Don De Marco

[pinecone]

[QUOTE=epowers;8462665]
It’s really a shame… Ammy friendly shouldn’t be synonymous with “mediocre”, and I think we are all doing ourselves a huge disservice as an industry to perpetuate that. A horse doesn’t need to be a poor athlete and bad mover to be suitable for an amateur. It’s silly, really… there are many, many perfectly lovely stallions who passed testing with flying colors, and are approved with reputable registries, who produce delightful quiet, amateur-friendly offspring. So, so what, he produces ammy friendly horses? I don’t understand this (rather popular) point of view that quality and being ammy friendly are mutually exclusive, but it always seems to be the go-to argument for stallions like DDM.[/QUOTE]

I couldn’t agree more.

[pinecone]

[QUOTE=Wits End Eventing;8464942]
That said, Don De Marco’s owner was very difficult to deal with. We bought a second breeding at the ISR/OLD auction and planned to breed him to an OTTB mare who has produced one of our best foals to date. DDM’s owner almost refused to honor the contract because our TB wasn’t registered OLD and has since changed her breeding contract to require the breeder to register the foal because she was appalled we were breeding “mutts”. We probably won’t use this breeding and will NEVER purchase another breeding from the owner. I firmly believe Der Lowe is an amazing and hard to find horse to concentrate for eventing, it is a shame DDM’s owners are so difficult.[/QUOTE]

Ironic since Don De Marco’s owner has a sketchy reputation among some of the better Friesian Cross breeders for being so indiscriminate about the mares she’d cross to her Friesians. There was also some hoopla about her selling breedings on ebay and being featured on the Fugly Horse of the Day blog.

[Nootka]

Ok I have a question…

On Wit’s site it says:

Night’s sire, Don De Marco, completed the 30 day Stallion Performance Test with very high scores of 9.5 for character and 8.5 for temperament, 9.0 willingness to work,9.0 constitution and an overall of 9.0.

If this is the case how did this happen:

Don De Marco failed his stallion testing in a rather spectacular fashion. ISR/ONA did some extremely artistic “recalculations” of his scoring and went ahead and called him approved, in spite of the fact that his original published test scores would have to have been nearly doubled to be considered passing. I certainly hope he produces better than himself, unfortunately in this case that really isn’t saying much.

[DownYonder]

Overall of 9.0

That is very misleading, but I am not surprised he is being marketed to unsuspecting mare owners this way.

The official record shows he got a 9.0 for Interior scores (i.e., the aforementioned character, temperament, willingness to work, and constitution).

But there are other scores besides the interior scores - which are just as important for a performance stallion - and he fell far short in those areas.

His actual overall score was 7.40.

Overall 7.40
Interior 9.00
Walk 7.44
Trot 7.00
Canter 7.13
Rideability 7.63
Jumping 7.25

He finished in last place in that testing, and was the only stallion to score under 8 in all three gaits, AND rideability, AND jumping.

[DownYonder]

In his 70 day SPT, he got:

Overall 57.57
Rideability 61.49
Jumping 60.68

He finished dead last of the 13 stallions who completed the full testing. He was the only stallion to not score above 80 points in any category.

There is not one single Euro type warmblood registry that considers scores under 80 as a passing score. But because ISR/ONA wanted to keep the SO in their favor, they decided to recalculate his scores using an outdated scoring algorithm (one which had been replaced in Germany and NA).

It is a joke among serious breeders that his owner and ISR/ONA consider him as “approved”.

[DownYonder]

But as I said earlier, every horse has a mother, and the mare the OP has in mind may very well suit her needs, esp. if she is looking for a good-minded, lower level AA mount. I certainly wouldn’t expect him to produce top talent upper level offspring, though.

[Jenerationx]

[QUOTE=DownYonder;8467772]
But as I said earlier, every horse has a mother, and the mare the OP has in mind may very well suit her needs, esp. if she is looking for a good-minded, lower level AA mount. I certainly wouldn’t expect him to produce top talent upper level offspring, though.[/QUOTE]

Why take a great mare and breed to an inferior stallion when there is far better available? I’m not a breeder but have known a few and have never seen the mentality that it’s OK to breed to mediocre to offer mounts for AA level riders. Everyone I’ve ever known to breed was looking for the best stallion available, not looking for something to breed low level talent on purpose. There seem to be enough upper level bred horses that fall into that category than to purposely limit your breeding to that.

