So much to talk about!
There’s so much to talk about I should have split this into multiple entries, but, alas, here we go…
Franco SSF
Let’s start with a great picture of Franco SSF, aka, Jimmy (UB-40 x Sir Sinclair x Jazz). He’s the first of five full brothers out of our best moving mare, BoWendy (Sir Sinclair x Jazz x Ulft). Jimmy is well on his way to becoming a super star in the eventing world. Of course, we don’t purposely breed event horses, but “an athlete is an athlete.” Some of you may remember that the top KWPN eventing horse for many years was a Jazz son. Plus, I know that Sir Sinclair is producing a number of top hunters, and then there’s Ulft in the pedigree. Makes sense that there’s some jump in these horses. Jimmy was a super hot baby with top athleticism and quick reflexes–I’m psyched he’s found such a good home with such a talented rider.
Early Booking Special
Of interest to many of you, and back by popular demand, we’re offering our preseason breeding special for Gaudi. Pay the $500 booking fee by December 31st, and then pay an additional $500 before the first shipment of rocket-fuel semen. Gaudi’s standard breeding fee will be $1500 again this year, so that’s a $500 savings. This comes with the same unconditional, live-foal guarantee as our normal contract, no term limit or number-of-collections-per-season limit. Gaudi will stand with Wim Cazemier again this year, so collection and shipping fees are the responsibility of the mare owner. For my money, Gaudi remains one of the most interesting stallions available fresh cooled in North America. We’re super excited for his first US foal crop in 2019. From his very limited single breeding season in Holland, Gaudi produced Kashmyra (Gaudi x Florencio I x Ferro)–she became keur eligible and is now prepping for her IBOP. She was also selected for the National Mare Show, and ended up in the Championship Ring, placing among the top ten mares of all three-year-old mares in Holland for 2018. If you need further convincing of the genetic value of our boy, take a look at the video below of Isabel (Totilas x DeNiro x Romancier), Gaudi’s full sister. This is the highest indexed and best-producing mareline in the KWPN. Our contract is available on Gaudi’s page here on our site or on his FB page. Feel free to give me a shout if you want to chat, 603-209-3243.
First Round Selection
Exciting news! I am off to Holland tomorrow! I’ve only attended a couple of hours of the first selection in the past, but, with my new “refocusing” schedule, I have the luxury of attending all of the dressage selection this year. In particular, I’m really interested in seeing the Totilas influence. Totilas grandsons make up a significant percentage of the stallions being presented. I’ll try to put together a journal entry about the first round once I get back. Of course, it’s also going to be fun to see our horses in Holland, as well. It’s hard having horses so far away, but it’s the only way we can access the genetics I want to use in continuing to grow and improve our program.
Godot SSF
Sammy has his FEI passport, and he and Eiren Crawford have declared for Team Canada for the PanAm Games. Sammy and Eiren continue to grow and excel as a team. They scored well into the 70s in their first PSG outing, and, at a recent Stephen Clarke clinic, they demonstrated their progress toward Grand Prix, earning high praise from Mr. Clarke. I don’t remember the exact words he used, but the gist of it is that “…this is a horse with a bright future in international competition.” We are trying to keep Sammy and Eiren together as long as we can, but the cost of competing internationally is a lot for this “refocused” horse breeder to incur. Sammy and Eiren are spending the winter in Southern California.
SSF Sales
We have had one of our best years ever in sales. Thank you to all of the people who believe in our program. We currently have no horses actively for sale other than Sammy, and three of our foals from 2019 are already sold or have a first option taken.
Breeding in North America
After all my tirades about the status and future of dressage breeding in North America, it’s nice to be able to write about something positive. We have three new dressage stallions coming our way! Wynton (Jazz x Matador x Rubinstein), Zhivago (Krack C x Jazz x Ulft), and Grand Galaxy Win T (Apache x Jazz x Zeoliet) have all been purchased by North Americans and will be available for North American breeding. This is huge news. Additionally, it looks as if DG Bar’s Bordeaux x Jazz x Junior STV may also be available. These are all quality stallions out of quality marelines. Of course, if you look at these pedigrees, they don’t help SSF much! We have so much Jazz already in our program, we only have a couple mares with whom we can use these stallions. Still, it’s exciting news for North American breeders, and huge kudos to those of you who are taking the initiative to bring in these stallions. As I’ve said many times, our mare base has become stronger and stronger, but without quality stallions, the progress of dressage breeding in North America is limited.
Congratulations to Reagan McCool and Goliath SSF
I received a wonderful text from my friend KC Dunn this morning. Goliath SSF (Uphill x Havidoff x Ramiro) was awarded the Junior Training Level, KWPN Training Level, and First Level All Breeds Championships at the USDF Annual Meeting in Las Vegas! Goliath was born at Timbach Farm after KC purchased Oleander B from us during my cancer-induced program cut a number of years ago. I’ve never met Reagan, but I understand she is an up and coming superstar. Love it when our horses end up with such talented people.
That was a lot of news! Hopefully, you’ll hear from me again in about 10 days.