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California Riding Magazine • September, 2010 Oldenburg Inspection at by Pam Moss |
Today I took a quick trip to Germany. At least that’s how I look at it. Yes some of us are fortunate to go and experience the wonderful shows, auctions and all things horse that Germany has to offer. And some of us promise ourselves we will do it “one day” – but life has a way of happening and we don’t always get where we are going. Well today was a wonderful afternoon well spent right here in San Diego County with incredible horses that were purchased at the German Oldenburg auction and a fantastic exhibition of the stallions professionally run by a well experienced German handler and a ground jury evaluating some beautifully bred foals and mares. The foals were bred here and judged using the German Standards by the Oldenburg Studbook team of Thomas Rhinow and Holly Simensen. And to my delighted surprise we were even lucky enough to have the great sausages and hamburgers grilled by Jennifer’s dad Wesley Dymek – yes it really is a family affair, only thing missing was the curry mustard often accompanying the sausages at the horse shows and auctions around Germany.
German Dressage’s Oldenburg Stallion, Herzberg. Photo ©Erpelding Photography What in the world am I talking about – well the Oldenburg inspection team was onsite at Jurgen and Jennifer Hoffman’s barn, German Dressage in Encinitas, for the inspection tour for the Oldenburg studbook. Jurgen and Jennifer and their team of Bereiters also exhibited and had ridden to exhibit horses recently acquired at auction by some of their lucky clients. There is a real contender here now who was specifically chosen at the Vechta auction for the goal of competing him in the World Young Horse Championships in Verden at the 6 y.o. level. He will be qualified and ridden by Jennifer Hoffman and was purchased by Liz Daughty. This stunning young horse named San Moritz is by Sandro Hit x Don Schufro x Figaro. We are lucky to have acquired a horse of this quality with gaits over the top spectacular as well as having excellent rideability and character and the best part of this picture is he will represent the USA with Jennifer aboard. The total package included four other horses – Rock Profot, also owned by Liz Daughty and Conniseur, who is owned and will be presented by amateur Jan Granier and included is a mount purchased by Tiffany Silverman, a 4 y.o. 17.1hd horse named Sebastian who will give some serious competition to the other young horses that will be shown in the coming year around California by other professionals. Wow, can it get any better than this?
Champion Colt by Herzberg. Photo ©Erpelding Photography Big Transitions It is a stressful transition for these horses when they come in from Germany and German Dressage provides the environment and care and training that makes this transition easier on the horse and the owner too. With the experience that Jurgen and Jennifer have in matching and providing back-up for the horses that they acquire on behalf of their clients it makes for a near seamless transition for the care and training of the horse. They are ridden in the same fashion and given a similar schedule and feed in order to accommodate the tremendous changes. It is important to take care of the mind of the horse as well as the body. All too often for those who are less experienced and don’t know or understand, changes are made too quickly without regard for a transitional time period. It is important to recognize that the environment has changed dramatically; and that it serves the horse well when all of the changes are made gradually to accommodate those differences; and in the long run it serves the owner as well. It was a pleasure to watch the presentations done in classical style and to watch these young athletes exhibit the grace and power of a well bred horse. The arena was made up in the traditional in-hand showing of horses and had flowers and triangles set to show off the horses and provide the type of environment that they are accustomed to being in and always exhibited by similar events around Germany. The recently purchased auction horses that were ridden were shown at all three gaits and commentary was made by the inspection team regarding the breeding, conformation and how the horses were shown or ridden – it was quite interesting, educational and fun. By watching an exhibition of this type it gives you a real taste of what to expect to see in the better auctions that are conducted around Germany. The foals were exhibited in hand with the mares and the runners did a fantastic job of showing off the youngsters and moms.
Lacy, Champion Oldenburg Mare. Photo ©Erpelding Photography The inspection team evaluated 7 mares and 4 foals and the comments that were made were definitely nice to hear. “Every year we are seeing better and better foals here in California.” Both Gay Walker’s champion colt and Jeri Bonesteele’s champion foal were amazing in conformation with potential for a bright future in the coming years. It was discussed by the evaluation team the movement of each foal along with their conformation and what one should expect to see in the coming development of the foal into a horse. The champion Oldenburg Mare owned by Jurgen and Jennifer Hoffman and the champion non-Oldenburg mare owned by Gay Walker are both beautiful examples of fine breeding, taking care to improve the standard of breeding not only with the stallion but the important choice of the mare. In speaking with the inspection team it was evident that the goal of the Oldenburg breeders is not a mantra but a truth: “the goal is not to just breed horses but to breed good riding horses.” The champion colts were both from the Hoffmans’ stallion Herzberg and the inspection team commented that both colts were uphill with lots of cadence. They had beautiful heads and perfect neck sets with very, very active hind legs at the trot. All of the foals were accepted into the Studbook. So if you have a mare to breed you definitely need to consider the stallions at German Dressage, I am sure Jurgen will be happy to assist in making sure it is the right choice because he too does not want just another horse. What does it mean to breed a good riding horse? Good temperaments, ridability and gaits. Of course we all would love to have the most spectacular gaits and it goes without saying we want rideability and temperament. But all too often we get carried away with just gaits, don’t forget we too need to be able to ride the horse. A good breeder does their best to combine all of these characteristics and hopes that one day that international champion will be the one that comes from their choices. After all, the goal is not to just get another horse but to improve the breed. This is why the studbook is so important – it keeps track of the breeding and the get and the records of the show horses. Just as an aside – I have always kept in touch with the Studbook offices in Germany – they love to see the records and pictures and it is fun to provide them and keep in touch. Why go to an event like this if you don’t want to breed? Well the answer is easy – it is to educate yourself as to what quality from good recognized breeding stallions and mares looks like. So you know when you go to buy that next horse or even just to watch at the next horse show what a really good quality horse should be. This also can explain many times the scores that you see on tests. How is that so? Well a good hind end that not only carries the horse but actually brings the horse up in the front and is active is what many judges are looking for when scoring a horse. Well guess what? The good breeder looks for those characteristics before considering breeding as well. Small world isn’t it? So if you get a chance and want a little taste of the horse world from the center of some of the most beautiful and sought after animals in Germany – take the short trip and go to the local inspections and enjoy a beautiful California afternoon in Oldenburg Country.
Author Pam Moss is a longtime breeder who owns Dressage Warmbloods. |
