Mare – Brown – F 1993 – 1.65 m – KWPN 938360 – keur pref

We imported La Vita as a coming two year old. La Vita‘s breeder also bred the KWPN approved stallion Jeraldo. Her 3/4 sister earned a spot as a finalist in the PAVO Cup. In 1996, La Vita was the #1 star mare in the USA and Canada. In 2000, La Vita fulfilled her last requirement for the keur status by successfully completing her IBOP and ranking third in North America for all IBOPs.

Rocco SSF with Alica Dearden

She had a colt, Pejuta, by Ichnaz that was sold before he was born. Her second colt by Idocus, Rocco SSF, sold at 7 days old and placed in the top five foals of 1998 in the NA/WPN keurings. Gert van der Veen described him as “a perfect foal.” Rocco went on to again place in the top ten as a two year old, and, as a four year old, he became the #1 gelding in North America for jumping and the #3 gelding for conformation. Rocco has gone on to win high point repeatedly at both Training and First Level, as well as placing well in the young jumper divisions. He’s now schooling 4th level with Babs Putnam.

La Vita‘s 2000 foal, her first filly, Thea Vita SSF, by Olympic Vincent, was one of three first premium foals at the New England keuring in 2000 and the first foal we kept for our breeding program. Thea has gone on to her ster status, ranking among the top five for movement in North America. Thea is now the much beloved riding mare of Stephanie Sitzberger. La Vita‘s fourth foal, Udo SSF, by Contango, was sold before he was born to Grand Prix Dressage rider, Melinda Johnson. Our fifth La Vita foal, Viva Vita SSF, by Hierarch is a filly that we intended to keep for our breeding program, but, ironically, we were persuaded to send her to a friend, Anna van Sergae, in California. Anna loved this filly and called me nearly daily to tell me what joy she brought to her. Anna died unexpectedly a short time after Viva arrived. I can only be thankful that one of our horses brought such happiness to her, even if it were for such a short time. Viva is now in dressage training in California.

ZaVita SSF

In 2003, for Father’s Day, Carol bought me a breeding to my favorite dressage stallion in the world, Contango! The resulting filly, ZaVita SSF, was first premium and top foal in New England. In 2007, she went on to be the high scoring star mare in New England. We’ve retained this mare for our breeding program and as my riding horse. La Vita‘s 2007 filly was by Freestyle. Cara Vita SSF is a dark, modern, lovely filly who has become part of devoted equine enthusiast, Brook Adam’s, collection of SSF horses. Breeding plans did not work out so well with Ms. La Vita for a couple of years. In 2007, she lost both a Jazz and a Donatelli pregnancy. In 2008, we were fortunate to get her pregnant to Farrington, but she foaled while we were on vacation, only to deliver a stillborn filly.

La Vita rewarded us the following year with one of her best foals, a super fancy UB-40 colt, Fantastico SSF, who also stole Brook Adam’s heart. Fantastico has gone on to compete super successfully in the training level division at New England shows with Cindi Rose Wylie.

With my cancer diagnosis, 2010 and 2011 were difficult years for us, and we were forced into making some really difficult decisions about selling some horses to downsize while I was sick. Our good friends, Sean and Melissa Hardy, offered to buy La Vita to start their own Dutch breeding program. So, already pregnant for another UB-40 foal, La Vita moved to Vernon, VT, with Sean and Melissa. She went on to produce a super filly, Giada, who became a new ster mare this year and passed her IBOP with one of the highest scores in North America. Sean and Melissa also produced La Vita’s third Contango foal, Isabella. She was just the top yearling filly in North America this year, further cementing La Vita’s ability to produce top offspring over nearly two decades of breeding. And, with more joy than I can express, I was thrilled that La Vita returned to Shooting Star Farm in 2015. We love this mare and missed her. Hopefully, she has one more filly to contribute to our program.

La Vita produced one more foal for us, a super colt named Last Child. Unfortunately, both La Vita and Last Child were struck by lightening and killed in June of 2016.