I love this picture of Juliet Ratti and Gaudi SSF today. It’s a microcosm of what I have always wanted SSF to be: A guiding and supporting force in improving breeding in North America.
My primary goal in establishing Shooting Star Farm was to breed the kind of horse I wanted to ride, but couldn’t afford to buy. My secondary goal has been to improve breeding in North America. Since I’ve been doing this a long time, way before the advent of social media, many of you never may have heard about DBNA or WBNA. These were both groups I created with friends to bring better stallions to North America. Through “Scot’s Journal” I’ve spent the better part of 30 years trying to disseminate as much information as I could toward educating breeders. Additionally, Carol and I have imported stallions on our own for the North American market. Given the outpouring of support for our program and Gaudi, in particular, I’m feeling a need to express gratitude to those people who have helped us along the way in our quest to improve the North American breeding stock, as well as to show appreciation to those of you who have supported our decision to bring Gaudi to North America by breeding to him.
First up are the core group of people involved in making DBNA happen, Susan Duncan, Jim Koford, and Madeleine and Liz Austin. Second up are Jeannette Nijhof and Joop van Utyert who leased us the stallions to start DBNA. Freestyle, Iroko, and Hierarch brought a caliber of stallion to the North American market that was revolutionary at the time. Also, I have to thank Bart Henstra for recommending Wim Cazemier as an honest, good guy to trust with my horses in Holland. Little did I know the friendship and partnership that would develop from that introduction. Next, I have to thank KC Dunn for her advice and not-so-subtle urging to buy Gaudi. Of course, then, I need to thank the Jansen family for agreeing to trust Gaudi to the Tolman family. It brings me great satisfaction that they are enjoying seeing Gaudi have the opportunity to produce the number and quality of foals they knew he could produce, given the chance. Most importantly, I feel a need to sincerely and generously thank those of you who have supported our mission by breeding to Gaudi SSF. That being said, we at SSF have designed a “Thank You” program. Here goes:
-Breeders who produce a number one Gaudi SSF keuring offspring, in any category, get a check for $500 and $1000 discount on a breeding to the same mare the following year.
-Breeders who produce a top five Gaudi SSF keuring offspring, in any category, get $1000 discount on a breeding to the same mare the following year.
-Breeders who produce a first premium Gaudi SSF keuring offspring, in any category, get a $500 discount on a breeding to the same mare the following year.
-Breeders who take their Gaudi SSF offspring to a keuring get an additional $250 discount for any mare the following year.
These discounts are in addition to our quality-mare or multiple-mare discount and our repeat-customer discount.
We’ve tried to tier this program so all of you who have supported us have an opportunity to benefit in some way.
The Tolman family has more plans in the works for the future of SSF. As always, through education and access to quality bloodlines, our goal is to help breeders in North America create the best programs they can. Thank you for your continued support of SSF, and thank you for supporting breeding in North America.
