ESCUDO II HEADING TO THE US

The wonderful Hanoverian stallion Escudo II has been purchased by Rainbow Equus Meadows in the US. http://www.rainbowequus.com/index.html

Escudo II was Champion of his Licensing in 1994.

This stallion is high on the ratings for Jumping Stallions and will be a great asset for US breeders.

FLORETT AS MARE PRICE HIGHLIGHT AT EQUINE ELITE AUCTION

The auction price highlight, the spectacular three year old mare Willow (by Florett As x Lux), was sold to Lieke Zonnenberg from Switzerland for 310,000 Euros, who will put the horse in training with Imke Schellekens-Bartels.

2006 HANOVERIAN Licensing

The dark bay Hanoverian stallion by Lauries Crusador xx x Raphael was the dressage champion of the 2006 Hanoverian Stallion Licensing in Verden, Germany, on October 28, 2006. Bred by the brothers Schmoldt from Oederquart and presented by dressage rider Hans-Peter Mohr, this dark bay stallion dazzled the crowds and judges with his quality paces and correct conformation. The winner sold at auction for 230,000 Euros to Gestut Sprehe.

The show jumping Licensing Champion was the Stakkato x Graf Grannus son, bred by Alfred Bronnenmann and presented by Antonius Schulze-Averdiek. This horse sold at auction for 65,000 Euros to the Czech Republic.

824 Hanoverian colts were presented at the pre-selection and 103 stallions participated in the 2006 Hanoverian Licensing. 65 were licensed, 38 did not get licensed.

Fifteen stallions were selected for the premium ring. The reserve champion was a bay stallion by Conteur out of SPS Windsbraut (by Weltmeyer). Bred by Achim Giesecke-Bulle and presented by Heinz Katt, this young stallion was purchased by Emma Hindle's Brookhouse Stud for 300,000 Euros.

The runner-up was the bay Lauries Crusador xx x Cavalier son, bred and presented by Johann-Christian Eggers. He sold for 115,000 Euros to the Landgestut Celle. Celle also purchased the premium Rotspon x Weltmeyer stallion (140,000 Euros), the lovely Sunlight xx x Wolkenstein II (47,000 euro) and the Belissimo M x Wendekreis colt (62,000 euro).

Besides the licensing champion, Gestut Sprehe also purchased the premium stallion by Londonderry x Argentinus for 120,000 euro.

Florestan x Donnerhall Son, Price Highlight at the 2006 Hanoverian Stallion Licensing

October 29, 2006

The price highlight of the auction following the 2006 Hanoverian Stallion Licensing in Verden, Germany, was the Florestan x Donnerhall x Aarking xx son, which sold for 400,000 Euros to Doug and Louise Leatherdale from the United States. Bred by Dieter Duis and presented by Heinrich Giesselmann, the Florestan x Donnerhall son will move to Jens Meyer's stallion station in Dorum, where he will join His Highness, Damsey and Herzensdieb.

The second most expensive horse was the premium stallion by Conteur x Weltmeyer, which sold for 300,000 Euros to Emma Hindle's Brookhouse Stud in Erbach, Germany. The third best selling horse was the Waterford x Falkland x Lanthan, who sold for 280,000 Euros to Denmark.

Gestut Sprehe acquired the 2006 licensing champion, Laurie’s Crusader  xx x Raphael, for 230,000 Euros. The superbly jumping Stakkato x Sherlock Holmes son sold for 230,000 Euros to France.

64 licensed stallions sold at auction for an average price of 64,890 Euros. The average price for a non licensing stallion was 22,069 Euros. The most expensive non-licensed stallion was the Acorado x Voltaire jumper, who sold for 100,000 Euros to the Czech Republic.

Lauries Crusador xx, Hanoverian Stallion of the Year 2006

October 29, 2006

The Thoroughbred stallion Lauries Crusador xx was proclaimed Hanoverian Stallion of the Year 2006 at the Hanoverian Stallion Licensing in Verden, Germany. The nomination of the 15th "Hanoverian Stallion of the Year" was one of the highlights of this year’s Stallion Licensing. It was the first time that a thoroughbred stallion was honoured with this award.  These last few years, Celle State Stud Stallion Lauries Crusador xx has certainly had a considerable influence on the Hanoverian breed.

