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California Riding Magazine • September, 2010 Glenhill Farms
by Kim F. Miller |
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Ivory Coast. Glenhill Farms has had its brushes with mainstream celebrity. The biggest came in 2007 when the mare Suerte drew a huge Internet fan club during the final weeks of her long-overdue foal delivery. The pregnancy was monitored and the arrival, at last, viewed live by thousands, thanks to in-stall cameras and online broadcasts from the stable in the Bay Area’s Petaluma. Since then Genevieve Ghilotti’s hunter-oriented breeding endeavor has enjoyed more normal reasons for fame in the equestrian world: its role as a breeder of Warmblood and Thoroughbred prospects that are beautiful, athletic and intelligent. Glenhill’s youngest stallion, however, the Cremello-colored Thoroughbred, Ivory Coast, is likely to generate a new wave of celebrity for the program. Ivory Coast’s coat is a rich, dappled cream color. In the few hunter competitions the 3-year-old has visited or contested so far, he was a can’t-miss character. The judges liked what they saw. Ivory Coast has already won a first and third in his first two Baby Green Hack outings. His brilliant color is just one of his attributes. “He is definitely a horse of a different color,” notes Ghilotti. “He stands out in a way that makes people stop and stare, but in a very positive way. Even if he was a solid bay, he just has a real presence about him.” Ivory Coast is by RFF El Dorado and out of the talented palomino mare Indiscreet. His Thoroughbred breeding is responsible for a lot of his pizzazz, Ghilotti asserts. “I love a good Warmblood and I have quite a few Warmblood mares, but I think the Thoroughbred adds an elegance and a bit of refinement that is great in a hunter.”
Jones Hall. Photo © Teresa Ramsey Nominated for the International Hunter Futurity and preparing to make his full scale Baby Green Hunter campaign as a 4-year-old next year, Ivory Coast will be presented at this month’s Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) inspection at Glenhill Sept. 10. Glenhill’s first stallion was a Thoroughbred, Literati. Ghilotti found the now deceased racing stallion through his offspring, namely mares whose qualities she valued as broodmares. When he passed on, Ghilotti found a worthy replacement stallion in the well-known Jones Hall, who stood with Pam and Ricky Hall in Texas for most of Jones Hall was the International Hunter Futurity’s reserve grand champion as a 3-year-old and continued to compete successfully. Registered with the Jockey Club and listed with the American Quarter Horse Assn., Jones Hall is available by fresh cooled semen and live cover, as is required by the Thoroughbred registry, the Jockey Club. In his success as a sire, Jones Hall carries on a family legacy. Jones Hall’s father, Joes Lin, was one of the original Hunter Futurity sires and has been a top 10 money earner. In her approximately 10 years of breeding hunters, Ghilotti has seen significant growth in this area of the sport. She credits it to the success of the Hunter Breeding show circuit that gives owners something fun and challenging to do with their youngsters before they are ready for over-fences competition.
Pop Quiz, by Popeye K out of Warm Hearted Esther. Pop Quiz won his 2-year-old Hunter Breeding class and was Best Young Horse at Sonoma Equestrian Classic. Owned by Rachel Fern. Handled by Ned Glynn. Beautiful Minds Ivory Coast, Jones Hall and all of Glenhill’s Thoroughbred and Warmblood broodmares exemplify Ghilotti’s emphasis on breeding for temperament. She set this as a priority after several years as an amateur competitor, a demographic that now comprises the majority of Glenhill’s clients. On the show scene, at home and in his training excursions to Hope Glynn’s Sonoma Valley Stables, Ivory Coast debunks the idea that all Thoroughbreds are high spirited and hard to handle. Even though he had not yet turned 3, the stallion was non-plussed by his first excursions to busy show grounds. He happily hauls off to Glynn’s nearby stable for training for the Baby Green division, into which he will delve fully next spring. “The fact that he can be hauled into a new situation and get right down to work speaks volumes about his temperament,” says Ghilotti. The breeder happily observes that the hunter world seems increasingly open minded to horses of color. Pintos have paved the way in that regard and she interprets Ivory Coast’s successful show outings as indicators that this trend will continue. Genetics dictate that Ivory Coast will not sire a cremello-colored baby unless he is bred to palomino or buckskin, a.k.a. “dilute,” mare. Paired with a more traditional hunter shade, he will produce a palomino or buckskin with dark colored eyes, not the cremello’s trademark blue orbs. She is confident that his coat color will remain lustrous and dappled because his mother, Indiscreet, has a coat that’s stayed that way through adulthood.
Pop The Cork (Popeye K x Splash of Orange).
He won his Hunter Breeding class and was Reserve
Best Young Horse at the Sonoma Equestrian Classic. As much as the breeder loves her own horses, she is always on the lookout for the best match-up, and several of Glenhill’s youngsters are by outside stallions. Indiscreet, for example, is in foal to the noted hunter sire, Popeye K. “I’m looking for whatever stallion is going to best suit my mares,” she explains. Glenhill Farms has kept very busy, primarily through word of mouth. Repeat customers dominate the farm’s clientele and getting feedback from them is one of the most gratifying aspects of Ghilotti’s work. “Seeing that the vision I had is coming to fruition in the form of beautiful horses that people enjoy so much is what I love,” she says. “Seeing these horses do what they were bred to do is great!” She has also enjoyed the educational process required to become a successful breeder. Several courses and a particularly helpful veterinarian in Dr. James Kerr have been instrumental to Glenhill’s success. Breeding education, of course, is a never-ending endeavor. She looks forward to Glenhill’s next hosting of the RPSI inspections, set for Sept. 10 at the beautiful farm. Not surprisingly, Glenhill has a great track record with the RPSI registry. In RPSI’s national rankings last year, Pop The Cork tied for the number one colt and Pop Secret was a top five filly. Both are Popeye foals out of Glenhill mares. Spectators are welcome at the inspection and it’s a great place to learn more about breeding.
Ivory Coast with Hope Glynn at the
Sonoma Equestrian Classic. “A judge from Germany who has seen thousands of foals will talk about why the mare/stallion match was a good one,” Ghilotti explains. “That includes what the stallion added to the mare and how they arrived at the score the foal receives.” A lovely luncheon in Glenhill’s picturesque setting is an added attraction. Meantime, Glenhill continues its mission of producing great young horses. Fans are still welcome to watch their arrival via www.marestare.com. Ghilotti can’t promise anything as exciting as Suerte’s delayed delivery three years ago, but she is confident that every delivery will produce something wonderful for its owner.
For more information, call 707-789-9156 or visit www.glenhillfarm.com.
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