A Message from the President
Dear Members
Welcome to the June Newsletter.
I am excited to bring to you all of the Champions from the Classification Tour which was held virtually for the very first time due to the Covid pandemic. This was a bold move from the NZWA committee - we were one of the first Stud Books in the world to offer the chance to get foals inspected via video link.
This move took a considerable amount of effort to organise and plan, including recording "how to" videos and updating the website with what you as a member would need to know in order to to enter.
Entries were a lot lower than in previous years, but there was still a good selection of quality foals bred for all three Olympic disciplines.
Some things I think we can all take away from the making of our foal videos is that a) it takes time and b) it takes practice.
Its also important to film your foal at the best possible stage of its growth - once it has had a growth spurt and is higher behind than in front, your marks will be lower than when the very same foal is at a better stage. That's one of the benefits of a virtual tour - members were free to film their foals at any time they wished in order to show the foal at its very best.
Learning how to video your foals well is a great skill to have - even if you have no intention of selling you warmblood foal, you never know when your situation may change and perspective buyers will potentially want to see a video. The way we asked for the foals to be presented is the standard way to show a foal on video - from all angles, all limbs, walk from all angles then trot and canter free. As I look out the window at my once-were-gorgeous foals who are now hairy, slightly pot-bellied, mud-muffins - I sure am glad I had videos done when they were looking great in the summer!
In this Newsletter you can read assessor Matthias Werner's thoughts on the Tour, and also get to meet all of the Champions and award winners.
The Heritage Stallion for this newsletter is Goldstar - read the story about his owner Corey Mindlin fell in love with this beautiful stallion and brought him all the way from the USA to New Zealand.
Wishing you all a safe, warm and relatively dry winter where ever you may be in this beautiful country of ours,
Jody
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Matthias Werner's thoughts and feedback from the Virtual Tour.
Matthias tells us he was very happy with the videos. He thought it was amazing how the breeders took it on and followed the example video provided. He appreciated the amount of work that goes into videoing and he knows himself what it is like to present a horse at home in front of a camera – most of the time it is very difficult!
When asked how he felt the quality of the foals was compared to other years he had this to say: "The quality of the horses in the end was not the problem, the time the videos were done was more of the issue. Most were bum high in their growth at the time they were videoed, so they were in a place where it is harder for them to show more lift and more freedom of the shoulder to see the full potential of the movement. Also if they are really bum high its difficult to give a good conformation mark for their topline too."
"Maybe the quality not quite as good as the year before" but there were less foals presented and some of the breeders that normally produce Merit and Excellence foals chose not to present foals this year.
Matthias reminds us that he judges on the same scale he uses to judge in Europe. To give an 8 is really something special. For instance, sometimes he gives 7.5 for a trot with a good front knee action but no push through or lift from the hind quarter up to the front. This could be a reason to not use an 8.
Matthias admitted it is harder to judge by video than being there in person. "If you can see the foal in front of you you can judge the size and whole frame more easily. Going down onto your knees to do the videoing of the conformation might be better, as standing up you get a different point of view of the foals and most of the time they look smaller than what they are". Matthias used something in the background such as the fence, the mare or a human to get a better feeling for the height and growth of the foal.
In total he was "absolutely impressed and amazed by how everyone did their videos, There were some really outstanding videos and some “regular” ones."
Matthias hopes we can do the next tour in person. Always a big fan of New Zealand he added "It was a pleasure to see your beautiful country in the background and I think I will relook at some of these videos again just to remind me of New Zealand"
Matthias would like to thank the President, Registrar and all of the NZWA Committee , the breeders and presenters. It was for him a "smaller tour, but still a good tour."
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INTRODUCING THE OVERALL TOUR CHAMPIONS AND AWARD WINNERS
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Champion NZWB Foal
Champion Colt Foal
Champion Eventing Bred Foal
Rangatira Fucero (Timbermill Fifth Avenue / Lucero Omega / Anamour)
This lovely colt was bred by Rangatira Stud at South Head using their resident stallion Timbermill Fifth Avenue who is by Fürst Nymphenburg out of Devon by Dynamit.
Rangatira Stud's ethos "Our warmbloods are raised like stationbreds on steep hills in herds, to help their careers as performance horses"
Owner Sarah Sutherland was thrilled to take out the tour's top prize after presenting foals consistently for the past three or four tours and learning from each experience.
Sarah has high hopes this colt will be produced on to become a top eventing prospect and sire. "He has such an easy going personality and you can see he will be very trainable!"
The colt scored 77.5 for conformation, and a high 83.5 for movement giving him a total of 80.5 and an Excellence Award.
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Rangatira Fucero's award winning paces can be seen on this video
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Champion Filly Foal
Southern Star Spirit (Rosari Fabio / Gymnastic Star / Master).
Born in the North Waikato at Southn Star Sporthorses, home of the Doering Family and their resident stallion Rosario Fabio.