[DownYonder]

[QUOTE=Jenerationx;8469016]
Why take a great mare and breed to an inferior stallion when there is far better available? I’m not a breeder but have known a few and have never seen the mentality that it’s OK to breed to mediocre to offer mounts for AA level riders. Everyone I’ve ever known to breed was looking for the best stallion available, not looking for something to breed low level talent on purpose. There seem to be enough upper level bred horses that fall into that category than to purposely limit your breeding to that.[/QUOTE]

I totally agree with you. However, in this case, the OP isn’t looking for a stallion to breed to. She is looking at BUYING a horse already on the ground. Big difference.

[Jenerationx]

[QUOTE=DownYonder;8469305]
I totally agree with you. However, in this case, the OP isn’t looking for a stallion to breed to. She is looking at BUYING a horse already on the ground. Big difference.[/QUOTE]

Oh geez… I’ve been in bed with strep for about 36 hours and reading and posting and completely lost track of the OP in my drugged up stupor. I was thinking you were suggesting she had a nice mare and only wanted a good AA mount, so sure… breed to Don De Marco.

I’ll go back to sleep now. LOL

[Donatella]

[QUOTE=pinecone;8467126]
Ironic since Don De Marco’s owner has a sketchy reputation among some of the better Friesian Cross breeders for being so indiscriminate about the mares she’d cross to her Friesians. There was also some hoopla about her selling breedings on ebay and being featured on the Fugly Horse of the Day blog.[/QUOTE]

Does anyone have a link to this? I was going to forward it to someone but I couldn’t find it via Google. Were all the old FHOTD posts lost when the blog was closed?

[Ganmo]

READ THE BREEDING CONTRACT VERY CAREFULLY!!! Lesson learned.

[Ace1]

@Ganmo

READ THE BREEDING CONTRACT VERY CAREFULLY!!! Lesson learned.

Care to elaborate?

[Ganmo]

I don’t want to open a can of worms. I was disappointed in aspects that did not involve the stallion himself.

[anon6923113]

Someone better informed than I on the history of his performance testing and approval by OldNA can fill you in on details.

If you are considering a 3 year old filly though, you will want to take a long hard look at the filly’s dam, and whether or not she was inspected and approved. This stallion has been bred to a variety of mares, and is only approved OldNA, I believe.

Additionally… even if you really like the 3 yr old horse you see, and the purchase price is a bargain… consider what your position might be if you want to sell this filly at age 5 or 6, because she just isn’t the partner you had hoped for (for whatever reason). The stallion’s problematic reputation, as well as the quality of this 3 yr old filly’s dam, are both going to impact marketability if you need to sell her at that age and stage.

[Regardless]

I’m trying to understand what his problematic reputation is but there is no specific information about it!

[beowulf]

@Regardless

I’m trying to understand what his problematic reputation is but there is no specific information about it!

His “problematic reputation” has more to do with his owner’s temperament than his, as I understand it… try the filly, and if you like her and you two click, then the rest is history… the only issue would be if you care to breed her, as Virgina Horse Mom said, you’ll need to do your own research about the dam and the filly’s eligibility. :yes:

[GraceLikeRain]

@Regardless

I am new to the warmblood world and am considering a three year old DDM filly. Can someone please tell me how the licensing scores are determined? I want something with a very good temperament that could successfully go up the levels but, lets be real, I’m an AA and don’t plan to go FEI. If there’s something concerning about the stallion I would like to know, obviously his marketing information that is readily available is positive. If someone would rather PM please do so, I am trying to do my due diligence!

There were a few years when I didn’t go a week without seeing an “[insert holiday] breeding special” with a shockingly low stud price. He was bred indiscriminately in my area to the point where you couldn’t throw a rock at a horse show and not ping a DDM horse. I’ve seen lovely horses by him and some…not so sporty types. If you don’t have ambitions to breed, then I’d just evaluate the horse you have in front of you. If I was looking at something with breeding potential down the road or if an injury sidelined a career, his stallion rating and breeders reputation have more weight.

[ladyj79]

The original post was almost three years ago, so maybe OP will let us know if she bought the filly.

DDM is I believe being internet auctioned at present, and the owner is apparently retiring and liquidating.

eta I lied, he apparently just sold in the November auction for ~26k. I have nothing horrible to say about the horse or his production, I’m just honestly surprised he sold for that much.

[anon6923113]

An old thread, butvit got bumped as someone else weighed in because they were looking at a 3 yr old DDM filly.

[hkl]

I have been the owner of a mare by Don De Marco for 4 years now. I purchased her as a 3 year old and almost everyone we met complimented her excellent temperment for her age. She competes excellently in both dressage and show jumping, and has kept her amazing temperment throughout her whole life. She has the best work ethic I have ever come across in a sport horse, not to mention she grew into one of the most beautiful horses at the farm.