Photo by Shakota (A trip to Olympic Reserve rider Michael Barisone's farm provided another fun and educational field trip while showcasing several KWPN dressage horses in action.)
"I'm excited that two companies that have each been in existence for over 100 years will be partnering together," says Tony DeGroot, a member of the Rabo Agricultural Advisory Board and owner of DG Bar Ranch, one of the preeminent sport horse breeding, training and sales facilities in North America. "This will be a big plus for both institutions."
The Rabobank Star Breeders Awards will recognize top North American breeders of KWPN horses as their horses earn points at keurings and for receiving Keur and Star predicates. In addition, prize money will be awarded to 20 champions each year—Champion and Reserve Champion foal, and Champion and Reserve Champion 3-7 year old horse, in each of the KWPN's breeding directions: jumper, hunter, dressage, harness and basic. "We are very excited to be able to offer breeders prize money," states Willy Arts, KWPN-NA Chairman.
Rabobank, N.A. is a California community bank and a leading provider of agricultural financing and banking products to farmers, ranchers, input suppliers and agricultural manufacturers. With 92 retail branches and 15 commercial banking centers, the bank serves the needs of communities from Sacramento to the Imperial Valley through local decision making and active community involvement by its employees.
KWPN-NA Annual Meeting Offers Insights into International Sport Horses
The KWPN-NA Annual Meeting, held in Wellington, FL, once again provided a weekend full of fun along with many educational opportunities from some of the industry's finest experts. There were presentations on a variety of subjects, as well as many exciting field trips, in which participants were able to observe and learn from world-class horsemen and their talented horses. Visitors received insights into the breeding, training and identification of top international sport horses for both jumping and dressage.
Willy Arts explains, "Paul Hendrix and Bart Henstra are among the foremost sport horse experts in the world. They were very candid about how they select horses and what traits breeders, trainers and riders should be looking for. I don't think this information has ever been available to a group before. It was really a rare opportunity."
Paul Hendrix is known worldwide for his Stal Hendrix, which he runs with his brother Emile in The Netherlands. Paul has the special talent of identifying world-class horses. Among the international horses he has produced: Liberty (ridden by Laura Kraut), My Girl (ridden by Ian Millar), and Bonita (ridden by Jessica Kurten). Hendrix shared his insights for how he has built his business. He touched on the importance of caring for the customer, building a network of clients and the excitement of searching for the right horse for the right rider.
Meeting attendees were in for a big treat when they attended the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival to watch the young jumper classes with Hendrix providing in-depth commentary on the country's best up-and-coming jumpers. So what traits does the equine guru look for in identifying stars for the future? "I look at the jump in the canter," he explained. "Is it active and moving? This will be even more important as they move up the levels." Hendrix also emphasized the importance of how the horse uses its hind end over the jump. However, it's not solely natural talent. According to Hendrix how that scope, bravery and carefulness are channeled by the trainer and rider are just as critical in order for the horse to reach his full potential.
Hendrix is also keenly aware of the importance of bloodlines in reliably producing top horses. He encouraged breeders to thoroughly research their breeding matches. "Heritability is key when looking at a stallion to breed to a mare. There is a genetic correlation between [what traits stallions pass on] and sport performance. The KWPN has very good predictors for sport based on genetics," he says.
A trip to Olympic Reserve rider Michael Barisone's farm provided another fun and educational field trip while showcasing several KWPN dressage horses in action. Among the quality horses were Urbanus, by Hemingway, and Olympus, by Havel. Olympus and Barisone have been successful internationally, including a win at the 2009 Palm Beach Dressage Derby CDI-W in the Grand Prix Special. Breeding and heritability are evident, as Olympus has two full siblings competing in international Grand Prix dressage.
Elisabeth Austin and her homebred Grand Prix stallion Olivier Crown, by Idocus, demonstrated a dressage lesson with Barisone. Olivier was bred by Austin's mom, Madeleine Austin, who's also her trainer and mentor. The 14-year-old stallion completed his 100-day stallion testing in 2000 and has successfully combined breeding and competitive careers. Olivier comes from a strong motherline. His dam is the Prestatie mare Rowillie, by Porter. "All of our experts reiterated the importance of using good mares to produce quality offspring. Mares make the difference in your breeding program," Arts summarized.
While mares are an integral part of success, analyzing the stallions to produce the right match is key. Bart Henstra, Arie Hamoen and Johan Knaap, three KWPN luminaries, discussed linear scoring while showing videos of the stallions presented at the recent stallion show in The Netherlands. Participants learned in depth how to read the Stallion Statistics that includes Breeding Values, as well as their meaning. The book lists the predictors for each stallion, such as size of offspring and characteristics. Using the Breeding Values, breeders can answer questions about stallions: Does he improve jumping ability? The stance of the forelegs? Elasticity? The shape of the croup? The panel used the internationally acclaimed jumper Heartbreaker (Nimmerdor x Bacarole) to provide overwhelming evidence that his predictors produced outstanding offspring.
The annual meeting also included visits to watch the Iron Spring Farm KWPN stallions Florianus II and UB40. Florianus II was recently accepted into the KWPN after a North American evaluation. "We were able to learn more about the new stallion approval process," Arts said. "This process will allow the KWPN to include older stallions with international show records." Hamoen, the Chairman of the KWPN Stallion Committee (dressage, jumping and gelders types), explained about the selection criteria that are followed in The Netherlands. "We are very excited that Mr. Hamoen is willing to evaluate horses in North America for their final approval. This gives these stallions the same status in Holland," Arts continued.
Visitors to the meeting came from around the world. "Our goal is always to provide useful information that breeders and trainers can use to produce top-class horses. We were pleased to offer access to some of the world's best horsemen and information you can't get anywhere else," Arts concluded.
The 2011 Annual Meeting will be held at DG Bar Ranch in California. In 2012 the meeting will be held in The Netherlands during the KWPN stallion show. Visit www.kwpn-na.org for more details.
About the KWPN-NA
In 1983, the Dutch Warmblood Studbook in North America was established as the North American Department of the Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands (KWPN) in order to promote breeding and enjoyment of the KWPN horse in North America. To learn more about KWPN-NA membership, stallions and breeding, visit www.kwpn-na.org.