British Breeder Magazine December 2021

British Breeding - Virtual Futurity Report
...ENDURANCE
“Dizz's dam is a true stamp of British
first-cross Anglo. A liver chestnut small
riding horse stamp that was my own
riding horse, could jump far better than
I could, and was Reserve National
Champion on her only trip to the AHS
National Champs, as a veteran. Now in
her 20s, her first foal also topped the
futurity rankings for the sport and is
now a strapping three year old colt.
When lockdown first happened I wasn't
hopeful we would get her in foal again
without some veterinary assistance, but
it happened to plan and she is the most
devoted mother. I have repeated the
breeding again.
Gifted Spirit SMB
“Everyone that met Dizz as a foal was
impressed by him, so it was a shame that
there was no futurity venue close enough
to us to take him to, to be assessed. After
roping in much help, borrowing an
arena and enlisting technical support
with a reliable broadband connection,
we filmed (in the wind and rain) and
made sure we had all the angles and
information the panel needed.
“It's a lot of work, in truth, and I suspect
the virtual entrants are watched and
rewatched more closely than their
in-person counterparts. Even if you plan
to go to a venue with your youngster, run
through the checklist for the virtual
evaluations as it helps you, as handler,
to understand what the panel need to
see, and what they are looking for to
make their linear scores come about.
“I'm very happy that whenever we have
had a youngster assessed, they have
scored well, but also that we've had
great feedback on the calibre of the
horses, their preparation and turnout. It
is important to make a good impression,
especially as endurance as a sport is
suffering repeated bad press over recent
years. Anglos are few and far between,
and there are so many Arabs out there
that no longer represent the true riding
type, who simply don't stand up to the
physical or psychological work of
performance disciplines, that it can feel
like there is nowhere to showcase your
stock.
“The futurity evaluations gives breeders
large and small another option and
valuable data for the future. Vlacq Stud
will continue to breed the types of horses
that we ourselves would love to ride; I
think that is important. Showring quality
to look at, tried and tested soundness on
both sides of the pedigree,
good-natured horses that will become
partners to their riders.
We joke that Vlacqlings are "distilled,
not cocktailed"; not many studs maintain
their foundation lines, and every
generation is proving to be an
improvement on the last, sometimes in
very small ways, but the aim is always
to set each horse up for the best future it
can have.
“Vlacq Dizzy Rascal will hopefully have
a bright future, whichever sport he is
tested in, but for now he is growing,
learning and being a horse. Breeding is
a long game, and preparing an
endurance horse for the big time is just
as long and winding a road; everyone
involved has a long wait for results in
that sense and it is no surprise that good
breeders have packed up and riders are
experiencing a keen shortage of quality
horses on the market.
“We will hopefully have some more 'Z
foals' to come and will continue to
support the futurity scheme when we
can.”
Among the yearling entries, the highest
scoring endurance horse was Gifted
Spirit SMB with a high Silver score of
7.85. Yearlings are always a difficult
age to present and assess, but Gifted
Spirit showed a lovely kind attitude and
much potential. We caught up with his
breeders Sarah and Peter Howard from
SBM Arabians:
“With correct conformation,
clean limbs, superb effortless
movement and a very nice
temperament, he is a son of
the multi-international
champion Wortex Kalliste
( France) who regularly gains
top marks for his movement.
His dam Hadiyya SBM ( by
Psadisho Ibn Esstashan
(Germany )) is a daughter of
Tosca de Forgehill ( France)
who in turn is a granddaughter
of the renowned stallion
Drug ( Russian studbook) who
to this day remains the only
purebred Arabian to have
been both European
racehorse champion and
European halter champion in
2 successive years.”
Sarah and Peter Howard
- SBM Arabians
36 | BRITISH BREEDER