The Doering family are thrilled that "Rosari Fabio is proving his consistency in throwing a modern, leggy type".
"Spirit has her Sire’s loveable nature and is a feminine filly with an elastic, ground covering gait. Her Dam Rosari Glory Girl, a registered warmblood mare also produced a top scoring NZWA Filly last year (also by Rosari Fabio) who won Reserve Champion Best Registered NZ Warmblood at HOY 2020"
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Champion Dressage Bred Foal
Reserve Champion Warmblood Foal
The winner of this hotly contested award was Waltzmeister WSH (Westerly Inc / Dancier / Aljano) for Wembleybrook Sport Horses.
The stud run by the Mullen family purchased the mare Danzar WSH to add to their collection of well bred mares. The stud stands the NZWB licenced Tobiano stallion Traumprinz GF. They use top quality mares to breed some very impressive moving tobiano warmbloods.
Danzar WSH is by Dancier out of the imported Holsteiner mare Aloha who features in the pedigree of an increasing number of NZWB foals.
Waltzmeister WSH is by Westerly Inc (Worldly / Flyinge Amiral / New Regent xx) so there is a real mix or Hanoverian, Holsteiner and Sweedish Warmblood in the pedigree. He scored 78 for conformation and 81.5 for movement.
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Reserve Champion Dressage Breed Foal
This was won by Glamourvale for owner Emma Dickons.
Bred by Jody Hartstone this colt is by the overseas sensation Glamourdale out of a Whisper / Loewenherz / Urban mare.
Emma was working for Jody when she met this foal's dam "Winona" and fell in love with her gentle nature. Emma was lucky enough to be present for the birth of this stunning colt foal and from then on she was inseparable from him and a great relationship was struck up. He is now growing up in Emma's fields in the Manawatu.
This lovely black colt scored an impressive 81.5 for conformation, and 76.5 for movement for a Merit award.
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Merit Award Winner
There were two foals by the young international superstar stallion Glamourdale presented at the 2021 Virtual Tour.
Interestingly they both scored 79% for a merit award.
RM Goosebump (Glamourdale / San Rubin II / Salute) is a firm favorite at the stables of his breeders Debbie and Peter Barke.
Debbie tells us they are thrilled with his very high Merit mark with particular note to the high movement marks. His dam Macarthur Santa Ana has produced 2 Excellences and 2 Merits from 6 foals for them.
Why did they choose Glamourdale?
Debbie says "we we always try to improve the next generation so we know the mare very well now and need a little more uphill for modern type, good shoulder freedom and the uphill canter. The progeny have very good mechanics but the canters could be more uphill and ground covering. Van Olst also offer LFG for their frozen and the quality of the semen is high so we really like to support Stallion stations that offer the mare owner that little bit more"
"Breeding is risky enough! Special mention to Equibreed and Lee Morris in this journey she has got our last 3 pregnancies to frozen first try -she need acknowledging for her expertise. Congratulations to the new owner of McArthur Santa Ana a new chapter and we get to keep Goose!"
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Champion Show Jump Bred Foal
Up N Go RF for Georgia Sheard of Rose Flats Equestrian in Kaukapakapa.
Up N Go (Up To You / Untouchable M / Frisbee Kerellec)
Georgia talked to the NZWA about this interesting colt.
"Up n Go RF’s dam Ellen NZPH was purchased already in foal to the GFE stallion Up To You - a combination that both NZPH & Haupouri had previously used. After leaving us patiently waiting until she was a month past her ‘due’ date we were beyond stoked with the gorgeous foal Ellen delivered us.
The leggy colt combines both looks and movement to create a super package that we are excited to see develop over the coming years".
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Reserve Show Jumping Bred Foal
This award was won by PL Peter Parker (Classico TN / Euro Sport Centavos / Distelfink), who like all the PL Performance Horses, has his own page on the PL website.
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Reserve Champion Eventing Bred Foal
This award went to went to Fendi Couture EPH (GT Jake / My Halo xx / Volkatraad xx) for breeder and event rider Brodie Roberts, who comments:
"Fendi was bred for eventing, she is our first ever home bred. We chose GT Jake because even though he is mainly a dressage focused stallion he is throwing some really nice eventors, so with the combination of him and a TB dam we have the ideal mix for an eventor with the warmblood movement and the stamina from the TB. We plan to keep Fendi and take her up the Eventing grades, we also look forward to welcoming her full sibling into the world come spring".
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Champion Pony Foal
The foal that won this award was the gorgeous colt Starstruck (Golden Strike / Polar Star / Hillbilly Cantabrian) for breeder Tayla John's of Rangiora.
Tayla told NZWA the story of breeding this colt.
