HAMINA SSF

Hamina SSF

Mare – Bay – F 2012 – KWPN-NA

Hamina’s story

Does this pedigree look a little different to you? Well, it should! I don’t breed jumpers. I don’t think about jumpers. But because I’ve been to Holland so often and have studied Dutch horse breeding for so many years, I have a rudimentary knowledge of Dutch jumping pedigrees and selection criteria, but that’s it. So, what happened? I fell in love with a jumper stallion. And, to top it off, a German jumping stallion. Blame the chemo!

During the late winter and spring of 2011, I was months into my six months of chemo. Judy Yancey invited me to go to Germany with her. My doctor’s gave me a week extra off from the chemo, and I went. It was a wonderful trip. So, Judy and I are at Gestut Sprehe. They have hundreds of stallions. Walking down one aisle, this horse magnetically drew me in. Without asking or hesitating, I opened his stall and went in. It was magic… or the anti-nausea meds. This three-year-old stallion completely entranced me. He was so beautiful and so kind, with such an intelligent and connecting eye, I was emotionally hooked. Then, I saw him jump. Done. I had to breed to him. I immediately started looking for a jumper mare I could lease or buy. If it hadn’t been for the sympathies people (including Carol) were feeling toward me because of the Cancer, I’m sure none of this would have gone down. Nonetheless, before you know it, Bart Henstra had agreed to lease me a keur mare from their top jumper line, and Katie Kuhn had agreed to lease me my favorite mare in her program. Suddenly, I was breeding two jumper mares to a dream stallion, Lyjanero (pictured in the cover photo). He was Reserve Champion of the Holsteiner licensing that year and is super well bred. And a freaking jumping machine of supernatural proportions. Look him up on YouTube.

We didn’t know Hamina was on her way until about a month before she was born. We had shipped the Lyjanero frozen semen to Katie Kuhn and signed the lease agreement, but after a couple of attempts, Katie’s vet said the mare wasn’t taking. So we decided to call it quits. As fate would have it, Katie called me the next spring and said she was pretty sure Pamina VDL was pregnant. Lo and behold, about a month later, we were the proud breeders of a super fancy Lyjanero filly in California. Pamina is one of my favorite mares in North America. I saw her do her IBOP at DG Bar Ranch years ago, and completely fell in love with her. Plus, her pedigree is absolutely top notch. It’s one of VDL’s many outstanding jumper lines. In particular, I’ve always been drawn to Lord offspring, and for years have been looking for a dressage mare with him close up, but haven’t found one. At any rate, one of my partner’s in equine crime, Zaz Putnam, agreed to buy half ownership in Hamina, so we’re on this adventure together. We presented Hamina as a four year old, and she became ster and keur eligible, but doesn’t receive those predicates until she completes the Register A requirements. The good news for all KWPN and KWPN-NA breeders is the studbook changed the requirements, so Hamina just needed to do her IBOP and D-OC test, and she became a keur mare.

I’m just along for the thrill of having some part in creating this top jumper mare.

Hamina’s offspring

Hamina’s gallery