STALLIONS FOR 2010: THE ONES TO WATCH

Horse Breeders Magazine has been asking me to write articles for a while now, and at long last I have reluctantly fulfilled my promise! Not because I don't believe in the magazine, far from it, but because as you will see, I'm not much of a writer!

Anyhow, my chosen topic is a brief review of the “ones to watch” from the recent stallion shows. The young stallions who, in my opinion, will produce not only “proper” competition horses, but commercial youngsters to boot. It has been very difficult to choose this year as there are very many good young stallions about, however...

I'll start with the jumping horse so those of you who breed dressage horses can scroll down now.......although, arguably, you would do well to use some of these youngsters on dressage mares with poor canters.

First is the immaculately bred Levisonn (right) (Levisto x Lennon), son of Levisto Z, Zangersheide's premium stallion and winner of Sires of the World. His dam line is equally immaculate, coming from the Holsteiner line that also encompasses Lordanos, the great jump producer. Levisonn did not disappoint in his 70 day test, gaining scores of 10 for character, conformation and attitude, and with equally impressive scores for movement and jumping ability, this put him a clear winner of both dressage and jumping sections. He is blood enough in type to consider for event mares.

Adorado (below) (Acorado x Gluecksgriff) is also a nicely developing young stallion. Following his bronze in Sires of the World 2008, he is currently competing over 1.40 and 1.50m tracks and won a CSI** in 2009. This son of Acorado was made Elite BWP stallion in 2009 based on the quality of his youngsters; he is also accepted by the Hannoverian studbook. He has an exceptional temperament and, with every UK mare in foal in 2009, the semen is also good to go!

Cantoblanco (Canto x Carolus I) is my last jumping “one to watch”; he was the winner of the Holstein grading in 2008, like his sire before him. The blood lines are impeccable, with his dam being full sister to the dam of Levisto Z and Clinton I and II. Extremely blood in type, and long lined, he has a scopey, careful jump with a lot of power. First foals are due this year and he was fully booked last year in Germany so it will definitely be interesting to see if he produces to type.

The cast of fabulous dressage stallions on show this year was more impressive than ever. I was delighted to see foals from Floriscount (Florencio x Donnerhall), whom I rated highly last year and had encouraged a good number of breeders to use. The foals did not disappoint and indeed the stallion himself has matured and developed beautifully. As the saying goes: “What is not to like” about the blood combination of Florestan, Weltmeyer and Donnerhall? With all paces uphill and correct hind leg movement, I think he should be on everyone's short list.