"The mare had bloodlines that are incredibly hard to come by in pony size. Some fantastic Hanoverian lines-(Griffyndor/Gymnastik star) and some classic trakehner blood lines too (Polarschnee). This on top of some quality English riding pony bloodlines produced a fantastic little mare. Golden Strike was an obvious choice - an absolutely quality pony stallion with a temperament to match. Her colt was exactly what we ordered! He has his dad’s beautiful temperament and his mother’s flashy movement as well as being a beautiful buckskin colour with all the bling! The plan is to keep him and produce him for dressage- I am super excited for this one!
Taylor also added a huge thanks to NZWA for the opportunity to have our horses assessed, it is an amazing opportunity and a huge job, your commitment and hard work doesn’t go unnoticed!"
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Reserve Champion Pony Foal
This went to Golden Grace who again is by the impressive German Riding Pony Golden Strike who stands in Otago with Rebecca Kerr from Maungatua Equestrian.
Golden Grace is a smokey black filly whose dam Donala Skye is by Glen Lie Donald. She was competing at level 3 dressage and show hunted at Horse of the Year Show before retiring to the broodmare paddock.
Owner Robyn Smith of Nelson has bred Golden Grace to be her own small warmblood for dressage, jumping and hunting. She is excited about another full sibling due at Christmas time too!
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Champion Derivative Foal
Bodacious WSH was crowned Derivative Champion for breeders Paul and Gloriann Mullen from Wembleybrook Sport Horses.
This filly was bred with eventing in mind. Her sire Wembleybrook By Design, a Connermara Thoughbred cross, is now gelded.
The dam Rakaunui Arielle is by Loewenherz out of an Urban mare, and is the grandd dam of the Reserve Champion Dressage Bred Foal Glamourvale.
Bodacious WSH is for sale
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Reserve Champion Derivative Foal
This award went to Whiterocks Frida (Firestone / Brigham / I Conquer xx) for Merlyn Hay.
Merlyn explains "she is a full sister to Whiterocks Freya who did very well in the 2019 tour so I thought I would repeat the breeding and got a carbon copy black filly who is just as nice as her sister and has the sweetest temperament. She is very correct, with lovely elastic movement. I bred her to sell, but so far haven't even managed to advertise her. Firestone is by Johnson and those lines are so successful in dressage at the moment."
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Now it is never to late to get your mare upgraded into the NZWA Mare Stud Book.
The NZWA is excited to now be able to offer mare owners the opportunity to upgrade their mares into the NZ Warmblood Mare Stud Book (for Warmblood mares of any breed) and Foundation Stud Book (for mares with only Thoroughbred or Arabian blood). Mares are now able to be assessed via video which will be sent direct to Germany for Assessment - yet again the NZWA is paving the way with innovative solutions in these difficult times due to Covid.
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HERITAGE STALLIONS OF THE NZ WARMBLOOD BREED
GOLDSTAR
Name of Stallion: Goldstar
Year of Birth 01 Feb. 1988 Year of Death: 2012
Pedigree: KWPN (Dutch Warmblood ) By Sultan out of a Lector / Caruso mare.
Goldstar's owner and biggest fan Corey Mindlin talks us thorough his story from the time they met...
"GoldStar was imported from the Netherlands into the United States by a syndicate who, because of various legal issues with the selling agent, decided to on-sell the stallion rather than continue with prolonged legal action.
I happened to attend a dressage clinic in Denver, Colorado where GoldStar was boarded at this time, and fell instantly in obsessive love. It took a bit over a year before I was finally able to secure his purchase. Within a year of that purchase, the decision was made to move to New Zealand, so GoldStar, a Dutch Warmblood mare I had purchased to cross with him, and her barely 5-month old foal at foot, earned even more frequent flyer miles by crossing the oceans yet again"
Goldstar was licenced for breeding in both Germany & the Netherlands
Corey describes exactly why she purchased Goldstar:
"I would love to sound like a hard-nosed professional, but in all honesty he was purchased because I fell insanely in love with what to me was a living work of art. He was so utterly gorgeous that it was, frankly, inconsequential to me that he was Reserve Grand Champion in his 100-day stallion test in Germany: that his sire Sultan ranked in the Top 10 European Breeding Stallions for half a decade: that his dam was the grand-dam of Olympic Ferro, and that riding him was like sitting on softening butter".
"He was Reserve Grand Champion of his 100 Stallion Test in Germany, but aside from that I have no records of his competition history from Europe, and he was not competed once he arrived in the U.S. and/or N.Z"
His notable progeny in New Zealand include:
Star Nouveau who was competed by Virginia Thompson in Eventing before being exported to Great Britain where Virginia competed her in various 3 star and 4 star events. Star Nouveau won Puhinui 3 Star events for two consecutive years.
Julie Pearson in Palmerston North has competed Zinstar from 2008 – 2019 for eight Championship placings, five Reserve Championships, and 7 Reserve Championships at Grand Prix.
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Star Nouveau
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Zinstar
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