The Hell Stable in Klein Offenseth is the owner of the bay refiner. It was the first time that the prize was donated by the insurance company R + V / Vereinigte Tierversicherung. The company is one of the leading European horse insurance companies, and they are obviously about to increase their supporting activities in Verden.

Lauries Crusador xx by Welsh Pageant xx/High Top xx was born in Great Britain in 1985, and he started his career on the race track. With an impost of 90,5 kgs, he was accepted as a breeding stallion for the German warmblood breed. The well-known horse expert and stallion owner Maas J. Hell, who died some years ago, discovered the bay horse. He maintained good contact with State Stud Manager Dr. Burchard Bade, and in 1991, Lauries Crusador xx became an active breeding stallion for the Lower Saxonian National State Stud in Landesbrück.

He was frequently used by the breeders right from the very beginning. He had not only a considerable influence on the mare population in the Kehdingen area, but also on the whole Hanoverian breed.

 There are totally 1560 registered offspring, 349 mares registered into the Studbook, among them 103 state premium mares. He fathered 39 licensed sons, 13 of them being registered into the premium stallion register. 546 registered competition horses complete this impressive balance. With his successful offspring, the thoroughbred stallion Lauries Crusador xx is certainly about to create a new Hanoverian stallion line.

Le Bo counts among his most successful offspring in sport. In 2005, he ranked third at the German Dressage Championships for lady riders under Carola Koppelmann. The former Verden elite auction horse Lesotho and Ellen Schulten-Baumer belonged to the Olympic team in Athens. The stallion Louis Heslegard and Gerda Lehmann participated with the Grecian Olympic team. At the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Le Primeur competed with Marie-Line Wettstein for Switzerland.

The Lauries Crusador xx-son Londonderry created a sensation; he won his stallion licensing as well as the Federal Championships of four-year-old stallions in Warendorf. Apart from that, he also underlined his excellent prepotency. Two of his sons entered the scene this year: Locksley II won the Federal Championships of four-year-old stallions, just like his sire, and at the 115th Verden Elite Auction, Londontime was sold at the incredible, sensational price of 510,000 euro, a sum never achieved at a riding horse auction organized by a German breed society so far.     

ASHLEY HOLZER WINS $25,000 DRESSAGE CHAMPS IN WASHINGTON

October 29, 2006

Ashley Holzer and Pop Art wowed the crowd and the judges at the Washington International Horse Show with their Grand Prix Freestyle on Saturday night, winning the class with a score of 72.565%.

When added to her second place score the night before of 67.813% in the Grand Prix, gave her a total overall mark of 70.189% and victory in the $25,000 Washington International Horse Show Invitational Dressage Championship. As winner of the event, Holzer takes home $10,000 in prize money.

Holzer, 43, a Toronto native who has represented Canada at two Olympic Games, two World Equestrian Games, and two Pan American Games, came into this competition as the defending champion, having won it last year with the 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion Gambol. Pop Art is a nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Holzer and Ian Nicoll, her father, who made his Grand Prix debut at this championship event. Mr. Nicoll attended the show and watched his horse win the Invitational Championship.

Tonight, Holzer rode a freestyle to Irish-inspired music track created by Karen Robinson of Applause Dressage, based on music from the theatrical show Riverdance. Though Pop Art started his test showing some tension, he relaxed as he performed the movements, especially his precision piaffe and passage, which he nailed dead on to the music. Holzer included movements that elicited applause from the crowd several times, such as a machine-like piaffe that burst into an energetic extended trot.

The freestyle also showed how creative and clever Holzer is as a rider. As this was Pop Art's first Grand Prix Freestyle, Holzer acknowledged that she had to "wing it" during some of the ride.

"I did a little adlibbing in there because he was very nervous," Holzer explained and added that because Pop Art is so young, she did not want to over-face him. "Normally the freestyle is pretty difficult and he was worried in the beginning. I took him off the pattern and then he was normal and he really settled in. He's a fabulous horse to ride. I'm very lucky to have him. He's just Mr. Dependable. He's never bad. He was just looking at the crowd. He's never seen anything like this, so to get him to turn around today and do what he did, I'm thrilled."

Courtney King, 28, of New Milford, Connecticut, riding Idocus owned by Christine McCarthy earned 70.00% in tonight's freestyle competition to place third, and combined with her winning Grand Prix score last night of 68.854%, she finished in second place overall with a combined score of 69.427%. King takes home $7500 in prize money.

