed on the site which is not at all indicative of the representation of this registry at Devon. I’m thinking, for example of the relative ratio of Hanoverian breeders in North America to the number of Hanoverians represented at a show like Devon (I’m not knocking Hanoverians: I breed them).

The question is, are these horses (Danish) more likely to be purpose bred for the higher levels? Or, if they are basically all imported, is the Danish horse market (in Denmark) less amateur and more pro-oriented than, say, the German Hanoverian or Oldenburg market? It seems safe to assume that many more Hanoverians and Oldenburgs are imported than Danish horses, and yet proportionately so many more Danish horses seem (based on this very restricted sample of Devon competitors) to end up competing successfully at FEI levels.

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts or insight to contribute.

[Boomer]

Heather Blitz had Paragon and Ripline there - both really nice horses. I think both of them were bred by Oak Hill Ranch.

http://www.oakhillranch.com/news/

They have some really nice horses! I went to the Danish inspection there in 2012.

[_Tradewind]

[QUOTE=Boomer;7787093]
Heather Blitz had Paragon and Ripline there - both really nice horses. I think both of them were bred by Oak Hill Ranch.

http://www.oakhillranch.com/news/

They have some really nice horses! I went to the Danish inspection there in 2012.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I saw both Paragon and Ripline compete! Watching Paragon in the Grand Prix was actually what tipped me off to the presence of Danish Warmbloods: he was so eye-catching that I had to look him up, and I was surprised to see him listed as Danish!

[siegi_b]

I think the Danish are very much like the Dutch when it comes to using good horses for breeding. It doesn’t matter so much where the horse is registered as long as it contributes positively to the breed. The difference comes with health testing and that is where the northern countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway seem to be a little less strict than The Netherlands.

And while I will always check out stallions approved in those countries, I will always only feel good about the stallion’s health when it’s been checked and published by the Dutch stallion testing.

[DownYonder]

Another thing to consider is that since the DWB hasn’t been as well known in North America as registries like KWPN, Hanoverian, Oldenburg, etc., nor does the registry have an intense marketing machine, it has been possible to find VERY good horses in Denmark for not nearly what they would have cost in Germany or The Netherlands.

As an example, I know of a regionally known and successful trainer who did most of her shopping there for many years. She once told me she won’t shop for the big brand names “because they are always overpriced”. I think these days, she does most of her shopping in Denmark and Belgium.

I was hunting in Denmark for a while for a particular horse, but after the revelations a couple of years back that several top newly licensed stallions were not by the sires listed on their registration papers, I went elsewhere. I just felt it was hard to have confidence in what I was getting if they weren’t doing parentage verification via DNA analysis on EVERY foal.