I am a new poster, but have read a number of the very helpful Forum discussions about breeding for event horses in the United States, which I agree is an approach that has been too-long neglected. My partner and I are both eventers (she at the upper levels, me at the lower ones) who have joined the ranks of those who are trying to improve eventing breeding in the U.S., and who are trying to produce a horse with the talent and soundness to compete, hopefully, at the international level (one must have a BHAG (“big hairy audacious goal”)), or at the very least, horses that can break through the Preliminary/Intermediate barrier and compete at the CCI level.
We are of the view that in the future an upper level event horse will still need to have a majority of Thoroughbred blood in the pedigree, even as “full” or mostly-warmbloods have made some inroads into the sport and the CIC format has become more prevalent. It is also clear that the British are years ahead of us in selective breeding for eventing, a view that should be no surprise to readers of this Forum. For that reason, we have initially focused on established eventing stallions from the U.K. or Ireland that have a record of producing upper level eventers – Jumbo, Fleetwater Opposition, Catherston Dazzler, and the Welton stallions. The problem with these sires is that they are either dead or retired and their semen is either unavailable or hard to get (anyone know if emco will have Jumbo, FO, or CD in 2011?), and their intact offspring are still too young for us to know if they will be similar producers (although we are looking at Laurel (a Stan the Man xx son (registered Trakehner), and Future Illusion, a Fleetwater Opposition son).
The success of Cavlier Royale as an eventing sire caused us to ask ourselves why stallions from continental studbooks focusing on the jumpers (principally Holsteiner, BWP, and KWPN) have not made further inroads into eventing breeding. I recognize that some jumper stallions have hit the USEF and international leaderboards for eventing sires, but it seems to happen less often than one might expect, even taking into account that breeders can usually get higher dollars (or euros) for “jumper” or “dressage” foals out of blooded mares. My partner has a young horse by a Fuerst Gotthard son out of a Thoroughbred mare who is very talented and (cross fingers!) should be able to progress through the levels; his quality has influenced our thinking as well.
With that big windup (are you still with me?), we have a quality Thoroughbred mare that we intend to breed this spring for a 2012 foal. We look to produce an eventing prospect, ideally with at least 60-80% Thoroughbred blood in the pedigree. The mare is 16 hands and well conformed for eventing. She has an uphill build, is very proportional, has straight legs, and has surprisingly good feet. She is strongly coupled behind with a very nice hindquarter (gotta have the engine) and has a relatively short back (but not too short). If I have to nitpick, her neck/wither connection could be better (needs to be set a little higher), and I would like to see the sire improve her topline and add some leg. She moves very well with nice elasticity through the shoulder and with some suspension at the trot, but she does not have “warmblood”-type expression; very nice canter and a light gallop. She’s been approved by the GOV and is in their main mare book. She’s by a son of Pleasant Colony, and has Nasrullah and Double Jay multiple times in her pedigree, along with some other “names”. She’s pretty quiet and not spooky.
Putting aside the established British/Irish stallions for a moment, and focusing on the continental jumper lines, which sire would you use to produce a 3/4 bred event prospect? We have been focusing on Cor de la Bryere offspring, not only because of his success and influence, but also because Corde was 5/8 Thoroughbred, or thereabouts. It has also become apparent that the Trakehner studbook has been pretty successful at producing eventing progeny (Windfall and Fleetwater Opposition are examples), sometimes despite the lack of up-close blood in the pedigree, so we are looking at those lines as well.
Candidates thus far are Corland, Contendro I, and Stilletto, some other Contender sons, and part-bred Trakehner offspring like Laurel and Future Illusion. Any additional thoughts on potential sires or on what I have written above would be much appreciated. If you are still here, thanks for reading this long post!!!
