Breeder Ken Borden, Jr., has characterized his Little Bit Farm, Inc., as “small but mighty.” They have had growing success and many year-end awards for both farm and horses, but this past year was a banner one. For 2009, Little Bit Farm is the leading dressage breeder for both the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and the United States Dressage Federation (USDF), with five USDF Horse of the Year winners and two of their four approved stallions entering the record books. Masterpiece (Master 850) now holds the highest in-hand median score in USDF history of 87.250%; and Rashka (Raymeister/Opus) has earned the highest under-saddle median score ever for USDF, an 85.5%.

Little Bit Farm in Wilmington, IL, is owned and operated by Ken and his mother, Marge Borden. They stand four approved stallions: Opus, Masterpiece, Rashka, and Reuters Tiamo Trocadero. Borden is so confident in the ability of these four stallions to get mares in foal that he is waiving breeding fees on limited breedings to select mares, until the mares are confirmed 20 days in foal.

The farm’s foundation stallion, Opus (Idocus/Admiraal Ferdinand), is registered NAWPN and approved ISR/Oldenburg. For many years he has been a leading dressage sire for USEF and USDF, reliably producing premium foals, mares, and Horse of the Year winners.

Masterpiece is approved SWANA and ISR/Oldenburg, and all but one foal presented by Little Bit Farm have been Class I or Premium. In addition to his remarkable in-hand performance this year, SWANA inspectors have recommended exporting Masterpiece’s semen to Sweden for Swedish mares.

Rashka’s accomplishments at only five years old are many. Highlights include the highest score ever recorded at a U.S. stallion testing (164.86), winning 110 of his 121 classes in 2008-2009 with under-saddle scores as high as 91%, and now a history-making under-saddle median score for USDF. At his symposium in Wilmington, OH, last June, Robert Dover called Rashka “absolutely fantastic...international quality...a once in a lifetime horse.”

Rashka’s first foal crop hit the ground in 2009, and all but one are premium ISR/Oldenburg or Class I SWANA. Borden is limiting Rashka’s breeding in 2010 because he is training for Prix St Georges and hoping to represent the U.S. in Europe for the FEI Six-Year-Old Young Horse competition, “So interested breeders need to get in Rashka’s book early,” he said.

As a side note, Rashka’s sire, GP Raymeister, a half sibling to Masterpiece, has also had a great year. Ray was bred by Little Bit Farm and is now owned by Ginna Franz of Grand Prix Equestrian and ridden by Kassandra Barteau of KYB Dressage. Ray is 2009 USDF Prix St Georges Horse of the Year; and among many year-end awards, he and Barteau qualified to represent the U.S. in the FEI World Cup Dressage for Young Riders Final held in Frankfort, Germany, this past December. “We congratulate Kassie and Ray on their second-place finish in Group B at the Young Rider World Cup,” Borden enthused.

Reuters Tiamo Trocadero is the only approved stallion of Borden’s that is not home-bred. He came to stand at Little Bit Farm at the end of 2008, and 2010 will see Ken’s first foals from him. “We are very excited for our first Tiamo foals to arrive. Hopefully his offspring will do as well as he has done after 11 years of showing at the FEI levels. Very few horses even make it to FEI, let alone show internationally, receive five USDF HOY awards with an amateur, and are still winning year-end awards at open I-2 and Grand Prix!” Borden brought Tiamo out of a four-year retirement last year, and 2010 will be his 12th year showing FEI.

In addition to four Tiamo foals, Borden also has high hopes for the 10 other foals due in 2010. Another first for Little Bit Farm is the arrival of two ET foals, both out of Rashka’s dam Tashka. One is a full sibling to Rashka, by Raymeister, and one is by Masterpiece. Musing on his prospects for the coming year, Ken revealed, “When I started breeding a little over 20 years ago, it was because I couldn’t afford the quality of horse I wanted, so I decided to breed one.” He certainly has accomplished that and then some! This small, unpretentious farm now demonstrably produces some of the best dressage horses in the country, providing great incentive for people to, as Borden says, “buy American horses, they are winning!”

You can see more about Little Bit Farm and the many young horses they offer for sale at www.littlebitfarminc.com.