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outcross bloodlines for her Rubinstein &<br />
Donnerhall influenced mares. Hochadel<br />
does have the Donnerhall influence<br />
with a completely outcross sire line<br />
from the Trakehner Hohenstein.<br />
L’Espoir is a total outcross with his<br />
grandsire being the Grand Prix stallion<br />
Lord Sinclair, and he shares a sire with<br />
the very influential Lord Leatherdale,<br />
who is most recently sire of World<br />
Young Horse Champion Glamourdale.<br />
His dam sire Warkant had a reputation<br />
for huge movement and being a great<br />
dam sire with Londonderry as an<br />
example of this.<br />
One area that Jennifer feels the <strong>British</strong><br />
studs can hold their own against their<br />
continental counterparts is in customer<br />
service. In prior years the German<br />
studs were very good at the customer<br />
relations but in recent years the stud<br />
conditions they offer do not favour the<br />
mare owners. Partly for this reason,<br />
Jennifer has focused her 2019 foal<br />
crop around her own stallions and is<br />
expecting 5 foals by L’Espoir and is very<br />
excited to see the outcome of his first<br />
Scottish crop Hochadel is already well<br />
established as a sire, being the highest<br />
ranked living <strong>British</strong> based dressage<br />
stallion on the WBFSH 2017 rankings.<br />
But Jennifer is equally looking forward<br />
to see his <strong>British</strong> born offspring starting<br />
their careers.<br />
The current market<br />
I asked Jennifer what does she get most<br />
enjoyment from as a breeder and she<br />
said it is feeling part of the creation of<br />
something special from start to finish,<br />
from inseminating the mares to foaling<br />
them down to seeing the youngsters in<br />
the show ring or under saddle for the<br />
first time.<br />
Like many of us Jennifer has noticed<br />
this year has been a tough year for<br />
selling. The uncertainty of Brexit has<br />
meant people are being very careful<br />
about committing to any major<br />
purchases. As a result she has reduced<br />
the number of coverings this year as a<br />
conscious decision, and decided to only<br />
use her own stallions for foreseeable<br />
future (both the 2 stallions available<br />
fresh, and also frozen from Serano Gold<br />
and Rubin Star).<br />
I asked if Jennifer had found any<br />
difference in the saleability of her<br />
young stock when using a <strong>British</strong> based<br />
stallion or in using a well marketed<br />
European sire. And the answer<br />
was there has been no difference.<br />
The buyers want that reliability in<br />
production, and although she needs<br />
to cater for everyone’s needs and as<br />
a result has a range of mares, she has<br />
always stuck to the type that she likes,<br />
one that can be useful in more than<br />
one sphere.<br />
Ponies<br />
Although Jennifer has an enviable<br />
collection of very smart <strong>British</strong> Riding<br />
Ponies she has been concentrating<br />
less on the small riding ponies as the<br />
market not sufficient to sustain a<br />
bigger breeding operation. But with<br />
such bloodlines at her disposal she will<br />
still breed some larger ponies as even if<br />
they go over height they<br />
still have the limb and quality to<br />
find a market as small hunters or<br />
intermediates.<br />
It’s not just about the show ring<br />
though. Her 14.2hh stallion Stanley<br />
Grange Regal Heights has produced<br />
some superb BS and BE ponies. He<br />
recently sired the Champion stallion at<br />
the Northern SPSS grading (Wolken Von<br />
Blitz MPS).<br />
Jennifer feels strongly that the <strong>British</strong><br />
Riding Pony is under estimated. These<br />
ponies are doing well in BS, BE and<br />
pony racing and are capable of so much<br />
than just looking glamorous in the<br />
show ring. These ponies and our good<br />
native ponies are the foundation for<br />
the breeding of ponies in Germany and<br />
Holland.<br />
Another stallion of Jennifer’s, who hails<br />
from strong <strong>British</strong> foundation is the<br />
German stallion Boss Junior. Jennifer<br />
already had Boss’s half sister Mirage<br />
and she was producing so well that<br />
when Boss came on the market it was<br />
an instant decision to purchase him.<br />
everything Boss produces can also be<br />
registered part bred Arab and part bred<br />
Welsh and he is homozygous black.<br />
Feature - ARTICLE<br />
One youngster that Jennifer is very<br />
excited about is by Boss out of a<br />
Radway Small Talk daughter that won a<br />
gold premium with the SPSS. Jennifer<br />
feels she is top class and may go and<br />
be professionally produced as a 2 or 3<br />
year old.<br />
Another very special homebred is a<br />
young mare who has to be one of the<br />
very last direct Rubinstein daughters<br />
out of a Weltmeyer dam.<br />
Jennifer thinks she is showing all the<br />
attributes for Grand Prix dressage but<br />
due to her lovely type she may loose<br />
her to her daughter who feels she is<br />
the perfect stamp for the show ring.<br />
A last word of advice<br />
Jennifer understands that there is<br />
a really wide selection of stallions<br />
available from Europe but her advice is<br />
to go out there and look at the smaller<br />
studs too and speak to the older<br />
breeders. If you get to see a full range<br />
of youngstock you see the average<br />
stock and not just the pre-selected<br />
fabulous stock. That gives a much truer<br />
reflection of a stallions worth.<br />
Article by Sacha Shaw<br />
Mirage, half sister to Boss Junior.<br />
(Image courtesy of Romanno Stud)<br />
www.british-breeding.com BRITISH BREEDER| 47
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