King rode to a medley of show tunes, a track originally created for one of Lendon Gray's Grand Prix horses in the 1970s. King admitted that she was not pleased with her freestyle tonight. "He just felt like he was a little bit more tired than yesterday and had a couple of mistakes," King explained.

"It just wasn't the best ride I could have." King noted that she is in the midst of creating a new freestyle for the seasoned 16-year-old Dutch stallion. "This freestyle was not made for him and I really feel like with all the work that I tried to put into making it work, it's still just doesn't work."

But overall, King was positive about capturing second place in the highly competitive invitational championship. "It feels great. I think tomorrow I'll be much happier," King smiled. "Like any athlete you always think about what you could have done better and that's a little bit how I came away tonight, just thinking about how I could have made it better."

King noted that she was very pleased to have competed against the caliber of riders in the event, and described the two-night indoor contest, which is held in conjunction with hunter/jumper, Western, and sidesaddle competition, by saying, "It's fantastic, totally fantastic!"

Suzanne Dansby-Phelps of Atlanta, Georgia, with her own Cooper earned a score of 70.94% for their wonderful freestyle to Irish music and placed second tonight. Combined with their third place finish of 66.250% in the Grand Prix, this duo finished third overall with a score 68.595%. Dansby-Phelps earned $5,000 from the purse.

"In both rides Cooper schooled very, very well," Dansby-Phelps said. "He was very through and light, he exhibited all the qualities one could ask for in a dressage horse." Cooper is an 18.3-hand, 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Corialle by Cor de la Bryere out of a dam by Wanderin II by Ladykiller that Dansby-Phelps has been riding for four years.

The crowd was very appreciative of Dansby-Phelp's freestyle, and burst into applause during her ride several times, including her well-executed double pirouettes and her exuberant one-tempis. Her soundtrack and choreography were created by Terry Ciotti Gallo and included "Scotland the Brave" and other music from the choreographers of the Irish theater show Riverdance. Dansby-Phelps has been performing this kur for three years and tonight was the last night she will ride it as she is currently composing a new freestyle track and choreography.

Dansby-Phelps was an alternate for the U.S. 2006 World Equestrian Games Dressage Team and trained this summer with U.S. Dressage Coach Klaus Balkenhol. She also trains several times a year with Conrad Schumacher in the US and Germany. She hopes to qualify to compete in the 2007 World Cup Final in Las Vegas in April.

George Williams of Delaware, Ohio, aboard Marnix owned by Chuck and Joann Smith scored 68.50% for their freestyle to a medley of Cher classics to place fourth tonight and added to their fourth place score of 64.063% last night in the Grand Prix, the duo finished fourth overall with a score of 66.282%. Williams earned $2,500 for his performances.

The dance tunes were crowd pleasers, and Williams liked his ride as well. "I was really happy with it," Williams said. "It was wonderful to be invited. One of the reasons I wanted to come is just to expose Marnix to this indoor environment. He's little bit of a high-strung, tense horse and I just try to expose him to as many things as possible to help him mature. I was really pleased with how he handled tonight."

Williams trains Laura Noyes and Syncro, the Young Rider who will represent the U.S. at the FEI Young Rider World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany, in December, and noted his gratitude to the Washington show for allowing her to ride her freestyle in exhibition last night.

"It's perfect exposure for her and her horse, this indoor stadium environment. You can't duplicate that experience without actually being in a stadium," he pointed out. He also noted what a benefit it is to the Grand Prix riders in order to prepare for indoor competition at the winter European shows.

Overall, Williams was pleased with the entire experience of the WIHS Invitational Dressage Championship. "It's been wonderful. I really enjoyed it," Williams enthused. They have made the dressage riders feel extremely welcome."

Officiating on both nights were two international judges. Tonight, USA judge Gary Rockwell of Wellington, Florida, officiated at C and Peru's Marian Cunningham of Middleburg, Virginia, judged from E.

Judge Cunningham summed up the $25,000 Washington International Horse Show Invitational Dressage Championship, saying, "It's great. I'm glad that they're doing it."

Judge Rockwell gave his overall impression of the 2006 WIHS Invitational Dressage Champion Ashley Holzer and Pop Art, pointing out first that it was the youngster's inaugural Grand Prix. "From here she's going to build because first year Grand Prix is always rough around the edges," Rockwell said. "It's a spectacular horse!"